May 2 will mark the fourth anniversary of the Gilbert murder-suicide in which East Valley neo-Nazi J.T. Ready gunned down 15-month-old Lily Mederos, Lily’s mother, Amber; her grandmother, Lisa; and Amber’s boyfriend, Jim Hiott, before turning his 9 millimeter Beretta on himself. An FBI file on…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s crack team of animal crimes investigators remain flummoxed over the shooting death of Dotty the wild Salt River horse, according a report recently released by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. Dotty was the 12 year-old mare found October 1, dead and floating in the Salt River near…
Turf Paradise remains open for business, despite a suspected case of equine herpes virus that has resulted in Arizona officials issuing a 21-day quarantine for the popular West Phoenix track. On Thursday, the Arizona Department of Agriculture announced that it had imposed a quarantine on horses going in or out…
Something’s rotten in Coon Bluff, thanks to Sheriff Joe and the MCSO. That something is the headless carcass of Dotty, one of the famed Salt River wild horses, found on October 1, shot to death and floating in the river near Coon Bluff, a heavily trafficked part of the Tonto National…
Been jonesing for some slam-dancing, rampant sieg heil-ing, and sweaty camaraderie with fellow racist, white-pride skinheads? Well, look no further than deepest, darkest Tonopah, where in past years local white nationalists have held the Arizona Oi Fest, an ofay-supremacist celebration of punk’s lumpen musical cousin, which is known by the Cockney exclamation,…
For more than two decades, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s top flack Lisa Allen has shamelessly promoted her boss to clamoring packs of amoral bottomfeeders masquerading as journalists. Now Allen is calling it quits and shuffling off to Boise, Idaho to be with her new hubby, an ex-MCSO detention officer, who has…
It must’ve been fate, me first bumping into U.S. Senate candidate Kelli Ward outside the recent meeting of the Maricopa County Republican Committee at a church in Central Phoenix. I recently took the Duke University-educated former state Senator to task for her playing footsie with far-right fanatics, like in 2014…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio has confirmed through his top flack Lisa Allen that the sheriff’s wife of 58 years, Ava, is sick. He did not identify her illness, but sources say it is serious. Nor did he deny persistent rumors that she is suffering from some form of cancer. “Sheriff Arpaio…
Shamelessness will get you far in life. Just ask Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his campaign money-man Chad Willems, who also is pimping the statewide legalize-pot initiative in this cycle. On Wednesday, Arpaio filed his first campaign finance report with Maricopa County Elections, showing him in possession of a $3.2 million…
Is it possible for a successful flack to have a conscience? No offense to the many honest and diligent PR reps, public information officers and spokesmen and -women out there, but some of the best in that profession are real sleazeballs, amoral sociopaths who would justify Kim Jong-un dropping an…
You could call it the end of an era. The woman who for the past 23 years has served as Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s top flack, spin guru Lisa Allen, is resigning from the MCSO effective February 2. In an e-mail exchange with New Times, Allen confirmed her resignation, saying she’s…
You’ve got your camo, AR-15 and night-vision goggles ready, and you’re eager to join your fellow patriots up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, where former Phoenix resident Ammon Bundy and his armed crew of bohunks have taken control of a federal compound, in a bid to force the feds into turning…
Bad news for Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s ex-executive chief Brian Sands, and more of the same for Joe. On Tuesday, federal Judge G. Murray Snow denied a motion by Sands for summary judgment in the ongoing civil contempt case against himself, Arpaio, Arpaio’s chief deputy Jerry Sheridan, and two other Arpaio…
Now that former Phoenix resident Ammon Bundy, son of bigoted clodhopper Cliven Bundy, has up and taken over a wildlife refuge in Oregon with his brother, Ryan, and a bunch of fellow gun-slingin’ wackos, what do Arizona Republicans — like former state Senator Kelli Ward — have to say about…
The leader of an armed anti-government group that has occupied a federal wildlife building in Oregon once lived in Phoenix and can boast connections to local Republican politicians, such as Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Following a rally in support of two Oregon ranchers on Saturday, Ammon Bundy, son of rebellious Nevada…
Arizona’s Public Integrity Alliance, a conservative nonprofit group largely made up of East Valley Republicans, has helped topple former state Attorney General Tom Horne, targeted the slimy political maneuverings of former state Senate President Russell Pearce and his bumbling brother Lester, and put pressure on ex-Arizona Corporation Commission Chair Susan…
Don’t let the doorknob hit you on the way out. That’s the message to former Arizona Corporation Commission Chairwoman Susan Bitter Smith from both state Attorney General Mark Brnovich and Governor Doug Ducey. In a letter dated December 21, Ducey accepted Bitter Smith’s resignation, which she had made effective January…
What do you reckon many liberals and Latinos locally think about city government possibly having a master list of all the undocumented in Phoenix, with identifying photos, biometrics, and addresses, to boot? Sounds like recalled former state Senate President Russell Pearce’s wet dream, right? Particularly since law enforcement would have…
Who says all the good fights happen on Black Friday? With Christmas less than a week away, the benevolent spirit of the season failed to stop a fight from breaking out during a Saturday morning protest at a Phoenix shopping center shared by a Home Depot and a Walmart, near…
Come shop at Walmart and Home Depot, stay for the fisticuffs. That could be the pitch for the shopping center at 37nd Street and Thomas Road in Phoenix, where each chain has a store. Its parking lot has recently been the site of angry confrontations between heavily-armed nativists and a…
One day after filing a response to Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s petition seeking her removal from office, Arizona Corporation Commission Chairwoman Susan Bitter Smith resigned from the powerful regulatory body, effective January 4. In a statement issued today, Bitter Smith, a Republican, defended herself against allegations of a conflict of…
Speaking with journalist and author Asra Nomani for my recent cover story on her fellow Muslim reformer, Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser of Phoenix, I asked why Jasser draws such enormous flak from Muslim organizations in America. Nomani has garnered her share of fire for her ardent advocacy of gender equality…
