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:Shawna Forde, Alleged Kid Killer, Extremist, Phoenix Tea Party Attendee, and Ghost of Tea Parties Future…
It’s been a particularly bloody few days for Valley children. Loggan Lampert, 14, is bludgeoned to death by his uncle. A 2-year-old beaten with a belt buckle, allegedly by her mom’s boyfriend, dies. Another 2-year-old dies after being hit by a car in his trailer park. And now this: A…
The Arizona Republic has a noticeable ad on its page A5 today for bogus fuel-saving devices. The ridiculous products, known as “platinum gas savers,” have been debunked as worthless wastes of money by independent testers. The ads and the publications that print them have received criticism when run in other cities. …
The Phoenix Coyotes ice hockey team is staying in Glendale — for now. On June 15, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Redfield T. Baum ruled that a June 29 deadline on Canadian Jim Balsillie’s bid to buy the team and move it to Canada was not workable. But Baum didn’t set auction…
“Here comes Satan. I’m the anti-Christ. I’m going to kill you…” Those are supposedly the lyrics from an Eminem song that Michael Miller says he screamed to his wife before stabbing her and his daughter to death on May 30, according to a recently released 911 tape. Media reports…
Image: Tempe police Police captured a mentally ill man this morning in Tempe who stands accused of bludgeoning to death his mother and 14-year-old nephew. Phoenix police report this afternoon that Erick Lampert, 35, was caught in near 8600 South River in Tempe it was reported that someone suspicious was…
Image: Wikimedia Commons What’s the difference between a “speed-enforcement campaign” and a “speed trap?” Well, maybe it’s just the terminology, says Mike Tellef, spokesman for the Peoria Police Department. But speed traps are typically set up where the posted speed limit is artificially low, and where cops try to stay hidden, he adds…
A Petri dish of right wing insanity and goofiness. That was my impression of the April 15 Tea Party that took place on the grounds of the Arizona state capitol and drew thousands in a mass fit of anti-Obama rage. Sure, not everyone there was a complete moon-howling loon. (After all,…
Image: www.grandcanyonskywalk.com The Grand Canyon Resort Corporation, which runs the glass-bottomed Skywalk path on the Canyon’s rim, is seeking a new front man. The company put a prominent ad in the Arizona Republic on Sunday seeking a new CEO, and has also advertised the position on at least one…
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has filed felony child abuse counts against a Mesa stripper who left her toddlers alone while she visited a boyfriend. Samantha Abernathy, who turns 21 this week, returned to her Mesa apartment about 10:45 a.m. last Sunday, admitting to waiting police officers that she’d been gone…
Anti-abortion license plates are for sale in Arizona, though you wouldn’t know it from mainstream news sources. The contentious legal battle to allow the “Choose life” plates, which started after Governor Janet Napolitano rejected the plan, was covered adequately by news outlets. Now that people are actually buying the plates, coverage has been limited…
The score was knotted 2-2 in the bottom of the ninth Sunday at Safeco Field in Seattle when the unthinkable happened. Well, it would’ve been unthinkable except we’re talking about the hard-luck Arizona Diamondbacks. Veteran Tony Clark, who’s about the only true first baseman the D-Backs have left because of injuries, dropped…
National Park Service officials at the Grand Canyon rescued a Colorado man after he fell on his head during a hike. A helicopter airlifted the man to Flagstaff Medical Center, but NPS officials declined to say what the man’s condition was…A Phoenix mother accidentally shot her 12-year-old daughter Sunday night…
Today the Reverend Al Sharpton achieved what no one else has achieved before in Arizona’s civil rights struggle for the undocumented: the bringing together of African Americans and Latinos on the issues of racial profiling, immigration reform and the 287(g) program. After meeting with those who’ve suffered racial profiling at 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: Up on the Sun: Arty Girl: Save money at MADE art boutique tonight! DJ Dossier: Glory Hole…
The Homer News in Alaska last night covered Scottsdale resident Joe Pinto’s catch of a 575-pound salmon shark on Monday, giving some more details — including the fun factoid that Pinto’s an environmental planner for the Maricopa County Department of Transportation.A few seconds of Googling reveals that he’s also the…
So-called “Border Czar” Alan Bersin and other Homeland Security officials met with state Attorney General Terry Goddard today to discuss how to get different agencies working better together. During the meeting, Bersin (pictured above) reportedly called Arizona, “the most lawless corridor on the Southwest border.” We have no idea what…
An hour after Valley Fever called ex-Green Bay Packers player Tony Mandarich (above) for comment about a lawsuit filed against him by an ex-girlfriend, an offending Web site with pictures of the girlfriend no longer works. Mandarich never called us back, but our message may have had an effect. The…
Wired’s online site published an excellent photo recently of one of the weather balloons reported by wishful thinkers in the Phoenix area as a potential alien mothership. In May, we tried to disabuse believers of the idea that a scientific balloon viewed from the ground had extraterrestrial origins. But another balloon floating…
A former Green Bay Packers player famous for his use of steroids has been sued by an ex-girlfriend who claims he posted sexually explicit pictures of her online — under her own name. Tony Mandarich of Scottsdale, who recently released a tell-mostly-all book about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, purchased…
President Obama seemed to express support for major immigration reform during a speech at the Esperanza National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast in Washington D.C. this morning, promising better border security and a form of amnesty for illegal immigrants. Obama says, “we’re taking steps to strengthen border security, and we must build…
Two women who work in a Valley Wells Fargo bank claim their manager instructed them to stop speaking Spanish to Spanish-speaking employees, says a civil rights lawsuit filed in Superior Court. The white manager “didn’t like” when they spoke Spanish and told them to speak English, even when trying to…
