Arizona State University released a harsh statement on Friday night about the end of negotiations with USA Place, essentially accusing developers of lying. As we reported on Thursday, plans collapsed for the $350-million-plus downtown project that would have brought a hotel, conference center and the Colorado-based USA Basketball organization to…
A new state report shows that slightly more than 10 tons of marijuana were smoked, eaten or otherwise consumed in 2014 by Arizona’s 60,000 medical-marijuana patients. New Times obtained the information from the Arizona Department of Health Services, which produced a similar report in 2013 of the transactions at authorized…
USA Basketball, the governing body for basketball in the United States, may not be moving to Tempe after all following the collapse of the USA Place redevelopment project. As we reported earlier this afternoon, Arizona State University announced today that the USA Place project was dead but that it was…
Efforts to put together a financing deal for the basketball-themed “USA Place” development on Arizona State University land in Tempe have gone into overtime. The $350-450 million hotel-and-conference-center project was announced to the public in July 2013, with an expected groundbreaking that year. But it’s so far been unable to…
The trusty online Urban Dictionary defines “douchiest” as “to be the ultimate example of a douche” — but in 2014 we had a surplus of such ultimate examples in Arizona. From the ineffective governor who left the state with its finances in shambles, to average citizens whose stupidity lifted them…
Doug Ducey took office today as Arizona’s 23rd governor, pledging in his inauguration speech to fix the state’s fiscal problems without raising taxes. Standing before a crowd of several thousand at the State Capitol in Phoenix, the former CEO of Cold Stone Creamery made financial and education issues a focus,…
Doug Ducey, former Arizona treasurer and ex-CEO of the Cold Stone Creamery franchise, will take office today as the state’s next governor. Arizona voters have set the state on a new track, with a leader who wouldn’t sell out the state to Obamacare, hinder the goals of corporations, or squander…
A photograph taken by a Camelback Mountain hiker of Phoenix firefighter Gary Johnstone and two teenagers a moment before a fatal August 8 accident shows a now-missing key piece of evidence. The picture (above), taken by hiker Edgar Hernandez, who turned it over to police, depicts a still-unidentified teen as…
Jodi Arias accuses her prosecutor of lying and demands the immediate release of forensic reports related to her victim’s laptop in a court motion filed on Wednesday. As we reported in early November, the sordid Arias saga took another turn for the bizarre when accusations of police mishandling of evidence…
Phoenix police are still seeking clues in the murder of the 17-year-old daughter of two prominent Tempe residents. A local resident taking out trash in an alley near 18th Place and Roeser Road about 9:30 a.m. on Monday spotted what appeared to be a person sleeping and called police. Cops…
The future of Arizona’s Medicaid expansion was thrown in doubt on Wednesday after the state Supreme Court ruled that a legal challenge to the program could move ahead. Thirty-six Arizona lawmakers who voted against the Medicaid bill in 2013 were injured as a group, the court ruled in an opinion…
A 22-year-old Tempe man was killed on Tuesday after several men burst into his family’s home and shot him during an apparent marijuana robbery. Michael Perez was home with his wife and 3-year-old son in the 1000 block of East Manhattan Drive at about 9:20 p.m. when the assailants made…
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery and other Arizona foes of medical marijuana were hit by another symbolic setback with last weekend’s opening of a Sun City dispensary. The White Mountain Health Center, a nonprofit company operated by marijuana activist and bong-tool inventor Daryl “Butch” Williams, is the now the 84th…
On a recent Friday afternoon, Nick Kriaris, owner of Encanto Green Cross medical-marijuana dispensary in Phoenix, and his brother, Chris, tried to open an account at Bank of America for their nonprofit business with $420 in cash. The attempt at the bank branch at 3030 North Central Avenue was, to…
Brian Sands, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s book-writing retired executive chief, predicts his ex-boss won’t be reelected in 2016. “I think he’s done,” says Sands, who retired last year as one of Arpaio’s closest aides after a 30-year career at the agency. The voting public no longer trusts him and…
Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced today that animal cruelty charges will be dropped against the four suspects in the Green Acre dog-death case. One count of fraud remains against Jesse and Maleisa Hughes, owners of the Gilbert boarding facility where at least 23 dogs died overnight in June, Montgomery’s…
A key piece of evidence is missing in the investigation into how a Phoenix firefighter and his son’s teenage friend fell to their deaths in August at Camelback Mountain. Gary Johnstone, a technical rescue team member and veteran firefighter for 15 years with the department, was pronounced dead at the…
Where does 25 equal 30, and 22.7 percent equal “most?” The Arizona Republic’s “Fact Check: Keeping Arizona Honest” column, of course. In Sunday’s paper, as a reader informed us this week, a fact-check completely flubs the evaluation of Mark Brnovich’s comment on TV last month about the state’s medical-marijuana patients…
The marijuana legalization movement has several foes in Arizona, and Merilee Fowler, executive director of MATFORCE in Yavapai County, is one of the biggies. Both sides are getting an early start on the campaign to pass or defeat a likely ballot initiative planned to be put before Arizona voters in…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio can bring a criminal defense lawyer to a hearing on Thursday — and he might need such help, a federal judge says. The ruling by Arizona U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow comes in response to the motion for determination of counsel by Arpaio…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s request for a court-appointed defense lawyer merely seeks to clarify if a federal judge thinks he really needs one. That’s according to Jack MacIntyre, a deputy chief and spokesman for Arpaio. As we reported previously, Arpaio’s lawyers submitted a court motion to Arizona U.S. District…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio wants a federal judge to appoint him a criminal defense lawyer in case he’s charged with contempt. Citing a threat of contempt charges at a November 20 court hearing, two of Arpaio’s lawyers write in a motion filed today that neither they, nor County Attorney…
