Tell the real John McCain story and you indict the entire political system. It is not a pretty story. No one really wants to know. I truly believe that if you spelled it out so people could really understand the McCain phenomenon, few would thank you. Instead, they would probably…
An old college textbook seemed inconsequential when Doug Combs happened upon it about two years ago. Nonetheless, he thumbed through the book on economics before throwing it away. By chance the veteran America West pilot’s eye alighted upon one sentence that gave him pause. Buying stock in a company, it…
Pain is temporary. Pride is forever. –Sign in the locker room of Tempe Mountain Pointe High School Karl Kiefer’s kids kneel around him under the west goal post at Mountain Pointe Field. “Closer, closer,” the coach grunts. “Family. Family. Together.” Three dozen teenage boys form a clump of sweat and…
An allegedly “missing” $80,000 in the Cave Creek School District’s cafeteria budget has sparked an all-out food fight in the northeast Valley over accusations of a government cover-up and of stolen rations of ham and cheese. Amid the finger-pointing–which by now has enveloped the state Attorney General’s Office–nobody knows exactly…
On the heels of Hurricane Andrew, the battered people of south Florida were blasted by a rude mixture of hot air and coldness from Phoenix. Call it Hurricane Lessner–named after the deputy editor of the editorial pages of the Arizona Republic. A column by Richard Lessner that was reprinted in…
New Times editor David Bodney has resigned to resume his law career full-time. He will remain as editor, however, while the search for a successor is under way. In other moves, the newspaper has hired Jeremy Voas as managing editor and is transferring associate editor Ward Harkavy to sister newspaper…
One of the great Arizona political upsets is in the making. I’m talking about Claire Sargent’s steady march to become the first Arizona woman to win a seat in the United States Senate. There are several elements, all equally important to her charge to the top. First, she is an…
Minutes before last Sunday’s debate, Ross Perot picked precisely at a loose thread from the left sleeve of his midnight-blue suit. He stood erectly. There was a tiny, crafty smile playing around the corners of his mouth. Ross Perot was the epitome of the self-assured business tycoon backed up by…
The gloves came in all sizes. There were white nylon gloves and wrist-to-elbow gauntlets and men’s cotton work gloves. For ten years, from 1962 to 1972, a young mother named Patricia Smith would make weekly trips to the warehouse of the Motorola Semiconductor plant on 52nd Street and McDowell in…
On May 6, 1992, New Times began a series of investigative reports detailing extensive groundwater pollution linked to Motorola, an $11 billion multinational electronics manufacturing company that is the state’s largest employer. Among the findings: Motorola’s two flagship plants have been linked to severe contamination of two separate aquifers in…
Twenty years ago, I had a coffee percolator. It was almost impossible to get a decent cup of coffee out of it, so one morning I threw it out the window of the second-floor apartment I was renting in Chicago. I was reminded of this coffeepot over the Labor Day…
Talking about his role as Don Corleone in The Godfather, Marlon Brando compared the “capo de tutti capo” to the chairman of General Motors. Business, Brando said, was business, and the real gangsters resided in the boardroom. David Johnston, a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer, understands the analogy. Johnston, who…
Three books by current and former New Times writers, on topics ranging from murder to music, have hit the bookstores. American Rock n’ Roll Tour, by staff writer Dave Walker, is a guide to the country’s historic rock landmarks, including the familiar–Graceland in Memphis and the Fillmore in San Francisco–and…
Thousands of students and professors returned to the Northern Arizona University campus in Flagstaff this fall to discover that their academic careers were about to be messed with. Blaming budget woes, university president Eugene Hughes announced in late August that 19 majors could be eliminated over the next few years…
A prisoner described by fellow inmates and others as one of the most influential people at the state prison in Florence has entered his tenth week of a hunger strike, vowing that he’s ready to die unless officials transfer him to a less harsh area. Chuck Shepherd, a 39-year-old Sikh…
Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It isn’t just a fine short novel. It is a magical piece of writing. It is one of two books I’ve read that I always recommend. But controversy has surrounded River from the start and, apparently, it isn’t over yet. At first editors turned…
In the newspaper ad, the governor appears to be sitting on the lip of the Grand Canyon, as if he could fall in at any time. But the picture–promoting a photo contest sponsored by the Arizona Department of Tourism–is a composite, a cut-and-paste job. Governor J. Fife Symington III never…
On the other end of the telephone that Ferd Haverly’s holding, there’s a photographer who wants some time with Haverly’s boss, U.S. Senate hopeful Claire Sargent. As press secretary, Haverly knows it is his job to find and maintain the proper balance between cooperation and circumspection. He knows that for…
Vaseline on her teeth provides a smooth-sliding smile. Her breasts are routinely taped to achieve a Barbie doll’s bustline. A light coat of spray adhesive applied to her derriäre ensures that there will be no unsightly wrinkles when she promenades through the swimsuit competition. When it comes to cosmetic wizardry,…
As wars go, it started quietly. And although the Battle of the Placards didn’t make the evening news or draw much notice from the newspapers, it left a legion of veterans with tales to tell. It began shortly before Vice President Dan Quayle delivered the only public speech of his…
The function of law enforcement is the prevention of crime and the apprehension of criminals . . . not the manufactur[e] of crime. –Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren in Sherman v. United States The butcher is addicted. He loves the AzScam trial. Every morning he arrives early at court…
Three days a week at 5:30 in the morning, with the sun not yet up, Mayor Paul Johnson laces up his Asics Gel running shoes for a ten-mile run. He meets a coterie of city employees, staff members, police officers and the occasional local politician, and 10 to 15 at…
