A complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix today alleging that several Kansas-based telemarketing firms have been ripping off suckers and the elderly in countless states including Arizona.The complaint says Landmark Publishing Group, Grant Writers Institute, Apex Holdings International and Real Estate Buyers Financial Network, would sell consumers a “federal grants…

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sent Arizona Governor Jan Brewer a letter today, offering to rent space on the outside walls of the state capitol building and use it to advertise its veggie-driven agenda.PETA wants to pay the state to drop a giant banner down the front of the…

A Liberian official came to Phoenix today to represent the Liberian government in talks between authorities and the families involved in the alleged rape of an 8-year-old girl last month.Edwin, Sele, Liberia’s deputy chief of missions in the United States, seems to be coming to the Valley to defend the…

Arizona state Senate Republicans are pulling out the big guns and taking aim at Senator Carolyn Allen to get the final vote needed to pass the 2010 budget.Allen is one of three Republicans who is still giving the GOP plan a no-go, but the leadership is confident that she will…

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office wants to charge a second teen attacker as an adult in the sexual assault of an 8-year-old Liberian girl.Last month, police say the 8-year-old was sexually assaulted by four Liberian boys — ages 9, 10, 13, and 14. After the assault, the girl was said…

If the Arizona Senate could vote on a budget as quickly as members vote on leadership positions, we might not still have a $3.4-billion budget gap.Senate Republicans named Steve Pierce acting majority whip Tuesday, just hours after former-Majority Whip Pamela Gorman bailed on the position because she couldn’t play nice with other…

Picture young girls who just watched their mother slob around drunk for a day. Now, imagine them getting screamed at for not giving the drunken mom her car keys so she can go careening around the streets of Tempe smashed. After a few minutes of yelling, mom then pepper-sprays them…

If you were an Arizona state senator, where would you go while the state faces one of the worst financial crisis of your lifetime? If your answer isn’t to go on a Caribbean cruise, you may want to tell that to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray. Gray whisked off to…

If you can’t beat em’, quit. That’s what one Arizona lawmaker chose to do today as the state budget battle wages on.Senate Majority Whip Pamela Gorman resigned her post in the Republican leadership in response to the party’s support of a 1-cent-sales-tax increase.”This tax increase issue is tearing our otherwise…

Looking for love in all the wrong places? Here’s one more.The producers of ABC’s The Bachelor will be holding open casting calls this week, right here in the Valley.On Thursday at 5 p.m., single ladies can audition to win the heart of an undisclosed bachelor, and duke it out with…

Most of us have been drunk, but have you ever been “Drank”? Drank, a new beverage sold in Valley stores, is a concoction of herbal supplements that is said to cause a sensation similar to the high we get from marijuana. It’s been described by users as “weed in a can.” Says…

  Federal investigators announced that a 2008 incident where two pilots for Go! Airlines, a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, didn’t respond to air-traffic controlers for more than 15 minutes as their plane flew over Hawaii happened because both pilots fell asleep. Yikes!  Air-traffic controlers tried to contact the snoozing aviators…

Youtube videos of people screaming “don’t Tase me bro” while getting zapped by police officers could become as common as reports of police who use their Tasers more liberally than civil rights leaders condone. Scottsdale-based Taser International announced recently that it’s creating a head-mounted video-recording system for police officers that they expect will cut the companies legal fees in…

  As both Republicans and Democrats in the Arizona Legislature are failing miserably at agreeing on a state budget, three new political parties are emerging on our state’s political landscape. The American Independent Party, the Constitution Party, and the Modern Whig Party are  fighting to get on the Arizona ballot in time to…

Al Garza’s resigned as the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps’ second in command. No, the “war” is not over, says Garza, who’d been the organization’s vice president, but he can no longer support the Minuteman organization for a host of reasons — including political infighting and how the group is perceived by the general public. “Unfortunately, the public perception of…

  Lorena Sanchez-Ramirez, caught with more than 500 pounds of marijuana last year in Missouri, received a suspended sentence Friday after originally getting a 10-year prison term from the judge who wound up setting her free. Sanchez-Ramirez, a 43-year-old housekeeper and grandmother of nine from Douglas (a border town about 250 miles from Phoenix), was…

  Nobody at the the homeless shelter where Richard Walters lived before he died in 2007 could believe the news. But it was said that the homeless man was the same guy who had given away $4 million to about a dozen non-profit organizations — including National Public Radio. Turned out Walters was…

  There are few things more frantic than a mother with a sick kid, and finding a doctor who meets her standards is never easy. Fortunately, Mamapedia.com, an information Web site for all things mommy, has compiled a list of the most popular pediatricians in the Valley.    …

When are they going to get it?In what is becoming a sickening trend, Arizona teachers are now the latest group to use and abuse taxpayer money to pay for lavish vacations under the veil of “training seminars.”In July, hundreds of teachers from across Arizona, some of whom even brought their…

Governor Jan Brewer woke up extra early Friday to try to save her potentially doomed budget plan.Brewer met with Senate Majority Whip Pamela Gorman about 7 a.m., in a last-ditch effort to persuade the Governor’s political foe to sign on to her budget deal, which includes a sales tax increase that…

Not just Phoenix, not just in Maricopa County, but cities in the entire state of Arizona were snubbed this year by Money Magazine’s “Best Places to Live” rankings. That’s right; not a single town, village, or city in the entire state made the highbrow gazette’s cut in this years rankings.This year’s Money poll…