The Arizona State Legislature is considering pawning the State Capitol like a cheap watch. A plan being considered by Governor Jan Brewer and members of the Legislature would sell the Arizona State Capitol building to private investors in an effort to help bridge the current $3.4 billion budget gap…
In the latest round of budgetary “boo-hoos,” Democrats in the Arizona House of Representatives issued a press release today littered with frightening rhetoric slamming the latest Republican budget plan. If bipartisan budget talks are over, the Democrats say, it’s the Republicans’ fault. They add that the GOP plan would essentially take Arizona to…
One of the many organizations to lose funding in the ongoing Arizona legislative budget battle sent 25 blind children to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro last month. The Foundation for Blind Children, a Valley non-profit that (among other things) sponsors the “See Kili Our Way” program, lost 10 percent of…
Un-tap the keg, and turn out the lights; Arizona State University’s reign as one of the nations top party schools is coming to an end, according to a recent survey. This year’s Princeton Review survey places ASU 20th when it comes to partying, and marks the lowest ranking on any…
Why’s it taken the Arizona Legislature several months to come up with a budget, with still nothing much on the horizon? Well, there are several reasons, and most contain expletives. But one reason is that dozens of people are trying to do thousands of different things with money that doesn’t actually exist. An Arizona State…
Now more than two weeks after the Arizona State Legislature passed a budget deemed satisfactory by Governor Jan Brewer, the absentee chief executive has cleared her schedule to hold discussions with legislators on how to pay for it. Brewer’s schedule, usually full of press conferences, ribbon-cutting ceremonies, and baby-kissing, this…
Just when we thought we didn’t have to watch commercials anymore, with TiVo ending the corporate enslavement of our subconscious, advertisers snuck back in. And we didn’t even notice. A study released by the Department of Research and Economic Affairs at Arizona State University found that subliminal advertising through product placement in movies…
In what will probably be described sarcastically as a “dream come true,” by fathers of 10-year-old girls across the Valley, the Jonas Brothers are scheduled to play in a public kickball game in Peoria in August. The pop-tarts — who vehemently campaign for chastity, clean living, and just about everything else the rest of us…
A local group’s taking its plea for the Arizona Republic’s survival to the same “new media” that’s taking a huge toll on the daily’s business. The group on Facebook has set sights on bringing new business to the publication that recently suffered another round of layoffs. “Rescue the Republic” is comprised of about 1,200 ex-reporters, journalism…
Where is Governor Jan Brewer these days? Well, we know where she’s not, and that’s participating in budget talks with the Arizona Legislature. On Wednesday, members from both sides of the aisle met for the third time this week to try to hash out a plan to pay for this years…
With the current state of the United States economy being, well, horrifying, Mexican immigrants here are running for the border. A study released Wednesday by the Pew Hispanic Center shows that the number of Mexican’s entering the United States illegally has dropped nearly 40 percent in 2009, and found that nearly…
In the 1997 Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown, Robert DeNiro’s character walks into an apartment and finds Bridget Fonda’s flakey blonde character watching television with bong in hand. He says to her: “You know that shit will kill your ambition.” She replies: “Not if your ambition is to get stoned and watch TV” Here…
James King Governor, DPS Director Roger Vanderpool, and a whole lotta drugs. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer acted surprised Tuesday afternoon when she saw what was said to be more than $2 million worth of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana seized in a single bust by the Arizona Department of Public…
Bored with the outrage that our own government has offered in recent months, Greater Phoenix is going global and will be one of 50 sites across the planet that will protest the controversial elections in Iran last month. The hoopla stems from the June 12th election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and allegations that he stole…
It’s a sadder day for the fat kid in dodgeball. Arizona Department of Education Superintendent Tom Horne has announced that he wants the public’s help to try to slim down Arizona’s pudgy pupils and that he wants feedback on the new physical-education requirements that he and 18 health-education professionals…
Arizona House Majority Leader John McComish (R-Ahwatukee) has found a polite way to tell freshman Representative Rae Waters (D-Ahwatukee) that her often loopy legislating could use a little work. Last week, McComish recommended Waters, who has an almost deer-in-the-headlights charm about her, participate in the Western Legislative Academy, a…
ASU The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at ASU The memory of the late CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite is already leaving a lasting impression on the students whose school bears his name. Their Facebook pages, too. For anyone with a “friendlist” comprised of scores of…
If you had told Wayne Gretzky when he was 17 years old and already playing professional hockey, that he would some day be going to court over a hockey team in Phoenix, he probably would have looked puzzled and asked: “Where?” But, here we are, and here he is. Phoenix has a…
Where’s the best place to go when you need to find more than $2 billion to pay for Arizona’s budget this year? If you ask some Arizona Legislators, the answer’s Atlanta, Georgia, duh. Fourteen lawmaker members of Arizona’s GOP shuffled down to dixie this week to attend the American Legislative Exchange…
The Sandra Day O’Connor United States Courthouse in Phoenix is an architectural marvel, in that every summer, anyone who enters the building marvels at just how hot it’s capable of getting — even with the air-conditioning at full blast. Now people are marveling at another aspect of the building: What clown…
There are few things in life more wilting than a blast of 115-degree air, like the one we get when we open the car window in mid-July. Now, thanks to Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, Phoenicians will get to experience that little joy far more frequently. Monday, as part of…
www.mrrl.org Has Obama taken the role of Don Corleone? In Corleone fashion, top Obama officials made Arizona Governor Jan Brewer an offer she shouldn’t refuse. They want her to back the President’s stimulus plan, and if she doesn’t and agrees with Senator Jon Kyl, she should say ciao to the federal funds…
