Image: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Ignacio Lopez-Leon has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. Records show he was booked into the Maricopa County jail yesterday. The county attorney’s office does not yet have information to provide about the case. We’ll update this post later…
Sometimes in a fight you have to know when to stay down. After losing a bid to prevent a tattoo studio from opening in Tempe, the city took its fight back to court — and lost again. As we mentioned on May 14, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Oberbillig ruled…
Josh Bernstein of Channel 15 [KNXV-TV] reported a story over the weekend that seems to be pushed heavily by the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office and doesn’t deliver the goods on Mary Rose Wilcox. But it comes close. Wilcox, [pictured], one of five County Supervisors and a longtime political opponent of…
Here’s our leaked list of news-side people let go in the current round of Arizona Republic layoffs, which are part of a nationwide Gannett reduction: Laura McBride, Jennifer Johnson, Dave Lumia, Ralph Zubiate, Heather Wells [copy editor], Jeremie Lederman, Bobby Boos, Theresa Cano, David Proffitt [City…
A Henry, Tennessee man drove his mule-pulled wagon 1,774 across the United States, reaching his destination in Phoenix last week.John McComsey says on his Web site it was his dream for retirement to take the leisurely cross-country trip to the Arizona home of one of his relatives. But he also…
More than half a billion years ago, life on Earth wasn’t very interesting. No cats, dog, people, dinosaurs — not even plants.What did the landscape look like back then? Endless miles of green “pioneer vegetation,” say according to researchers at Arizona State University and the University of California, Riverside.The scientists…
Plenty of noise has been made today about the arrest of Raphael Libardi, owner of a granite-importing business busted on suspicion of identity theft. A news release by Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas calls it a “historic first.” An Associated Press article calls Libardi the “first business owner in Arizona…
This just in from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix:Brian Roehrich, the 40-year-old former owner of Sugar Daddy’s, Dos Gringos, Trailer Park, and Joe’s Apartment bars, has been sentenced to two years for tax evasion. He’s supposed to turn himself in by September 9. Roehrich had a system at his…
The Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity and WildEarth Guardians sued the federal government this week in an attempt to stop logging in a burned area north of the Grand Canyon. The feds want to sell 9,114 acres of Kaibab National Forest that was burned in the 2006 Warm Fire…
A private eye hired by the Recording Industry Association of America called the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office for help with pirated movies, leading to the arrests of two illegal immigrants.Two women in their 20s, Karina Romero-Figueroa, 24 and Judith Romero-Figueroa, [both pictured below], were busted at “the Mercado” near U.S…
Janet Napolitano, U.S. Homeland Security Security, announced today that federal contractors must use the E-Verify program to help weed out illegal immigrants.Arizona law already requires use of the federal program for any business making a new hire and in state government contract work. About a third of businesses reportedly use…
We heard back from Scottsdale lawyer Jordan Rose following our blog post about her column on solar energy in Saturday’s Arizona Republic. Rose says she did disclose her connection to the industry.With her e-mail, she included what she says is the text she submitted to the newspaper. There, at the…
It sounds like Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has really turned up the heat on illegal immigrants. We did a double-take this morning after reading the following stat online. But then we saw the statement that Arpaio handed out yesterday at a news conference, which had the same figure:The sheriff’s…
The 911 hang-up call from Glendale came in just after four in the morning on Monday. Someone answered the phone each of the three times police operators called back. The first time: No response, noise in background. Second time: Woman screaming in background. Third time: A man answers, tells police…
Sean Noble [above], a local right-wing political consultant and former chief-of-staff for John Shadegg, is in the hospital after a one-car accident on Friday. Greg Patterson’s Espresso Pundit blog reported yesterday that Noble, who also writes a so-so political blog called Noble Thinking, “lost control of his car while driving down…
Cops figured Mesa cardiologist Richard Lewis had fondled more than just the two women they knew about when he was arrested in June. Now, Mesa police say an investigation has uncovered 16 more victims, thanks in part to widespread media coverage. Police didn’t release details of the new cases…
Solar power will be the “new economic engine for Arizona,” writes local lawyer Jordan Rose in Saturday’s “My Turn” column in the Arizona Republic. Whether that’s true or not, it’s already an economic engine for Rose, [pictured]. She’s the lawyer for SolarCity, a California company planning to install solar panels…
An employee at the McClintock High School bookstore embezzled about $192,000 from the store in a two-year period, Tempe police say. Rebecca Sue Soto, 49, [above], was arrested this morning at her Tempe home following a lengthy investigation by police. According to cops, someone saw Soto leave the school…
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge threw cold water on Captain Joel Fox’s already tepid arguments for keeping secret the names behind a large Republican Party donation. At the hearing requested by Fox to stave off an impending order to cough up the names of the mysterious “SCA” donors…
This building on Broadway Road used to house Hustler Hollywood Tempe. It couldn’t find customers, and now it’s becoming — a preschool. What is the world coming to? …
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Captain Joel Fox will argue before a Superior Court judge on Tuesday that he shouldn’t have to turn over the names of donors behind a nebulous $105,000 contribution to the Arizona Republican Party. The county elections department has wanted to see those names since election season, but…
Border Patrol checkpoints and their impact on civil rights will be discussed at a forum next week in Green Valley hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union. The topic is a hot one in the southern Arizona community, where some residents have fought plans to install a permanent checkpoint on…
