So-called human traffickers were apparently trying to set up shop in Arizona before authorities caught up to them. According a May indictment of 12 people, including eight from Uzbekistan, the alleged traffickers had already brought several immigrants to Missouri for construction projects, intentionally allowing them to overstay their work…
A bus collided with a light rail train just after 6:30 a.m., sending eight passengers to the hospital “for precautionary reasons,” cops says. Some victims complained of neck and back pains. (Cha-ching!)Phoenix police report this morning that a city bus trying to turn right onto Washington Street from 1st Avenue…
Zoinks, Batman, can’t a superhero have a good time without being accosted constantly by the paparazzi?We can’t tell you for sure if this is Brett Mecum behind the Captain America mask, but that’s what the The Dirty says. We thought Mecum saw himself more as The Flash…
One day after the Arizona Diamondbacks’ apocalyptic meltdown in Los Angeles, they came out swinging Wednesday night but, unfortunately, ran into the Dodgers’ version of the Terminator, flame-throwing righthander Chad Billingsley. The D-Backs’ Jon Garland gave a particularly gutty performance, matching Billingsley pitch for pitch, but timely hitting carried the…
Arizona’s Republican legislative leaders have proposed a budget that would eliminate domestic partner benefits for state employees. Former governor Janet Napolitano granted benefits to state workers last year, but if the budget proposal passes, those benefits will end October 1…Five Mesa police officers have been placed on paid leave, pending…
I am a Chicano in Connecticut. I moved from Arizona to the East Coast for my dream job. I have to admit that I’m still homesick. Connecticut is a completely different world. To sum it up in one phrase, vale madre. It took a while for me to find a…
BOCK’S BIG WIN Richard Bock’s lounging in the proverbial catbird seat these days, in more ways than one. The über-popular Food Network show Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives just aired an episode featuring Bock’s 12-seat Italian eatery, Giuseppe’s, at 28th Street and Indian School Road. Hosted by fun-lovin’, spiky-haired personality Guy…
POWER TRIPS They find fake crimes more interesting: My heart bleeds for this young woman. Imagine what she went through at Moon Valley High School, only to be treated like a worthless whore by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office. She was 14 years old when this videotaped statutory rape happened;…
Peace activist and anti-war den mom Cindy Sheehan will be a busy one while she’s in town over the next couple of days with a fundraiser at a local home, an appearance at Changing Hands bookstore in Tempe, and most interestingly, a protest announced by the End the War Coalition,…
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: Sony Ruins eMusic’s Indie Credibility, Raises Rates Arty Girl: David van Alphen at…
No surprise here: Anti-photo-enforcement Judge John Keegan has dismissed the speed camera case against Arizona Republican Party Director Brett Mecum. Keegan, justice of the peace for the Arrowhead Justice Court, has tossed hundreds of photo-enforcement cases because he believes the system is unconstitutional. The Department of Public Safety sends…
Paul Chagolla can’t stop being a spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.Though Chagolla left Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s flighty “communications” department in December, having been promoted the department’s first Hispanic deputy chief, he’s been filling the pages of local newspapers in guest columns. His latest diatribe in the East ValleyTribune…
The number of homes sold in Phoenix continues to smash records made during the peak of the housing boom in 2005. The numbers look quite impressive on a chart made by a local real estate sales blog, click2az.com:…
The State Senate still intends to boot reporters out of rooms at the State Capitol that they’ve worked in for more than three decades — it’ll happen at the end of this legislative session, staffers say. So, in the interest of preserving a (somewhat moldy) slice of history, here is…
One single out. Just three little strikes. That’s all the Arizona Diamondbacks bullpen — or more specifically, Tony Peña — needed to protect a four-run lead with two away in the bottom of the eighth versus the Los Angeles Dodgers last night. But instead of landing that lone K (or…
Two school buses collided on Highway 89 in Chino Valley Tuesday afternoon, injuring one of the bus drivers and at least a dozen students from Heritage Middle School. Initial reports indicate that three school buses were traveling in a procession when the first collided with a pickup truck, causing a…
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: Kyrsten Sinema’s Guide to Delusional Democratic Thought, In Bookstores Soon Up on the Sun: The…
An Apache Junction woman claims the Arizona Heart Hospital violated her right to religious freedom by demanding she be immunized as a condition of employment. Melissa Allen, a licensed nurse, applied at the Phoenix hospital two years ago as a patient care assistant and was told by the “charge nurse” that…
A California woman sued Pepsi after finding out that Crunchberries contained no real fruit, but a judge ruled any reasonable person could have figured that out. The case of Janine Sugawawa does provide a modicum of hope that the justice system isn’t running on four flats — this one was nipped…
Our cover story on the stands this week concerned one Tony Tercero, a Vietnam War veteran and onetime big-league marijuana smuggler whose family is seeking greater recognition for his long-ago wartime heroics. As was noted in the story, Tony learned weeks after we first met with him that he was…
A few hours ago, we were driving in the vicinity of the Clarendon Hotel on 4th Avenue south of Indian School Road when it struck us: It’s June 2, the anniversary of a day that will live in infamy (to steal a line) in Arizona and in journalism circles around the…
The first month of amnesty for businesses with delinquent tax bills netted the city of Phoenix $1 million. Sort of. The 190 businesses that took advantage of the program through May 15 promised to send their share of sales to Phoenix over the next six months. We’ll see how much…
