New Orleans is sexy. Denver is earthy. Austin rocks, Dallas shops. New York never sleeps. San Francisco is stunning. Los Angeles is star struck. Boston is really smart. And Phoenix? Phoenix is slumped on the Barcalounger eating potato chips and drinking beer, scratching itself, bored to tears. If Phoenix had…

Tyler was barely born when Kevin Huff looked down between his wife Shawnie’s legs and noticed that their third child had Down syndrome. It’s hard to pick out the signs of Down syndrome — the almond-shaped eyes, the low ears, the flat nose — on a squishy newborn face. But…

It’s barely noon on a Tuesday, and Bob Judd is wearing lipstick. And a sarong. That might seem awfully dressy for a guy who works at home, but it makes sense when you learn that Judd is the Web master (actually, he prefers the title “misteress”) for www.thecockettes.org, an official…

For the second time, Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley has declined prosecution in an alleged case of abuse of a quadriplegic woman by her husband. In a New Times story published last year (“Paralyzed in Paradise,” May 1, 2003), Heather Grossman claimed that her husband, John, spit in her face,…

Don’t expect Walter Winfield to ever attend another office Christmas party. In December 2000, Winfield was a top salesman at Auto Trade Center and the only African American at the car remarketing firm, then based in Scottsdale. His superiors celebrated his success by mocking him at the company Christmas party,…

One evening not long ago, Scott Jacobson was about to get in the shower when he heard a noise outside his front door. Turned out, it was a 300-pound concrete statue of a very large, very white woman wearing a brightly painted lei. Along with his role as the current…

For years, state officials from the governor down have virtually ignored allegations that children are being mistreated at Arizona’s juvenile corrections facilities. Finally, the federal government is forcing Arizona to pay attention. In a letter to Governor Janet Napolitano dated January 23 detailing a 28-month investigation, Assistant Attorney General R…

Jennifer Morse puts the ingredients for pizza dough into the KitchenAid and turns it on, then she gets out the “Getting Better Book.” “We call it the Getting Better Book’ because we’re getting better,” she says, standing at the kitchen counter and flipping the cover of the scrapbook to the…

In 2000, Brian Finkel on average performed four to 15 abortions daily, six days a week, roughly 20 percent of the abortions performed annually in Arizona. New Times profiled Finkel in 1999 (“The Terminator,” June 17) but was not privy at that time to the performance of an abortion. The…

A few years back, Sloane McFarland did something a lot of creative young people from Phoenix do. He left. And then he did something unusual. He came back. McFarland is an artist. You can see his video work on display at the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, in a one-man…

Craig and Kris DeMarco preside over one of the coolest corners in town. First they opened Postino, a beautifully appointed wine bar in an old post office. They took advantage of the cavernous space and put in an enormous sliding door that takes one side off the place in nice…

The blondes are out in force for Amanda Brown’s book party. On a hot Phoenix evening in late September, hundreds of people are crowded into Borders Books & Music at Biltmore Fashion Park. White-blonde toddlers in fancy dresses mix with aging frosted-blonde socialites in pantsuits, snacking on crustless peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches…

Another teenager in the care of the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections has tried to kill himself. On September 21, a boy assigned to the mental health unit at Adobe Mountain School in Phoenix tried to hang himself, ADJC spokesman Steve Meissner confirms. Although he released a few details on…

More than a year into a federal investigation of alleged abuse of children in his agency’s custody, Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections Director David Gaspar has resigned. Neither Gaspar nor Governor Janet Napolitano, who accepted his resignation last week, mentioned the investigation or other problems that have plagued the agency,…

Heather Grossman tells a classic tale of domestic abuse. She says her husband John spit in her face, slapped her, tossed garbage on her bed, threw bags of dog feces at her, smeared food on her face, locked her in a bedroom away from her children, threatened the kids and…

The state ombudsman’s office has concluded that the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections failed to conduct an adequate investigation into allegations that a security officer seriously injured a boy in the state’s custody. The event in question took place in January 2001, when Seth Edwards, then detained at the Adobe…

On the morning of Sunday, March 23, Roy Roman Jr. looped a belt around his neck and hanged himself at Adobe Mountain School. He is the third boy to kill himself in less than a year at the Phoenix detention facility run by the Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections. Officially,…

Dr. Arnie Serota was furious. On February 27, 2002, a young man had fallen while rock climbing at Mount Lemmon near Tucson. He died of a head injury a few days later at Tucson Medical Center. The death was tragic, the 19-year-old strong and healthy. As medical director of Donor…

Phoenix has long been considered a developer’s paradise. But a proposal making its way quickly through City Hall would make life hell, say homebuilders, architects and other members of the development community. As early as next month, Phoenix could become the first major city in the country to adopt a…