The singer bursts onto the scene from the back of the dance floor. As she struts toward the stage, her movements incorporate a kind of odd, sinless swagger, as innocent as a young girl’s first goodnight kiss. Her entrance is, nonetheless, full of sassy, pop-star self-certainty. She wears flared blue-jean…
They arrived from the Netherlands in a small cardboard box. Two bottles and a one-page disclaimer, cushioned by Styrofoam peanuts sticky from leaked chemicals. One bottle was filled with small white crystal pellets and marked “Kalium Hydroxide.” The other contained a clear liquid and was labeled “Gamma Butyrolactone.” The skull-and-crossbones…
In March, Maricopa County sheriff’s deputy Steve Barnes came forward with damning news: several of Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies, Barnes said, had reported to the FBI that they and others had been ordered to surveil Arpaio’s political enemies. If Arpaio did order such surveillance, it could result in his being…
Stay Out of the Kitchen Former governor J. Fife Symington III lost an appeal this month. The decision won’t send him to prison, but it will keep Symington from doing KP in the kitchen of one of the Valley’s best restaurants, Barmouche at 3131 East Camelback. Symington recently asked Barmouche…
After a long Memorial Day of food and drinks, post 1170 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars seems sleepy and slow when we arrive. Not for long, though. If Wanda the bartender hadn’t gotten in the middle of things after the war hero and ex-boxer slapped me across the face,…
Ethnic Flood Thank you so much for penning the poignant story on my interesting friend Pavle Milic (“To Serb With Love,” Michael Lacey, June 3). His fragmented and diverse roots have sculpted him into a talented and passionate person, especially sensitive to the ethnocentric nature of Americans. His future writings…
After two days of lectures, product pitches and apocalyptic rhetoric, it is time for a panel of self-proclaimed Y2K experts to take questions from the audience. The crowd, gathered here for the Y2K Summit and Town Hall Meeting at Phoenix First Assembly Church, doesn’t disappoint. One gentleman wants to know…
As the cruise missiles fell in her Belgrade neighborhood, one woman’s writing floated her spirit with the buoyancy of hope. Maritza Yosimlevic longed that her short stories might give pleasure, a desire that exceeded her fear of death. “I must leave now. The air-raid sirens are going off. The bombers…
Using heat and pressure, more heat and pressure than one can imagine, a 3,150-ton factory press turns solid cylinders of pure aluminum into long, thin rails. The shiny rails exit the enormous machine looking wet and molten, like they might be gooey to the touch. Alexco Tooling Manager Greg Fraley,…
Vicente Gurrola’s shattered body lay by the roadside on 35th Avenue as a white Toyota pickup sped away shortly after 1 a.m. on Sunday, May 16. His back broken, the 33-year-old landscaper died on the street before rescue workers arrived. His body was sent to the Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s…
The troubled Arizona Board of Medical Examiners has again shut the public out of information about the state’s MDs, this time blaming a change in the law meant to provide more disclosure. BOMEX staff has stopped telling the public about the allegations faced by a doctor under investigation. The board…
Soldiers of Fortune Public Campaign, the D.C. interest group that brought Arizona last fall’s successful “Clean Elections” initiative, has released a list of the biggest gun lovers in Congress–elected representatives who sock away the most cash from the gun lobby. Why is the Flash not surprised to see J.D. Hayworth…
Most Arizonans have never heard of Doug Norton, but we all owe him our thanks. For more than two decades, Norton has served us as state auditor general, watching over many facets of government in Arizona: state agencies, counties, universities and community colleges. This is a tremendous task. Norton had…
River Dance Regarding John Dougherty’s “A Fortune Runs Through It” of May 20–am I just idealistic and naive? Am I naive enough to be confused by why we continue to build lakes in the desert? Am I so idealistic that I don’t understand why we can’t reduce our use of…
The September 3, 1998, issue of the Spanish-language newspaper Prensa Hispana made Phoenix residents Ivan Reyna and Greg McCain look like the luckiest people on the planet. An article chronicled how Reyna and McCain had been selected as the winners of a contest sponsored by Telemundo 64, Compass Travel, Coors…
Mary C.’s husband bought her a computer for Mother’s Day. She’s interested in the Internet, but for now she’ll get her feet wet by playing solitaire. Mary would like to show her 8-year-old daughter, Hope, how to use the machine someday, if Arizona child-welfare authorities would only let her. Mary…
Father Dennis Riccitelli, who’s twice been transferred by Catholic Church officials after parishioner complaints, has another churchgoer revolt on his hands. But this time he’s playing hardball. Riccitelli has hired an attorney and is threatening church members who are petitioning to have him removed from their east Mesa church. Riccitelli…
Maricopa County sheriff’s director David Hendershott ordered detention officer David Cool to produce a false memo suggesting former sheriff’s employee Tom Bearup was plotting to “attack” the sheriff’s office with explosives, Cool alleges in a letter to County Attorney Rick Romley. Cool’s letter, which contains other allegations of improper conduct…
Alien Nation Gee, David Holthouse, I just finished reading your column “Border Censors” (House, May 13), and I was wondering: Has Scott Stanley, the illegal-alien advocate you wrote about, requested any photographs of Phoenix police officer Marc Atkinson’s body, after he was shot numerous times in the head by a…
Spur Cross Ranch has long been a jewel in Maricopa County’s environmental crown, but it’s fast becoming a political hot potato. U.S. Senator John McCain first fondled the gem. He was followed by Governor Jane Dee Hull and Maricopa County Supervisor Don Stapley. All three tried desperately to find a…
Therefore, come out from their midst and be separate, says the Lord. And do not touch what is unclean. –2 Corinthians 6:17 I am alone on a stage in the back of a vast, lavish ballroom, overlooking a panorama of modern Christian soldiers, seated in groups of 10 around white-clothed…
We walk through the concrete and steel structure that splays across 1.5 million square feet of desert called Arizona Mills. In its beige-toned, wood-floored, 65,000-bulbed, restaurant-themed, air-conditioned glory, we can’t tell whether it’s the Kenny Rogers Roasters, Burger King or the aptly named Steak Escape that is exuding the aroma…
