From the tons sold in state-legal medical-marijuana dispensaries to the tons imported each year from Mexico, Arizona is a place that knows its cannabis. Here’s a roundup of some of last week’s biggest news stories about marijuana that affect the Grand Canyon State: Arizona Health Department Says It’ll Grant About…
The two photo-enforcement companies that operate in Arizona have obtained private-investigator licenses from the state in order to comply with last month’s opinion by the state Attorney General’s Office. On March 16, AG Mark Brnovich issued his opinion that photo-enforcement companies need P.I. licenses to handle “evidence to be used…
Arizona gets a lot of hate from people who don’t live here, but let’s face it — every state deserves a good roasting. So on subjects like the roasting Valley of the Sun heat, the cities of Sedona and Flagstaff, and Arizona as a whole, we present the top 10…
Youth advocates and members of the Arizona Public Defender Association want the Arizona Supreme Court to do what many other states have done and end the indiscriminate shackling of youth in juvenile courtrooms. In a petition submitted to the court, attorney Christina Phillis writes that, “The goal of juvenile court is…
Plans for competing ballot measures on solar power were scrubbed this week as peace broke out in the battle between rooftop-solar companies, utilities, and Republican lawmakers. Both sides in the debate over rooftop-solar payments agreed to sit at the negotiating table over the next two weeks in a settlement deal…
It looks and sounds like a city bus. That’s because it used to be one. But now, instead of passengers, the Fresh Express bus is packed with good-quality, low-cost fruit and vegetables. The renovated bus brings fresh produce to mostly low-income neighborhoods where a substantial number of residents have little-to-no…
At least one candidate for the GOP primary nod in the First Congressional District is not going to let Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu skate on his sleazy record: retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Wendy Rogers. In video obtained by New Times of a February candidates’ forum held at a…
Twelve Arizona college students were suckered out a total of $118,000 two years ago in an elaborate scam involving alleged con artists posing as potential employers. The real losers, though, seem to be the four men who were arrested this morning by special agents of the Arizona Attorney General’s Office…
The top Republican fundraising company that employed drug-bust suspect Emily Pitha also raised money for Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, an anti-marijuana-legalization group. Pitha and her boyfriend, Christopher Hustrulid, were arrested this week after a raid on their Phoenix home turned up large quantity of contraband and evidence of drug-dealing…
With a bill to ban uranium mining near the Grand Canyon all but dead in the U.S. House of Representatives, supporters of the effort are shifting gears and moving to Plan B: Trying to get the President Barack Obama to use his executive authority to do it by designating the…
Incensed by a group of protesters who blocked a road in an attempt to shut down a Donald Trump rally in Fountain Hills last month, a right-wing Arizona senator is pushing to increase the penalty for political protesters who interfere with traffic. Already, protesters who block traffic can be charged…
A cornucopia of meth, heroin, ecstasy, and other drugs, along with $7,000 in cash and evidence of drug-making equipment allegedly were seized by authorities this week at a Phoenix residence shared by a high-powered GOP fundraiser, her boyfriend, and his two young children. According to probable-cause statements on file with…
Harkins Theatres has canceled a planned screening of film alleging a connection between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine amid complaints from pediatricians. Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe will complete its week-long run at Harkins single-screen Valley Art theater in Tempe this evening. But Harkins has pulled the film…
An 18-year-old Grand Canyon University student remains in a medically induced coma at a Phoenix hospital following a long fall from a Camelback Mountain cliff face last week. “It’s terrible,” said Allison Castro, mother of victim Makayla “Kayla” Castro, in a TV interview from a hospital waiting room. “You just…
Supporters of Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders will have to suck it up. There will be no do-over of Arizona’s disastrous Presidential Preference Election. Following two days of testimony this week, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge booted a lawsuit claiming fraud, illegal voting and other improprieties in the contest,…
For many, there always was something fishy about the case against Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., the 21-landscaper previously accused of being the “I-10 Freeway Shooter.” Whether it was the way Governor Doug Ducey tweeted “We got him,” or the seemingly desperate way the Arizona Department of Public Safety adjusted its…
A federal jury has awarded a total of $28 million to Phoenix businessman Marc Wichansky, who alleged that his ex-partner assaulted him, committed fraud, and stole his company. Arizona U.S. District Judge David Campbell remarked that the “business divorce” between former friends and partners Wichansky and David Zowine was the…
Amy Goodman, the award-winning investigative journalist and host of the popular progressive news program Democracy Now! will be in Arizona this week to discuss the importance of an independent media and to promote her new book, Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America. She’ll be joined Denis Moynihan,…
Federal authorities arrested an arson suspect last week in the same area where a string of suspicious fires worried residents of a neighborhood on Mount Elden in Flagstaff. Court records filed on Monday detail how Officer Charles Emerson of the U.S. Forest Service and another officer nabbed Shawn Patrick Farnham,…
Late on a Tuesday night at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport, an employee was taking trash to a Dumpster outside the air-traffic-control tower when a mysterious glow caught his attention. A massive V-shaped object was hovering off the ground, light emanating from the bottom. “The lights were what I noticed at…
The argument was getting heated so police allege that 28-year-old Rafael Arredondo decided to set his girlfriend on fire. Well, first, Arredondo, who lived with his girlfriend near 21st Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix, allegedly bound and gagged her with clear packing tape. Then, he doused her shorts…
Arizona has marijuana on the brain — and no wonder: The state has one of the country’s biggest medical-marijuana programs, its voters may approve an adult-use legalization initiative at the ballot in November, and it shares a border with one of the world’s biggest producers of cannabis. Here’s a roundup…
