Arizona could generate an additional $48 million in revenue each year by legalizing and taxing marijuana, an analysis by the State Legislature shows. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee produced a report in September on the estimated impact of legal marijuana, but didn’t release the data publicly. New Times obtained a…
The head of the Arizona Naturopathic Physicians Medical Board isn’t concerned with a new report that shows naturopaths make most of the states medical-marijuana recommendations. “Yes, our doctors are the top prescribers,” says Gail Anthony, the board’s executive director. “I don’t think it would be a big deal.” Anthony does,…
In the second such incident in six months, a Flagstaff teenager has committed suicide by laying down in front of a train, police confirm. Samuel “Spencer” Evans, 17, died after being struck by a BNSF train on November 8, says Sergeant Margaret Bentzen of Flagstaff PD. His death follows the…
Democratic Arizona lawmaker and former Navajo Nation President Albert Hale was arrested on Sunday night on suspicion of DUI. The state Department of Public Safety, which made the arrest, declined comment. The Navajo County Sheriff’s Office confirmed that Hale, 64, was booked into jail in Holbrook and later released…
As parts of Ferguson, Missouri, burned and hundreds gathered in New York City’s Times Square, related demonstrations in the Phoenix area mostly fizzled. Following Monday’s announcement that no criminal charges would be forthcoming for a white Ferguson police officer who shot an unarmed black teen in August, the largest gathering…
A campaign to recall Diane Douglas, voters’ choice for the new Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, has filed organizing paperwork with the state. Douglas won’t be sworn in to her new office until January 5. But the Republican, anti-Common-Core politician has already drawn plenty of criticism — and not just…
Lingering on a road median in Phoenix can now mean a possible fine or jail time, but police are required to give first-time warnings to offenders. In an apparent effort to limit a dangerous form of panhandling, the Phoenix City Council last week passed an ordinance that bans pedestrians from…
Thomas “Pregnant Man” Beatie has been arrested in Phoenix on suspicion of stalking his estranged wife with a GPS tracker. Beatie, a woman who underwent a sex change in 1997, became famous a few years ago because of eyebrow-raising pictures of a pregnant body beneath a bearded, male-looking face. “He”…
The $2 billion Solana concentrated solar plant in the desert near Gila Bend is off to a slow start, producing less electricity than it might in the future. Now in operation for slightly more than one year, Solana has delivered about two-thirds of the annual amount of electricity expected to…
Truck driver Brian Knoll was under the influence of pain medication and showed no remorse after causing a deadly five-car freeway crash Wednesday morning, officials say. Knoll’s Freightliner — fully loaded with a trailer full of pavers — was traveling north on Interstate 17 about 6:45 a.m. when it plowed…
Billy Benjamin Hayes Jr., 39, is one of the state’s most vocal marijuana activists. Few people welcomed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act when voters passed it in 2010 more than Hayes. The lanky father of three is a marijuana enthusiast, a grower for nearly his whole life who imbibes regularly,…
A judge has allowed two private lawyers to quit representing child-abuse suspect Shanesha Taylor, and has assigned a public defender to her renewed felony case. One of the lawyers says Taylor stiffed him on his fees. The development is the latest in the failed deferred-prosecution deal for Taylor, who raised…
The Arizona State Forestry Division has released 20 video clips shot by crews fighting the Yarnell Fire last year on the day 19 firefighters were killed. Footage of the discovery of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshot crew members’ bodies was redacted, but the audio was left intact. Other video shows…
A new defense motion in the Jodi Arias penalty-phase trial claims that pornography files had been deleted from victim Travis Alexander’s computer while it was in police custody. Arias, who was convicted of first-degree murder last year, wants all charges dropped. But even if the allegations in the new motion…
One of the biggest culture shocks experienced by people who moved to the Phoenix metro area from a cold climate can be the completely unexpected arrival of winter. With daytime temperatures reaching into the high 80s in early November — a situation that’s by no means unusual — Valley residents…
Hopes that the Arizona Cardinals would be playing Super Bowl 49 on its home turf were dampened on Monday with news that quarterback Carson Palmer would was sidelined for the rest of the season. Head Coach Bruce Arians, in a news conference today, said that Palmer’s ACL tear from Sunday’s…
Republican Martha McSally has lost her bid to stop certain provisional ballots from being counted in her race against Ron Barber for Arizona’s Congressional District Two seat. With all precincts accounted for but some ballots remaining to be counted, McSally, an Air Force veteran, is winning by fewer than 400…
Diane Douglas, the self-taught constitutionalist, former Peoria school-board member and one-issue Republican candidate, is the official winner of the race for state schools chief. Besides the fact that her victory solidifies GOP dominance in state government, it remains unclear how much damage Douglas could do. But if the political novice…
Arizona’s 2005 law that makes smuggling undocumented immigrants a state crime has been struck down by a federal judge. U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton declared that the law was “preempted by federal law and is permanently enjoined” in an order released late Friday. Bolton’s order has the effect of…
A 20-year-old north Scottsdale man arrested on Thursday is suspected of two brazen, attacks on women in his neighborhood. Scottsdale police arrested Addison John Reyna in his filthy home on Thursday afternoon following an investigation into the attacks, the latest of which occurred on Monday. Court records indicate that the…
An insidious ad campaign in key Republican races “depressed” Arizona Democratic voters in order to keep them at home on Tuesday, says losing candidate Terry Goddard. We ran into Goddard and Sandra Kennedy at Phoenix’s Giant Coffee this morning and stole some of their time for a few election post-mortem…
Steve Nash, former Phoenix Suns player and two-time league MVP, has put his Paradise Valley mansion up for sale, asking $4.15 million. Even at full price, though, it won’t cover the $4.8 he paid in April for a much smaller home in Manhattan Beach, California — which he reportedly wants…
