Phoenix cops call the murder of Terry Neely, 46, one of the most heinous they’ve ever seen — and indeed, these details can make the most jaded news reader shudder. Even the beginning of the attack was cruel: The suspect, Angela Simpson, 33, lured the disabled man into an apartment near…
Arizona State University is “leading the pack in improvements and innovative changes,” according to the latest issue of U.S. News and World Report magazine. Though ASU was only as the 121st best national university — same ranking as last year — the Valley institution ranked fifth out of 77 of…
Check out the photo and caption that ran along with an article on an Irish Web site about an upcoming solar energy project: …
The owner of a $3.5 million mansion in the Biltmore Estates was arrested today by Phoenix police in connection with an arson fire that burned the place to the ground. Michael Marin told Channel 15 (KNXV-TV) today that he was “utterly shocked” at the accusation and has a “conscience…
Since we’re on speaking terms (for the time being) with Dave Hendershott, chief deputy of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and Joe Arpaio’s right-hand man, we’ve got a few other things to relate to you. From interviews last night and today with him, we learned: *Hendershott is ticked off that…
It sounded like an interesting story — at first. Dave Hendershott, chief deputy of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, told us last night that his agency’s criminal investigation into what’s going on with the county computer system might involve the Arizona Republic. Naturally, we were a bit suspicious of the info…
The medical staff at Banner Health’s 10 Valley hospitals have quit using a rapid test for the H1N1 swine flu virus because of too many false-negative results. About 50 percent of people who came up negative on the rapid test were later found to have swine flu. According to a…
A planned $527,000 “donation” to Maricopa County’s IT department by Tempe-based Insight Networking (a.k.a. Calence) looks suspicious to the sheriff’s office. After a hearing last week over the sheriff’s takeover of the ICJIS system, Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott told New Times and other news media he questioned the “gift.” “Why would anybody give that…
The feds are going to study 670,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in six western states — but only 16,000 of those acres are in Arizona. What an oversight! Those gloomy skies over Washington D.C. must have dimmed bureaucrats’ minds. It’s typically said that we get…
Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott claimed last week that federal law prevented him turning over a password to a computer system used by law enforcement officials. Yesterday, without an act of Congress, Hendershott reportedly agreed to give the county computer administrators the password. The agreement means a judge won’t be sending…
A man carried an AR-15 assault rifle across his back to the Phoenix Convention Center, where President Barack Obama spoke today. Fortunately for gun-rights advocates, the armed dude was an African-American, a fact that’s bound to reduce the tone of criticism in the media. The man, identified in the Arizona Republic…
You’re a graffiti artist who takes pride in his work — your stuff is really unique. And that’s why Tempe police are going to catch you. (Or so cops think, anyway). Police in the college town plan to launch new computer software that is slated to help officers in the…
The Valley family of one of the dead prison inmates we wrote about in February is suing the state, claiming the Department of Corrections knew the inmate was in danger and did nothing. Timothy Lucero (at right) was a pot violator and car thief who was scheduled to be…
A year after suffering serious burns in an airplane crash, blogger Stephanie Aurora Clark Nielson has posted a photo of her reconstructed face:…
The Arizona Republic has already noted that Macayo’s, which was President Barack Obama’s pick for Mexican food on Saturday night, is not the gold standard of Mexican food in the Valley. A quick check of Maricopa County’s restaurant-inspection Web site shows how true that is. The Central Avenue landmark eatery scored only a “silver”…
A TMZ.com article headlined “Obama Graduates to the Hard Stuff” pokes fun at the president for slurping down a magarita with his family this weekend at the local landmark restaurant, Macayo’s. But the gossip site doesn’t fully report how much hard stuff Obama reportedly had. According to a Channel 12…
We interviewed Maricopa County Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott (pictured) today about this computer-takeover business and his possible trip to jail next week, so naturally we asked him about his involvement in the SCA, too.He didn’t bite. “You’ll have to talk to the lawyers about that,” he tells us.The lawyers for…
Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott could end up behind bars next week. We’re not kidding.If you followed our earlier play-by-play from the court hearing this afternoon about the Great Computer Takeover, (and we won’t be offended if you didn’t), you’ll have anticipated our headline.The sometimes-jocular Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph…
4 p.m. Kerry Martin, sheriff’s office lawyer, says he can’t put on his case in 20 minutes. It’s a complex law-enforcement issue. Judge Heilman says there’s a simple issue in this case: what transpired on Wednesday and why it transpired. Says Martin has spent a lot of time talking…
2:40 p.m. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Heilman says he wants to wrap this up by 4:30 today. Steve Wetzl takes the stand… Chief Information Officer for Maricopa County. Wetzl says he heard from the sheriff’s office this week and was told the agency was taking control of the ICJIS…
Captain Joel Fox, front man for the shady group of SCA donors, has apparently given up trying to answer our questions. But that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to comment on our blog. Fox still falsely claims we haven’t identified a possible crime that the SCA has committed: I’ve been…
