For weeks a rumor has been circulating that when Phoenix’s main emergency shelter for women closes later this summer, the hundreds of women it serves will have nowhere else to go. It’s a situation that certainly seems plausible, given Maricopa County’s decision to shut down the Men’s Overflow Shelter last…
Youth advocates and members of the Arizona Public Defender Association want the Arizona Supreme Court to do what many other states have done and end the indiscriminate shackling of youth in juvenile courtrooms. In a petition submitted to the court, attorney Christina Phillis writes that, “The goal of juvenile court is…
With a bill to ban uranium mining near the Grand Canyon all but dead in the U.S. House of Representatives, supporters of the effort are shifting gears and moving to Plan B: Trying to get the President Barack Obama to use his executive authority to do it by designating the…
For many, there always was something fishy about the case against Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., the 21-landscaper previously accused of being the “I-10 Freeway Shooter.” Whether it was the way Governor Doug Ducey tweeted “We got him,” or the seemingly desperate way the Arizona Department of Public Safety adjusted its…
Amy Goodman, the award-winning investigative journalist and host of the popular progressive news program Democracy Now! will be in Arizona this week to discuss the importance of an independent media and to promote her new book, Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America. She’ll be joined Denis Moynihan,…
Scottsdale resident Laurice Dee started an online petition earlier this month to stop the Mexican entertainment company, Dolphinaris, from building a swim-with-the-dolphins facility in her area. Since the petition went live on April 2, more than 95,000 people have signed it. New Times spoke with Dee about her petition, what…
Shortly after a worldwide campaign successfully got SeaWorld to stop breeding orca whales in captivity, a new animal-rights effort aimed at protecting marine animals seems to be picking up steam here in Arizona. As of publication time, more than 92,000 people across the country had signed a petition demanding the…
From the moment Arizona Governor Doug Ducey tweeted “We got him,” and announced to the world that a SWAT team from the Department of Public Safety had taken the suspected I-10 shooter into custody, people throughout Arizona were upset by the way the state was handling the situation – “What…
For the first time his decades long political career, U.S. Senator John McCain says he’ll skip the National Republican Convention in Cleveland this July because he needs “to campaign for reelection,” CNN is reporting. McCain is in the middle of tough election battle against Ann Kirkpatrick, the Democrat trying to…
Should 1.7 million acres of land around the Grand Canyon be designated a national monument? It’s certainly a topic of hot debate in Arizona. Supporters of the monument say it will permanently protect an ecologically fragile and historically significant area from uranium mining, while those opposing the plan say it’s…
A string of dark-money organizations with ties to the billionaire Koch brothers is helping Arizona politicians and special-interest groups fight the popular Grand Canyon National Heritage Monument proposal, tax documents show. The money trail begins with a conservative political advocacy organization funded in part by Charles and David Koch and…
The U.S. Senate race in Arizona between Republican incumbent John McCain and Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick has reached a new milestone: For the first time since Kirkpatrick announced she was challenging McCain, polls show the two candidates tied at 48 percent. For months Kirkpatrick has been slowly catching up to McCain,…
From the moment Tracy Elise, head priestess and founder of the Phoenix Goddess Temple, was arrested and accused of running of a brothel, she began saying that her legal case was about religious freedom, not prostitution. The authorities, meanwhile, maintained just the opposite: “This is no more a church than…
Tracy Elise thinks we have a sex problem in Arizona. As someone who has studied ancient sex practices for more than two decades and served as the head priestess at a Tantric temple in Phoenix, she should know. She thinks we don’t talk about sex and orgasms enough, and that…
It’s no secret that Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar thinks the proposed Grand Canyon National Heritage Monument is part of a conspiracy put forth by “radical environmentalists” to “lock up 1.7 million acres of land” and kill local business, but if a three-hour event he hosted this week is any indication,…
For all those Arizonans out there worried about voter suppression during the presidential preference vote, rest assured that a local activist with a history of taking on problematic elections is trying to get to the bottom of what happened here. John Brakey, co-founder of AUDIT-AZ (Americans United for Democracy, Integrity,…
With all the drama surrounding last month’s presidential preference election in Arizona, it can be hard to remember there are other powerful political seats up for grabs in November, but according to the latest political polls and election experts, the Senate race between John McCain and Ann Kirkpatrick is just…
If there are two things Congressman Paul Gosar hates, it’s the power of the federal government and groups with an environmental agenda, which probably helps explain why he’s made it his mission to stop the Grand Canyon National Heritage Monument. In his latest attack on the proposed monument, Gosar is…
In the latest weird news out of Arizona, the state has just filed to appeal a judge’s decision about an abortion law that no longer exists. Yes, you read that correctly: The appeal concerns a law that was made moot when Governor Doug Ducey signed Senate Bill 1324 last week…
Arizona’s Republican voters may have overwhelmingly picked Donald Trump during last month’s presidential primary, but a new report says Ted Cruz still has a few tricks up his sleeve. In an article published in the Washington Examiner, members of the Cruz campaign discussed their strategy for packing Arizona’s delegate seats…
Capping off two weeks of fury over the March 22 messy presidential preference vote in Maricopa County, a group of frustrated citizens will make one last effort to get their voices heard and maybe stall the certification of the results. Secretary of State Michelle Reagan is expected to sign off on…
Does the Arizona Department of Child Safety need parental permission to interview children during an investigation into alleged neglect? According to a new opinion authored by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, the answer is no. The AG’s Office was asked to look into the issue because — while it’s always…
