The bloodbath at Gannett Company Inc., over the past 48 hours saw as many as 223 jobs lost, with 29 people reportedly laid off at the Arizona Republic. Some of those on the list were veteran journalists, including two who had worked for the paper for decades. Another two were…
Laci Caldwell’s vagina may hold less cargo than Claudia “Home of the One-Pounder” Ibarra’s, but the 25-year-old accused smuggler wins points for creative storytelling. Caldwell was stopped on Monday while walking from Mexico at the San Luis port of entry south of Yuma after agents noticed she “seemed to be…
Gary Hanna’s cruising through the desert wildlands east of Phoenix in his white SUV, hunting for shooters. On this warm early morning in late June, the forest ranger is one of several state and federal officials patrolling the southern Tonto National Forest on the lookout for one of the most…
Another favorable court ruling for the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act means that would-be dispensaries have much more time to set up operations. Maricopa Superior Court Judge Randall Warner’s July 29 ruling, released Wednesday, stops the state from denying dispensary approvals because of failure to meet a set deadline…
Phoenix police have busted marijuana activist Billy Hayes for the second time in two years in connection with running an unauthorized medical-marijuana dispensary.Hayes seems to have more lives than a cat, so we’re not betting yet on whether Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery will be able to secure a successful…
Kevin Ryan Upshaw Jr. of the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation has been charged with manslaughter following a Monday crash that killed a 5-year-old girl on a bike. Upshaw Jr., who manages or owns a rodeo-security business on the rural reservation north of Tucson, was drunk when his full-size 4×4…
Looks like Steve Nash is going to have to pay child support to his ex-wife, after all. A ruling today by the Arizona Court of Appeals erases a Maricopa County Superior Court judge’s finding on what the NBA star should pay in child support to ex-wife Alejandra Amarilla, opening the…
Gavin Macfarlane, the gunman who opened fire at a Phoenix strip club in 2010, leaving two dead and two others injured, will spend the rest of his life behind bars. Unless, that is, the Psychiatric Security Review Board at the Arizona State Hospital someday finds that his mental illness is…
APS isn’t funding a campaign by a Virginia conservative group that attacks solar-power installers, a utility spokesman says. But that doesn’t mean the company doesn’t appreciate the hard-hitting ad that has generated 145,000 views on YouTube. “We’re happy they support our point of view,” says Jim McDonald of APS about…
Solar’s a no-brainer to Joelyn Higgins, spokeswoman and marketing director for Recreation Centers of Sun City Incorporated. The nonprofit company, which manages bowling alleys and seven recreation centers in the politically powerful Phoenix-area retirement community, has a large solar-panel project going up at its facilities. In the Lakeview Recreation Center…
Maricopa County will pay an $18,000 to settle a lawsuit against a Phoenix FedEx worker who was attacked without provocation by a deputy. The deputy, Sean Edwards-El, was found guilty of misdemeanor assault in 2011 for the attack. He’s still employed by MCSO…
Brendan McDonough, the sole survivor of a fire disaster that killed 19 Arizona firefighters, had sincere remorse in a 2010 vehicle-burglary case, according to a probation officer’s report. The pre-sentence report depicts a motivated, young father-to-be who deserved a second chance after a crucial lapse in judgment and who fretted…
About 9:30 p.m. Sunday, our iPhone — and perhaps yours, too — began buzzing like the bridge of the Enterprise just before a Romulan attack. Dashing to the kitchen counter, where the phone was plugged in and recharging, we discovered that no, North Korea hasn’t launched an EMP strike –…
Nineteen wildland firefighters are dead in the Yarnell Hill Fire, a blaze that’s forced the evacuation of dozens of homes in two Prescott-area towns and left the state grieving. The firefighters were caught in the fast-moving fire and forced to use their portable shelters, media reports say…
Paul LaBarre and Ernest McKay, principals of a former Mesa-based cable company, have each been sentenced to five years’ probation for selling pilfered DirecTV signals. The criminal convictions and sentencing, which included six-figure restitution orders, follow a 2010 judgment in a civil lawsuit requiring the two men and several co-defendants…
Former Maricopa County Sheriff’s Deputy Timothy Abrahamson will serve 180 days in jail in North Dakota for a brutal and cowardly attack last year on his wife’s lover.Abrahamson was sentenced to one year, to serve 180 days, plus two years’ probation, restitution, and to undergo an assessment, says Tristan Van…
Arizona, New Mexico, and California are among the worst places in the country to subsidize solar and wind projects if better air quality is the goal, a new study says.The best bang for the buck in terms of improving public health, according to Carnegie Mellon University researchers, could be had…
Federal authorities have charged two would-be Grand Canyon guides for taking 90 clients from the Valley on an unauthorized, rim-to-rim day hike.Duane Hager, a Litchfield Park real estate agent, and his business partner Michael Stephens, the principals of Rim to Rim Adventures, face four counts related to defrauding the government,…
Real estate lawyer Daniel Kloberdanz isn’t a criminal defense expert, but figured he could help an employee who’d called him as she was being investigated for a DUI. Not long after arriving at the accident scene at Lone Mountain Road and 60th Street in Cave Creek last year, Kloberdanz claims,…
Marc Wichansky, the founder of a Phoenix-based healthcare staffing and home care firm, alleges in a federal lawsuit that his former partner beat him up and stole his company. Wichansky founded the company in 1994 and eventually took on as partner his friend, David Zowine. They created the Zoel Holding…
A new approach to evidence in domestic-violence strangulation cases has quadrupled prosecutions for the crimes and garnered an award for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office. Last year, County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s office partnered with local law enforcement agencies and Scottsdale Healthcare to make sure victims were properly examined after an…
Jodi Arias coverage has been in the doldrums since the May 23 non-decision by the jury on the death penalty. Some news media outlets are digging up crumbs leftover from the trial. Nancy Grace and CNN resorted to interviewing Arias’ fellow jail inmates; Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced last…
