David Cavazos took the reins as City Manager at Phoenix City Hall Friday — and immediately announced sweeping changes.Okay, so we’re being a teensy bit sarcastic. Cavazos, after all, was an inside candidate, a guy who began working for the city as an intern in 1987. He’s not expected to…

  This just in: Doug Quelland is out. The decision was apparently passed down today by Administrative Law Judge Thomas Shedden, who agreed with the Clean Elections Commission that the mustachioed Republican should be removed from office. Quelland is accused of hiring a campaign consultant on the sly to get…

It used to be that the people who worked in the city of Phoenix’s public information office were friends — or at least acted like it. “It was a family,” says one employee. “Everybody went to lunch. Everybody went to each other’s homes.” Not anymore. These days, the 12th floor…

City Attorney Gary Verburg was asked by Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio whether his “past business relationship” with the Gila River Indian community affected his participation on the Loop 202 issue.But did DiCiccio bother to tell Verburg that the relationship was also, well, present? Damned if we know. We can’t get Verburg…

Did Barry Goldwater, the father of modern conservatism, once refer to the American Indian Movement as “Assholes in Moccasins”?More to the point, if you were a Native American artist claiming that he did, would you choose to unload that knowledge at a Heard Museum fundraiser full of Goldwater lovers –…

Former Assistant Attorney General Felecia Rotellini became the first candidate for Arizona AG to officially throw her hat into the ring today — announcing that she’s converting her “exploratory” committee to a “campaign” committee and definitely running.Rotellini, a Democrat, hopes to replace her former boss, Terry Goddard, who is almost…

We didn’t exactly need a think tank to tell us how bad things have gotten here in Arizona, but what the heck — if one wants to quantify our state’s woe, who are we not immerse ourselves in the sad details?This week’s bad news comes from this month’s Nelson A…

For months, as Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio stockpiled his campaign war chest with thousands of dollars from developers and their representatives, the big question at City Hall was whether he’d use his position on the Council to benefit his donors. But now City Hall is abuzz with a new…

Dana Marie Kennedy sharply criticized Sal DiCiccio at a press conference this morning in front of City Hall, saying the councilman has “a lot of questions to answer” about his real estate holdings in the path of the proposed Loop 202 extension.Kennedy is challenging DiCiccio, who was appointed to his…

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has lost yet another round in his near-endless quest to read the email of Superior Court judges.This decision, from the Arizona Court of Appeals, appears to mark the third such rejection. Arpaio’s request was initially rejected by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Norman Davis, a…

Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio has promised to be a “forceful voice” in the ongoing controversy over the proposed extension of the Loop 202 freeway.But DiCiccio should think twice about opening his mouth on this one. Records obtained by New Times show that DiCiccio appears to have a conflict of…

Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio has promised to be a “forceful voice” in the ongoing controversy over the proposed extension of the Loop 202 freeway. But DiCiccio should think twice about opening his mouth on this one. Records obtained by New Times show that DiCiccio appears to have a conflict…

There’s a development on the edge of downtown Phoenix that captivated me even before I moved into the neighborhood: the Chateaux on Central. My interest wasn’t a matter of good design — everyone from Will Bruder on down is on the record mocking the place, and rightly so. (With its…

A dozen or so light-rail operators protested at the Central Station in downtown Phoenix this morning, holding hand-made signs that excoriated both Metro Light Rail and the Boston-based company that manages the line, ACI.Carrying the colorful poster boards with slogans including “Metro Rail, Thanks for the Unemployment” and “ACI-Metro Rail…

“You’ve got to be kidding.” That’s what Don Stapley said as sheriff’s deputies arrested him September 21 in the county parking garage. The county supervisor was so stunned, he said nearly the same thing, again, just a moment later: “You have got to be joking.” Someone at the Maricopa County…

More bad news for journalists: Cari Gerchick, one of the more helpful public information officers in Arizona, has fallen victim to budget cuts.Gerchick, who is also a lawyer, announced in an email this afternoon that her position with the courts is being eliminated. New Times named Gerchick “Best Public Information…

A New Times column published last week caused the Arizona Board of Psychologist Examiners to reverse itself — with the board voting unanimously not to work to repeal some newly passed legislation after all.Board member Dr. Cheryl Karp, a psychologist, told members that the New Times article made it clear…

  David J. Ramirez, who was until August 31 the acting public information director for the city of Phoenix, has officially been demoted and given a $19,000 pay cut after complaints from two subordinates. The complaints focused on religious and sexual harassment. Employees allegedly complained that Ramirez talked about masturbation,…

That was fast.We broke the news in this week’s New Times that Jeri Auther, Governor Jan Brewer’s liaison to regulatory boards and commissions, was pushing the Arizona Board of Psychologist Examiners to repeal a law it had lobbied to pass. The law dealt with how complaints against court-appointed psychologists are…

If you are bitter about something that happened in your divorce, don’t take it out on the rest of us. If you hated your court-appointed psychologist, that doesn’t give you the right to screw with every court-appointed psychologist in the state of Arizona. And even if you work for the…