Prosecutors are still reviewing whether a U.S. Airways employee who stabbed a co-worker to death in July acted in self-defense. George Hayes Jr., 52, plunged a long screwdriver into the side of fellow flight-simulator technician Eric Kunins, 34, in the early morning of July 15 as the two were at…
Dozens of signs going up in Phoenix this week warn bicyclists to “ride with traffic” to reduce the many collisions between bikes and motor vehicles. In the majority such accidents, officials say, most bicyclists rode against the flow of traffic. The signage scheme comes after last month’s successful passage in…
A Phoenix man held in connection with the attack on the “Muhammad Art Exhibit and Contest” in Garland, Texas, claims that he’s been denied proper medical care in the Maricopa County Jail and demands immediate access to a doctor. Prosecutors accuse Abdul Malik Abdul Kareem, a 44-year-old carpet cleaner, of…
A Virginia woman told the sports-news website Deadspin that Kevin Johnson, current Sacramento mayor and ex-Phoenix Suns superstar, paid her $230,000 in 1997 to keep quiet about their inappropriate physical relationship when she was 15. Mandi Koba, 36, told writer Dave McKenna in the article published today that a contract…
An Arizona State University student and qualified patient under Arizona’s medical-marijuana law has been found guilty of possessing marijuana under a disputed law that altered the state’s voter-approved, 2010 Medical Marijuana Act by banning the plant from public college campuses. The 2010 law already had prohibited possession even by qualified…
Former Arizona State University Police Chief John Pickens has been in his new job as director of University Security Initiatives for more than a year now, but it’s unclear what he and the mysterious department he heads have accomplished. In a time of extreme budget cuts among Arizona universities, ASU…
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Pearce wasn’t following a murder suspect when he hit and killed a citizen in his vehicle, as was previously reported. A police report obtained by New Times shows that about the time of crash, other deputies had stopped the taxi believed to contain murder suspect…
A former marine sniper who suffers from mental illness is suing for $15 million after being run over in front of the Carl Hayden VA Medical Center two years ago following his discharge fr om the facility. Jason Cooper, 41, a California man who served in the Marine Corps for…
A campaign to legalize marijuana for adults 21 and older in Arizona has picked up 75,000 signatures already, an achievement that makes the proposal ever more likely to appear on the state’s 2016 ballot. J.P. Holyoak, chair of the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, says today that his group…
The federal government is making shooting up the desert harder and harder to do. The latest loss to Arizona target shooters is a portion of the Sonoran Desert National Monument just southwest of metro Phoenix. The U.S. Bureau of Land Management, acting on a court order from March, this week…
A Mesa boy whose family won a major medical-marijuana court ruling in 2014 following threats from prosecutors has died at age 7. The life and legacy of Zander Welton will be celebrated at a service on Saturday that will be open to the public, says his mother, Jennifer Welton. “What…
A new tree-ring study from the University of Arizona shows that snow levels in California’s Sierra Nevada mountains, the central-California mountain range that supplies much of that state’s fresh water, haven’t been this low for 500 years. The study’s lead author, Valerie Trouet, tells Californians to brace for more record…
Special Agent Kurt Remus has seen some bizarre cases in his career with the FBI, but “we were all blown away by the audacity” of four men who were prepared last year to buy and house female sex slaves. This week, Steven Currence of Montana became the fourth defendant sentenced…
In a sign that may bode well for legalization in Arizona next year, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper sounds surprisingly upbeat about his state’s bold marijuana law in an interview with our sister publication, Westword. Opponents of planned ballot measures in Arizona for the November 2016 election often point to Colorado…
The strip-mall computer casino in Phoenix has no business name on its door. The most prominent sign on the glass storefront warns patrons not to loiter. Two heavy blankets hang from the ceiling just inside the front doors, blocking light and any view of the interior from the parking lot…
A group of scientists and activists are coming to Phoenix later this month to talk about the “science” of marijuana in what appears to be another publicly funded prohibitionist political event. The all-day affair, “Marijuana: The Science and the Experiment,” promises to share “true scientific facts” about the alleged harms…
The Southwest Cannabis Conference and Expo will roll into the Phoenix Convention Center for three days in October, with 300 exhibitors, prominent guest speakers, a job fair, and other events expected to draw thousands. (Full disclosure: New Times is the media sponsor of the conference, along with the title sponsor,…
Arizona’s medical-marijuana patients now can patronize newly opened dispensaries in Reno and Las Vegas and possess up to 2.5 ounces anywhere in Nevada. Arizona, like some of the other 23 states with medical-marijuana laws, allows people with valid medical cards from other states to legally possess marijuana in Arizona, but…
A Phoenix man held in connection with the May 3 attack in Garland, Texas, wants a new lawyer and claims in a handwritten letter to the court that the FBI took two DNA samples from him without permission. The document was released publicly on September 1 and obtained by New…
Sarah Louise, a 20-year-old Arizona State University student, is a passionate advocate for legal marijuana who isn’t content to sit on the couch and dream of better drug laws. She’s an energetic and savvy activist who leads a local chapter of the national group Students for Sensible Drug Policy and…
Previous marijuana tax-revenue estimates were far too low, says a new report by the non-partisan Grand Canyon Institute. Arizona would raise about $72 million in revenue annually if voters make recreational marijuana legal in Arizona in November of next year with an anticipated ballot initiative, says the report, published on…
Surveillance video released by Scottsdale police on Wednesday shows the chaos of a huge crowd watching a large fight that engulfed a downtown Scottsdale street earlier this month. Scottsdale police stated this week that they are seeking criminal against four people believed to have started a melee on August 2,…
