Quick note from the common sense department: When you walk into a pawn shop in a seedy part of town, the owner probably has a gun.Someone might want to share this bit of urban wisdom with a Phoenix man, who police say tried to rob a pawn shop, and now…

Some say that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.If that’s the case, the state legislature is officially insane.On Thursday, after seven painstaking weeks of budget negotiations, the legislature sent Governor Jan Brewer a budget plan that is nearly identical…

Massage parlors where the masseuse also serves as a madame are in the cross hairs of Mesa Mayor Scott Smith.Smith says that Mesa is home to several “seedy” massage parlors where clients are getting more than just their shoulders and backs rubbed. Smith says he is giving local law enforcement…

We would never recommend driving drunk, but this weekend, we really don’t recommend it.Starting Friday, the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety is beginning the national 2009 Labor Day holiday drunk-driving law enforcement campaign:  “Over the Limit.  Under Arrest.”In a press release, GOHS Director Alberto Gutier warns that this weekend there…

We know Sammy Hagar “can’t drive 55,” and it seems as though Arizona Department of Education Superintendent Tom Horne suffers from the same affliction.In the last 18 months, Horne has been ticketed for speeding six times “that he is aware of,” including once while zipping through a school zone.Horne tells…

Run and hide! The Phoenix bee invasion has claimed yet another victim.Just hours after an 81-year-old woman was attacked yesterday by a swarm of Africanized bees near 33rd Avenue, south of Cactus Road, a 72-year-old man, on the other side of town, was also attacked.Phoenix Fire Department officials say the…

Scottsdale apparently had its very own version of Steve Martin’s Ruprecht in the 1988 film “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.”…

Not only does the state of Arizona have a $3.5 billion budget gap to close, it’s also apparently about $400 million in debt due to internal loans .State Treasurer Dean Martin to the rescue.Our liable Legislature has been borrowing money from about 1,800 government funds just to pay bills.”It’s like…

Remember when bees were nice? Sure there was an occasional sting here and there, but they never seemed to be out for blood like these Africanized monsters we have today.An 81-year-old Phoenix woman is the latest victim of the implacable insect, after she was found on her porch near 33rd…

Rapper Lil Wayne brought more than beats and bling to the Valley when he performed here last week; police say the hip-hop hood also brought along a little drama.After a concert at the Cricket Wireless Pavilion last Wednesday, police say Lil Wayne and his “posse” got in an altercation at an apartment…

The days where bunk-beds and communal bathrooms were the norm for incoming college freshman are over for hundreds of ASU students who decided to skip the dorms and move into luxury apartments. Why not, right?The Vue on Apache, which sits directly across from ASU’s Tempe campus, is set to open…

Sheriff Joe Arpaio is in a huff today, after the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors refused to license a new jail bus he bought without their consent.”Since the county, because of their personal agenda, refused to buy [the bus], we bought [it out of the] Jail Enhancement Fund,” Arpaio says. “I…

Men throughout the Valley can take a collective sigh of relief; Phoenix offers some of the cheapest dates in the country.No gentlemen, that does not mean that the women are cheap, but rather the places you take them, as you try and woo them into submission, won’t force you to…

In case you’ve been living on Mars for the last several months, the nation is in the midst of an intense debate over healthcare. Sick of it yet (no pun intended)? Well, a Mesa man claims to have the solution: Don’t bother getting health insurance at all.Chad Harris, chief executive…

In Gilbert, the carefree days of whimsically crossing a street at your leisure are over, as the Gilbert Police Department is beginning a sweep to cut down on jaywalking.Um, talk about taking a bite outta crime…With the school year fast approaching, police issued a firm warning to students and parents…

A snowbird has joined us in a Phoenix a little early this year; we’re just not sure how the heck he got here.Douglas Rudsinski,  66, from Matteson, Illinois, disappeared from a vacation home in Connecticut on Friday morning, and was inexplicably found at the Safeway on East Greenway Road in…

Thanks to countless idiots, who despite more than a decade of warnings are still giving their debit card pin numbers away to strangers, there is a brand new debit card scam going on right here in the Valley.Desert Schools Federal Credit Union is warning customers about a scam that is happening…

Arizona has its own “Obama Girl,” and she happens to be part of the state House Democratic leadership.Assistant House Democratic leader Krysten Sinema, whose apparent crush on our progressive president reached fever pitch today, as she marched with dozens of demonstrators in favor of “Obama-care.”During the president’s speech to the Veterans…

Someone in the Valley just won a ton of money, and they probably don’t even know it.The Arizona State Lottery is looking for the person who bought a powerball ticket at the gas station of the Safeway store at 5810 West Thunderbird Road in Glendale for the February 18 drawing.The…

Last month, Arizona State University trickled further down the list of the most elite party schools in the country, drawing a tear from frat boys throughout Tempe. While the keg might be kicked for ASU’s party scene, students can rest easy knowing that, according to a recent survey, they are…