It’s been a season of downers for the Arizona Diamondbacks, and the latest is that pitching ace Dan Haren won’t start in the 80th annual All-Star Game at Busch Stadium in St. Louis Tuesday night. National League manager Charlie Manuel, skipper of the Philadelphia Phillies, picked San Francisco Giants mop-headed phenom Tim Lincecum,…
With a few strokes of a pen, it became official: On a 115-degree day, partygoers in Arizona parks can exchange a refreshing cold beer for a steaming plastic cup of merlot. Governor Jan Brewer Friday signed House Bill 2441, which clarifies crucial language in a statute that affects office party-planning committees across the…
An undocumented, armed Phoenix resident left his gun where kids could find it, and now an 8-year-old boy is fighting for his life after getting shot in the face, police say. Police make Javier Gudino Cruz, 24, the boy’s uncle, look like anything but a law-abiding, responsible, possessor of a…
1957: Scientists in Brazil accidentally loose 26 African Honey Bee queens into the wild.2009: Arizonans suffer attacks by swarms of “killer” bees.True, the aggressive hybrids aren’t quite as bad as depicted in the poster for the 1978 movie, The Swarm. But try telling that to John Pool of Green Valley…
Bashas’ will stay in business, it says, despite the family-owned grocery chain’s filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today. But it may have to shed another thousand jobs. That’s on top of losing 1,700 earlier this month. Court records say the company has $200 million in assets and $245 million in…
Two of the National League’s best pitchers, Dan Haren and Josh Johnson, turned in tremendous performances over the weekend at Chase Field, with Florida’s Johnson shutting out the Arizona Diamondbacks through 6 2/3 innings Sunday. The 8-1 loss meant Arizona split a four-game series with the Marlins and ended the first half…
Arizona-based grocery store chain Bashas’ Supermarkets Inc. filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Ten Bashas’ and Food City stores will close July 21 (the company also owns AJ’s Fine Foods, but no closures of those markets have been announced)…Members of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council will go to San Francisco…
You know your career as a historian has hit a new low when you’re hawking books out the back of a Phoenix diner better known for its hash browns than its literary events. This is the best the infamous British Holocaust denier David Irving can do these days, reserving the back…
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 Reined In? Homeland Security Revises 287(g) Agreements Nationally Up on the Sun: BET…
It’s 9:30 a.m. and Adan Hinojosa stands in the shade outside the Wells Fargo building in downtown Phoenix speaking with Channel 3 news anchor Beverly Kidd. If it weren’t for the camera crew, you’d think he was just a regular joe, but it turns out this Phoenecian is an entirely…
For 115 days, journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee have faced hard labor and all but silence from the outside world as detainees in a North Korean Prison Camp. On March 17, while on assignment for Current TV, the two journalists broke North Korean law by entering the country from…
Another garbage story: Republic Services and Allied Waste Industries, two large waste-removal companies based in Phoenix that merged last year, are being sued in a class-action that alleges they over-charged for services. Specifically, the suit — as published in Courthouse News today — alleges the company charged its nationwide clients “recovery…
Janet Napolitano’s Department of Homeland Security has just issued a press release announcing new, standardized 287(g) agreements that all law enforcement agencies participating in the program will have to sign, including Sheriff Joe’s MCSO, which boasts a massive 160-man 287(g)-trained force, the largest in the nation. “DHS and ICE will…
California has come up with a wonderful plan for recycling computer waste: Dump it in Arizona. A CBS-affiliated TV news station in San Francisco caught one recycler who was adhering to California’s strict recycling laws by creating a mountain of lead-tainted glass in the desert near Yuma. Mark Shaffer of Arizona’s…
Everyone can rest easier now, right? The U.S. Marshals Service, in collaboration with various law-enforcement agencies, including the Maricopa County Sherriff’s Department, took more than 600 criminals off the streets in Arizona during June. Or did they? In reality, Federal and Local Cops Organized Nationally (FALCON), a month-long effort by…
Nobody lusts after LUSTs: Leaking underground storage tanks. The pockmarked, subterranean behemoths leech toxic chemicals into our drinking water — and there are a lot of them. A whole lot. In fact, every time you see a gas station, you can be pretty sure it either used to have a LUST or still…
On Monday, the Social Security Administration began a three-day retreat for more than 700 employees, from as far away as Guam, at Phoenix’s posh Biltmore Hotel. The glorified vacation, which SSA officials describe as a “training workshop,” cost taxpayers roughly $750,000…
Image: Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Ignacio Lopez-Leon has been arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. Records show he was booked into the Maricopa County jail yesterday. The county attorney’s office does not yet have information to provide about the case. We’ll update this post later…
Sometimes in a fight you have to know when to stay down. After losing a bid to prevent a tattoo studio from opening in Tempe, the city took its fight back to court — and lost again. As we mentioned on May 14, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Oberbillig ruled…
Following Mark Reynolds’ verbal peppering of his teammates in Denver, the Arizona Diamondbacks were a different animal for fifty consecutive innings (that’s five and a half games, in case you’re counting). The team finally started playing all easy breezy, winning five straight while simultaneously climbing out of the National League…
Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has filed a consumer fraud suit against several Tucson real estate businesses. The suit alleges that the company engaged in a fraudulent system that led to the foreclosure of more than 130 homes. The scheme allegedly involved attracting novice home buyers to purchase properties and…
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: Mesa Singer/American Idol Contestant Brooke White to Stream Performance on Facebook The Format’s…
