The beleaguered Wilson Elementary School District, which recently saw two of its three board members removed from office by the state for widespread improprieties, is again being rocked by investigations and accusations charges that recently elected board members say are politically motivated. The latest flap is a continuation of the…
Joe Fendler can’t believe what he’s hearing. Sitting before him is a group of people he claims are planning to encourage public defecation, urination, intoxication, intimidation, burglary and littering — not to mention illegal immigration — by rewarding a bunch of wetbacks. To make matters worse, they’re going to use…
It’s Saturday night. The air reeks of transmission fluid, scorched steel and horse manure. A man jumps up and down on the roof of his car like a chimpanzee on a Samsonite. John Denver warbles “Sunshine on my shoulders . . . makes me hap-py” from tinny loudspeakers. Another man…
In Arizona, swine feeding, dead chicken handling, cheese making, emu slaughtering, minnow selling and manicuring are regulated industries with state-enforced rules, permits and inspectors to make sure these activities are performed responsibly. But the state doesn’t care quite as much about responsible clitoris piercing. In Arizona, the burgeoning body modification…
“I should be dead right now,” says Jacob Martinez. It’s near midnight on a Saturday in August. Martinez finds himself in familiar surroundings. He’s at Good Samaritan Hospital, in the orthopedic ward this time, with a brace on his neck and an IV snaking out of his arm. His large…
Inmates on the Internet are a problem Gary Phelps would rather not have to deal with. The state Department of Corrections official was quite happy when House Bill 2376 was passed two years ago. Inmates were already banned from direct Internet access, but the new statute prohibits third parties from…
A glance at the online inventory of Peoria-based Wild Animal World reads like a passenger manifest for Noah’s Ark. Claiming to be the largest dealer in exotic animals in the United States, Wild Animal World can deliver almost any species imaginable to your doorstep, whether it be a Watusi ($2,500)…
Ethan, Will and others who were there still talk about the scene that night. Two girls — a stripper and her friend — walked arm in arm through the living room of a villa at an East Valley resort hotel. Braless in matching bright halter tops, the girls wove their…
Lucy didn’t pay $1,200 and fly across the country just to watch naked strangers in cowboy hats probe their anuses. A widow and business owner from the Deep South, Lucy says that, since her husband’s death, she has been fascinated with spirituality and is intent on exploring a variety of…
Rebecca Kastl wraps her long fingers around a coffee mug and lifts a latte to her lips. The steaming brew fogs her glasses, for a moment obscuring her sky-blue eyes. Kastl, 34, is articulate and bookish, but she’s no geek. Currently working as a network engineer, she is serenely confident…
Annie Lopez gives as good as she gets. Offend her and you’ll likely find yourself starring in her artwork. An example at hand of her cathartic approach is a piece she created last year featuring the silhouette of a woman and the legend You Are So Judgmental, inspired by a…
Little Nasty Boy sits sullenly at home in Oregon on a weekday afternoon. He has just been informed, for the second time in two weeks, that a scheduled midget wrestling bout in Phoenix, in which he was to take on Pitbull Patterson, has been canceled. The news hits him like…
Though it’s proven in the past that adversity tends to strengthen its resolve, the Phoenix Heat Quadriplegic Rugby team (“Murderball,” Susy Buchanan, February 28) found no glory in taking second at the national finals two weeks ago. At the United States Quadriplegic Rugby National Championship Tournament, held at Metro State…
At first glance, the group assembled at the pizza joint in a Mesa strip mall seems as docile and diverse as a citizenship class. Clustered in groups of twos and threes at bright blue Formica tables, they glance around the room conversing quietly in Albanian, Spanish, Vietnamese and English. From…
On a recent Saturday afternoon at the Arizona State University gym, Andy Cohn of the Phoenix Heat lowers his head like a charging ram and powers his way across the floor. Gleefully, he smashes into one of his teammates, an unsuspecting Mike Gilliland, and the clash of metal on metal…
Officials with the Littleton School District told Guadalupe Elizondo that they’d take care of things when a teacher admitted to writing a suggestive note to her 12-year-old daughter, Melissa, last year. But in Elizondo’s eyes, the person they have taken the most care of is John Hansen, 38, who has…
“And now, a word from our sponsor: Haaaayyyyyaaaayiii!” Phoenix’s newest DJ DC Thomas erupts into the mike with a barrage of high-pitched ninja screeches. His hair is cropped into a bristly buzz, his wiry frame clothed in black tees and patched pants, the back of his neck tattooed with an…
The life of Balbir Singh Sodhi began in the Punjab Province of India in 1949. But the story of his death began on September 11, 2001, four days before he would draw his last breath. That morning, Balbir watched with horror and fear as the World Trade Center came crashing…
On a recent Thursday morning at the Royal Palms Hotel, the staccato clip of Italian loafers echoed across the courtyard. Despite the perfect golf weather and the posh resort setting, the 40 or so lawyers who had assembled there weren’t talking about their handicaps or their new sets of Callaways…
The streets of Rio Salado’s south bank are lined with sagging fences, steel girders and looming metal silos. Innards of defunct supermarkets, carcasses of abandoned cars and twisted strands of rebar huddle behind barbed wire. The odor of machine oil clings to the dusty air.But South Phoenix is on the…
