The Arizona Republic’s Matthew Benson has an amusing local hook on the Mark Sanford scandal: Seems Sanford just wrote a fund-raising letter for the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute that’s causing some embarrassment…
Naturally, when we first heard of a Web site called Bitches of Scottsdale, we assumed it would be an all-local version of the thedirty.com. But it’s about real bitches, as in the woof-woof kind. Launched in April, the site aims to showcase Scottsdale’s pampered pooches by having their owners upload…
NHL Player Claude Lemieux, originally from Canada, will become a U.S. citizen in a ceremony this Friday in Phoenix with 99 other immigrants. Lemieux, 43, a Valley resident, is a comeback kid who now plays with the San Jose Sharks after a stint with a People’s Republic of China team,…
A lawyer for Liberty League International of Scottsdale wrote to us after our recent post about a $5 million lawsuit against the company. Not surprisingly, he rejects our gut-feeling theory that Liberty League has probably violated the terms of a 2005 settlement with Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard. We’ve pasted…
At first glance, the Arizona Republic’s business-section article today on windmills in La Venta, Mexico, looks like more happy news about “clean” energy. It’s headlined, “Living off the wind,” and shows a bucolic scene of cows grazing near towering windmills. A graphic about the ultra-windy Isthmus of Tehuantepec is titled,…
This just in from the City of Phoenix — Frank Fairbanks, who has been City Manager for nearly 20 years, is retiring. The country’s fifth-largest city will begin a nationwide search for his replacement. The city put out a long news release about this notable change in administration: Longtime City…
State House Speaker Kirk Adams, a Mesa Republican, has launched a series of YouTube videos that explain Arizona’s budget crisis — from the point of view of Republican legislators like him, of course. Sonoran Alliance, (where we first read about the videos), calls the series a public-relations offensive. Adams has apparently decided Governor Jan…
You might have missed this spring’s “Lowrider 2009 Tour” in Phoenix, but you can check out pictures of some of the sweet rides that were showcased there in a just-published online story. The March 1 event at the Arizona State Fairgrounds impressed Lowrider Magazine’s Saul Vargas, who says its popularity proves that lowrider…
The State Senate is scheduled to vote today on a bill that would prohibit Arizona schools from offering classes that encourage “ethnic solidarity.” The bill also bans classes “designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.” Pushed by state schools chief Tom Horne, its main target is a $2-million “Raza Studies”…
The Arizona Supreme Court today decided not to force lawmakers to send Governor Jan Brewer a budget bill she wants to veto, but only because lawmakers said they’d send the bill in five days. Brewer’s argument — that the State Legislature should not be allowed to hold back on sending the…
Moments after we posted our article about Mesa Assistant Police Chief Mike Denney (at right), a Mesa officer called to let us know other named replacements for Chief George Gascon have been investigated, too. The officer, who wanted to stay anonymous, tells us that department policy dictates that any complaint…
One of three possible replacements named for Mesa Police Chief George Gascon was investigated last year for hitting another officer with a water bottle, says a report by heatcity.org. Assistant Chief Mike Denney was accused of striking Commander Fred Ruhland in the groin with a water bottle after Ruhland made some smart-alecky comment. The whole…
Steven Anderson today released the Taser report from his bloody and shocking encounter with authorities at a Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 8 near Yuma. We mentioned the report earlier this month, but didn’t have the actual paperwork. Anderson’s wife, Zsuzsanna, e-mailed us a copy today. One very minor difference from…
Want to know where to find Web cam shots of the hottest chicks? Just follow the Arizona Republic’s political insider news service on Twitter, azinsider. Earlier today, the tweets coming from the state’s largest newspaper chirped about various government goings-on, as usual: Court concludes its hearing with requests to both…
State Representatives Daniel Patterson and Jack Brown were called “heroes” this week by the AFL-CIO for their committment to vote “no” on most Republican bills. Patterson and Brown began their voting boycott a couple of weeks ago and haven’t yet relented, resulting in some kind words from the labor union: …
We came upon this scene of doggie drama while hiking Camelback Mountain Sunday morning about 9 a.m. The woman in the white hat had dragged her fat golden retriever nearly to the top of the mountain, where it overheated and wanted to go no farther. A group of concerned citizens splashed the animal’s fur…
It’s been a particularly bloody few days for Valley children. Loggan Lampert, 14, is bludgeoned to death by his uncle. A 2-year-old beaten with a belt buckle, allegedly by her mom’s boyfriend, dies. Another 2-year-old dies after being hit by a car in his trailer park. And now this: A…
The Arizona Republic has a noticeable ad on its page A5 today for bogus fuel-saving devices. The ridiculous products, known as “platinum gas savers,” have been debunked as worthless wastes of money by independent testers. The ads and the publications that print them have received criticism when run in other cities. …
“Here comes Satan. I’m the anti-Christ. I’m going to kill you…” Those are supposedly the lyrics from an Eminem song that Michael Miller says he screamed to his wife before stabbing her and his daughter to death on May 30, according to a recently released 911 tape. Media reports…
Image: Tempe police Police captured a mentally ill man this morning in Tempe who stands accused of bludgeoning to death his mother and 14-year-old nephew. Phoenix police report this afternoon that Erick Lampert, 35, was caught in near 8600 South River in Tempe it was reported that someone suspicious was…
Image: Wikimedia Commons What’s the difference between a “speed-enforcement campaign” and a “speed trap?” Well, maybe it’s just the terminology, says Mike Tellef, spokesman for the Peoria Police Department. But speed traps are typically set up where the posted speed limit is artificially low, and where cops try to stay hidden, he adds…
Image: www.grandcanyonskywalk.com The Grand Canyon Resort Corporation, which runs the glass-bottomed Skywalk path on the Canyon’s rim, is seeking a new front man. The company put a prominent ad in the Arizona Republic on Sunday seeking a new CEO, and has also advertised the position on at least one…
