By John Dickerson Thirteen years ago yesterday O.J.Simpson was found “not guilty” in the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Since that day, Goldman’s dad — Fred Goldman — has been living in Phoenix and pursuing justice against Simpson at any cost. So Goldman tells New…
By John Dickerson The National Commission on Correctional Health Care, or NCCHC, has revoked the accreditation of all Maricopa County jails. The decision is a huge blow to Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the county – as this was the jails’ only third-party accreditation. Among other causes, the NCCHC found Arpaio’s…
By John Dickerson Juan Mendoza Farias appeared to be in good health — or at least his face was — in a booking photo taken four days before his bruised body arrived at the county morgue. Farais, 40, a legal U.S. resident with a valid social security number, died after…
By John Dickerson Scott Coles paid $375,000 to have a benefit lunch with Donald Trump, according to an April 1, 2007 article in the New York Post. The money was no April Fool’s Joke. It was one day in a lifestyle of uber-wealth that ultimately sunk the company Coles’ inherited…
Stacy Lee, a middle-aged African-American pastor, is standing in the entryway of the Covenant Christian Center in Peoria. He’s wearing a four-button suit with a tie and describing his church’s deal with Mortgages Ltd. “We just wanted to find out what would happen if we got to the end of…
Four state and federal authorities had the power to investigate Mortgages Ltd. before the company declared bankruptcy. At least two of the four were warned in writing about the company’s practices. None of those authorities opened public investigations into Mortgages Ltd., which was one of the largest pools of investor…
Juan Mendoza Farias’ death came at a particularly inconvenient time for Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The date — December 5, 2007 — fell in the middle of a nine-month window during which two attorneys had court-ordered access to jail records, as part of a federal civil rights lawsuit. But…
On December 2, 2007, a 40-year-old man named Juan Mendoza Farias was arrested and booked into the Maricopa County Jail. Like a lot of people who come through Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s doors, Farias’ offense was DUI-related, a probation violation. Farias wound up with a death sentence. After three days, he…
All is apparently not well with two Arizona physicians, both subjects of recent New Times stories. One doctor, a plastic surgeon named Elliott Schmerler, is under investigation by the state’s homeopathic medical board, for performing surgeries not allowed by his license. And Michael Mahl, a medical doctor and admitted addict,…
By John Dickerson The smiling face of Susan Bitter-Smith is popping up on campaign signs across Tempe and Scottsdale. Only problem is that the campaign photo of Bitter-Smith doesn’t resemble other photos of her, critics say. Bitter-Smith’s campaign photo (top) doesn’t resemble this 2006 photo (bottom) or other recent photos…
By John Dickerson In March New Times identified an addicted doctor who was practicing in Arizona without drug tests. The story (“The Doctor Is Out,” March 6, 2008) critiqued Arizona’s program for addicted physicians. Research showed three out of four doctors relapsed after the board stopped drug testing them. It…
By John Dickerson New Times reporting played a key role in the potential suspension of an Arizona physician’s medical license. The physician, Dr. Elliott Schmerler, was named in the April 10, 2008 feature “Dr. Loophole.” Though banned from performing cosmetic surgery in Nevada, Schmerler slipped through a licensing loophole to…
By John Dickerson The court won’t hear arguments about when to resume monthly checks for investors until late September, said U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Randolph Haines in his opening statement at today’s hearing in Mortgages Ltd.’s bankruptcy. The announcement came to a courtroom packed with more than a dozen attorneys and…
It was February 2, 2008, and the sun had barely set on the usually quiet streets that snake up Camelback Mountain. The bump of rapper Ludacris’ music was in the air, and a line of short-skirted, high-heeled girls clomped off a tour bus — barely avoiding another bus as it…
By John Dickerson On Monday, July 28, “Sheriff Joe” made the editorial page of the Washington Post. And this bit of national coverage didn’t involve some brainless TV reporter taking Arpaio’s word or remarking about how neato that pink underwear is. No, D.C.’s paper of record called it like it…
By John Dickerson In March, New Times reported that the Arizona Medical Board looks the other way once doctors graduate from its addiction recovery program. The board doesn’t even track how many doctors relapse once their drug testing ends (about three out of four docs New Times followed did relapse)…
By John Dickerson The Arizona Legislature adjourned weeks ago, but the delicious nastiness continues – this time over gay marriage and a thwarted filibuster. On Monday, the Senate Ethics Committee will convene to hear Phoenix Democrat Ken Cheuvront’s complaint against Surprise Republican Jack Harper. June 27, just as the legislature…
By John Dickerson Last week a college student and first-time voter called NPR’s Talk of the Nation and said he felt that the media hasn’t been covering presidential candidate John McCain at all. In the few days since that call, I’ve been watching the headlines, and I’ve noticed the guy…
By John Dickerson Governor Janet Napolitano expects Arizona’s new photo-enforcement cameras (which will be strung from Flagstaff to Tucson) to suck at least $165 million in fines out of Arizona taxpayers’ pockets. If you want to keep your money (who doesn’t?), and you have a penchant for getting from point…
By John Dickerson No point in even attempting to keep a mental tally of photo-radar locations anymore. This morning, Redflex Traffic Systems won a contract with the state of Arizona to install 60 photo-enforcement cameras on the state’s freeways and to build another 40 mobile photo-radar vans. The total 100…
By John Dickerson According to a local source and Department of Justice documents now available online, counter-terrorism officials are training government employees and civilians to keep an eye on you. And few states are training Big Brother’s informants faster than Arizona. These unpaid spies are called TLOs (Terrorism Liaison Officers)…
By John Dickerson It’s all about perspective. Some voters see Arizona U.S. Senator John McCain’s torture in a Viet Cong prisoner-of-war camp as a badge of honor. Others claim the years of agony made him lose his mind. Still others, even in his home state, don’t even know he was…
