WACKOS ON JACKO Editor’s note: Okay, you’ve figured it out by now, right? Our story on Sedona “healer” Dr. Reinalda de Souza was satirical (see The Bird for full details). De Souza didn’t really ritually sacrifice a Rottweiler puppy to hex the “King of Pop” into suffering a fatal heart…
Franc Kahn isn’t exactly what you’d expect of a guy running a government agency. He’s been divorced three times. He legally changed his name at age 33, for reasons that are unclear. He owes the federal government $16,645 in back taxes. He has a history of stiffing creditors. Really, Kahn,…
Long before she was accused of robbing and murdering a Mexican man and his 9-year-old daughter in the southern Arizona desert — exposing the Minuteman movement to claims of racial warfare — and long before she told her followers that she saw brown-skinned immigrants as filthy lawbreakers, Shawna Forde was…
MURDEROUS INTENT You’d have to have aluminum flowing through your veins not to feel a chill crawl up the back of your neck as you listen to the 911 tape of the Arivaca killings. Weeping, Gina Marie Gonzalez tells the 911 operator that someone has shot both her husband, Raul…
I have seen the future of newsprint, and it’s in The Slammer, literally. Indeed, with all the bitching and moaning in the bloody Fourth Estate about layoffs, the Web, and the end of newsprint, here’s a weekly newspaper that appears to be thriving at a dollar a pop, for sale in…
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: Jan Brewer Bans Abortion (for a Day), Democrats Should Consider Hara-kiri Up on the Sun:…
Two scientists at Arizona State University’s polytechnic campus may have found a slimy green alternative to the world’s oil crisis: Algae. No joke. Scientists Qiang Hu and Milton Sommerfeld can convert algae into jet fuel — a discovery that may just land them a World Technology Award tomorrow. By selectively…
BASE jumper Chris McNamara must pay a $5,000 fine for leaping from a cliff in the Grand Canyon National Park, says a federal judge. The winged daredevil and climber from Marin County, California did his wicked deed on November 5, 2007, during a badass Canyon adventure with climbing superstars Tommy…
How about just saying “oops?” The Social Security Administration today defended its decision to hold a “training conference” at the lavish Arizona Biltmore last week that cost taxpayers roughly $750,000. Mark Lassiter, spokesman for the SSA, tells Federal Times.com that the three-day retreat was just your average training…
Our Republican Gov. Jan Brewer has effectively banned abortion for 24 hours with the stroke of her pen. Where are the Arizona Democrats? Asleep somewhere, dreaming of Janet Napolitano and Barack Obama gamboling in a field of poppies. And I don’t see any sign that they’ll be waking up any time…
Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Dave Hendershott (pictured) asked for e-mails of Superior Court staff in a fresh public-records request this month and was promptly told to bug off.A similar records request went nowhere earlier this year, spurring a lawsuit from the Sheriff’s Office that was shot down in June…
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of Spanish-language DUI courts was rejected today by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.Thomas already lost this one once at the U.S. District Court level, though he once vowed to take it to the Supreme Court, if necessary. Thomas believes the…
It was one of the weirdest mysteries in yesterday’s revelatory SCA filing, which revealed the donors behind the money that financed an attack ad on Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s opponent.Why the heck would a bunch of out-of-town businessmen be willing to write massive checks to a secret committee started by a…
In 2004, Arizona State University geologist Phil Christensen put out a request via Internet: Send rocks.In five years, children and adults worldwide have answered the call — big-time. Last week, ASU reported the Rock Around the World program was sent its 10,000th rock, the piece of quartz from Nepal in…
Arizona State University assistant professor Jay Golden will assist a major project by Wal-Mart to rate the ecological impact of the products it sells.Here’s how the New York Times describes the three steps of the project: The first will involve Wal-Mart’s gathering information from its suppliers about the sustainable practices…
The Arizona Republic posted an online article from the Associated Press today about how its parent company, Gannett, recorded a profit in a recent earnings statement.We couldn’t help but notice — especially after someone pointed it out to us — that the article doesn’t mention the “L” word.As the Wall…
A 71-year-old posse member with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office had to be airlifted to a hospital after he was struck by a minivan while helping with an anti-smuggling operation.A news release by the sheriff’s office states that James Van Allen was treated for broken ribs and a concussion after…
We’re not saying Captain Joel Fox is wrong about everything. Turns out he’s right on the issue of whether the SCA contributions were, in fact, “payroll deductions.” Although the reports filed by Fox say “payroll deductions,” Fox says in comments to this blog that they were actually nothing more than…
Captain Joel Fox hasn’t been honest with us. Here’s what Fox posted to our blog in February about the $105,000 contribution to the Arizona Republican Party that came from the SCA: None of the money came from Arpaio,or Hendershott or Arpaio’s campaign, or anyone associated with Arpaio’s campaign, nor did…
Nearly half (48 percent) of 675 physicians polled by a research group believe the H1N1 virus poses some risk for a “catastrophic” global Swine Flu pandemic. The study, done by HCD Research, tracked physicians’ opinions weekly since April and found doctors’ concerns at an all-time high. “Our recent study revealed…
An Arizona court of appeals has upheld the conviction of Roman Catholic priest Paul LeBrun, found guilty of sex crimes while working parishes in Tolleson and Avondale. The judge in the original 2006 trial, Crane McLennen, gave LeBrun the max sentence: 111 years…US Airways will eliminate 600 ground jobs this fall…
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’s Holocaust Denial Wing-Ding YouTubed by Dennis Gilman Up on the Sun: Geek Beat:…
