Ray Stern

Sheriff Joe Arpaio: The 25 Most Read Stories of His Previous Term

The numbers are in and somehow Joe Arpaio, our 80-year-old codger of a sheriff, has secured another four-year term as the county's top lawman. If that wasn't enough to get your blood boiling, the self-professed "America's toughest sheriff" is promising to run for Maricopa County Sheriff again in 201 ... More >>

Camelback Mountain Bees on the Attack: Several Hikers Treated

Those pesky bees at Camelback Mountain attacked several hikers this afternoon, causing at least one person to become injured in a fall, authorities say. "A bunch of hikers were getting attacked," says Captain Scott McDonald, Phoenix Fire Department spokesman, who was still gathering info at the mou ... More >>

Medical Marijuana and Guns: Bad Idea?

And guns?​The U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau -- which, as we noted earlier this week, is the same agency that lets drug cartel members buy guns -- is warning firearms dealers not to sell guns to medical marijuana users.The ATF wrote a letter to firearms dealers earlier this week warni ... More >>

New Times' Writers, Designers and Photographers Win Honors from Arizona Press Club

Phoenix New Times walked away with nine first place awards Saturday night at the state Press Club's 2010 Best Journalism in Arizona contest -- including for the paper's comprehensive immigration series, "Amongst U.S."The newspaper received more than 30 awards for work during 2010.Sarah Fenske, ... More >>

Red, White and Blue the New Look for Tempe's Hayden Butte (a.k.a. "A" Mountain)

Image: Ray Stern Tempe's Hayden Butte, also known as the "A" Mountain, was painted red, white and blue last night. Could it be that someone's happy 'cause Obama killed Osama?​

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, April 28, 2011

Carpenters Union Responds to New Times, States Reason for Demonstration

Image: Ray SternDemonstrators from the Carpenters Union Local 1506 were protesting Adobe Drywall -- again -- last week in Tempe.​ Members of the Carpenters Local 1506 finally let us know why they were demonstrating last week on a prominent Tempe street corner. A statement signed by Alan C ... More >>

Carpenters Union Takes to Streets in Tempe, But Bully-like Union Leaders Refuse to Say Why

  Image: Ray Stern Union leaders weren't in the mood to answer questions about their demonstration on Thursday.​About 50 demonstrators from the Carpenters Union chanted and marched on the corner of University Drive and Mill Avenue in Tempe today -- but don't ask why. A man with an o ... More >>

Medical Marijuana Policy Hearing in Tempe Draws Large Crowd

  Image: Ray Stern Joe Yuhas of Riester public relations and a spokesman for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Association, was among the first to speak at today's hearing on medical marijuana.​It's standing-room only here at the state-sponsored public hearing on medical marijua ... More >>

Jared Lee Loughner's Second Amendment Rights and Ray Stern

ebaumsworld.comIt seems I've introduced my dear colleague Ray Stern to the fascinating world of facts, statistics and sources, as he finally breaks down and uses a few in his latest pro-gun nut diatribe, "The Anti-Gun Culture..."In it, Ray returns once again to his us-versus-them, all-or-nothin ... More >>

Mental Health Check for Gun Buys? Talk About a Straw Man...

YahooMovies If he only had a brain, he could pass that non-existent mental health evaluation and buy a Glock... In the wake of the Tucson massacre, there have been, as you might expect, a number of folks who have suggested that maybe Arizona, and the nation, would benefit from stricter gun le ... More >>

No-Burn Days Go Unenforced in Maricopa County for Christmas; Zero Warnings and Citations Issued

  Image: Wikimedia Commons​Nobody can label the folks over at Maricopa County's Air Quality Department a bunch of Scrooges. After a warning last week that no-burn days on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day would be enforced, exactly zero warnings and citations were issued, a c ... More >>

Amount of Water Lost in Town Lake Draining is Just Fraction of Run-off This Year

Image: Ray SternSRP released 217 billion gallons of water through the Town Lake from January to May due to excessive rain and snowmelt​ This is a desert. Nobody likes to see a billion gallons of water flushed down a hole in the middle of summer, which is what happened July 20 after one Tempe T ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, July 22, 2010

Seven Arrested at Federal Courthouse During SB1070 Protest

  Image: Ray Stern An unidentified woman is led away in handcuffs by Phoenix police during a protest of SB1070 on Thursday outside the federal courthouse.​Seven activists were arrested by Phoenix police today during protests of SB1070 outside of the federal courthouse, where hearings ... More >>

Camelback Mountain in Summer Heat Too Much for Some Hikers; Several Rescued Since Friday

Image: Ray Stern Camelback Mountain​We stepped out of the house just before 6 a.m. yesterday to hike Camelback Mountain and nearly jumped back inside. It was about 90. The air was warm and fluffy, like we'd climbed into a sleeping bag in a sauna. We weren't deterred, though ... More >>

Press Club Honors Staffers

Lisa Aubuchon's Personnel File: County Attorney Was Involved in New Times "Disorderly Conduct" Arrest

Was Lisa Aubuchon involved in the decision to charge Ray Stern? Her personnel file says yes.​In October 2007, New Times reporter Ray Stern was cited with a criminal charge for supposedly raising his voice while in the office of a lawyer working for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office -- and ... More >>

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, February 2, 2010

Heart Attack Grill vs. Heart Stoppers Sports Grill

  ​We mentioned it briefly yesterday, but today Ray Stern takes a deeper look at the Heart Attack Grill's lawsuit against a Florida sports bar, over on our Valley Fever blog. (For earlier coverage of the concept, go here.) True, the name "Heart Stoppers Sports Grill" is awfully s ... More >>

New Times Writers to Speak at Tempe's Changing Hands Bookstore Tonight

New Times staff writer Ray Stern and freelance contributor Rene Gutel to speak at Changing Hands Bookstore tonight. Two New Times writers will participate in a panel called "Publishing and Getting Paid in the Digital Age" at Changing Hands Bookstore tonight.  The panel w ... More >>

Phoenix Light Rail Marks First Crash With Vehicle Since Opening to Passengers

  Uh-oh. The light rail system has been operating with passengers for just four days and it's already been involved in a vehicle collision. That doesn't seem to bode well for the on-street system, which logged another minor accident earlier this month during its test phase. Whether the ... More >>

New York Observer's Politicker AZ Web Site Quits Operation

It's not just newspapers having a hard time -- the liberal New York Observer is shutting down a dozen of its spin-off news Web sites, including Politicker AZ. The scrappy Web site popped up just in time for the election season this year, adding its own flavor of reporting to the local Internet m ... More >>

"Day Without a Gay" Had Little Impact in Phoenix or Anywhere Else

The Wednesday work stoppage planned by gay rights advocates to protest the ban on same-sex marriage in California (and Arizona, we presume) went unnoticed by some of the Valley's largest employers. Nationally -- even in San Francisco's famously gay Castro District -- few called in sick to wor ... More >>

Cloned UPS Truck Caught Smuggling Ton of Pot

"Synchronizing" is a tough word to spell, even if you aren't high from the ton of marijuana you're trying to smuggle. But you'd think after going to all the trouble of creating this UPS lookalike, the smugglers would invest some of their profit in a dictionary. The truck, which was carrying 2,118 ... More >>

Local Docs Enter Record Books With Largest Uterus Ever Removed

Two local doctors will be named in the Guiness Book of World Records for the biggest uterus removal ever. The November 30, 2007 procedure at Tempe St. Luke's is a big deal in the world of minimally invasive surgical techniques, which are far easier on patients than surgeries that involve large i ... More >>

Arizona Photo Enforcement Ticket: How to Beat It and Keep Your Conscience Clear

People ask us all the time: What can I do about that nasty photo radar ticket I got in the mail? The answer: Nothing. Literally. Chuck it in the trash. It's perfectly ethical -- just look at the ticket's fine print. You see, for photo enforcement citations to be valid, the state ... More >>

Fake Snow at Tempe Marketplace: Mystery Not Quite Revealed

A post in this blog about the fake snowfall each night at Tempe Marketplace received the following comment: My family ended up coughing our way out of the mall along with others trying to flee the snowy scene. Not sure it's exactly "safe" to breathe so I'm wondering what the other 10% is made of!We ... More >>

Local Photo Enforcement Vandalism is Child's Play Compared to Destruction of Speed Cameras Elsewhere

New Times first reported two weeks ago that the speed cameras being placed abundantly throughout town by the Arizona Department of Public Safety were being "vandalized" with -- gasp -- Post-It notes. Scofflaw activists hope placing the sticky notes on camera lenses will b ... More >>

New Times’ Lawsuit Continues, Stern’s “Disorderly Conduct” Charge Dropped, and We Ask a Judge to Force Joe to Release Video of a Suffocated Inmate's Last Minutes

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, October 16, 2008

Ray Stern is Freed: Charges Against New Times Reporter Dropped in "Disorderly Conduct" Case

Feedback from the issue of Thursday, September 11, 2008

In Your Own Words: Arpaio, Phoenix Country Club, Andrew Thomas and Sky Harbor Airport

Joe Arpaio’s men fail to justify criminally charging New Times reporter Ray Stern in a public records dispute

Letters from the issue of Thursday, July 3, 2008

Sheriff Joe’s goons bring new heights of absurdity to Phoenix City Hall

The Arizona Republic blasts Arpaio for wasting taxpayer funds on his war against Mayor Phil Gordon

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office captain: "My staff and I were humiliated!"

Letters from the issue of Thursday, February 21, 2008

Disorderly conduct charge, er, reappears against Ray Stern; Disagreements officially verboten in Michele Iafrate's offices by order of the Selective Enforcement Unit!

The new Nick Tarr? Reporter Ray Stern's disorderly conduct charge mysteriously disappears...

Public Wreckers

The ticked-off toucan recounts the trials of NT scribe Ray Stern, snickers at the County Attorney's press conference, and tells why Rusty Childress' anti-immigrant org is goin' to the library

Letters From the Issue of Thursday, August 2, 2007

Letters From the Issue of Thursday, June 14, 2007

Bird Boycott

The truculent tweeter tackles Mayor Phil, PHX City Council hypocrisy, and goofball prez wanna-be Fred Thompson

Letters From the Issue of Thursday, April 26, 2007

Letters From the Issue of Thursday, January 11, 2007