The national Marijuana Policy Project, bolstered by federal approval of state pot-freedom laws, plans to put a Colorado-style legalization initiative on Arizona’s ballot for 2016. It’s part of a master plan to pass similar legalization laws in 10 states by 2017. “We’re feeling very good about what we can accomplish,”…
Arizona must make the federal voter-registration form just as available to voters as a state registration form which requires proof of citizenship, a judge ruled today. The “final judgment” by Arizona Senior U.S. District Court Judge Roslyn Silver follows up on June’s U.S. Supreme Court order which struck down the…
Roy Wayne Roby, a retired lieutenant-colonel in the Venezuelan Air Force linked to an Arizona plot to violate an arms embargo, was arrested last week in Florida. Two weeks ago, an Arizona federal judge sentenced a Venezuelan Air Force colonel to 19 months in prison in the same case, which…
Camelback Mountain’s reformed Echo Canyon Trail, trailhead, and parking area will re-open to the public on November 30, officials say. When the short, popular summit trail closed on January 28th for a $3 million renovation, hikers were told only that they could come back sometime in the fall. Now, says…
Bryan Teague, who started last year’s Mistake Peak Fire by kicking a propane tank into a campfire, should spend 30 days in prison and pay $487,000 in restitution, federal officials say. The 56-year-old Peoria resident was convicted in May after pleading guilty to two misdemeanor counts for causing the 5,220-acre…
Lil Wayne seems to be in no hurry to get back to the state that busted him in 2008 for drug violations, having postponed his Monday night charity concert at Celebrity Theatre. A representative at the Phoenix theater told us about an hour ago that, last she heard, “he was…
Galdino Sierra, a California sex offender whose family was gunned down in Mexico by rival factions of his Indian tribe, has been sentenced to 37 months in prison for returning illegally to the United States. Tucson lawyer Roger Sigal says that Sierra, 26, a Chatino from the state of Oaxaca,…
In another victory for pro-legalization forces, a new Obama Administration policy announced today takes a mostly hand-off approach to state marijuana laws. The news by the U.S. Justice Department comes as a long-awaited response to last year’s elections in Colorado and Washington that legalized the use and sale of marijuana…
A news release published for a pro-solar-energy Republican group features a fake, pro-Obama logo for the group that was created by its critics. Tuesday’s post about the news release on Rose Law Group’s website would appear to erase any doubt that TUSK, fronted by Jason Rose and Barry Goldwater Jr.,…
Disbarred former prosecutors Andrew Thomas and Lisa Aubuchon want former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard’s testimony tossed from former Maricopa County Supervisor Attorney Don Stapleys lawsuit. Yes, that lawsuit — one of the larger pieces of detritus left over from years of county infighting. Stapley, who quit politics last year…
A Venezuelan Air Force colonel is going to prison for 19 months in an illegal airplane-parts deal that netted a Phoenix man about $1.5 million. As New Times reported in May, Floyd Stilwell, a former principal of Marsh Aviation in Mesa, received probation and a $250,000 fine for his significant…
Guess who’s coming to the Arizona solar-energy debate? That’s right, it’s none other than President Barack Obama, through his non-profit advocacy group Organizing For Action. The OFA recently sent out an email blast and created a web page that encourages people to send a message to the Arizona Corporation Commission…
A court-ordered halt to an Arizona law that bans the state from contracting with organizations that provide abortions has been upheld by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court. In a 32-page ruling, the appeals court makes ground beef of arguments by Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne and Tom Betlach, Arizona Health…
Jesse Hernandez, the chair of the Arizona Executive Clemency Board, gave an improper raise to a woman in the office he was dating, an investigative report shows. The heavily redacted report (below) by the human resources division of the Arizona Department of Administration details that and eight other incidents state…
Lawyer for Jodi Arias filed a motion today seeking all the Twitter accounts and Twitter handles of jurors picked for her upcoming penalty-phase redo. Arias and her lawyers are concerned that jurors may be improperly influenced by Twitter conversations they received, or from tweets sent to them, the motion obtained…
We can finally say we’ve been featured in “The Dirty.” And we’re not even embarrassed. Nik Richie, the gossip site’s operator, gave New Times a shout-out Tuesday for our walk down memory lane of some of his best news scoops, mentioned a few we missed, and announced he’s working on…
The Arizona Board of Executive Clemency suffered a meltdown this month, with two of the five members resigning, and accusations of mistreatment by one. As the Arizona Republic reported yesterday, Jesse Hernandez, the board’s chairman and executive director, abruptly resigned from on August 16 from his post without explanation. New…
Dalin Webb, a Phoenix police lieutenant who works with teens, admitted to Mesa police on Sunday that he may have choked his teenage son during a domestic dispute. Webb, 41, was booked into the Maricopa County Jail on suspicion of aggravated assault-impeded breathing, a felony, and misdemeanor disorderly conduct-fighting…
California resident Brian Phillips insists that the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community stole his $25,000 Toyota Tundra pickup. The vehicle was seized under tribal law in December 2011 after a security guard caught him smoking pot in the parking lot of Casino Arizona, and appeals with the tribe and U.S…
Michael Mallory of Scottsdale has a cool job, judging by the pictures he posted on Facebook in 2010 of rappelling into a shaft and working outdoors. But none of Mallory’s Facebook friends enjoyed the shots as much as the fraud investigators with the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation…
Brian Fortner, a Peoria man whose duffel bag with child porn and his wallet was found in a dumpster last year, was sentenced last week to 14 years in prison. Meanwhile, a plea agreement guarantees that another Valley resident, Graham Roberts Drewes, will serve only two-to-four years in prison for…
On a deserted stretch of Interstate 8, “Minuteman” Richard Malley and two buddies hunt for illegal immigrants. Back in Phoenix, at 13 Danny’s Family Car Wash locations across the Valley, Obama’s modern-day INS, some dressed in ski masks and toting assault rifles, are basically the same thing. At least, they…
