We signed up for the Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s new e-mail bulletin service about a month ago and received our first “alert” today: A new Rasmussen poll shows that 58 percent of voters believe Arpaio’s had a positive impact on the state. Not only do a majority of Republicans…
[jump] Anderson, named to the newspaper’s second team of 20 winners, is a veteran intern at TGen in Phoenix: Anderson, who also has worked in research projects at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, will remain at ASU one more year to complete dual majors in Bioengineering and Medicinal Biochemistry. He…
President Barack Obama’s arrival in Tempe today will tie up streets and disrupt light-rail service, but it’ll be another momentous event for his fans. His 7 p.m. commencement speech at Arizona State University is a sold-out show expected to be witnessed by a crowd of 71,000 at the aging Sun Devil Stadium. A pre-graduation-ceremony show…
A local pastor left bloodied after refusing to submit to a search at the Interstate 8 Border Patrol checkpoint near Yuma has posted a video of the incident that shows him being Tasered in his car. The video, posted on YouTube by Steven Anderson, shows Anderson arguing with an Arizona Department of Public…
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ office has withdrawn a court demand to stop county leaders from setting up their own civil lawsuit department. That much you knew, if you read yesterday’s blog post on the subject. We later learned, thanks to an irate phone call last night by Thomas’ special…
Jim Jeselun, a reserve deputy for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, thought something was odd about a man he saw walking into a Scottsdale bank on Monday. For one thing, he was wearing a “big Afro wig.” When the man came out of the First Fidelity Bank at 7401 E. Camelback…
We scanned last Thursday’s Danny Seo column in the Arizona Republic for more signs that the Guru of Green was pushing products for his own gain, but didn’t spot any. Plant native species in your yard. Recycle your old magazines. Clean your windows with a towel instead of paper products…
Light rail trains will not be allowed to run past Arizona State University’s Sun Devil Stadium from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday because of President Obama’s commencement speech. Metro Light Rail says shuttle buses will serve as a “bridge” around the service gap.On top of that, thousands of…
Maricopa County leadership is claiming another win in its fight against a lawsuit filed by County Attorney Andrew Thomas. According to the Board of Supervisors, Thomas is no longer asking the courts for an injunction to stop the county immediately from setting up its own civil lawsuit department, which the…
A local group of self-fashioned ghostbusters hit the publicity jackpot today with a nationwide Associated Press article about their activities at a “haunted” New Mexico bar. The group’s members, who call themselves the West Coast Ghost and Paranormal Society, have a Web site that begs for donations and a stable…
Don’t believe the labor union — and by the way, take $5 off your next purchase at Food City. That’s the message from the Bashas’ grocery chain in its latest English-and-Spanish-languages mailer to Valley homes. “Who is trying to destroy Food City?” the flier asks, then answers its own question…
Mayor Phil Gordon’s finding out what it’s like to be a big fish in a small oasis during a junket to Saudi Arabia this week with nine other U.S. mayors: Phoenix is by far the largest city represented. Middle Eastern media reports the mayors were received today by the Acting Governor…
A man who stole a pipe from a Mesa smoke shop slammed his car into a manager who had tried to stop him, police say. The incident began on Saturday just before 3 p.m. when the man, who wasn’t identified immediately by police, walked out of DJ’s Smoke Shop, 2034…
The Arizona Republic and other local media still haven’t reported that the $280 million lawsuit against KB Home and Countrywide Financial was launched by a labor union. The Las Vegas Sun, on the other hand, realized its original story about the mortgage-fraud class action lawsuit had missed a main point,…
A group of homeowners affiliated with LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America — has sued KB Homes and Countrywide Mortage for allegedly conspiring to pad the value of homes to defraud home buyers.Seven West Valley homeowners who belong to the Alliance for Homebuyer Justice, a LIUNA spinoff,…
The Arizona Department of Public Safety should open a farmer’s market. This morning, the agency told us about a truck driver busted with 508 pounds of pot hidden with watermelons. A few minutes ago, DPS announced it had made an even bigger produce-related seizure on Monday: More than 5,000 pounds of marijuana…
Arguments are set to begin Monday morning in a case that pits the would-be owners of a Tempe tattoo parlor against officials who think the business is seedy. Tom and Elizabeth Preston, who already own a tattoo shop in Mesa, told the press in 2007, when the lawsuit was first…
Police are warning women to take precautions when out and about after a Phoenix resident was brutalized in a field near 7th Avenue and Indian School. The 47-year-old woman had been walking through alleyways on her way home from work about 2:30 a.m. Thursday when a man grabbed her, hauled her into a…
The traffic stop of a big-rig near New River on Tuesday turned into a juicy bust for the Arizona Department of Public Safety after 508 pounds of pot was discovered along with a load of watermelons.DPS says the rig (below) was hauling its load from Nogales, Arizona, where the driver picked…
In the mood for a garden party? Try the Anniversary Tea this morning in downtown Phoenix. The cause: To celebrate the 80th annivesary of the Washington Garden Club. Sounds like a bloomin’ good time…
An allegation of racial profiling in the East Valley Tribune’s Pulitzer-prize-winning series on Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was unsubstantiated by the Sheriff’s Office because of a series of memory lapses. We’ve been waiting for months for this report, the record of an internal affairs investigation against a 287(g)-trained deputy assigned to…
The number of bank robberies in the Valley have doubled compared to the first few months of 2008, prompting authorities to pledge to work harder on the cases. From January to May 1 in 2008, robbers held up 44 Valley banks. In the same four months in 2009, they hit 88. There…
