The long-awaited report on the so-called Munnell Memo investigation is complete, but public release of the findings will have to wait, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office says. The PCSO feels that releasing the report immediately may be prohibited by law, said Sheriff Paul Babeu’s spokesman, Tim Gaffney, who’s…
Imagine getting crushed by a giant Clif bar — now you’ve got an idea how a small, Tempe fitness firm must feel. Luna Fitness, on the corner of Elliot and Rural roads, has been sued in federal court by the national energy-bar powerhouse over alleged trademark infringement. The Tempe company’s name, crescent-moon design in its logo, and…
A traffic stop near State Highways 347 and 84 on Saturday resulted in the apprehension of 12 suspected illegal immigrants, including a 10-year-old girl. Seven others got away. The undocumented travelers were in a caravan of three vehicles all going 75 miles per hour in a 55-mph-zone, says a write-up of the incident…
The Arizona Republic ran an article today about Captain Joel Fox’s lawsuit against Terry Goddard and Cox Communications over the public release of sensitive e-mails. The story by Repub veteran JJ Hensley, though, fails to mention one thing: The e-mails’ gushy love talk between Fox and his supervisor, Larry Black, which are undoubtedly…
An auto mechanic for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency in Tucson says in a lawsuit that the agency and fellow employees are discriminating against him because he’s a Christian. David Stanford, who’s worked for the CBP’s Tucson Sector Garage for about two years, says co-workers ridicule him and play “extraordinarily loud music” because…
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Lisa Allen was dismayed when she saw the super-sleazy TV ad against her boss’ opponent, Dan Saban, air on September 30, 2008. She thought the ad, which stated that Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s opponent had masturbated on county time and had once been accused of raping his…
A former Goodyear City Council candidate is sticking to her story that a state Republican Party leader told her she could get Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s endorsement by paying $2,000. The Politico Mafioso blog reported this interesting example of sleazy politics on Tuesday after perusing the SCA report we published last week. Buried in…
Joel Fox filed two federal lawsuits this week in apparent response to New Times’ publication of love letters between him and his boss at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Larry Black. The first lawsuit targets former state Attorney General Terry Goddard and three employees of the AG’s office; the second,…
The final rules for medical marijuana are too tough on patients and may encourage a lawsuit, says one Valley doctor. Edgard Suter, an East Valley nuclear medicine physician who has been an outspoken advocate for medical marijuana, decried an addition to the draft rules that requires doctors to state the underlying condition causing “chronic…
If you ever smoke or use marijuana, it’s time to see the doctor. The Arizona Medical Marijuana Act is the law of the land, and now the state Department of Health Services has provided a map to legal immunity for anyone interested in possessing pot. The final rules from…
Glendale Elementary School District officials have changed their minds and decided to discuss the content of essays by the eighth-grade students dissed by substitute teacher Tony Hill. The upshot? Well, it sounds like Hill’s nothing but a student-hating liar. As mentioned in a previous blog post, we’re intrigued by the existence of hard…
Not long after we’d posted today’s story about the love letters between Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Larry Black and his subordinate, Captain Joel Fox, someone we know asked us by e-mail whether the story was a hoax. Someone else contacted another New Times employee, asking the same…
With the enemies of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors on the defensive, responsibility for the county’s civil lawsuits has been returned to the County Attorney’s Office.The Supes had essentially fired former County Attorney Andrew Thomas from his job as the county’s main civil lawyer after Thomas and his buddy,…
A computer found in the home Captain Joel Fox (above), its operating system registered to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, contained evidence of a scandal — and links to teen porn sites. A laptop used by Captain Joel Fox and registered to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office contained evidence related…
Captain Joel Fox of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office loves his boss, Larry Black. And Black loves him back. The lovebirds remain on adminstrative leave pending a wide-ranging internal investigation. Captain Joel Fox and Deputy Chief Larry Black “love” each other.And they’ll always have “LA.” Seriously.These two key figures from…
Glendale Elementary School District officials won’t say whether the student essays referenced in a controversial substitute teacher’s letter contain inflammatory remarks.But the district did release a lesson plan to New Times that not only names students, but gives detailed information about the behavior of some of them. As part of…
The lesson plan for the class taught by Glendale substitute teacher Tony Hill urges eighth-grade students to “thank” a Democratic lawmaker, as Hill claimed. And the kids really were reading Mark Twain. “The letters to (state Senator Steve Gallardo) are to thank him or ask him to change his…
Even the CDC probably couldn’t identify all the germs at kids’ entertainment centers. But, dammit, we expect places that cater to our children to keep their kitchens clean and their food safe. Not all are doing so, a review of health inspections shows. Our ire on the matter was provoked…
Arizona is near the bottom when it comes to per-capita income, education spending, and its chances of an economic recovery. But being last isn’t always a bad thing: A new report shows that Arizona has the lowest rates of cancer in the country. According to a news release put out today…
Proposition 203 has sparked dismissal of pot-possession charges in Mohave County against at least 10 people who had out-of-state medical-weed cards. Though the charges shouldn’t have been brought against such marijuana card-holders in the first place, what’s been happening in northwestern Arizona is a definite sign that “the times they are a changin’.” More…
The state Department of Health Services has published its “final” rules intended to guide and maintain the medical-marijuana system approved by voters last year. Whether the rules will be challenged in court remains to be seen.We glanced through the new rules this morning, but realize that many of you — having…
If you read only part of the four large PDFs from the SCA investigative report we posted last night, make sure it’s the 65-page transcript of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s July 27, 2009 staff meeting. We mentioned a couple of the amusing parts of the transcript in posts this…
