By Ray Stern Phoenix Police Officer Barry Scott, [pictured], who was collapsed after competing in a charity boxing match at the Fort McDowell Casino on Friday, died Tuesday. Scott had been in critical condition since his amateur fight with a local firefighter. As New Times reported today, one spectator says…
By Ray Stern Blair Roberts and his wife rose to their feet in the third round of a charity boxing match on Friday between a Phoenix police officer and a local firefighter. But it wasn’t to cheer. “I stood up and started waving my hands, saying ‘Stop the fight!'” says…
By Ray Stern Phoenix Police Officer Barry Scott [pictured] was “fighting for his life” Monday after an unsanctioned boxing event on Friday night at Fort McDowell Casino, police say. Sergeant Andy Hill, spokesman for Phoenix police, says it was a “tragic twist of fate” that Scott was injured while competing…
By Ray Stern The arrest of Dan Pochoda, legal director for the state’s chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, was yet another example of the heavy-handedness by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Pochoda stopped off at anti-Sheriff Arpaio demonstration at Pruitt’s Furniture last November and was arrested by deputies…
By Ray Stern Two local activists face potential disorderly conduct charges after allegedly holding signs up on August 27 in front of a Scottsdale photo radar van, an incident New Times covered in a recent Valley Fever article. However, police now say a third man at the scene — the…
By Ray Stern There’s your typical, garden-variety USA-style violence. Even worse, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas seems to imply in his latest press release, is the dreaded “Latin America-Style violence.” But like the propaganda Thomas put forth in a recent public service announcement, Thomas’ attempt to capitalize shamelessly on the…
By Ray Stern Terri, no! That cherubic face. The mommy image. The craft show. It all makes me wonder: What’s a nice, local gal like Terri Ouellette doing making commercials for a scoundrel like Kevin Trudeau? Ouellette has made a name for herself over the years as the self-fashioned “Craft…
By Ray Stern How much thought should I put into this blog? Should I publish every newly formed or silly thought rattling around in my brain? If I did, I’d be approaching the experiment of “live blogging” that’s been gracing a dim corner of the Arizona Republic/Channel 12 (KPNX) news…
By Ray Stern As predicted in this blog, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office decided Deputy Jesus Cosme did not commit racial profiling in a traffic stop described by the East Valley Tribune. Oddly, the Tribune still hasn’t written about the investigation of Cosme, which was sparked by the Trib’s own…
By Ray Stern As New Times reported yesterday, when Republicans in Maricopa County saw Andrew Thomas’ name on Tuesday’s ballot, nearly 18 percent chose not to vote for County Attorney. But Dan Saban, Democratic candidate for Maricopa County sheriff, convinced an even smaller fraction of his own party to vote…
By Ray Stern Nearly 18 percent of Republican voters in Tuesday’s primary election chose to vote for nobody instead of incumbent Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas. Such “undervotes” always turn up in races with just one name on the ballot, but not in the same quantity. In this case, a…
By Ray Stern What happened to hang glider pilot Kunio Yoshimura on Saturday was the sort of fatal blunder that reads like fodder for a Darwin award. As local news reports like this one detailed yesterday, Yoshimura forgot to connect himself to his hang glider before jumping off a windy…
By Ray Stern Quirky is the word that comes to mind to describe the cast of characters surrounding the arrest of a man on Wednesday during a protest of a photo radar van in Scottsdale. Several news articles today covered Jason Shelton, (pictured above), who was among three people who…
Brendan Joel Kelley By Ray Stern Darrell Ankarlo, right-wing talk show host for KTAR radio (92.3 FM), treated his listeners this morning to a rundown on Sarah Palin by former Phoenix New Times music writer Brendan Joel Kelley. Kelley moved up to the Great White North last year and now…
By Ray Stern Racial discrimination and retaliation is rampant at the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, according to an anonymous letter received this week by New Times. A local lawyer for one of the alleged victims tells New Times that, in one case, the office began an internal investigation into alleged…
Authorities say they’ll investigate why an inspector with the Federal Protective Service reportedly ran a red light last night at the intersection of 3rd Avenue and McDowell Road, causing a collision that put him in the hospital. The inspector was on duty when the collision occurred at about 6 p.m.,…
By Ray Stern Local media shops jumped all over Lush Cosmetics’ national campaign in which cute, young store employees strip naked except for an apron that leaves their butts bare. The Arizona Republic, East Valley Tribune and several TV stations promoted the lunchtime promotion for Lush’s Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall…
The Downtown Tempe Community’s not just about scraping bird poop off the sidewalk. The Mill Avenue promotion company plans to deploy an army of eager, red-shirted volunteers to help visitors “form memories of fun and an easy-to-navigate destination.” The ambassadors will mainly answer visitors’ questions, (like, for example, “What happened…
By Ray Stern Who wears the pants at Sky Harbor airport? Not 30 Somali women who fought for the right to wear skirts on the job, and won. The Muslim women balked at a planned policy change by their employer, GCA Services, (that’s GCA’s logo pictured above), that would have…
Julie Erfle By Ray Stern Bruce Jacobs is a mean-spirited, loud-mouthed right-wing talk-show host. He proved how mean last week with an intensely personal criticism of Julie Erfle, the widow of a Phoenix police officer who was slain last year by an illegal immigrant. Jacobs, who has a morning show…
By Ray Stern When scandals chase veteran cops like Steve Boltz out of an upstanding institution like the Scottsdale Police Department, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is apparently always there to break the fall. Boltz, 43, then a school resource officer for Chaparral High School, was found last April to…
By Ray Stern An Italian priest who wants to host a beauty pageant for nuns called “Miss Sister 2008” should consider coming to Phoenix to take a Holy See at Christa Parra. Phoenix publications including the Catholic Sun, Arizona Republic and Arizona State University’s State Press have already held a…
