You’ve read about the battle being waged between Camp Creek cabin owners and one by-the-book park ranger in this week’s news short “Cabin Fever: Camp Creek’s Cabin Owners Say the New District Ranger Is Driving Them Out.” In the photos below, see some of the Camp Creek cabins and the…
One of three suspects in a deadly arson fire that destroyed the headquarters of a youth activity firm has pleaded guilty to manslaughter and arson of an occupied structure. Moniza Murillo, 20, (pictured right), had been facing first-degree murder charges along with two other suspects for the June 14…
Everyone’s seen the recent Cronkite/Eight numbers showing that Sheriff Joe Arpaio remains popular in Maricopa County, with a 61 percent approval rating overall, and a 65 percent positive rating of those with an opinion. The same poll showed Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard with a 55 percent approval rating statewide…
Police in Boulder, Colorado have identified the famous victim of an infamous crime that took place more than 50 years ago. The victim, known for decades as Boulder’s famous “Jane Doe,” is actually a Phoenix woman named Dorothy Gay Howard who was reported missing in 1954. Howard, according to the Boulder…
Shaquille O’Neal, the “Big Shaquisition” as he is now being called by Cavs fans, is hoping to become a deputized police officer in Ohio as he was in Florida, Virginia, and, of course, Arizona.After being traded from the Suns to the Cavs back in June, Shaq has applied to become…
For most people, retirement is a time to relax, catch up on some TV — maybe play a little golf. Not for Al Slusser. This 70-year old Arizona man has decided to spend one of his golden years walking across the country. If that sounds badass, get this: Slusser’s doing…
Phoenix police Sergeant David Lake may get to find out whether his supervisors screwed him over, thanks to unanimous pro-public-records ruling by the Arizona Supreme Court. As we related back in January, Lake was halted twice by the court system in his quest to obtain the metadata embedded in a…
Readers of this paper are likely to recall the Doug Grant murder case. emember, the onetime Phoenix Suns nutritionist who was convicted of manslaughter in the 2001 drowning death of his beautiful wife Faylene. (That’s the happy couple on the day of their second wedding, mere weeks before her tragic…
We’ve been checking the Web site of sweat lodge organizer James Arthur Ray just about every day, and it has proven to contain a never-ending fountain of insensitive comments. That said, even we were a little surprised today when the organizer of the “Spiritual Warrior” sweat lodge retreat that left…
The Mesa Police Department has announced that the city has seen the greatest reduction in crime since 1963. According to police, among other declines, there has been a 39 percent drop in auto theft and 31 percent decrease in homicides…
A fundraiser for potential Attorney General candidate and Anthem Republican Sam Crump was spoiled last month by the release of the infamous Desert Divas client list, according to Crump’s now former campaign manager Jeremiah Wilson. Wilson was canned by the Crump campaign earlier this week because the campaign couldn’t afford to…
One of the countless questions hanging over the Phoenix Suns’ 2009-2010 season was whether the team’s 35-year-old captain still had any hustle left despite his advancing age. Apparently, he does, since the dude pretty much single-handedly carried the Suns to victory on Wednesday night in its season-opener against the Los…
Citing falling tax revenues, the Regional Council of the Maricopa Association of Governments has voted to cut back on freeway-expansion projects. MAG cut the $16 billion program to $9.4 billion. The South Mountain freeway project, which would relieve congestion on Interstate 10, survived the cuts…Chandler police arrested a student at Chandler-Gilbert…
The corner of Cave Creek Road and Cheryl Street in Sunnyslope isn’t usually a roadside attraction. Occupied by dilapidated wingding-style apartments and auto body shops with barbed-wire fences, the area is especially dark at night, where a single streetlight beams down uselessly on one spot of asphalt. It’s easy to…
TOWERING MESS Ain’t it just perfect?: Ray Stern’s piece on the Centerpoint Condominiums debacle got at the heart of the greed and hubris of the development boom, not only in metro Phoenix but in other Sun Belt cities. First, the developers were proposing four towers! What were they smokin’?! Two…
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…
Visiting Camp Creek for the first time is a bit like discovering a hidden fairyland. One moment you’re driving, surrounded by nothing but bald, craggy desert mountains and open sky. Then, the road dips between two hills and there it is: an oasis tucked beneath a dense canopy of sycamore…
Editor’s note: This is one of a group of individual accounts of racial profiling by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s forces. Fili Gaucin is a bright 12-year old, an American citizen born in this country who, like most boys his age, likes to play video games and watch TV. In fact, Fili,…
LOCAL HEROES Ever since the MCSO’s contract for police services with the town of Guadalupe was renewed earlier this year, a small band of residents of the square-mile town has sought to monitor the interaction of sheriff’s deputies with Guadalupanos. A month and a half ago, these half-dozen or so…
For most of my life I was oblivious to the hate that Mexicans have for Salvadorans. I became aware of it when I made the huge mistake of marrying a Salvi. Once I became engaged to my Salvi girlfriend or whenever I would tell any Mexican that I married a…
In doing research on Chris Simcox — the minuteman posterboy currently waging a quixotic campaign for the 2010 GOP U.S. Senate primary nod against the ancient, lizard-skinned Senator John McCain — I came across an odd exchange of legal paperwork between Simcox’s current wife Alena, and Alena’s mother Barbara Lang-Lyras…
In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries: Feathered Bastard: Joe Arpaio Target of FBI Probe, Says Channel 5 in Report to Air Thursday Up…
