d Moriarity, Lisa Aubuchon’s pro-bono lawyer from Montana, has helped represent celebrity clients from Imelda Marcos to the family of Karen Silkwood.According to his former partner, Gerry Spence, Moriarity was born under a mineshaft.Since his opening statement in the State Bar disciplinary hearings for former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas,…
The feds launched a new assault in their fight against medical marijuana today, threatening to seize the property of California medical marijuana dispensaries unless they close within 45 days.If there’s no push-back from the states that have legalized weed for qualified patients, including Arizona, it looks like this could be…
Just looked at an e-mail from Jennifer Liewer, the on-the-spot public information officer for the Arizona Supreme Court:David Hendershott, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s disgraced former chief deputy, is set to testify next week in the disciplinary hearings for former County Attorney Andrew Thomas.That ought to be good. After an…
The Drug Enforcement Agency wants to make it clear that it’s not just going after kingpins. Any “individual” or organization involved in growing or distributing pot for recreational use can be a target of an investigation, the DEA warns through a U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman. As we mentioned on…
If you’re waiting for the eastbound light-rail train right now, it may be a few more minutes. A guy in a Cadillac just side-swiped the train at 12th Street and Jefferson, just outside our door. The collision happened about 15 minutes ago, interrupting us with the sound of a “thud”…
The owner of a Tempe medical marijuana club raided by the DEA last week was already being sought by cops for possession of methamphetamine, records show.James Chaney, 37, was arrested along with co-worker Rachel Beeder, 25, on September 29 during the morning raid of the Arizona Go Green Compassion Club…
John Gillis — veteran Los Angeles cop, former U.S. Department of Justice official and champion for the rights of crime victims — will be helping out Valley victims for a while.Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery has hired Gillis to serve as the chief of the agency’s victim services division. Picking…
Robert Halliday, Arizona Department of Public Safety director, is lobbying for his No. 2 man with an internal survey that highlights the aide’s accomplishments. As we reported last week, a Fraternal Order of Police survey of employees earlier this year found extreme displeasure with Halliday’s top aide, Lieutenant Colonel Jack…
Bradford Lund, heir to an immense Disney fortune and son of local developer Bill Lund, wants a federal judge to fire his state-appointed legal guardian.Lund, his father, and other members of the family have been embroiled in a nasty fight over hundreds of millions of dollars in a trust left…
They’re pissed off at American greed and social injustice. They’re relatively leaderless but well connected through social media. And they’re gonna Occupy Phoenix on October 15.The “Occupy Wall Street” movement that led to 700 or so arrests in New York City over the weekend is catching like wildfire, with more…
Thomas Vickery lit a fire under the butts of city officials earlier this year, shaming them into finally moving a fire hydrant that blocked a curb ramp on a sidewalk.Now he wants the city of Phoenix to move up its schedule to do more improvements along Bethany Home Road that…
An illegal immigrant with epilepsy who crashed into the squad car of Phoenix police officer Jason Schecterle in 2002, burning the officer severely, has been deported to Mexico.Rogelio Gutierrez, 45, was marched across the border in Nogales on September 12 after spending the last nine years in an Arizona state…
Days after helping Phoenix police take down violent gang members, the DEA has gone after a softer target: A medical marijuana club in Tempe.Agents began showing up at the AZ Go Green Co-Op at 426 East Southern Avenue around 8 a.m., according to a news report by Channel 10 (KSAZ-TV)…
Steve Chucri, CEO of the Arizona Restaurant Association, announced plans today to run against Don Stapley in 2012 for a seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.”It’s time for new ideas … it’s time for a new day at the county,” says Chucri, who’s been head of the restaurant…
Bad morale persists at the Arizona Department of Public Safety because of poor leadership, and officers aren’t hopeful for change, says a police association official.A committee formed by DPS Director Robert Halliday recently suggested, among other things, that Halliday demote his second-in-command, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Hegarty.John Ortolano, president of the…
The U.S. Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau, the same agency that lets drug cartel members buy guns, is warning firearms dealers not to sell to medical marijuana users.In an open letter to the nation’s licensed firearms sellers, the ATF reminds dealers that federal law prohibits any user of a controlled…
Cantaloupes containing a potentially deadly bacteria that has killed 13 people were shipped to Arizona, but aren’t known to have caused problems here, health officials said Tuesday.Dozens of people have been sickened by listeria in at least 14 of the 25 other states to which the killer melons were shipped…
Neo-Nazi Jeffery Harbin of Apache Junction will received up to five years in prison after pleading guilty in federal court yesterday to making and transporting bombs.Court records show that an FBI informant who knew Harbin’s girlfriend heard that Harbin had been building pipe bombs and invited him out for a…
A 22-year-old suspect in three armed robberies burst through the glass door of a Phoenix apartment at about 3 a.m. on Monday and shot a man who’d dated his ex-girlfriend. Ryan Foote was armed with a .357 Magnum when he crashed through the door at 3228 West Glendale Avenue, Apartment 122, and was confronted by…
Tom Liddy, a deputy prosecutor who also happens to be son of infamous Watergate villain G. Gordon Liddy, played Deep Throat for a county supervisor under siege by corrupt lawmen.The setting of the crucial tip-off, described at the Andrew Thomas discipline hearings yesterday by Andy Kunasek, chair of the Maricopa…
Retired judges are fighting a new law that reduces their pension payout in a class action lawsuit filed this week in federal court.If they win, it’ll cost the state “hundreds of millions” of dollars over the next few years and threaten the overall viability of the retirement system for state…
Will Humble, the director of the Arizona Department of Health Services, says the movie Contagion is so realistic, something like it has already happened.In a review of the latest virus-scare offering by Hollywood on his official blog, Humble writes that although he found some of the public policy decisions by…
