Brett Mecum wants your vote for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District board. Never mind that he’s no water issues expert. Or that he was fired in the spring of 2011 as the executive director of the Arizona Republican party. And naturally he’d prefer you forgot all about his many…
In a column today in the East Valley Tribune, former police officer Bill Richardson takes the Arizona Department of Public Safety to task for a baseball-ticket scandal and other possible signs of a failed agency. New Times broke the story last December of the investigation into the DPS’ former No…
A former doctoral student says in a federal lawsuit that she was harassed and forced to leave an Arizona State University criminal-justice program after a soured love affair with a married professor. Tasha Kunzi filed the suit yesterday against the Arizona Board of Regents, Professor Travis Pratt and the director…
Police believe Francisco Villalpando’s pickup truck didn’t even slow down before smashing into a motorcyclist waiting for a red light in a Tucson suburb on August 11. John Kostelny, a 62-year-old motorcycle instructor, was crushed when the force of impact sent him careening into two other vehicles, and he later…
Phoenix police have identified Joshua Ruzsa, 19, as the victim in a fatal fall that was the result of bee attack yesterday at Camelback Mountain. Ruzsa’s Facebook site says he was a 2011 graduate of the E-Institute in Surprise, attended Glendale Community College and was preparing to enter U.S. Marine…
Three Camelback hikers who decided to take a side route up a climbing trail encountered a swarm of bees on Monday afternoon, and one man died after falling 60 feet. The other two men were stung about 300 times each, says Captain Scott McDonald, Phoenix Fire Department spokesman. A beautiful,…
Bees at Camelback Mountain attacked several hikers this afternoon, causing at least one person to become injured die in a fall, authorities say. (See today’s update by clicking here.) “A bunch of hikers were getting attacked,” says Captain Scott McDonald, Phoenix Fire Department spokesman, who was still gathering info at…
Valley marijuana patients lost another over-the-counter source for their meds earlier this month when Gilbert police raided Arizona Natural Solutions in Mesa. The cannabis/compassion club at 1055 North Mesa Drive had been operating since at least February, when its principals began its Facebook page and incorporated as a non-profit business…
U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped an arsenal and about 66,000 rounds of ammunition from entering Mexico through a border gate intended only for Native Americans. Monica Parra, 41, was in a red Chevy pickup on September 29 headed toward the gate at Papago Farms, on the Tohono O’Odham Nation, when…
Almost 13 percent of Arizona children are uninsured — the third-highest rate in the nation, according to a new study by Georgetown University.Coming in at No. 1 was Nevada, with 16.2 percent of its kids uninsured, followed by Texas, with 13.2 percent.The study, conducted by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute’s…
A Tempe cannabis club that was raided last year and has been under an ongoing investigation by police was the site of a shooting last night. At least three suspects, and possibly as many as six, are still on the loose after an employee at the club was shot at…
The cops sat in clubhouse seats at Chase Field, not too far behind home plate, as guests of the Arizona Trucking Association. It was early evening on September 8, 2011, and the Arizona Diamondbacks were playing the San Diego Padres. Pitcher Ian Kennedy was shooting for an impressive 19th win…
S’all good, man — unless you’re calling real-life Washington D.C. lawyer Saul Goodman on a busy Tuesday afternoon to ask dumb questions like, “Any funny stories because you share the name of a shyster lawyer on a popular TV show?” Turns out the “Breaking Bad” character’s namesake, an honored and…
Medical marijuana in Arizona faces an important court decision in a case that local prohibitionists see as a weak link in the voter-approved 2010 pot law. Arizona Republic reporter and rapid-fire Tweeter Yvonne Wingett-Sanchez has been filing live updates from the courtroom this afternoon. The hearing’s over, but you can…
Don Kenney, the former “quarter” back of one of Arizona’s worst corruption scandals, AzScam, was sentenced on Monday to 240 hours of community service for stealing his son’s identity. Kenney was convicted in 1991 of taking a $55,000 bribe, one of several lawmakers caught in a police sting for selling…
The makers of marijuana-infused “Soccer Mom’s Tinctures & Candy” are suing the state in hopes of clarifying what “cannabis” means under the law. Back in March, cops raided the Phoenix home of Doug Arfa and Charise Voss on suspicion that the pair was selling “narcotic” drugs, a search warrant shows…
Pictures from Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever’s fatal September 18 crash and published by a southern Arizona news site show open containers of liquor — and Dever’s lifeless body. Click here to see the report by the Cochise County Record. David Morgan, a semi-retired news blogger and political muckraker from…
Naz Derboghossian, a key player in an alleged “crime ring” that owned Valley nightclubs and exotic car dealerships, has been sentenced to probation and a year in jail. We covered this complex and fascinating case in a July 12 feature article. Derboghossian, a smooth-talking car expert and scamster who ran…
Karl “Jack” Frost pleaded no contest to a charge of disorderly conduct today stemming from his May 17 “citizen’s arrest” of a man jogging in a bicycle lane. The 47-year-old former British cop had been out for a morning bike ride in Gilbert that day when he became enraged at…
The high blood-alcohol content found in Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever’s body after his fatal crash last month suggests the sheriff had a strong tolerance for booze, experts say. In other words, Dever — known by many as a Mormon who didn’t drink — may have been a problem drinker…
After skewering Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s fabrications in a recent political ad, we’d be remiss not to mention how a new anti-Arpaio ad bends the truth. The powerful ad by Valley musician Devin Fleenor and Citizens for Professional Law Enforcement, which aired on TV for the first time yesterday,…
Pete Kosednar, a Scottsdale window-cleaner and blogger, pulled out his video camera this morning when he saw a hiker walk by on Camelback Mountain with her dog unleashed. Then, he says — and as the video below appears to show — he simply reminded the woman that her dog was…
