DEFYING ARPAIO By any measure, the massive anti-Arpaio march that rocked Phoenix was a success — and then some. Organizers from the L.A.-based National Day Laborer Organizing Network, which spearheaded the “Stop Joe Arpaio” parade on Saturday and brought Rage Against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha to town,…
Dear Readers: Before we move on to your spicy preguntas, a bit of housecleaning. Primeramente, gracias to all the Know-Nothings who responded to my 100-word-essay challenge asking them to justify loving legal Mexicans but not the illegal ones; I will publish the best entries in the Mexican’s April Fool’s edición…
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:Minor Violations? Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s 287(g)-Trained Deputies Sometimes Bust Mexicans Who…
Police arrested three men today in connection with the slaying of an aspiring law student who was apparently the victim of mistaken identity in a home invasion.Bilal Russell, 24, was gunned down on January 14 after opening to the door of his home near 500 E. Euclid to three strangers,…
The founder of a Web site for finding and rating prostitutes has been fired from his own company following accusations by Phoenix police that he tried to have someone killed.David Elms was scheduled to appear before a judge at Maricopa County Superior Court for a hearing on various criminal charges…
Soaking your feet in a bucket of fish that want to nibble your dead skin is supposed to be relaxing. But the treatment — currently being performed at Cindy Vong’s LaVie Nails & Spa in Gilbert — has created tension with the bureaucrats at the state Board of Cosmetology. According…
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors agreed today to delay the taking of more than $24 million from special funds to help balance the county’s budget until a judge decides if the transfer is legal. The action was the first in a new lawsuit brought against the county by County Attorney…
You could see this coming after Kurt Warner’s trip to visit the San Francisco 49ers and his compromise offer to the Cardinals: He has agreed to a two-year, $23 million contract, with a $15 million signing bonus and $4 million in base salary. The remaining $4 million would be paid…
Closing arguments started Tuesday in the closely watched trial of former Phoenix Suns nutritionist Doug Grant, and prosecutor Juan Martinez immediately went for the defendant’s throat — proverbially, of course. We’ll be writing a postmortem about this remarkably weird trial when (and if) the jury returns its verdict, which could be…
The Government Accountability Office’s report on a program that gives local cops federal immigration powers tells Valley residents something they already knew: Some local law enforcement departments are using their 287(g) powers to bust illegal immigrants suspected of minor infractions instead of the major crimes the program was designed to…
On tap tonight in Miami: basketball at its most poetic and primal. Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade, the NBA’s most elegant player, will provide the athletic iambic pentameter. A couple of aging but still dominant alpha bulls named O’Neal — the Heat’s Jermaine, the Suns Shaquille — will bang their…
It was billed as a battle of Supermen — old-school man of steel Shaquille O’Neal versus youngblood Dwight Howard — but the key players in last night’s Suns/Magic game in Orlando turned out to be a bunch of zebra-shirted mental midgets who whistled way too much while they worked. While we hate to…
Former Phoenix Mayor Paul Johnson is proposing the development of an entertainment complex on 22 acres surrounding Celebrity Theatre, saying it would emulate nightlife hot spots in other cities, such as Sunset Strip in L.A….Among the barrage of boo-hoos Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio laid out in his memos to…
Proving once more that the anti-Arpaio march that went down this weekend in Phoenix has, um, legs, both the Huffington Post and the New York Times editorial board have put their respective two cents in on the Zack de la Rocha-led anti-Arpaio protest. The Huffington Post had a two-woman film crew on…
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: County Attorney Thomas Says County Request to Investigate Employee is…
The new, $29 million Polly Rosenbaum State Archives and History Building Reading Room that opened late last year has closed until further notice — another victim of state budget cuts. “I’m hoping something is going to happen so that we can re-open it,” says GladysAnn Wells, (pictured), state librarian and…
Nathan Gray, a veteran lawman with experience in counter-terrorism and big-time drug smuggling, has been selected to head up the FBI’s Phoenix office. The FBI didn’t put out a picture of Gray, but posted a bio of him today on its Web site. Gray previously worked here in 2002 as…
John McCain’s daughter, Meghan, complains in a blog post today that she can’t find a date. The mixed-up young blonde gets turned off by supporters of President Obama, but finds it even more disturbing when guys are enamored by her father or mother, she writes in the Daily Beast: Any…
The public war of words (and lawsuits and public records requests and criminal indictments) between county officials has been going on behind the scenes, too. One of our much-appreciated leaks at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office forwarded to New Times an internal “Briefing Board” memo from Arpaio in which he…
Kurt Warner makes a Christian move (sort of). In what ESPN’s calling a “hometown discount,” the Arizona Cardinals starting quarterback and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, apparently have amended his contract demand to the team to a two-year, $23 million deal, with $12 million guaranteed. The Cardinals had been offering $20 million over two…
So yesterday Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas sued his client, the Board of Supervisors, again. Taxpayers of this county should be getting to used to this sideshow: By our count, Thomas has now sued the Supes three times during his scant five years in office. And Thomas wonders why they’re trying to…
Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas says it’s hypocritical that “county management” complains about the attempted prosecution of Don Stapley, yet wanted a county employee investigated for alleged bribery charges. Kathleen Graf, a former supervisor at the county’s air quality department, had been accused of failing to hire the right engineers…
