Andrew Thomas and Joe Arpaio have won another round in their fight to bust illegal immigrants for smuggling themselves into the country. As New Times reported previously, Thomas’ interpretation of the state’s human smuggling law — that average Joses and Marias can be prosecuted on smuggling conspiracy charges — have…
It’s true: We’ve had an ongoing chuckle at the expense of Lisa Aubuchon, the hapless prosecutor assigned to the Don Stapley case. But Aubuchon’s most recent filing in this case isn’t so much funny as pathetic. For one thing, she disses us. (Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas’ office, dissing us?…
It was Shaquille O’Neal’s night again — and thank God for it! Without him, the Suns would’ve lost to the Atlanta Hawks, who led the game at US Airways Center late in the fourth quarter before a Suns spurt. O’Neal had 26 points and 10 rebounds in 40 minutes against the 22-15 Hawks, who…
The proposed new chief of America’s Homeland Security never completed an anti-terrorist plan in her own state — maybe she just needs a bigger challenge. Asbestos fibers may have been released into ASU’s Memorial Union, say officials who are fining the university big-time. It’s safe to say that when you…
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: CPS Took Sick Child From Home Unfairly, Says Mom; Takes…
See the new lyrics for this song by “dude” below — after the jump, if you’re in the abridged version. Once in a long while, a commenter emerges from this blog who befuddles other blogilla gorillas, an anonymous wing-nutty tard who shakes things up with his (or her)masturbatory use of the blog…
A Valley woman is using YouTube and a Web site to accuse local doctors and hospitals of fraud and of CPS of wrongly removing her child from her home.Leanna Roberson-Smith writes on her site that CPS officials accused her of Munchausen Syndrome By Proxy and placed her daughter in a foster…
Go figure.The U.S. Customs and Border Protection grants some foreign companies the right to less frequent random inspections at the border, and some of those companies seem to be abusing the privilege in a big way.Yesterday, a vehicle tied to one of the companies enrolled in a CBP program known…
About 10 percent of black women were reported to have chlamydia in 2007, but officials believe that only represents about half of the actual cases among that demographic group.The data comes from a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that also showed about six percent…
Ah, happy days…Mesa neo-Nazi J.T. Ready (left) and state legislator Russell Pearce, get frisky with each other in June of 2007. Hey, you know you have a rock-hard coalition when you have a two-fisted, pinko liberal like me, and a right-wing ogre like state Senator Russell Pearce — forwarder of…
Occasionally, as a service to readers of this blog, we intend to brief you on the important political books that we have time to read, but you (almost certainly) do not. Hey, we get paid to peruse this stuff — we might as well share the wealth in a…
Atlanta Hawks guard Joe Johnson schooling fools like he once did in Phoenix. Dear, Phoenix Suns, Do us a favor. Tell us again why you traded guard Joe Johnson four seasons ago? You were on the verge of striking it big, but then dealt the 82-game starter, who averaged 17.1…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio just doesn’t get it: Accreditation remains withdrawn from the jail system following the loss of an appeal by the county. Valley residents killed each other less in 2008 — isn’t that nice? Foes of speed cameras have launched a signature-gathering drive in hopes of putting a proposed law before…
When it rains it pours, people. Needless to say, it’s late, but I just caught this errant ball from the MCSO’s list of recent press releases. I think it pretty much speaks for itself. Perhaps Sheriff Joe should spend less time roving the West Valley with a military-style force looking for…
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: Who Would’ve Ever Thunk it? The Arizona Cardinals are a…
How much is this egomaniac gonna cost us in the longrun? The county’ll have bupkis before it’s all over with. Who shot down the sheriff (metaphorically speaking), and for the second time, no less? The National Commission on Correctional Health Care, which as of Friday rejected an appeal of an…
Big girls don’t cry, as the song goes. But Janet Napolitano came close on Monday during what was surely her last state-of-the-state speech as governor. On the verge of leaving for the wilds of Washington D.C. as Barack Obama’s Homeland Security secretary (assuming she’s appointed), Napolitano grew misty-eyed and her voice cracked as she…
MCSO spokesman Aaron Douglas, mugging for the camera during this weekend’s operation. Is he SGM? According to the latest numbers released by the MCSO, there were a total of 52 suspects taken into custody during Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s entire two day anti-immigrant sweep in the West Valley. Of these 52, 14 were…
It’s a fact: Jack Harris and Phil Gordon are registered sex offenders. Oh, wait a minute — you thought we meant our Jack Harris and Phil Gordon? The police chief and mayor of Phoenix? Actually, the Harris and Gordon who are sex offenders don’t live in Arizona. And neither of…
Reporters use public records to keep the public informed about the community around them, so naturally many journalists in town — us included — were dismayed when Phoenix police decided to blow a hole in the state’s public records law. Not some of the hacks at the Arizona Republic, apparently:…
Last week, we told you the bizarre story of how the Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities voted to remove one of its members. Jon Hinz (pictured), the father of a 30-year-old with Down Syndrome, is a former executive director of the Council and a longtime advocate for families dealing…
Butt cheeks sagging? Zap them with the new Thermage 16.0 “laser,” says a local skin doctor. It seems people will do just about anything for the chance of looking a few years, or even months, younger — getting sliced up in surgery, injecting poison under the skin or being shot with…
