News

The largest water park in the state, Wet ‘n’ Wild Phoenix, is scheduled to open in mid-June. The $30 million, 35-acre park includes 30 slides and a coaster called Maximum Velocity. The park replaces the WaterWorld Safari park in north Phoenix…In Tucson, Reina Irene Gonzales was sentenced to two 22-year…

We understand that in the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. Worry not! We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries: Valley Fever: Swine Flu: Arizona on the Lookout for “Inevitable” Cases of…

Stating cheesily that, “Wolverine wouldn’t stand for bootlegged copies of his new movie and neither do we,” Maricopa County Andrew Thomas announced several recent digital piracy prosecutions involving the upcoming movie. That’s actually the funniest damned thing we’ve ever read from Thomas, who’s usually all prim and proper. He must…

A swarm of bees attacked a New River family  barbecue Sunday evening, possibly stinging one man hundreds of times. Fifteen people and a dog were stung repeatedly — the guy stung the most went to the hospital. The dog “took the brunt of it,” according to the Daisy Mountain Fire…

  Pumpkinville was a small town in the desert, misnamed for local buffalo gourds that grew in the area. Then a local Englishman, drunk on “red-eye whiskey,” invented a new name that better described the community being built on top of long-abandoned Indian dwellings: Phoenix. The tale of P-town’s christening’s just one…

Channel 10 news (KSAZ-TV) aired a jailhouse interview last week with Chad Kerns, the tattooed white supremacist accused of stabbing a black man at a Walgreen’s store. Without ever getting too specific, Kerns says he was at the scene of the crime with other suspects but didn’t assault anyone. Kerns,…

  State troopers last week caught up to a local ex-con wanted for alleged weapons violations who had eluded capture on April 13. Angel Valenzuela had vowed to shoot at anyone trying to take him back to prison, but it didn’t turn out that way. Detectives with the Arizona Department of Public Safety figured out…

US Airways announced today it will relax ticketing policies for passengers scheduled this week to fly to, from, or through a slew of cities in Mexico. The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that American Airlines is making a similar move. The Phoenix-based airline’s Web site says passengers scheduled for…

  Doctors and clinicians across the state are preparing for what one official called the “fairly inevitable” discovery of a new strain of swine flu in Arizona.See: Shots of the Swine Flu’s impact on Mexico City in this slide show. No sign of the virus that has killed 103 and sickened…

Although no cases of swine flu have been reported in Arizona, officials are taking precautions: The Arizona Department of Health is talking with Centers for Disease Control, doctors are urging people with flu-like symptoms to stay home from work, and US Airways is waiving its change fees for passengers flying to…

 We understand that in the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. Worry not! We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries: Valley Fever: Redflex Speed Camera Firm Still Evaluating Program Safety for Employees;…

  Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas touted his 1,000th conviction for an illegal immigrant under the state’s three-year-old human-smuggling law. The number was reached only because Thomas has prosecuted nearly 900 illegal immigrants for conspiring to smuggle themselves into the country. Lawmakers who wrote Arizona’s human-smuggling law intended it only…

We thought Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas was acting like his teeth had been pulled out in recent letters to the Board of Supervisors suggesting mediation on an intra-county lawsuit. Turns out he’s not totally belly-up. After suggesting to county leaders that the best way to resolve their dispute was through…

Redflex Traffic Systems is still in the process of evaluating the safety of photo radar vans for its employees as the company mourns the death of shooting victim Doug Georgianni (at right), says a statement from the firm. Photo radar vans from Redflex and other photo enforcement vendors were pulled…

Three state agencies put out a serious-sounding mercury advisory today for fishermen using Roosevelt Lake and Lake Pleasant, the state’s biggest lakes. Troubling levels of mercury have been found in largemouth bass and channel catfish (pictured below) at Roosevelt, and in largemouth bass at Lake Pleasant, according to an announcement…

  The FBI released photos of a “crew” of robbers who’ve hit 13 Valley banks in recent weeks, 11 of which were at Safeway grocery stores. The crew has become far more prolific lately — nine of the 13 have been since March 30. So far, the robberies have been…

  Far fewer reporters are covering their state capitols, but at least Arizona has the Guardian. That seems to be one of the themes in an article by the American Journalism Review about statehouse coverage by the news media. A survey by the renowned publication shows far fewer traditional reporters covering their state…

Who says pot makes people lazy? The Marijuana Policy Project’s effort to legalize medicinal use of the plant in Arizona will be the “first major petition on the street” for 2010’s election, says Andrew Myers, local spokesman for the Project. “We’re very much in need of people to help us…