News

You can help guide the Valley’s transportation future at a public forum on Wednesday to discuss how the light-rail system will connect and run alongside Interstate 10 West. The sequel to the successful launch of the 20-mile starter line is still in the planning phase, but Metro expects light rail…

One day after the Scottsdale City Council voted to oppose the city of Phoenix’s $97 million CityNorth subsidy, Tempe Mayor Hugh Hallman said he’ll ask his Council to consider taking the same action. Challenged by the Goldwater Institute as unconstitutional, the tax giveaway was struck down by the appellate court…

A female inmate at Perryville state prison died early Wednesday after being left outside in a holding cell for four hours in temperatures above 100 degrees. The inmate, Marcia Powell, 48, was serving a 27-month sentence for prostitution…Phoenix police have released the names of burglary suspects who caused a major crash…

Almost eight years after Faylene Grant drowned at her Gilbert home, her husband, Doug, faced a county judge last Friday, May 15, to hear his fate. The 43-year-old onetime nutritionist for the Phoenix Suns was handcuffed, shackled, and wearing a black-and-white-striped jail suit that’s been his attire since a jury…

Miriam Hayenga isn’t your typical developer. For the most part, the Valley’s earth-movers and shakers tend to be conservative white guys. Hayenga’s not just female — she’s a lesbian. And that’s not all. They drive giant SUVs; Hayenga favors a sporty VW Bug convertible. They’re politically connected; Hayenga is out…

My wife and I have an argument going on about pirates. And since you are the source for all things Mexican. I’d thought I’d ask: While I know there were Spanish and Portuguese pirates back in the early 1600s and 1700s, were there ever any Mexican pirates? Not pirates from…

JOE AND HIS NAZIS It only makes sense: “Ja, Joe!” was interesting and seems reasonable and reasoned. It’s only logical that neo-Nazis would gravitate toward someone who, in large measure, shares their agenda. How far the MCSO has gone to gratify these slime buckets is surprising, but not too much…

Phoenix New Times writers won top honors for column writing and blogging at the Arizona Press Club’s annual awards banquet, held Saturday at Arizona State University’s Cronkite School in downtown Phoenix. In all, New Times brought home seven first-place awards. Sarah Fenske won the Don Schellie Award for feature column…

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:Supervisors Cave to Joe Arpaio, OK $1.6 Million for Harassing Mexicans in Maricopa County Up on…

Gabrielle Dawn Schoeneweis, the wife of Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Scott Schoeneweis, was found dead in her Fountain Hills home. She was 39. According to an Associated Press report, Ms. Schoeneweis’ teenage daughter found her mother unresponsive on the floor of the master bedroom, and called police. A cause of death…

Rudi Apelt, a German national sentenced to death in Pinal County in 1989, cannot be killed because he is mentally retarded, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Sylvia Arrellano ruled yesterday.Both Apelt and his brother, Michael, were sentenced to death after they brutally murdered Michael’s wife, Cindy Monkman, in hopes of…

A group of brave kids stepped up to the conference room platform to reveal the new name of the children’s hospital at Banner Health Desert Medical Center by flipping over cards with letters spelling out “ardon.”But where was the “C,” for Mesa developer and $10 million contributor Wil Cardon?They had…

Last month, the Arizona League of Cities and Towns defended the city of Phoenix’s $97 million CityNorth subsidy — going so far as to file an amicus brief asking the Arizona Supreme Court to overturn the appellate decision that struck down the subsidy as unconstitutional.But last night, the city of…

A judge is set to decide on Monday whether a Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office Captain Joel Fox deserves to pay $315,000 in penalties for making an improper campaign donation. The upcoming ruling by Judge Thomas Shedden of the state Office of Administrative Hearings is expected to bring some finality to…

This just in: The Arizona Supreme Court has upheld the state’s legislative districting plan, nearly seven years after it was initially adopted.A group of left-leaning advocates, including Maricopa County Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox, State Representative Pete Rios and the Hispanic Bar Association Los Abogados, had originally challenged the plan in…

  A few New Times employees were among the thousands of commuters stuck in an epic traffic jam this morning on Interstate 10, and so we pass along these cell-phone photos as a way to commiserate. The wreck was caused by a burglary suspect fleeing Tempe police who drove the wrong…

NASA can always depend on the Phoenix area for UFO reports. Our clear skies and large population apparently make the Valley number one when it comes to hysterical cries of alien invasion every time a research balloon goes up. Following yesterday’s media reports about the earthly origins of a spherical,…