It sounded like an interesting story — at first. Dave Hendershott, chief deputy of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, told us last night that his agency’s criminal investigation into what’s going on with the county computer system might involve the Arizona Republic. Naturally, we were a bit suspicious of the info…
The days where bunk-beds and communal bathrooms were the norm for incoming college freshman are over for hundreds of ASU students who decided to skip the dorms and move into luxury apartments. Why not, right?The Vue on Apache, which sits directly across from ASU’s Tempe campus, is set to open…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio is in a huff today, after the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors refused to license a new jail bus he bought without their consent.”Since the county, because of their personal agenda, refused to buy [the bus], we bought [it out of the] Jail Enhancement Fund,” Arpaio says. “I…
Men throughout the Valley can take a collective sigh of relief; Phoenix offers some of the cheapest dates in the country.No gentlemen, that does not mean that the women are cheap, but rather the places you take them, as you try and woo them into submission, won’t force you to…
Once upon a time, the Arizona Diamondbacks were winning a game against the defending MLB champeen Philadelphia Phillies (we know, hard to believe). Stephen Drew had slugged a lead-off home run off of pitcher-of-the-decade Pedro Martinez, who was making his second major-league start since being brought up to The Show…
The mother of the two children who were kidnapped yesterday morning has been arrested. Marisa Sandoval, 20, was taken into custody after officers served a search warrant at her home and found methamphetamine. The children, who had been returned to Sandoval yesterday, are now with CPS…Salt River Project has applied…
The Arizona ACLU isn’t giving out any details, but they’ve just issued a press advisory that at noon tomorrow they will announce a lawsuit, “on behalf of two Avondale residents who were illegally arrested and detained during a worksite raid conducted by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.” Though the ACLU’s…
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: Up on the Sun: Geek Beat: Twits and Twerds at the Twi/Tour 2009 Twilight Convention Micachu &…
The medical staff at Banner Health’s 10 Valley hospitals have quit using a rapid test for the H1N1 swine flu virus because of too many false-negative results. About 50 percent of people who came up negative on the rapid test were later found to have swine flu. According to a…
In case you’ve been living on Mars for the last several months, the nation is in the midst of an intense debate over healthcare. Sick of it yet (no pun intended)? Well, a Mesa man claims to have the solution: Don’t bother getting health insurance at all.Chad Harris, chief executive…
In Gilbert, the carefree days of whimsically crossing a street at your leisure are over, as the Gilbert Police Department is beginning a sweep to cut down on jaywalking.Um, talk about taking a bite outta crime…With the school year fast approaching, police issued a firm warning to students and parents…
A planned $527,000 “donation” to Maricopa County’s IT department by Tempe-based Insight Networking (a.k.a. Calence) looks suspicious to the sheriff’s office. After a hearing last week over the sheriff’s takeover of the ICJIS system, Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott told New Times and other news media he questioned the “gift.” “Why would anybody give that…
A snowbird has joined us in a Phoenix a little early this year; we’re just not sure how the heck he got here.Douglas Rudsinski, 66, from Matteson, Illinois, disappeared from a vacation home in Connecticut on Friday morning, and was inexplicably found at the Safeway on East Greenway Road in…
The feds are going to study 670,000 acres of Bureau of Land Management land in six western states — but only 16,000 of those acres are in Arizona. What an oversight! Those gloomy skies over Washington D.C. must have dimmed bureaucrats’ minds. It’s typically said that we get…
Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott claimed last week that federal law prevented him turning over a password to a computer system used by law enforcement officials. Yesterday, without an act of Congress, Hendershott reportedly agreed to give the county computer administrators the password. The agreement means a judge won’t be sending…
Two children have been safely returned to their mother after an early morning kidnapping near 27th avenue and Indian School Road. According to police, a group of men stormed the victims’ house, yelling that they were police, and forcibly took the children, ages two and eleven months. Police are searching…
I don’t know if playwright James Garcia modeled the character Captain Montoya from his new play The Tears of Lives on Deputy Chief Paul Chagolla of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. But as portrayed by actor Andrew Valenzuela, Montoya is a chilling vision of Hispanic self-loathing, a man driven to…
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: Minuteman CEO Carmen Mercer Named in Arizona Attorney General Lawsuit Over Fraudulent Scam Up on…
A man carried an AR-15 assault rifle across his back to the Phoenix Convention Center, where President Barack Obama spoke today. Fortunately for gun-rights advocates, the armed dude was an African-American, a fact that’s bound to reduce the tone of criticism in the media. The man, identified in the Arizona Republic…
For you Diamondbacks completists, May 17 is now officially in the books. For D-Backs faithful, it was hardly worth the wait. In a rain-delay makeup game against the Braves at Atlanta’s Turner Field this afternoon, D-Backs starter Max Scherzer (7-7) got folded, spindled, and mutilated in the 9-4 loss to the…
You’re a graffiti artist who takes pride in his work — your stuff is really unique. And that’s why Tempe police are going to catch you. (Or so cops think, anyway). Police in the college town plan to launch new computer software that is slated to help officers in the…
Thanks to countless idiots, who despite more than a decade of warnings are still giving their debit card pin numbers away to strangers, there is a brand new debit card scam going on right here in the Valley.Desert Schools Federal Credit Union is warning customers about a scam that is happening…
