The town of Gilbert is a nice place to live, but it’s no place to go when you die — it’s the only southeast Valley community without a cemetery. Residents have recently begun e-mailing Gilbert Mayor John Lewis, requesting that a cemetery be built. Lewis said constructing a graveyard may…
Five little words just might prove to be the downfall of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s command staff — and the Arizona Republican Party. “Vote for Sheriff Joe Arpaio.” That inscription appears on the memo line of a $25,000 check, written by an Alaskan investment company in December 2007. That check, made…
TEARDOWN TOWN Like 1984 all over again: To ASU President Michael Crow: Which is more sustainable, which is greener, which uses less energy? Renovating, reusing, and recycling existing buildings or tearing them down and building anew (“Greek Ruins,” Robrt L. Pela, July 30)? The ideas and ideals you’re pushing have…
We begin, as we do each week, with cojones, although the huevos in question deal with my column a couple of semanas ago on why gabachos prefer the former term for testicles as opposed to the latter. I gave a rough etymology of the two (cojones comes from the Spanish…
Taryn Thomas isn’t shy about anything, which makes for an unnerving lunch. On a breezy Friday afternoon on the patio at Zipps Sports Grill in Scottsdale, she’s chain-smoking between coughs and eating fried chicken strips with her fingers. She’s talking loudly and enthusiastically about her sexual experiences, using lots of…
As president of the United Phoenix Firefighters Association for more than 20 years, Pat Cantelme turned the union into a political force — and, in the process, made it one of the most powerful labor groups in this right-to-work state. But Cantelme is now on the other side of the…
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: William Gheen, Nativist Hatemonger, Kicks Me Off His Facebook Friends List: Boo-Hoo-Hoo Up on the…
After getting battered about by Arizona over the past two weeks both at home and on the road, the New York Mets dished out a little comeuppance by defeating the D-Backs, 6-4, this afternoon at Chase Field. Led by the surprisingly sturdy pitching of lefty Oliver Perez (who’s had a…
From the broiler of ‘Bama to the desert heat of Ari-bama, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s Dr. Heidi Beirich descended on the offices of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon Wednesday and blasted Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his associations with neo-Nazi and nativist individuals and organizations. Actually, Beirich had a…
I’ll say one thing about nativist nudniks like William Gheen of ALIPAC, they can sure dish it out when it comes to bashing Mexicans on their little blogs, but boy do they scurry like schoolyard cowards when you call them out. I’m on Facebook, and I believe I became his “friend” a…
Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon says he can’t support the legislature’s current budget proposal, despite Governor Jan Brewer’s urging to do so. In a news release sent out this evening by the city (see text below), Gordon says changes to property tax collection rates will lower the amount of bond money…
After Governor Jan Brewer vetoed the Senate’s budget plan on July 1st, and called a special session, you could only assume that nowhere in her wildest imagination did she think the legislature would take seven weeks only to bring her the same bill. Well, that’s exactly what happened. On Wednesday, the senate voted on a…
Poor Paul Charlton.There’s new news in the ongoing probe of the Bush adminstration’s meddling with U.S. Attorneys, including the Phoenix-based Charlton, who was ultimately forced to resign by the very administration that appointed him. As the Republic’s Dennis Wagner reported today, a subordinate of Karl Rove ordered the Justice Department…
Do the “tough-on-crime” policies of Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas work to reduce crime? Thomas thinks so. The prim politician, now in his second term, campaigned in 2004 on a platform of stopping illegal immigration and throwing the book at criminals. Now, if you believe him, those policies have…
While “throwing away the key” is unfortunately not yet an option for judges dealing with those tantalized by watching little kids have sex, an Arizona judge did his best. Charles Brown, 54, of Mesa, was sentenced today to five years in prison and a lifetime of supervision upon release, after…
Arpaio Twitter Watch: What Arpaio is referring to here is the fact that his anti-illegal-immigrant forces have arrested 93 Mexicans and other Latinos in the past two weeks. Okay, we confess we don’t know for sure that they were all Mexicans and Latinos, but how…
In a less than shocking turn of events, the Arizona Senate was unable to reach an agreement and meet the deadline that would have put a 1-cent sales tax increase on the November ballot. Republican leaders in the Senate thought they would be able to reach a deal with one…
Time to toot our own bugle: The Phoenix New Times has been selected as one of the “10 That Do It Right” for 2009 by Editor & Publisher magazine. Our competition in the field: Every other newspaper in the country, apparently. The magazine says this isn’t a “best-of” award,…
To Live and Die in L.A. Phoenix. Thankfully, this big-money bust didn’t involve a nail-biting, wrong-way drive on the freeway that made for such a great action scene in the above-linked movie. Nope, just some good detective work by local cops who followed up on a tip a couple of…
As we’ve mentioned before, if the SCA spokesman, Captain Joel Fox, wants to talk, we’re willing to listen. After we told you about the interesting stuff written on the SCA donation checks, like “Vote for Sheriff Joe Arpaio,” Fox left a message on our blog. His response: “Sorry to spoil…
If nothing else, the Arizona Diamondbacks’ disastrous 2009 season will be remembered for the number of breakout stars it’s helped to spawn. From mustachioed pitcher Clay Zavada to walking tattoo canvas Ryan Roberts, the burgeoning ball-playing talents of this year’s crop of Baby Backs have helped provide a reason to…
The first thing we thought upon reading the August 11 letter from Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas to the Department of Justice about his enemies, the Board of Supervisors, was this: Thomas actually cares about this issue? Sure, we get the infantile messing-with-the-county part. That’s been going on between these foes for months. But…
