The New York Times makes mistakes just like any other news outlet, but the multiple name errors in the cover story of the New York Times Magazine last Sunday resulted in a larger-than-normal correction: Correction: October 26, 2008 The cover article on Page 52 this weekend about Senator John McCain’s…
By Ray Stern Stop the presses! Presidential candidate John McCain was involved in serious car accident (in 1964)! And there’s more — McCain also hosted a family reunion on an island naval base at taxpayer expense (in 1991)!…
By Ray Stern Barack Obama has closed the gap with John McCain in Arizona, and the race between Democrat Tim Nelson and Republican Andrew Thomas for Maricopa County attorney is too close to call, a new poll by local PBS station Channel 8 (KAET) shows. Experts predict this election could…
Duffy Kilrain’s prison mugshot By Ray Stern State corrections officials released the name of the prisoner killed last week — Duffy Kilrain — but few details about the crime. Kilrain, 51, was assaulted by “several inmates” at the Department of Corrections Eyman Meadows Unit and taken “immediately” to St. Mary’s…
By Ray Stern The East Valley Tribune’s editor Jim Ripley will reportedly be retiring in early January, (at the same time nearly half the newspaper’s staff is being laid off). But in the meantime, it seems he’s more than happy to keep the pressure on oddball Gilbert Mayor Steve Berman…
Arizona Department of Corrections Eyman Complex By Ray Stern A 51-year-old Arizona prison inmate who was assaulted a week ago died of his injuries on Sunday, a prison spokesman confirmed this morning. The man’s name and more information about the assault will be released later today, said Nolberto Machiche, spokesman…
By Ray Stern All outrage apparently gone, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith went to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office today in a move that reeked of capitulation. On October 16, the day Arpaio’s troops raided Mesa City Hall and the city’s public library, Smith talked tough, saying the city had…
Mark Bosworth, GoRenter founder By Ray Stern The rental company founded by fallen (self-described) real estate “guru” Mark Bosworth, (whose story was told in the May 13 edition of New Times), has been ordered to stop ads the state real estate commissioner says are illegal. A statement issued today by…
Many East Valley Tribune readers must have done double-takes after viewing this front-page teaser about a cookie story in today’s paper. “Grandma’s kills wanted…” Do they mean human or road kills? And for a cookie recipe, possibly? Are those dark bumps in the pictured cookies chocolate chips — or something…
By Ray Stern One look at Ashley Todd’s picture (above), and you know she’s the kind of campaign volunteer who goes the extra mile for her candidate, John McCain. That black eye and the “B” carved on her face — her own handiwork, police say. Todd, a Texas college student…
Pamela Overton of the law firm Greenberg Traurig, as pictured in a recent edition of Arizona Woman By Ray Stern The Maricopa County Elections Department handed off an investigation into a mysterious $105,000 Republican Party donation to an outside law firm last week, rather than assign it to County Attorney…
By Ray Stern It seems everybody thinks Lute Olson is retiring except for University of Arizona officials. Rumors began swirling early in the day after ESPN analyst Dick Vitale reported that a source told him Olson was leaving and that associate coach Mike Dunlap would take his place in the…
We snapped this shot of “Joe the Plumber” while driving around town the other day. Well, it’s possible this was just an enthusiastic supporter of Average Joes everywhere, and probably not the now-famous Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. If it was Wurzelbacher, back in his old Valley ‘hood for a few days…
In any other place, the publicity Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has received recently would be seen as, well, horrendous: • His supporters launched one of the sleaziest TV political ads ever against his political opponent in the November 4 election, Dan Saban, resulting in a backlash that drove the…
By Ray Stern A search warrant affidavit released by the Maricopa County Superior Court concerning last Thursday’s raid by deputies on Mesa government buildings alleges: *Two years prior to the raid, a former Mesa employee and his supervisors suspected undocumented workers on the city’s cleaning staff were committing identity fraud…
By Ray Stern The Downtown Phoenix Partnership on Monday decided to dump its “Copper Square” branding of the downtown area and go with a new moniker: Downtown Phoenix. Practical, yes. Thrilling, interesting or creative — not. And neither is the so-called logo (pictured above) that comes with it. Although it…
By Ray Stern The global gold and silver shortage has hit local sellers hard in the last few weeks, leaving many without coins or bars of precious metals for the hordes of frenzied buyers preparing for economic Armageddon. “We have one one-ounce Panda,” says one Phoenix coin seller, referring to…
Mesa Plaza Building By Ray Stern It turns out the cleaning crew that got Mesa in trouble with Joe Arpaio had access to City Hall, after all. Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies hit both Mesa City Hall and the library in a predawn raid as they hunted for unauthorized Mexican workers…
By Ray Stern Channel 4 (KVOA) News in Tucson reports that life-size cutout art displays featuring the likeness of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio have been popping at major intersection around the city. One of the pieces, above, appears to depict Arpaio aiming a gun at a woman and young…
By Ray Stern Trib Publisher Julie Moreno Follow the money. That’s sound advice for any investigative journalist. And it’s a key aspect of the drastic new business plan for the East Valley Tribune . As previously reported in this blog and by the Trib itself, the corporate owners of the…
By Ray Stern A Mesa official disputes the idea that Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies had any legitimate reason to be inside Mesa City Hall during last week’s nighttime raids on municipal buildings. Search warrants prepared by the Sheriff’s Office and signed by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe, soon…
By Ray Stern It’s no stretch to characterize the raid by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies on Mesa’s city hall and library as a heavy-handed political move. As covered in the July 10 edition of New Times, the city’s outspoken Cuban immigrant police chief, George Gascon, and Arpaio have sparred publicly…
