Bret Tarver A 24-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of starting the 2001 fire that killed Phoenix firefighter Bret Tarver. Chris Benitez was 15 when he started a fire in a trash mound next to a westside Southwest Supermarket, investigators believe. Tarver was helping to battle the inferno…
A Phoenix woman who coached boys — including her teenaged sons — on the fine art of armed robbery wasn’t quite as bad as the real Ma Barker, says a weekend story by the Associated Press. We covered the case for you last month after police announced the arrests…
Police made two more arrests last night in the case of a fatal arson fire last month at a Phoenix business, Young Champions of America. Josh Robinson, 28, a karate instructor at the company, was killed in the blaze that he helped start, police say. Jeffrey Otto, 19, and Moniza Murillo,…
Our blog posts about beating photo-enforcement tickets have spurred a few comments like this one: Walt says: Hello. My wife made a right turn on red at one of Avondale’s traffic lights. Received a violation notice in the mail to me since the vehicle is only registered to me. The…
Elsa Lynch, Paradise Valley’s longtime judge and court manager, will retire July 15.Her position is so unusual, the town might need two people to replace her. She’s the only court administrator we’ve ever heard of who is also a municipal judge. The town’s Web site says she’s an “Arizona Supreme…
Elsa Lynch, a judge and court manager in Paradise Valley, tells us that only 40 people who received bad red-light camera tickets took defensive-driving class. None had yet taken the state-mandated Traffic Survival School class for red-light runners, and no hearings had been yet held for people with the tainted…
Q. Why did the chicken cross the road? A. To help make traffic even worse today on northbound Interstate 17. The Department of Public Safety announces today that not only is traffic heavy for the start of the holiday weekend, but a rooster made it even worse. The cock attempted…
The East Valley Tribune’s executive editor writes in a column today that the newspaper will no longer run columns submitted by a local woman who didn’t actually write them. The column often appeared with a picture of the supposed author, Rebecca Warren [pictured] of Warren Financial Services, which made it…
The Arizona Republic’s Ceceilia Chan has an amusing story today about a meeting of west Valley mayors that was supposed to be for their ears only, and a mischievous mayor who brought a tape recorder. The meeting was pushed by El Mirage Mayor Fred Waterman, (pictured), whose town has been…
Phoenix resident Antwone Coleman, 28, was booked into jail this week on grand jury charges of first-degree murder and aggravated assault, though we’re still trying to find out details of his alleged crime. The Maricopa Superior Court and County Attorney’s Office had no details for us yet, but a bit of Googling came up…
Justin Derrick Draper, 21, has been arrested and charged with manslaughter following a 2006 collision that killed three teenagers. Draper works in construction and lived with his wife and in-laws in their Surprise home before his arrest, court records state. The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Web site shows that Draper…
Police have arrested 19-year-old Antonio Loren Reid on suspicion of shooting another man to death in the street just outside of a house party. Valley Fever featured Reid and his alleged getaway car driver, Brittany Lemons, in a post earlier this month after police put out a bulletin. Today, we…
Calling all sexy moms in Scottsdale: A local clothing company is holding a contest to find its “spokes model” — though it’ll cost you $200 in purchases to enter. The Scottsdale Jean Company, in conjunction with Rose and Allyn PR, announces in a “MILF [Mom I’d Like to Fuck] Alert”…
A national health-care system won’t work and will break the country’s bank. The government is whittling away at free-market economics and over-regulating industries. Bailouts and stimulus packages will only prolong Americans’ pain. Overspending must stop. Obama is taking us down the wrong path. An afternoon on right-wing radio? Nope –…
Captain Joel Fox appealed his case to the Maricopa County Superior Court yesterday and asked for his $315,000 fine to be delayed until the appeal’s outcome. Fox wants the court to overturn the decision by Judge Thomas Shedden of the state Office of Administrative Hearings, cancel out his fine, and…
The state parks department sent out the following news release this morning, announcing that “closed” signs were being taken down at state parks. The Arizona Republic’s Casey Newton reports that some campers had already been evicted as a state government shutdown loomed. But after state workers were told to stay…
You and your buddies are speeding on the Loop 202, drunk, on July 4. You see explosions of red, white and blue in the sky. You pull to the shoulder, take a leak, set up a blanket to watch… …and find yourself in the most trouble of your life. The Department of Public Safety…
The Arizona Legislature was abuzz with lawmakers, lobbyists, curious onlookers, and students as a government shutdown at midnight loomed. The place was busier than a typical weekday afternoon. Most of the students and onlookers are gone now, but the show is still going on. Folks like lobbyist Mike Gardner and…
Freedom Communications, which publishes the East Valley Tribune, will slash pay by 5 percent for all employees, the company announced. The move is a bitter pill for Tribune employees to swallow, coming after a recent, mandatory five-day furlough, reduced coverage and January’s layoff of 40 percent of the staff. But at least the paper is still…
The father of a 17-year-old boy whose body was found four days after a car crash wants $10 million from the city of Phoenix. Edward Montoya Sr. argues in his claim that authorities “might have prevented” his son’s death, if only they had searched the crash area better and found…
A guest column that ran in the June 19 edition of the East Valley Tribune was apparently not written by local financial planner Rebecca Warren (pictured), as the article’s byline shows. Editor and Publisher magazine uncovered a possible case of plagiarism when someone noticed the column running in other publications under different bylines…
Harold Fish, who’s serving time for shooting a man in what he calls self-defense, will get another trial. The Arizona Court of Appeals has reversed and remanded the high-profile case, sending it back for a new trial in which Fish can introduce testimony that was barred from his first go-around. The case began…
