Okay, so we know the militiamen holed up in a federal building in eastern Oregon were not pleased with the “bag of dicks,” the dildos, or other generous gifts they received. Fair enough. After all, um, serious times call for serious measures. Come’on, people, just look at their wish list…
Occupying a federal building and starting a revolution is tough and very serious work, explains Arizona militant Jon Ritzheimer in his latest Facebook video, which is why he doesn’t appreciate the dildos, phallic-shaped candies, and other hate mail he and the other armed patriots holed up in a federal building…
Hours before President Barack Obama was scheduled to deliver his final State of the Union Address, one of the president’s most vocal national critics, Arizona Congressman Paul Gosar, endorsed the man who arguably is Obama’s biggest critic: Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz. In a statement released today, Gosar says he…
As soon as the family and friends of 34-year-old Tempe resident Sean Mould learned that he had been fatally shot in the abdomen by a police officer for allegedly wielding a pocket knife, they were skeptical of the officer’s story. Multiple family members told New Times in the days after…
Under the first sunny skies Phoenix has seen in about a week, hundreds of people marked the opening day of the 2016 Arizona legislative session with a giant rally outside the state capitol building. Some carried large colorful signs and wore tee-shirts for their cause du jour, while other marched…
Get the popcorn ready because mere days after a physical fight broke out between rival Arizona “patriots” at the site of an armed militia takeover in Burns, Oregon, both sides are back at it, continuously accusing the other of, as one man put it, “bull-crap,” and of instigating the pettiness…
Arizona Senator John Kavanagh, a former officer with the New York Police Department and ardent pro-law enforcement advocate, filed a bill this week that critics say is patently unconstitutional and just another example of how Kavanagh “panders to the cops.” Senate Bill 1054 would restrict the public’s ability to record…
It seems there’s trouble in paradise. A physical fight broke out recently at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge between two groups of Arizona-based “patriots.” The scuffle, for which one man allegedly landed in the hospital with injuries, appears to have been part of a turf war over media attention. Many details…
Arizona Senator John McCain appears to have taken a break from blasting President Barack Obama’s recent executive order on gun control to go down everyone’s favorite conspiracy theory rabbit hole: The birther debate. Shortly after Republican frontrunner Donald Trump openly questioned Ted Cruz’s citizenship and suggested the Texas Senator — Trump’s…
The 2016 Arizona legislative session hasn’t even officially started, but already state politicians are scheming to undermine the U.S. Constitution and at least two branches of the federal government. Behold: House Bill 2024. It’s a bill that says Arizona doesn’t have to follow or fund presidential executive orders, Supreme Court…
From the moment Jon Ritzheimer and his pal Blaine Cooper — the two men from Arizona holed up in a federal building on the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in Burns, Oregon, with Ammon Bundy and company – put out a request via Facebook for “snacks,” and other supplies, it appears many…
It was only a matter of time until Jon Ritzheimer — the ex-Marine, anti-Islamist Arizonan holed up in a federal building in Oregon — inspired his own hashtag. Yesterday the world watched #VanillaISIS, #YallQaeda, and #YeeHawd take off on Twitter, and today we have a new one: #DaddySworeAnOath. This hashtag,…
The hundred thousand people who rely on Phoenix buses to get to and from work or around town every day can rest assured because the bus strike has been called off – at least for now. With about 90 minutes left before 650 bus drivers were set to go on…
About 650 bus drivers in Phoenix will go on strike at tonight at midnight, according to local transportation union leaders. Bob Bean, president of the local Amalgamated Transit Union chapter says the strike, which will affect 75 percent of bus routes in Phoenix, comes after weeks of failed negotiations between…
Arizona’s infamous anti-Islam leader, Jon Ritzheimer, is hunkered down with a about a dozen other armed “patriots” in buildings on a federal wildlife refuge as part of an armed protest against the federal government. He’s been in Harney County, a rural ranching area in eastern Oregon, for at least a…
With mere days left for the public to comment on whether Arizona should renew air-quality permits for three uranium mines near the Grand Canyon, multiple tests found that the amount of uranium dust in soil near one of the mines is four times higher than background levels. Energy Fuels Incorporated,…
If there’s ever a time to put on your fancy clothes, pop that bubbly, and hit the town, it’s tonight: New Year’s Eve. If there’s ever a time to take an Uber, a Lyft, a taxi — or a bus or a train or a flying carpet – it’s tonight:…
With a few hours left until the official deadline, the Campaign to Recall Diane Douglas, Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, says it didn’t gather enough signatures to get the recall measure put on a special election ballot. “Our biggest problem was fundraising,” Campaign Chairman Max Goshert tells New Times. “We…
Did John McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign purposefully darken Barack Obama’s skin in advertisements to capitalize on negative racial stereotypes? It appears so, concludes a new study published in the research journal Public Opinion Quarterly. Playing off past studies showing that darker skin and “Afrocentric” facial features trigger “the part of…
In the last decade, the rate of Arizona teens and young adults who have died from drug overdoses has more than doubled. The statistic comes from a new study by the Trust for America’s Health, which looked at the fatal drug overdose rates among people ages 12-25 throughout the country…
During 2015, New Times published 50 long-form articles. Some delved into complicated political battles, others into sex scandals or shortcomings in the Arizona legal system, others were elegant features. Each one took weeks — sometimes months — to report and write. Here are six of our favorites: 6. The Trouble at Barrett by…
A Tempe police officer fatally shot a knife-wielding man late Sunday night after two officers responded to a domestic-violence call on West Freemont Street. The shooting death comes at the end of a year in which officer-involved shootings dominated national discourse. According to Lieutenant Mike Pooley of the Tempe PD,…
