Tim Nelson Twelve attorneys and 17 support staff members at the Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard’s office will get pink slips, but not the three high-profile hires made this year by Goddard. Anne Hilby, Goddard’s spokeswoman, confirmed for New Times that among those who won’t be losing their jobs are:…
Ten years ago, a team of Canadian defense lawyers and diplomats pressed then-Maricopa County Attorney Richard Romley to spare the life of a man convicted of murdering an elderly Valley woman. Romley relented, deciding not to seek the death penalty against Paul Pilipow (pictured) and persuading the victim’s family to see…
We just found a reason to support Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio’s proposal to regulate door-to-door salespeople: Jesse Lee Wise. As we reported Friday, Wise was arrested last week in Chesapeake, Virginia, and accused by police of taking a bus from the Valley to meet a 13-year-old chat-room buddy…
Layoffs must be affecting judgment over at the Arizona Republic. What else can explain the poor journalistic decisions being made at the state’s largest, ever-shrinking daily newspaper? Greg Patterson of Espresso Pundit picked up on a couple of “What were they thinking?” snippets recently, including one over the weekend that nails the Repub…
This just in: A neo-Nazi who’s the son of a former political opponent of Maricopa County Sheriff Arpaio has lost the appeal of his murder conviction and challenge to his death sentence. Read today’s Arizona Supreme Court’s opinion on Patrick Bearup by clicking here. At right is his most recent photo…
Image: www.local-motors.com Rally Fighter A custom car company plans on producing off-road vehicles from a “micro-factory” somewhere in the Valley as soon as next year. Local Motors Company, based in Massachussetts, is already taking orders for its first car, the Rally Fighter, a $50,000 dune-buggy-type vehicle. The Phoenix Business Journal…
A schoolteacher who fatally shot a man while hiking alone in Arizona’s high country, becoming the poster boy for self-defense rights, won’t face another trial and will soon be freed from prison. The Payson Roundup reported yesterday that Coconino County Attorney David Rozema decided it wouldn’t be worth the time and hassle…
The city of Phoenix announced today it will receive $830,000 in federal stimulus funds to “reduce diesel emissions by retrofitting and replacing city-owned equipment.” Forgive us if we don’t stand up and cheer. This money, half of which the feds are borrowing the future, isn’t going to make a wisp…
Image: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Raymond Steele, Levi Blanton and Russell Westergard Are the Juggalos a “criminal street gang” or not? We say no. Mesa police — in this case, anyway — say yes. Cops busted a trio of woop-woopers on Wednesday in connection with four break-ins at a deaf school. According…
An agent with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a Customs officer were arrested this morning after being indicted on suspicion of stealing government money. Agent Michael J. Kittson, 34, and U.S. Customs Patrol Officer Douglas R. Bothof are named in a 47-count indictment that accuses them…
An ex-con from Glendale took a bus to Chesapeake, Virginia this week to meet (and hopefully have sex with) a 13-year-old girl he met online, police say. The two had been communicating via the Internet since May, but the girl was really a Virginia state cop, according to media reports. After arriving…
Lead-contaminated glass at the Yuma location of Dlubak Glass recycling company is being shipped to South Korea, not the Philippines, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality now reports. Mark Shaffer, spokesman for the agency, tells us state officials named the wrong destination for the toxic garbage when we spoke with him…
The woman on the voice mail message didn’t want to give her name. She just wanted to let the public know something about the June 14 fire at Young Champions of America in Phoenix: Her young children have been “exposed” to something awful. “Nothing’ll shock us anymore,” she says. “Tell…
Maricopa County officials responded to criticism by Sheriff Joe Arpaio today about budget cuts, saying the sheriff’s office is not the only county agency that’s hurting. In a prepared statement, county leaders outline how Arpaio signed off on the budget he’s now complaining about. And in direct response to Arpaio’s…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced today he’ll take $2,613 out of his $97,000 yearly salary and donate it to “charities” while his employees are forced to take unpaid, two-week furloughs. In typical self-aggrandizing fashion for the sheriff, the beneficiaries of Arpaio’s largess will be charities his agency set up. He’s…
The rip of metal skin, the smell of electric motors overheating, the excited faces of young nerds in button-down, short-sleeve shirts… If you love a good robot fight like we do, tread on down to Metrocenter this Friday from 10 a.m. to noon. It may not be as exciting as…
Sonoran Alliance, one of our favorite places to check for news by and for conservatives, doesn’t have a word to say about Steve Ellman, Dave Hendershott and the SCA. Not surprising, of course. Many of the anonymous SA writers appear to be strongly allied with — or even employees of…
Two years ago, Sun Lakes resident Francis Ray Collins reported that his wife, Linda Steer, fell off a cliff to her death on a trip to Apache Lake.The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office yesterday announced the arrest of Collins, 50, and that it’s seeking a second-degree murder charge on Steer in…
BASE jumper Chris McNamara must pay a $5,000 fine for leaping from a cliff in the Grand Canyon National Park, says a federal judge. The winged daredevil and climber from Marin County, California did his wicked deed on November 5, 2007, during a badass Canyon adventure with climbing superstars Tommy…
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott (pictured) asked for e-mails of Superior Court staff in a fresh public-records request this month and was promptly told to bug off.A similar records request went nowhere earlier this year, spurring a lawsuit from the Sheriff’s Office that was shot down in June…
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Spanish-language DUI courts was rejected today by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.Thomas already lost this one once at the U.S. District Court level, though he once vowed to take it to the Supreme Court, if necessary. Thomas believes the…
In 2004, Arizona State University geologist Phil Christensen put out a request via Internet: Send rocks.In five years, children and adults worldwide have answered the call — big-time. Last week, ASU reported the Rock Around the World program was sent its 10,000th rock, the piece of quartz from Nepal in…
