A Mesa phone soliciting firm has fleeced untold numbers of elderly victims since 2000 by promising identity theft protection, says the state Attorney General’s office. A lawsuit filed June 30 says that reps from the Consumer Benefits Group, which lists an address of 12 West Main Street, call people at home to sell…

Two years after a Phoenix police officer was killed while handcuffing a theft suspect, about 250 people showed up to memorialize him. Officer George Cortez was honored Monday on the anniversary of his death, according to poignant write-up on the Phoenix Police Department’s Web site. Thousands of people showed up…

We see that many of you are commenting on another blog post about a somewhat-amusing video on www.youtube.com, so we figured it had earned the right to its own post. Trouble is, we can’t be sure of exactly what we’re seeing here. Yes, the video does show an old guy…

Governor Jan Brewer put out a news release this afternoon announcing she’s picked A. John Pelander III to fill a vacancy on the Arizona Supreme Court. The vacancy was created by the upcoming retirement of Chief Justice Ruth McGregor. As the Arizona Republic notes today, Pelander is a Republican, like…

Arizona’s U.S. Attorney, Diane Humetewa, the nation’s first-ever Native American woman to become a U.S. Attorney in any state, will resign on August 2. Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the office, says Humetewa plans on spending some time with her family before figuring out her next career move. As far as…

Nobody likes to be shown up as a liar, especially a law officer who might be called to the witness stand someday and grilled on his credibility by a defense attorney. So it’s no wonder Captain Joel Fox of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has tried to defend himself from…

In following up our earlier post today about 3,600 speed-camera cases on the docket for this morning in a single justice court, we stumbled upon the answer to a good question. Many readers have asked: What happens if you get a speed-camera ticket on the freeway in Arizona, but you live out of state? We had been barking…

Three Phoenix men must pay $183,000 each in a settlement with the government stemming from a 2003 wildfire near Sedona that burned about 70 acres of forest. Gary Griffo (pictured), Matthew Warnke, and Brad Cislini don’t admit liability in the settlement, which was reached to prevent “protracted litigation.” None of the men could be…

A local reverend who runs a Web site alleging government corruption has been indicted on 17 counts of fraud in an advertising ripoff. Over the last three years, John Stone (pictured), 52, persuaded several area business owners to fund missing-children advertisement on benches outside stores, says the Maricopa County Attorney’s office..   Authorities say Stone…

Two new lawsuits against Maricopa County seem to emphasize why medical treatment for jail inmates needs improving. In one case, a diabetic man died of gangrene in 2007 after six weeks in the clink. The family of David McClurg alleges that even though McClurg himself didn’t know he was diabetic, he exhibited symptoms that should have…

Scottsdale-based Taser International recently demonstrated a new product for police that can shock three people at a time. Now, we agree that Taser has benefited law enforcement and even some crime suspects who might have otherwise ended up shot or injured in a scuffle with cops…

  About 3,600 speed-camera cases are on the West McDowell Justice Court docket this morning at 8:30 a.m., and officials are bracing for hundreds of citizens — at the least — to appear in person. “What we don’t know is how many will show up,” says Terry Stewart, justice courts administrator…

  Visitors to the Phoenix Zoo and Desert Botanical Garden may have a few detours to make with road construction on Galvin Parkway expected to last through September. The city of Phoenix is building a roundabout intersection near the Garden. A city of Phoenix worker from the street transportation department…

Budget cuts may be the norm in the city of Phoenix, but the police department is buying a new, $4.2 million airplane for extraditions and surveillance work. The prop-driven Pilatus PC-12 Spectre is gorgeous (to aircraft geeks like us) and comes loaded with sophisticated cameras for spying on crime suspects. The Swiss-made plane also includes a pressurized…

The reported shunning of an 8-year-old rape victim by her Liberian parents is “not a manifestation of our culture,” the Liberian ambassador to the United States tells New Times. Some media coverage of the July 16 rape quotes experts saying this kind of thing is the norm in Liberia, a country…

When writing an article about the country’s most famous newsman (not to mention the namesake of ASU’s School of Journalism and Mass Communication) you’d think a New York Times reporter would double-check all of the facts, if for nothing other than a bit of post-mortem respect. Guess not. Take a…

The Department of Public Safety reports this afternoon that Interstate 10 is closed to traffic in both directions after the crash of a hazardous materials truck sparked an intense fire. The wreck happened just after 9 a.m. this morning when a semi-truck pulling two trailers cruised off the roadway, overturned…

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano plans to give a major public speech about terrorism and other security issues next week in New York City, a tipster told Foreign Policy magazine. According to an article on the magazine’s Web site, Napolitano give the speech at the corporation-rich, pro-amnesty-for-illegal-immigrants Council on Foreign…

Looks like our recent criticism of Terry Goddard’s boring, old Twitter account made an impact, (though we’re pretty sure we weren’t the only ones suggesting he liven things up). The state Attorney General began a new, more personalized Twitter account this week, to the accolades of some of his followers. Instead…