U.S. Department of Transportation

Sky Train Cost Disputed -- Feds Say $2.3 Billion, Phoenix Says $1.6 Billion

Aviation officials are having a dogfight over the cost of a new train that will carry passengers through Phoenix International Sky Harbor airport.A U.S. Department of Transportation newsletter dug up by Emily Gersema over at the Repub states the cost of the PHX Skytrain would be about $2.3 billion. ... More >>

Changing Lanes on the Sevenths Increase Confusion

Attention U.S. Airways: America Hates You (and Facebook)

​TheAtlantic.com released its list of America's 19 "Most Hated Companies" -- based on the American Customer Satisfaction Index -- earlier this month, four of which happen to be airlines (imagine that). Among them is Tempe-based U.S. Airways.The airline came in at the six spot on TheAtlantic's list ... More >>

Proposed Rules on Medical Marijuana Tougher Than Voter-Approved Law; Estimate of Potential Patients Lowered

​Before the release of draft rules on Proposition 203, Will Humble, the director of the state Department of Health Services, estimated 100,000 people a year might qualify for medical marijuana.Now, under the proposed regulations, only 10,000 to 20,000 people a year would qualify, he said in a news ... More >>

Deer Tick Hits up Sail Inn Before Auctioning Off Tour Bus

Deer Tick with The Flagship, the tour bus the band is auctioning for charity.​Benefit shows can be a dime a dozen. And, due to their ubiquity, that can be about as much as they raise sometimes. Rhode Island band Deer Tick's taking another route, auctioning off a tour bus to raise funds for OxFam I ... More >>

Arizona Republic Among First to Be Duped by Bad Credentials of Robert Trombley, Volcano "Expert"

We loved the story in Saturday's Arizona Republic about Robert Trombley, the volcano "expert" who runs a research center out of his Apache Junction trailer. Photo Credit: http://www.intlvrc.org/rbt-bio.htm Robert Trombley's credentials weren't questioned the first time the Arizona Republic pu ... More >>

"Anti-Planner" Scholar Randal O'Toole Coming to Phoenix to Talk Up Gridlock Book

"Anti-Planner" Randal O'Toole of the Cato Institute will speak in Phoenix on Tuesday, May 4.​ Tired of traffic? Then lobby your government to add more toll roads, ditch long-range transportation scams, and buy more express buses instead of laying more railways. That's the educated opinion of ... More >>

Easier Access to Rocky Point in Works; Governor Brewer Headed to Hermosillo This Weekend

Construction on a second lane into Mexico at the U.S. Port of Entry in Lukeville, the gateway to Rocky Point beaches, will begin by the middle of next year, state officials say. The easier cross-border access will be among the topics discussed this weekend at the Arizona-Mexico Commission Plenary Se ... More >>

Hot Links: Legal Immigration, The Grand Canyon, and Kiddy Porn

​A new survey by a Washington-based publisher puts Gilbert and Surprise among the safest cities in the country. The cities were ranked 24 and 27 by CQ Publishers. The group calculated FBI crime rates for 2008 and found both cities to have some of the lowest in the country... The ... More >>

Federal Report Says Sky Harbor "Must" Improve Runway Safety Area

When a new runway opened at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in 2000, it received the blessing of the Federal Aviation Adminstration. But a newly released report from another federal agency, the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Transportation, cites that same r ... More >>

Janet Napolitano’s Sorry Service in Arizona Makes Her a Terrible Choice for Homeland Security Secretary

Snake on a Plane

Continental Airlines had a cold-blooded killer on board but refused law enforcement's pleas to land

Blow My Mine

Could Arizona's 80,000 working and abandoned mines be the root of all evil?

Letters

Letters from the week of November 20, 2003

Outlaw Dumping

State prison officials wanted tons of deadly asbestos to disappar. So they made the inmates do the job.

Dead Man's Curve

Arizona Public Service's lax policies sent an APS serviceman, drunk and stoned, on a collision course with a Mesa family. Lucky for APS, the serviceman committed suicide.

Artless Redesign

The 51 may soon become just another crappy little freeway

Don't Waste America

In an unusual lawsuit, environmentalist says city is hoarding federal money

Ground Zero

With arrests and civil pressures, police have reduced the terror inflicted by Eastside Los Cuatro Milpas. But conditions that gave rise to the gang in the first place still fester.

A Fortune Runs Through It

Tempe has long given the impression its Rio Salado project costs $45 million. The actual taxpayer tab could surpass $200 million.

What a Wasteland

Skid Row

State lawyers collide with ethics in $3.79 million suit over "bleeding asphalt" fatality

License to Steal

Arizona car owners register concern over online MVD snafu that posted their credit-card numbers on the Internet

A Fine Mess

State agencies are reeling in the after-Fife, the ballyhooed state-budget surplus is all but spent, and the government bureaucracy is bigger than ever. Now it's up to Jane Dee Hull to make it all make sense.

Letters

Toll Road Kill?

Contract for South Mountain tollway may depend on company's dumping of its president

When Revolution Meets Reality

Governor Symington says his massive tax cuts have brought prosperity to Arizona. Actually, they are bringing on a fiscal train wreck that could damage the state for decades.

OUTLETS of Hostility

Egoconsumed developers, lobbyists, flacks, detectives and lawyers generate fear and loathing a la Barbarians at the Gate. The reason? Two proposed outlet malls the Valley doesn't really need.

INSIDER CONNECTIONSA MULTIBILLION-DOLLAR PUBLIC PENSION FUND CAN BE A READY SOURCE OF FINANCING--IF YOU KNOW THE RIGHT PEOPLE

ANALYSIS:SLIM PICKINGS AG'S PROJECT SLIM PROBE HASN'T TARGETED SYMINGTON, DESPITE EVIDENCE OF HIS INVOLVEMENT

SEIZE AND DESTROY OMISSIONADOT LETS VANDALS STRIP HUNDREDS OF CONDEMNED HOMES IN PARKWAY CORRIDOR

HAMM AND YEGGS

ANATOMY OF A GREASED BID

BROUGHT TO YOU, FOR $3 MILLION, BY THE QUASI-PUBLIC PARTNERSHIP OF SYMINGTON & LECKIE & COOPERS & LYBRAND

TAG, YOU'RE ITGOVERNMENT AND BUSINESS SPEND MILLIONS TO ERADICATE THE TAGGER CULTURE, BUT THE HIP-HOP KRYLON CREWS MAINTAIN THEIR ESPRAY DE CORPS

LAND OF THE FREE-FOR-ALL

WITH PROPOSITION 300--THE PRIVATE-PROPERTY-RIGHTS MEASURE--ARIZONA ONCE AGAIN BECOMES A BATTLEGROUND FOR A NATIONAL RIGHT-WING CRUSADE

LET'S DO LAUNCH

NO,YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE A ROCKET SCIENTIST. JUST FLEX YOUR MISSILES.

RUNAWAY TRAINSTHE RAILROAD INDUSTRY WON'T TAKEN THE BLAME IF YOU GET KILLED AT ONE OF ITS CROSSINGS

Oops! There goes the neighborhood