As we foreshadowed this morning, Captain Joel Fox turned in the canceled checks today as part of his settlement agreement with the Maricopa County Department of Elections. All of the checks are made out to the “Command Officers Association,” (except for one made out to “C.O.A.”) But wait a minute…
An “aggressive investigation” by Scottsdale police has led to the arrest of a suspect in the fatal shooting of an 18-year-old prostitute last month. Brian Nathaniel Black, 25, abducted the victim the night before her bullet-ridden body was found in front of an unoccupied house near Hayden Road and Shea Boulevard, says…
Bashas’ announced the locations today of all 14 stores it plans on closing by October 10. The family-owned chain filed for bankruptcy last month, but vows to stay afloat as a company and even improve its remaining 130 stores. As the Arizona Republic reported last week, the company is using bankruptcy…
One of the masked brokeback mountaineers at the Sonoran Alliance blog, Cincinnatus, has become something of a burr under state schools chief Tom Horne’s saddle. Horne, who is running for state attorney general, even took the time to reply to one of Cincinnatus’ articles (though he wouldn’t return a recent call…
Captain Joel Fox had to ‘fess up and spill the names of the cagey SCA donors behind a Republican Party smear campaign, but he still hasn’t turned over the contribution checks. Today’s the big day, according to Jeffrey Messing, the lawyer hired by the Maricopa County Elections Department to hold fire to the feet…
Maloney’s Tavern can’t cash in on the exposure from pro ballplayer Josh “Body Shots for Jesus” Hamilton’s January night of drunken debauchery: The Tempe bar closed its doors in March due to the bad economy. Hamilton, a Texas Rangers outfielder, can be seen having a great time with some local…
Some things are best left to others — like trying to catch a criminal in the act. Police don’t know for sure what happened to Jose Favela-Lopez, a 52-year-old apartment manager found dead yesterday morning. However, police statements make it seem like Favela-Lopez fatally overestimated himself. The manager of the…
A lawsuit filed by the ex-employee of an Arizona funeral home claims one of the company’s owners habitually defecated at his desk, disposing of his waste in the office trash can. The employee claims she got sick from the man’s allegedly horrific hygiene, and she also claims another worker at…
Miller may have been a fine law officer, but we’ll always remember him as the guy who tried to goad us into getting arrested during a little squabble over public records last summer at Phoenix City Hall. After being told by sheriff’s officials we could not touch papers in a…
This is our through-the-windshield shot of a gigantic earthmover being escorted by DPS cruisers this morning going west on McDowell Road. The wheels of the vehicle probably needed a wide-load sign themselves. We caught up to the procession ahead of us to take this shot, observing as the tractor-trailer’s driver moved into oncoming lanes (cleared…
Thirty-five years ago tomorrow, two sisters were seen walking down Baseline Road near Power Road in Mesa. The Leslie girls, Cynthia (who also went by Cindy), 15, and Jackie, 13, had told their mother they were off to a babysitting gig. But there was a bit of naughtiness: They actually planned to…
Got sand? Sure, but what good does it do when someone steals your $85,000 dune buggy? Chandler police report today that on July 11, thieves broke into the yard at Automotive Diagnostic Specialties, 6835 West Chandler Boulevard, then loaded up a flashy Black Widow sand rail (the one in the pictures) onto…
South Phoenix’s Roosevelt School District, historically one of the Valley’s worst-performing districts, made an impressive gain in test scores in 2009. The district announced today that students performed 9 percent better in math and 10 percent better in reading on the AIMS test. That puts the district in better…
Tom Candiotti, a former MLB pitcher who’s now a broadcaster for the Arizona Diamondbacks, is suing former D-Backs pitcher Todd Stottlemyre over a soured investment deal. The lawsuit, filed June 30 and posted online yesterday by courthousenews.com, says that Stottlemyre (brother of current pitching coach Mel Stottlemyer Jr.) worked for…
When we read the headline to the latest news release from the Department of Public Safety, “Officer makes a traffic stop and discovers 97 undocumented aliens inside of a refrigerated commercial trailer,” our first thought was — good thing it was refrigerated, cause it’s dang hot out. Reading further though,…
Give me an — injunction! Three “all-star” cheerleading gyms in the Valley are suing the Arizona Interscholastic Association, claiming the rule-making collaborative of state schools is ruining their business. A lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court a couple of weeks ago says the AIA passed a rule in March…
Arizona lawmakers are considering “racinos” — maybe they should figure out a way to tax a new video-game-betting Web site that’s already legal in 39 states. The Associated Press reports that BringIt.com, founded by 30-year-old Woody Levin, is preparing to end its months-long “beta” phase sometime in the next few…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio Twitter Watch: Arpaio tweets today that he received an invitation to dinner from one of his political enemies, former Mesa Police Chief George Gascon. Arpaio includes a picture of the card (above), which has a pre-printed religious message and handwritten note from Gascon inviting the…
Dang — what does it take to get the death penalty in this state, anyway? Shooting people randomly in the street — including one person who died — isn’t enough, it seems. A jury today spared the life of Sam Dieteman (pictured), one of the two “Serial Shooters” who terrorized…
Arizona Republic readers can rest easy: The paper’s astrology column is back to publishing one-to-four-star advance reviews of the type of day they can expect. After the paper canceled one syndicated horoscope and picked up another last month, readers noticed that the one-to-four-star advance reviews of their day had disappeared…
Valley developer Steve Ellman must feel a bit of deja vu. Years before we broke the story about his big contribution to the SCA, Ellman knew what it was like to be under suspicion of using the Republican Party to funnel money toward a specific political candidate. “The recent revelation is…
Mayor Gordon urges you to drink heavily and mosh to his primo Norwegian thrash music. Seriously. No, we’re not talking about our own Mayor of Phoenix, Phil Gordon. Mayor Gordon’s the name of a metal act with a MySpace page, fan videos on YouTube and everything. They’re actually not bad,…
