There are a couple of reasons why I’m hoping KFYI lip-flapper and former Congressman J.D. Hayworth makes a run for governor or senator or somethin’ in 2010. The first is that I have a series of “subliminal” columns that I plan to run soon after he announces. The first one starts…
John Pelander, chosen yesterday by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer as the newest member of the Arizona Supreme Court, has earned a rep as a prudent and conservative gent who probably won’t set the world on fire with scintillating legal opinions. The 58-year-old Tucsonian was chief judge of Division Two of the Arizona Court…
Legislators have been busy since we broke the news about a bill passed earlier this month that could be disastrous to homeowners facing foreclosure. State Senator Steve Pierce (R-Prescott) has called for an immediate repeal of the bill he himself wrote in June after meeting yesterday with representatives from Governor…
Mayor Gordon urges you to drink heavily and mosh to his primo Norwegian thrash music. Seriously. No, we’re not talking about our own Mayor of Phoenix, Phil Gordon. Mayor Gordon’s the name of a metal act with a MySpace page, fan videos on YouTube and everything. They’re actually not bad,…
The Arizona State Legislature is considering pawning the State Capitol like a cheap watch. A plan being considered by Governor Jan Brewer and members of the Legislature would sell the Arizona State Capitol building to private investors in an effort to help bridge the current $3.4 billion budget gap…
A Mesa phone soliciting firm has fleeced untold numbers of elderly victims since 2000 by promising identity theft protection, says the state Attorney General’s office. A lawsuit filed June 30 says that reps from the Consumer Benefits Group, which lists an address of 12 West Main Street, call people at home to sell…
If there’s one thing that Diamondbacks fans have usually been able to bank on during this season of perpetual inconsistency, it’s the near-constant dominance of pitcher Dan Haren. Well, up until this past week, that is. For the second time in as many outings, Arizona’s All-Star pitcher managed only five…
Arizona legislators are considering selling the House and Senate buildings to offset financial woes. According to the plan, officials hope to sell the buildings and then lease them back over several years. Such a sale could quickly inject about $735 million into the state’s economy…Arizona’s schools have received high marks…
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: David Irving, the Cowardly Holocaust Denier, and His Gal Friday Jaenelle Antas Up on the…
Deputies with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office busted two undocumented workers today after a cafe owner let the employees’ secret slip. The owner of Peppersauce Cafe, Denise Kimball, “blurted out” to a table full of lawmen — including a deputy — that “her cooks and dishwashers working in the back…
We can’t tell you much more than what’s in the headline. Local PR whiz Jason Rose put an interesting, though cryptic, tweet on his Twitter account yesterday about one of his clients, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas: Major announcement from maricopa county andrew thomas quite possible in next 45 days…
Two years after a Phoenix police officer was killed while handcuffing a theft suspect, about 250 people showed up to memorialize him. Officer George Cortez was honored Monday on the anniversary of his death, according to poignant write-up on the Phoenix Police Department’s Web site. Thousands of people showed up…
We see that many of you are commenting on another blog post about a somewhat-amusing video on www.youtube.com, so we figured it had earned the right to its own post. Trouble is, we can’t be sure of exactly what we’re seeing here. Yes, the video does show an old guy…
In the latest round of budgetary “boo-hoos,” Democrats in the Arizona House of Representatives issued a press release today littered with frightening rhetoric slamming the latest Republican budget plan. If bipartisan budget talks are over, the Democrats say, it’s the Republicans’ fault. They add that the GOP plan would essentially take Arizona to…
One of the many organizations to lose funding in the ongoing Arizona legislative budget battle sent 25 blind children to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro last month. The Foundation for Blind Children, a Valley non-profit that (among other things) sponsors the “See Kili Our Way” program, lost 10 percent of…
Governor Jan Brewer put out a news release this afternoon announcing she’s picked A. John Pelander III to fill a vacancy on the Arizona Supreme Court. The vacancy was created by the upcoming retirement of Chief Justice Ruth McGregor. As the Arizona Republic notes today, Pelander is a Republican, like…
New Times and the Arizona Republic used to be fiercely competitive — and we used any slip-ups on their part as an excuse to point out how much better we were.Today, in this brutal time for newspapers, we’re just mourning their losses. Which is why we found a story in…
Arizona’s U.S. Attorney, Diane Humetewa, the nation’s first-ever Native American woman to become a U.S. Attorney in any state, will resign on August 2. Sandy Raynor, spokeswoman for the office, says Humetewa plans on spending some time with her family before figuring out her next career move. As far as…
Nobody likes to be shown up as a liar, especially a law officer who might be called to the witness stand someday and grilled on his credibility by a defense attorney. So it’s no wonder Captain Joel Fox of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office has tried to defend himself from…
Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva has asked Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano’s office to “mitigate and monitor” the environmental impact of the several-hundred-mile Southwest border wall. The request came in a letter to Napolitano’s office signed by 43 congressman, including Gabrielle Giffords and Ed Pastor, and endorsed by a number of…
Baseball is one of those sports where any team, no matter how good or bad, can beat another on any given day. But when the good exploits the bad, then, well, it’s not a pretty thing to watch. Just in case you missed it, the Philadelphia Phillies are in town…
Agua Fria Union High School District superintendent Dudley Butts has resigned, just days after the district hired a public relations firm to handle media inquiries, and more than five months after a mercury spill at Agua Fria High that closed the school for three days…Chandler City Manager Mark Pentz’s proposal…
