Arizona State University assistant professor Jay Golden will assist a major project by Wal-Mart to rate the ecological impact of the products it sells.Here’s how the New York Times describes the three steps of the project: The first will involve Wal-Mart’s gathering information from its suppliers about the sustainable practices…
The Arizona Republic posted an online article from the Associated Press today about how its parent company, Gannett, recorded a profit in a recent earnings statement.We couldn’t help but notice — especially after someone pointed it out to us — that the article doesn’t mention the “L” word.As the Wall…
A 71-year-old posse member with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office had to be airlifted to a hospital after he was struck by a minivan while helping with an anti-smuggling operation.A news release by the sheriff’s office states that James Van Allen was treated for broken ribs and a concussion after…
We’re not saying Captain Joel Fox is wrong about everything. Turns out he’s right on the issue of whether the SCA contributions were, in fact, “payroll deductions.” Although the reports filed by Fox say “payroll deductions,” Fox says in comments to this blog that they were actually nothing more than…
Captain Joel Fox hasn’t been honest with us. Here’s what Fox posted to our blog in February about the $105,000 contribution to the Arizona Republican Party that came from the SCA: None of the money came from Arpaio,or Hendershott or Arpaio’s campaign, or anyone associated with Arpaio’s campaign, nor did…
Just hung up from one of our trusty “Deep Throat” sources who tells us the FBI is highly interested in the Sheriff’s Command Association case. Our source says New Times articles this morning about the men behind the SCA donations were forwarded to the local FBI office. An FBI agent soon…
The revelation today that top deputies at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office were behind the shadowy SCA shows Sheriff Arpaio and his minions “aren’t willing to come out and have a fair fight,” says Arpaio’s longtime political opponent, Dan Saban. Saban (pictured) ran against Arpaio in 2008 as a Democrat and was slammed with one of the…
Mystery writer J.A. Jance, whose best-selling novels are often set in Arizona, will host a free reading at the Burton Barr Central Library on August 1. We read one Jance book a few years back, Desert Heat, which is part of a series of novels about a female sheriff in…
We sent Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio a question on Twitter about the newly uncovered SCA donors that include his top brass. No response yet. We left messages for Arpaio and his chief deputy, Dave Hendershott — one of the SCA’s top donors — but they didn’t return calls. Instead,…
Captain Joel Fox (at right) doesn’t have to worry about a $315,000 fine, but the legal woes for him and other SCA contributors may not be over. A settlement agreement between Fox and the Maricopa County Elections Department drops the main case against him, though the process of uncovering the SCA’s…
The dam has broken on the SCA story: Under threat of a $315,000 fine from the Maricopa County Elections Department, MCSO Captain Joel Fox and the SCA have filed two campaign finance reports that show high-ranking deputies under Sheriff Joe Arpaio as major contributors. The biggest bucks came from other sources, such…
Light-rail ridership dropped to its lowest level yet in June, averaging less than 30,000 boardings a day. (You can be sure unpaid boardings make up a healthy fraction of that number). Metro Light Rail and its boosters have plenty of excuses for the dwindling ridership, some of which even make…
Police arrested a 24-year-old man in connection with a fatal DUI collision early Saturday morning. Andre Jeremy Wilkinson was driving his 2008 Nissan Titan pickup at about 4 a.m. when he slammed into the back of a 1995 Buick that was stopped at a red light at the corner…
News media covered the arrests of two suspected murderers this weekend, including one who allegedly confessed to an AM/PM store clerk. Channel 15 [KNXV-TV] has a good interview about the Tucson store clerk who chatted with Jerome Pringle, accused of killing 41-year-old Alice Saunders of Phoenix. Saunders’ body was discovered…
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon will help celebrate the “topping out” of a new, city-subsidized office tower downtown this Thursday. With the state of the Valley’s office space market, though, we couldn’t help but wonder if the festivity will include a large, neon “Vacancy” sign for the roof. Our suggestion elicits…
A man with a history of mental illness went berserk after a worker at a bar smashed his vehicle’s window to help his unattended 5-month-old baby, Mesa police say. Video surveillance shows that Michael Haynes, 37, (pictured), was in RT O’Sullivan’s, 6646 East Superstition Springs Boulevard on Saturday night for…
An undocumented, armed Phoenix resident left his gun where kids could find it, and now an 8-year-old boy is fighting for his life after getting shot in the face, police say. Police make Javier Gudino Cruz, 24, the boy’s uncle, look like anything but a law-abiding, responsible, possessor of a…
1957: Scientists in Brazil accidentally loose 26 African Honey Bee queens into the wild.2009: Arizonans suffer attacks by swarms of “killer” bees.True, the aggressive hybrids aren’t quite as bad as depicted in the poster for the 1978 movie, The Swarm. But try telling that to John Pool of Green Valley…
Bashas’ will stay in business, it says, despite the family-owned grocery chain’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. But it may have to shed another thousand jobs. That’s on top of losing 1,700 earlier this month. Court records say the company has $200 million in assets and $245 million in…
Another garbage story: Republic Services and Allied Waste Industries, two large waste-removal companies based in Phoenix that merged last year, are being sued in a class-action that alleges they over-charged for services. Specifically, the suit — as published in Courthouse News today — alleges the company charged its nationwide clients “recovery…
California has come up with a wonderful plan for recycling computer waste: Dump it in Arizona. A CBS-affiliated TV news station in San Francisco caught one recycler who was adhering to California’s strict recycling laws by creating a mountain of lead-tainted glass in the desert near Yuma. Mark Shaffer of Arizona’s…
Nobody lusts after LUSTs: Leaking underground storage tanks. The pockmarked, subterranean behemoths leech toxic chemicals into our drinking water — and there are a lot of them. A whole lot. In fact, every time you see a gas station, you can be pretty sure it either used to have a LUST or still…
