Contrary to a Tuesday report in the Sonoran Alliance blog, a spokesman with the state Department of Economic Security tells New Times that the agency has never prohibited Bible study in its cafeteria. The conservative blog site called on the Alliance Defense Fund and Governor Jan Brewer to look into the…
Roger Mason of the (grrrr) Spurs It’s Christmas Day in Phoenix. You wake up early, even before the kids, to take care of some last-minute errands. But it isn’t because you’re a good dad and want to be free of afternoon obligations in order to spend quality time with the…
With one hand ready to catch a predicted windfall of federal cash and the other wielding a budgetary chain saw, Governor Jan Brewer prepares to stamp her approval on a new budget that wipes out the state’s $1.6 billion deficit. The search is basically over for a Chandler Planning and Zoning…
I am a naturalized (legal) hispano in the U.S. and I just realized what the “illegal” craze is about. What immigrant-bashing citizens are trying to protect here are people like . . . me. Consider what this concerned woman said to John McCain during a public meeting in New Hampshire…
MASKED MORONS Were scare tactics really necessary?: Those poor little children. Deputies in ski masks! Come on, is it really necessary to scare innocent children half to death? The story of Ciria Lopez-Pacheco and her kids was heart-wrenching. And the whole thing’s about how the cop can’t be filmed. Loved…
ALIEN OBSESSION One of the weirdest moments of the recent Arizona Republican Party reorganization meeting came when a little old lady rose to address her fellow GOPers from a mic on the floor of the Camelback High School auditorium. On the agenda was a resolution on school vouchers, an issue…
One cold March morning, flight attendant Sonia Hartwick saw ice on the wing of the plane she was serving on, Air Ontario Flight 1363. Icy wings, as Hartwick knew, can be disastrous — a major cause of airplane crashes. They can also be easily remedied: One word from the captain,…
Even by Arizona Cardinals standards, 2004 was a gloomy year. That April, Pat Tillman was killed in Afghanistan. The Cards were in the middle of a 10-year stretch without a winning season. Even though they’d broken ground on a new stadium in Glendale, some locals mumbled that the team should…
As a Cleveland Browns fan, I’ve spent lots of time trash-talking Steelers faithful. When your team’s 2-17 against their team, you feel justified in bad-mouthing them. Cardinals fans are, mostly, peaceful people, unaccustomed to the level of hostility they’ll encounter in any run-in with members of the yellow-and black brigade…
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: PETA to Put on Sexy “Human Barbeque” at Phoenix Convention…
Sadly, I wasn’t able to make Anna Gaines’ arraignment today down at the Arcadia Biltmore Justice Court before Judge Steve Sarkis. But a clerk for the judge told me that the little Hobbit lady known far and wide as the “anti-Hispanic Hispanic” for her activities with the Valley’s nativist population,…
When a corporation or government office truly cares about the people who call, it will put a nice, little feature on its automated telephone menus in which — if you really gotta talk to a live human being — you can press zero to get a front-desk receptionist.If said offices…
Add former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods to the list of old-school guys giving new media a try. We hear through the grapevine that Woods is launching a new Web site, www.grantwoods.com. It’s apparently still in the preview stage — the home page currently includes a note warning about its unfinished quality…
[jump] “It’s an outrage!” proclaimed die-hard Denverite Patricia Calhoun, Westword editor, upon hearing of the invasion of cutouts. This sort of tourism rivalry is just plain fun. Of course, we won’t be laughing by June…
As you may have read elsewhere, Arizona Department of Corrections Director Dora Schriro has announced her resignation, and by the end of the week will have vacated her offices to follow ex-Governor Janet Napolitano to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Yet, what exactly she’ll be doing there remains a…
Members of a trust fund set up to help pay legal expenses of embattled County Supervisor Don Stapley are being systematically harassed by deputies. Mark Flatten, (one of the few remaining reporters at the gutted East Valley Tribune), broke the latest chapter in the Stapley saga this morning. It’s interesting stuff,…
Jeanine L’Ecuyer, former Governor Janet Napolitano’s spokeswoman, has been hired at at a local lobbying and public affairs firm that represents mining interests, Magellan Health Services and Arizona State University. We figured L’Ecuyer would end up with some cushy Washington D.C. with Napolitano, like corrections department director Dora Schriro got. But with…
The county pathologist who performed the autopsy on alleged murder victim Faylene Grant in 2001 told a rapt jury yesterday afternoon that he could find “no evidence to support this being a homicide.” Dr. Arch Mosley, a former Maricopa County assistant medical examiner now working in Coconino County, made the startling comment at the end of an…
A female PETA volunteer will strip to almost nothing but body paint and lie on a pretend barbecue grill on Thursday for a protest at the cattle industry’s Phoenix convention. PETA seems to enjoy using human flesh to make their point — the group just received a bunch of publicity…
A West Valley Justice of the Peace says he issued a court order declaring photo enforcement invalid because the fines are much lower than a regular speeding ticket. It’s doubtful he’d love the system much more if the fines were raised, though. The government’s findings on last year’s news chopper…
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: Mayor Phil Gordon Kills Plan to Give Self Two More…
Two whistle-blowing Tucson sector Border Patrol agents got their jobs back last week thanks to efforts by the American Civil Liberties Union.After Juan Curbelo and William Leafstone revealed the practice of “shotgunning” in the Border Patrol, in which vehicles were pulled over despite the lack of any legitimate reason to…
