According to the East Valley Tribune this morning, President Obama’s organizers gave the waiting crowd of visitors at Dobson High School a long list of items that were forbidden to take inside, including “pens and paper:” A steady flow of people trickled in last night, and about 2 a.m. the…

California nearly faced a revolt last month when officials announced that state tax filers would get IOUs instead of refunds.Arizona residents, however, can expect to receive state refund checks that banks will cash, says State Treasurer Dean Martin. Click here to read an MS Word version of Martin’s news release.Like…

Disaster will strike the Valley on March 10, 2009.No, that’s not a prediction from the Mayan calendar. It’s a mock event being held on or near Arizona State University’s Tempe campus to test the disaster readiness of local public safety officials and health care workers.The “Coyote Crisis Campaign” is a…

We’re still getting plenty of responses to our popular blog post on how to beat photo enforcement tickets without feeling guilty — most of them questions from people who were recently flashed. Though many of the new questions were answered in that post and a subsequent follow-up, we thought this…

Former state legislator and corporation commission member Jeff Hatch-Miller has been appointed director of the Arizona Lottery. (Click here for a MS Word version of the news release from Governor Jan Brewer’s office). Hatch-Miller replaces Art Macias, who had in the position since 2005.Hatch-Miller’s fortune comes in the wake of…

The founder of theeroticreview.com, a Web site the New York Times calls the Amazon.com of prostitution, has been arrested in Phoenix on suspicion of trying to kill one person and seriously injure another, selling drugs and misconduct with weapons.David Elms, 38, was booked into the Maricopa County jail early this…

On the heels of our post today about rap producer “Suge” Knight catching some punches over the weekend is another rap-and-basketball-related fight story — this one involving an aspiring star from Cleveland named Kid Cudi. Reportedly, Cudi (real name: Scott Mescudi) started the fight at Scottsdale’s Canal restaurant, where he was scheduled to perform…

  Police today released a photograph of a car apparently speeding away from the armed kidnapping of a man from a Phoenix clothing store. The black, 1990s Lincoln Mercury was one of three getaway vehicles used by the suspects. While no evidence of the crime can be seen in the picture, police hope…

  Famed gangsta rap producer “Suge” Knight (right) sure knows how to keep it real. The founder of Death Row Records, former home to legendary rappers Tupac and Snoop Dogg, used his face as a battering ram against another man’s fists early this morning during a fight at the W…

  President Obama’s putting Mesa on the map — for a few days, anyway — with his planned Wednesday visit to a high school, and hundreds of people camp out for a chance to see him. We figured as much: Sources report that Terry Porter is history as the Phoenix Suns head coach. Shaq and…

  The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors today denied claims that the county has been “uncooperative” in a request for public records and employer sanctions investigation by Sheriff Joe Arpaio — the latest squabble in the county’s internecine warfare. We’d be able to tell you exactly what Arpaio was bitching…

Research from Down Under published in a scientific journal recently claims the anti-meth advertising program in Montana, (the one on which the Arizona Meth Project is based), wastes millions of taxpayer dollars because it isn’t effective. David Erceg-Hurn, a doctoral student at the University of Western Australia, published the paper in…

Stories about teachers having sex with 17-year-old students are one thing. This is a whole different — and vastly more disturbing — kind of crime:  Mesa Teacher Arrested for Molestation of Female Student   A Mesa School District teacher was arrested yesterday evening after information surfaced about inappropriate contact with…

It’s not a honeymoon: President Obama will stop in Phoenix and Denver next week as part of his whirlwind U.S. tour to promote his stimulus plan. Fire, but no reported brimstone at a Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Hall in Mesa. Their albums have sold millions of copies, they’ve played before waves…

Phoenix police released the long-awaited “client list” from the alleged “Desert Divas” prostitution ring — and it’s sort of a dud. When cops first announced the bust back in August, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas swore there were “big name clients” on lists kept by the suspected prostitutes. Today, Phoenix…

A jury has found Desert Sky Esplanade L.L.C. partially responsible for the 2005 death of a 16-year-old Phoenix girl near Desert Sky Mall — all because of a poorly placed speed hump.The family of Sarah Annette Martinez was awarded $5 million, with half to come from Desert Sky and the…

Don’t be like Sir Charles: If you get an offer for oral sex while drunk this weekend at NBA All-Star Game festivities, leave the driving to someone else.With parties and NBA-theme events erupting all over town, starting tonight, cops from Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Tempe and the Department of Public Safety…

The Mexican consul general in Phoenix has “energetically protested the undignified way in which the Mexicans were transferred to ‘Tent City,'” according to an article in the New York Times’ International Herald Tribune. The consul general, Carlos Flores Vizcarra (pictured), has a funny way of doing things, though. Instead of…

You may have heard that the NBA All-Star Game is coming to Phoenix — final preparations are being made. Help wanted: Pro’s Ranch Market, a Latino-flavored grocery store chain, is opening a new location in Mesa and looking for workers — it might help if you habla some espanol. A…