Anybody else get the feeling it’s gonna be one long-ass summer? So the D-Backs finally won a series, and Dan “Hard Luck” Haren finally won a game (while lowering his ERA to a Bob Gibson-like 1.38). If their two-out-of-three set against the Colorado Rockies that concluded Wednesday provided a much-needed…
An Iraq war veteran who says he was stabbed multiple times by a Mesa police officer during his arrest has filed a lawsuit, and is preparing an expert witness list for a federal judge. The veteran, Keith LaVoie, got into an altercation with officers in January, 2007, after a night…
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: Backhoe-Driving Thieves Excavate Mesa Walgreens, Rob ATM Cashbox Teachers to…
Governments often choose the lowest bidder for products and services to save precious taxpayer funds. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Tom Crider of the City of Phoenix’s Public Works division didn’t like the way the city’s low-bid tire was performing on municipal vehicles, so he decided…
What’s the first thing that Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha is gonna do when he touches down in the PHX May 1 — a day before the big anti-Arpaio march from the Wells Fargo Building downtown to Joe’s Estrella Jail on May 2? Kick it with…
KTAR 92.3 FM, the unofficial PR arm of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s MCSO, has announced that the sheriff’s department is conducting one of its notorious anti-immigration sweeps in the West Valley town of Avondale today and Friday. According to an article on KTAR’s Web site, the command post for the sweep will be at the sheriff’s command substation near…
Espresso Pundit picked up on a goodie yesterday — an article about Janet Napolitano entitled “The border for dummies,” by the editorial board of the Canadian newspaper, National Post. The article repeats an embarrassing CBC radio moment for Arizona’s former governor, now Homeland Security Secretary, after she repeated a disproven rumor that some of the…
The parent company of the East Valley Tribune, Freedom Communications, is testing a free, ultralight newspaper for busy people in Colorado, announcing the concept could spread if it works. The Colorado Springs Gazette will distribute the four-day-a-week bulletin, known as Ink, in downtown areas. “This is meant to be a…
Dozens of teachers will spend this morning playing video games tomorrow as part of a state conference on Internet safety.Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard has partnered with Web Wise Kids, a non-profit education group and the Entertainment Software Association for a program that uses specially designed games that make it…
This is the modern version of digging for treasure: Someone used a backhoe early this morning to claw through a Mesa Walgreen’s and drag out the store’s ATM. The machine then made quick work of the ATM, smashing it apart until the cashbox was freed. A news release by…
A gun-control bill floating in Congress this year would be making many Arizonans quake in their boots, if only the mainstream media would report on it. House of Representatives bill HR45, introduced by Democratic Congressman Bobby Rush in January, would mandate the registration of every handgun and magazine-fed rifle in…
While most Valley cities have been clamoring for federal stimulus money, the council for the city of Scottsdale voted this week to refuse $224,000 in federal stimulus funds. Some members of the council expressed concern that accepting the funds would create overheard that would strain city budgets in the future…After…
Bobette Riner publishes an electricity index used to promote renewable energy, and she bought a brand-new Prius last year to shoot the bird at the oil companies. “I felt so smug for a while,” she says. “Especially being in Houston.” She was lucky to score the car from a dealership…
Last fall, 50 brave Valley Metro bus drivers gave up their stable jobs to take a chance on light rail. Many had been with the bus system for more than a decade. But the for-profit company that Metro Light Rail hired to manage the new rail system, Alternate Concepts Inc…
First of all, please don’t think that I’m a self-loathing Mexican; I was born in the U.S. to northern Mexican parents. As far as I know, my ancestry is just Indian, Spanish, and a little French. For some strange reason, I have developed an intense fascination, and you might say,…
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED Where’s the justice?: Paul Rubin did a superb job of weaving together all the madness in the Doug Grant investigation and trial. As Rubin noted, this trial goes to show that “what really happened” has nothing to do with a jury’s decision. The whole situation’s really quite…
On the morning of Friday, April 17, under a brilliant blue sky reminiscent of a terrible day almost four years ago, David Uribe’s friends and family gathered on West Cactus Road near 33rd Avenue. Weeks ago, the Phoenix Police Department scheduled the memorial service and street-sign dedication to the fallen…
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: Pulitzer-Prize Winning Series on Arpaio Cost Paper Subscribers, Former Editor…
Taxpayers will shell out $911,000 for a public records request for Maricopa County documents that was filed last year by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office, a county official says. Yet in a report tonight by Channel 5 news (KPHO-TV), Arpaio says the public may never find out the reason for the…
U.S. District Judge Neil Wake ordered Maricopa County to pay more than $1.3 million in legal fees after losing a lawsuit over bad jail conditions, says a paragraph in the Arizona Republic yesterday.The amount is what lawyers in the project sought following a legal fight that had dragged on for…
Conservatives at the Capitol are beseeching Republican Congressional leaders to call on President Obama to boot out Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. Discussion is rampant that two Congressmen, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio and Minority Whip Eric Cantor of Virginia may call for the resignation of Napolitano, Arizona’s…
Thomas Destories, the man accused of killing a photo radar van operator, is being charged with first-degree murder. “This victim was doing his job when he became the victim of a murder that the State alleges was premeditated,” Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas stated in a news release following an…
