By John Dickerson “Drop-dead-gorgeous Alison Hicks was plunged into a nightmare world of degrading strip searches, savage catfights, sadistically cruel prison matrons and mannish lesbians–who took one look at her slim, athletic body and big breasts and converged on her like voracious army ants.” So reads the first paragraph in…
Brian “Head” Welch, former lead guitarist and founding member of the band Korn, was standing in the murky waters of the Jordan River, waiting to be baptized. As his tears dropped into the same river where Christ once stood, Welch looked, on that March day in 2005, like the Jesus…
After a decades-long court battle with Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his predecessors, a lawsuit alleging poor conditions in the Maricopa County jails is finally moving forward. Health and corrections experts are currently examining conditions in Arpaio’s jails, in connection with Hart v. Arpaio, a class-action lawsuit brought by Phoenix attorney…
By John Dickerson It’s the worst kept secret in town that the Arizona Republic is a sad and sorry shell of its former self. (Revisit Sarah Fenske’s 2007 cover story on the topic if you’re not clear on the details.) And it’s the second-worst kept secret in town that the…
Investors in Main Street Glendale (artist’s rendering above) claim Mortgages Ltd. hasn’t forked over the multi-million-dollar loan it guaranteed. By John Dickerson Mortgages Ltd. executives held a much-anticipated conference call with investors this morning, to explain the company’s fate after the death of CEO Scott Coles on June 2, a…
By John Dickerson Avoid the enforcer by visiting speedtraps.org. I was driving behind an important story source (who shall remain anonymous) when a Department of Public Safety patrol car pulled alongside me (not behind me) with flashing lights ablaze. I slowed down, thinking the patrolman was on his way to…
By John Dickerson Mortgages Ltd. CEO Scott Coles, 48, was found dead on Monday in his $11.3 million home. The cause of death has yet to be determined, but the unfortunate event may fit the scenario of CEO suicide during an economic downturn. Mortgages Ltd. isn’t a small-time residential loan…
By John Dickerson Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio lied to the news media at a press conference he called Wednesday about how much jail lawsuits have cost the county compared to Los Angeles County. Then, he verbally flogged attorney Mike Manning and, after the briefing, one of his flacks threw…
By John Dickerson In 2003, New Times’ Amy Silverman, now the newspaper’s managing editor, penned a gripping account of a husband’s abuse of his a quadraplegic wife, who’d already survived one abusive husband — barely. Tomorrow, CBS’ 48 Hours will retell Heather Grossman’s story to the nation. The show airs…
By John Dickerson A faithful New Times reader named Tom Tucker just called in: “I love your guys’ articles, but a guy I work with is a real Doubting Thomas. He doesn’t believe anything in that paper’s real.” This Doubting Thomas couldn’t believe this week’s cover story about a felon…
At 65, Paul Phillips was ready to retire. He’d raised his four kids, sold his Phoenix produce company, and even bought a 40-foot RV to drive across the country with his wife LuWanna. Phillips was working on his golf game, in anticipation of all the free time he’d have. Even…
By John Dickerson Six attorneys and a federal judge wrangled in U.S. District Court for three and a half hours this week over the issue of moving forward with possibly the most important inmates’ rights lawsuit ever filed against the Maricopa County Sheriff Office: Hart vs. Arpaio. Lawyer Dennis Wilenchik,…
New Times founder and executive editor Michael Lacey has been honored with the Arizona Press Club’s Distinguished Service Award. The lifetime accolade was given for Lacey’s 38 years as a writer, editor, and newspaper owner in Arizona. It’s one of two national and 19 state awards that New Times has…
By John Dickerson New Times founder and executive editor Michael Lacey was honored over the weekend with the Arizona Press Club’s Distinguished Service Award. The lifetime accolade was given for Lacey’s 38 years as a writer, editor and newspaper owner in Arizona. It was one of 17 press club awards…
By John Dickerson The best way to avoid rancid “mystery meat” in Arpaio’s jail is to claim you’re Hindu and need a vegetarian diet. That’s precisely what inmate Shaun Attwood did. He lists this and other gems of jail survival on his blog. If you’re steering clear of the slammer,…
By John Dickerson Pinal County officials never arrested patrons who danced at the San Tan Flat restaurant near Queen Creek. But they did fine the owner about $200,000 for allegedly breaking the law–all because outdoor dancing supposedly violated a 60-year old county ordinance. That hefty fine sparked a bitter tango…
By John Dickerson ABC’s Good Morning America recently retold New Times’ “Hot Potato” story. New Times reported the story on November 8, 2007. “Hot Potato” detailed a case of buyer-remorse that escalated into a lawsuit. The story centered on Candy Tatum, a potato-throwing neighbor whom the buyer said was too…
If you’ve been swayed by a campaign to recycle office paper, you should feel ripped off. Those who really want to save the Earth should be more concerned with their leftovers. Every year, Americans throw out three times as much food as they do office paper. That’s 26 million tons…
A Florida doctor lost his license after he was diagnosed as a sex addict — he claimed he could cure his female patients by fondling their breasts. A Utah doctor lost his license after he illegally prescribed drugs over the Internet. A California doctor lost his license after he was…
Laura Migliano was looking for some relief when she showed up for a doctor’s appointment in April 2004. Ten years earlier, she’d herniated a disc while doing sit-ups. She spent a decade fighting the pain — with surgery, steroid injections, and finally with a battery-powered spinal cord stimulator. The stimulator…
The day after Christmas, Wayne Liersch showed up for work at Paradise Valley Mall. He was a maintenance guy; normally, his day consisted of changing light bulbs and cleaning up spilled sodas. But on this day, his job was to pressure-wash blood and ash off a pair of benches where…
• On March 26, 1996, Jose Rodriquez, 39, died in a pool of his own vomit on a jail floor. His cries for help went ignored by Arpaio’s jail employees. Rodriquez’s dehydration, fever and twitching ultimately led to his death, even while inmates shouted for help. • On June 1,…
