Gannett Could be Ready to Cut 4,500 More Jobs, Blog Reports

  Gannett Blog reports that the media company might be preparing for more across-the-board layoffs. The blog, which has done a good job predicting previous layoffs, says it receives a comment recently from one its best sources that says:  1. Principal executive and Chief Financial Officer Gracia Martore has ordered layoffs…

ASU Sun Devils Live to See Another Day at College World Series

Things looked mighty bleak midway through Arizona State’s baseball game against North Carolina yesterday afternoon. Then, down 4-0 in an elimination game at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium, the Sun Devils loaded the bases for previously unsung outfielder Kole Calhoun. Calhoun deposited a pitch into the right-field bleachers to tie the game,…

Hot Links: Home Invasions, Sarah Palin, and Oprah Winfrey

Incoming Arizona Board of Regents president Ernest Calderon is proposing a plan that would cut the cost of four-year degrees. The proposal would allow students to attend community college for three years, and then an Arizona university their final year…A Mesa woman reportedly shot two home invaders Wednesday night. The…

Human Growth Hormone Sales Sprout Indictments for Phoenix Pharmacy and Workers

A Phoenix pharmacy and its owner have been indicted for selling up to $8 million in human-growth hormone to doctors without receiving prescriptions. An announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix also says the Compounding Center, 4045 East Bell Road, and wholesale division manager Sean Shaffer advertised anti-aging products based…

Captain Joel Fox Wants to Reveal Names of SCA Donors to Officials in Private

With the deadline fast approaching to reveal the names of the SCA members or face a $315,000 fine, Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Captain Joel Fox begged election officials this month to let him disclose the names in private. Fox, who obviously missed his calling as a lawyer, continues to argue in correspondence with county…

Obama’s Summer Novel Includes Dreary Passage About Phoenix

An observant reader passed this one along to us: The award-winning novel, Netherland, by Joseph O’Neill, famously being read this summer by President Obama, contains a rather downbeat assessment of downtown Phoenix: On our way out we passed through downtown Phoenix. It was seemingly an uninhabited place given over to…

Scottsdale Man Lands 575-Pound Salmon Shark in Alaska

It’s doubtful anyone in Arizona will match Joe Pinto’s fish tale this summer: The Scottsdale resident reeled in a quarter-ton of finned fury on Monday while fishing in Alaska’s Cook Inlet.Yeah, that’s way cooler than snagging sunfish in Chaparral Lake.Pinto and others on board a charter boat were trying to…

D-Backs Crown KC Royals During 12-5 Thrashing

D-Backs manager A.J. Hinch held a big clubhouse meeting with his players yesterday afternoon, which shouldn’t come as a surprise following the team’s absolutely embarrassing 5-0 shutout loss to Kansas City on Tuesday night. No press. No other staff. Just the skipper and his crew hashing out one of the…

Hot Links: Kidnappings, Smoking Bills, and Barcelona

About 150 Iranian-Americans rallied in Tempe, to protest what they see as fraud in Iran’s recent presidential elections. The rally was peaceful, and a similar rally in Tucson drew about 60 people…A Valley man was kidnapped by a group of armed suspects near 27th avenue and Roosevelt Tuesday night. Police…

On Gabachos with White-Collar Jobs

I write to you with a doubt similar to the one that Incensed in Chicago felt a couple of weeks ago, when her friend couldn’t believe that Mexicans worked in professional, white-collar jobs. I live in Tijuana, and of the gabachos who put roots here, you can’t find a single…

Feedback from the Issue of Thursday, June 18, 2009

FAKE IT ‘TIL YOU MAKE IT Editor’s note: Plenty of readers criticized us and/or local singer Sonny Long for our recent cover story, “Sonny Long Is a Legend in His Own Mind,” but few were willing to sign their full or real names to their comments. Here’s a sampling of…

Phoenix Police Raid a Local Pastor’s Home For Holding Church Services

Last Thursday, a swarm of police officers descended on Michael Salman’s northwest Phoenix home. Armed officers herded Salman, his wife Suzanne, their five young daughters, and their visiting friends into the living room — and kept them under watch for 90 minutes while other city officials searched the grounds. And…