For any Phoenix residents expecting an evening of lip service by the city’s Aviation Department, last night’s Community Outreach Meeting was a pleasant surprise. After six months of disruptive, and at times, constant airplane noise, Chad Makovsky, Assistant Aviation Director at Sky Harbor, assured the room that his department is…

An employee with the Phoenix Aviation Department might have known more about the Sky Harbor flight path changes than was originally thought. In a memo sent to the mayor and City Council members yesterday, City Manager Ed Zuercher wrote that the city was “told that there was no authorization or…

“The East Lot is going to continue as long as we need it.” That’s the message Bruce Liggett, director of the Maricopa County Human Services Department, wants to make loud and clear. He’s aware of the rumor that the Central Arizona Shelter Services, the nonprofit that manages the Men’s Overflow…

As the closing of the Men’s Overflow Shelter makes headlines, another more frightening countdown looms: the day the Central Arizona Shelter Services runs out of money for the East Lot, the parking lot where 300-400 homeless men and women sleep every night. As it stands, CASS only has funds to…

In case all the ocelots, jaguars, and Mexican spotted owls are starting to feel too safe, the Arizona Committee on Military Affairs and Public Safety is stepping in, having passed a memorial to modify the rules and provisions of the Endangered Species Act. SCM 1009 encourages Congress to exempt U.S…

The Maricopa Alliance for Housing and Shelter, a grassroots organization advocating for the homeless, is demanding conditions improve at the Men’s Overflow Shelter and adjacent East Lot immediately. The group sent a clear and strong message in a formal letter to local, county, and state officials this afternoon. Included in…

Gerry McCue gets a kick out of describing the moment last fall when he first heard the airplanes over his house. “I thought the city of Phoenix was being evacuated and I didn’t get the memo,” the 85-year-old says, opening his eyes wide for dramatic effect. Like many residents in…

Last weekend, more than 50 people sat on folding chairs in the Andre House dining room to discuss, among other things, the upcoming closure of the Men’s Overflow Shelter March 31. The community event was hosted by the Maricopa Alliance for Shelter, and Housing and began with comments from Bruce…

In the latest effort to foil the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange, activists are asking President Obama to designate Oak Flat a national monument. The area, which is part of Tonto National Forest, is a historically significant and sacred spot for many Native American tribes, as well as a well-known rock-climbing…

Leaders of Occupy Oak Flat say they won’t give up until the U.S. government repeals the Southeast Arizona Land Exchange. The San Carlos Apache Tribe, leading a three-week protest at the Oak Flat Campground, vows to remain there until the federal government bends. The controversial exchange gave Australian-British mining company…

The Arizona ACLU has teamed up with its San Diego counterpart and a private law firm, Cooley LLP, to file a federal lawsuit against multiple U.S. agencies for failing “to produce records related to the abuse and mistreatment of children in the custody of Customs and Border Protection and its…

A week after two Arizona agencies were implicated in a federal class-action lawsuit because of the state’s “dangerous, severely deficient foster care system,” Governor Doug Ducey’s office finally made a move. On Tuesday afternoon, Ducey announced that he was firing Charles Flanagan, head of the Department of Child Safety, and…

Phoenix just got one step closer to becoming the global center for diagnosing autism after an iPhone app called NODA™ opened to the public yesterday– and no, this has nothing to do with the measles vaccine. NODA, for Naturalistic Observation Diagnostic Assessment, allows parents to upload videos of their children…

Since the news of a lawsuit about Arizona’s “dangerous, severely deficient foster care system” broke on Tuesday, February 4, the story has made headlines around the nation. It’s been reported in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, and if the past week is any indication, Beth K. v Flanagan…

Citing Arizona’s “dangerous, severely deficient foster care system,” today a group led by the Arizona Center for the Law in the Public Interest filled a federal class action lawsuit blaming the Department of Child Safety and Department of Health Services for “structural and operational failures” harming 16,000-plus children in the…