Four Arizona congressional representatives sent U.S. Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake a letter urging them to introduce an amendment in the 2016 Senate Transportation, Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill that would demand the FAA address the airplane noise problem disrupting the lives of thousands of Phoenix residents. Congressman…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. This week: Bed-head and other blow-outs gone wild 10. …
The Arizona Office of the Auditor General recently published what may become a landmark study of Arizona’s child welfare system. The 73-page document paints a picture of an agency struggling even after it was removed from the larger umbrella of the Department of Economic Security last year, and made into…
The Gila River Indian Community is the latest group to sue the Arizona Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration over a planned extension of Loop 202, called the South Mountain Freeway pass. The lawsuit filed this week alleges that the two agencies violated the National Environmental Policy Act and…
The long-awaited independent audit of the Department of Child Safety will be made public sometime this morning. It’s unclear what the verdict will be, but if recent statistics and news reports about the downward trends of the agency are any indication, there’s likely to be a lot of constructive criticism…
In a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that Arizona’s independent election redistricting commission does not violate the “election clause,” and is therefore constitutional. After a voter initiative to create an independent redistricting commission in Arizona passed in 2000, there has been an ongoing debate about whether the commission…
Chances are good you’re still celebrating today’s landmark same-sex marriage ruling and yesterday’s Obamacare victory, but the U.S. Supreme Court still has a few major cases to resolve, including a really important one about redistricting powers that will directly affect Arizona residents by impactin g all of our future elections…
Maricopa County settled yet another wrongful death suit this week, paying almost $1 million to the family of Felix Torres, who died an excruciatingly painful death from ulcer-related complications in a county jail while detention officers refused to help him. Michael Lacey wrote about the case last month for New…
The National Trust for Historic Preservation recently published its annual list of the most endangered historical places in the country, and it included two sites in Arizona: the Grand Canyon and Oak Flat. The Grand Canyon, and the adjacent 1.7 million acres of its watershed, face threats from mining, development,…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. This week: It’s officially summer! 10) Booked on suspicion…
The Acting Director for the City of Phoenix’s Aviation Department has been suspended for 40 hours without pay and demoted in the wake of an investigation into the long process leading up to the September 18 flight path changes at Sky Harbor International Airport. Ever since the changes, which were part…
Well-known Phoenix Reverend Jarrett Maupin believes that criticism of the plan he made with Sheriff Joe Arpaio to put armed guards outside of 60 predominantly black churches in Phoenix stems from “preacher pettiness” and “personality animosity.” He specifically calls out Reverend Reginald D. Walton and Pastor Warren Stewart jr. for…
Congressman Ruben Gallego stood in front of a packed audience Monday night and told the crowd of Phoenix residents that the extent to which he can help force the FAA to reconsider the changes it made to Sky Harbor’s flight paths last fall “is now limited.” “What we need now…
A five-hour standoff between the Scottsdale Police Department SWAT team and an armed resident who had barricaded himself in his ex-wife’s home on East Dixileta Street ended last night when the man committed suicide. According to the Scottsdale police, as a woman and her 12-year-old son were leaving their home,…
“Thanks, but no thanks” was the message a group of church leaders and community members had for Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the day after he announced a plan to keep dozens of black churches “safe” across Phoenix with “armed deputies and posse members.” Arpaio stated his intention at a press conference…
As temperatures in Maricopa County reach record-setting highs, efforts to prevent heat-related injuries or deaths among the homeless population are in overdrive. Every summer, between 30-40 people die from exposure across the state, and the homeless are particularly vulnerable. Laura DiTroia, director of programming at the Lodestar Day Resource Center,…
Tomorrow morning at the Phillips Memorial Christian Methodist Episcopal Church in Phoenix, prominent civil rights activist Reverend Reginald D. Walton is organizing a multi-faith vigil for the nine victims of last night’s shooting in Charleston, South Carolina. “We cannot idly stand by as one [in] our community is under attack,”…
Two-year-old Cloud Gerhart weighed just 17 pounds when the Department of Child Safety finally removed him from his home in September 2014. The first call to authorities had come before he was even born, after Cloud’s mother, Megan, tested positive for marijuana during two prenatal appointments. Between the time of…
An anti-Islam, freedom-of-speech rally will take place outside of the Tucson Islamic Center on Saturday, July 18. The event is modeled after a protest at Phoenix Islamic Culture Center on May 29, which was purportedly a reaction to the two men who opened fire on a Muhammed cartoon drawing contest in…
The city of Phoenix is filing a lawsuit today against the Federal Aviation Administration for unilaterally imposing flight path changes at Sky Harbor International Airport last September without due process. The changes have affected thousands of Valley residents and were made without consulting the city or its aviation department. The…
Local VA whistleblower Jared Kinnaman is demanding that U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs Robert McDonald and Glen Grippen, interim director of the Phoenix VA Medical Center, resign from their leadership positions. Kinnaman sent them personalized letters late last week, describing the Phoenix VA system as “a very volatile and grossly…
As helicopters circled overhead and police officers stood guard, the seven-plus-hour “Rally for Free Speech” protest outside of the north Phoenix Islamic Community Center on Friday remained relatively uneventful. No arrests were made, no guns were fired, and though a few fights almost broke out along the edges of the event —…
