CORRECTION: The original version of this item reported that Pinal County Sheriff’s Lieutenant Blake King “apparently is ‘friends’ with some of the Tucson cops who were at Camp Titties and Beer.'” King’s attorney has informed New Times that King was not “friends” with any of these individuals. New Times regrets the error…
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton delivered his first State of the City address today — a day that marked his 100th day in office. He spoke to a crowd at the Phoenix Convention Center this afternoon about the need for regional cooperation in attracting technology, bioscience and healthcare jobs, improving Arizona…
With his office already under fire over allegations that it improperly deleted e-mails and himself under fire for allegedly threatening his gay ex-lover with deportation, it appears that a member of Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu’s command staff asked that an arrest record be scrubbed from a DPS database. The arrest record belongs…
In Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu’s first Congressional campaign video — a 30-second spot posted on YouTube — he tells viewers that he is “still the conservative fighter who stood up to Obama over border security. And I’m still the pro-life candidate who will fight for new jobs and against…
In case you missed it, here’s a jaw-dropping interview with Michael Hicks, a Tucson Unified School District governing board member, by Daily Show with Jon Stewart correspondent Al Madrigal about the school board’s Mexican-American studies ban. Hicks advocated the ban and admits on The Daily Show that he never attended any ethnic-studies classes, instead…
Earlier this week was the deadline for Arizona Republic employees offered the option to retire early to decide whether they would take the buyout package. Sources also tell New Times that those who have accepted the buyouts — and there are several names floating out there — still have a…
Earlier this month, the L.A. Times reported that “federal agents stopped the main target of the ill-fated Operation Fast and Furious in May 2010” but released him after questioning and “he disappeared back into Mexico, and the program went on to spiral out of control.” It was a stunning revelation,…
Congressman Paul Gosar is spreading the word among voters in Arizona’s Fourth Congressional District that there is no way that his opponent, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu, is the face of fiscal conservatism. Not with a $1.6 million budget shortfall in Babeu’s office, and especially not with Babeu asking the…
Phoenix officials have selected former Dallas Police Assistance Chief Daniel V. Garcia as the city’s police chief. Garcia, a 34-year veteran of the Dallas Police Department and soon its former assistant police chief, will start his new gig in May. Garcia’s appointment comes nearly a year after his predecessor retired…
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu is featured in an editorial cartoon in the latest edition of GayCalgary, a magazine based Canada. Not long ago, he was the subject of a column in a London newspaper. Babeu is getting a lot of international press, but certainly not the flattering coverage he’d…
Speaking recently to reporters who showed up for a Pinal County Board of Supervisors meeting, embattled Sheriff Paul Babeu said that cease and desist notices were filed with a “one news station in particular” and that “there’s likely legal action that will follow with that.” ABC 15, along with other…
Cathi Herrod, a heavyweight lobbyist and president of the Center for Arizona Policy, believes there is a grand conspiracy afoot for gays to “gain access to our schools and to our children.” We’re not sure what is supposed to happen after this “access” is gained, but it seems like something…
Phoenix gave Veolia Transportation executives what they wanted today, a steep reduction in poor-performance fees and a reimbursement of nearly $800,000 worth of fees to the French-based transit company. And now, Veolia is giving the union what it wants. Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton brokered the tit-for-tat deal, effectively ending the…
Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton announced today that a bus strike that has disrupted service throughout the Valley will likely come to a close on Friday. Both sides — the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433, which represents bus drivers in Phoenix and Tempe, and Veolia Transportation, the transit company that employs…
Columnist James Fenton called Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu “Republicans’ latest nightmare” in a piece for the London Evening Standard. Fentons’ column hit the presses about a week after New Times reported that Babeu’s Mexican ex-boyfriend lobbed allegations that the sheriff threatened him and that the sheriff’s attorney raised threats…
Even as Phil Gordon, former Phoenix mayor, fades into the political background, his one-time gal pal, Elissa Mullany, has injected herself back into the public eye. She wrote a letter to Phoenix taxpayers that appeared in the Arizona Republic on Monday to bring them “up to date on what’s been…
For nearly two years, Veolia executives have sat across the table from union representatives for Phoenix bus drivers in an attempt to hammer out an employment contract for workers. No deals have been reached, and finally, union officials called for a strike on Friday night. Tempe bus drivers — who…
We recently came across a February 27 segment from Jim Sharpe’s talk show on KFYI about Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu’s time as headmaster at the DeSisto School in Massachusetts — a school for troubled teens where state officials found sexual and physical abuse was occurring. Sharpe and his on-air…
The Amalgamated Transit Union just called for a bus strike — a call that comes after nearly two years of Phoenix bus drivers transporting about 71,289 passengers daily without a contract. Veolia Transportation, the French-based company that nabbed a $388 million contract to operate city buses, has not reached any…
Pinal County Supervisor Pete Rios has been calling for embattled Sheriff Paul Babeu to step down from his post as the county’s top cop. In the past few weeks, several individuals have lodged allegations against Babeu that he abused his power, was complicit in the abusive conditions at the DeSisto…
The most riveting detail to come out of Paul Babeu’s three-year tenure as head of a private Massachusetts boarding school for troubled teens was his close relationship with a 17-year-old student there. Former students of the now-defunct school tell New Times that they often saw Babeu showering attention on fellow…
Did Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu employ another law enforcement officer to pressure Jose Orozco, the sheriff’s ex-boyfriend, to keep quiet about his relationship with the sheriff? Orozco believes so, and he revealed that detail in a $1 million claim his attorneys filed on March 2 against Pinal County and…
