2015 has not been a good year for Arizona’s most-vulnerable population: kids in the child welfare system. In early February, without much explanation, newly appointed Governor Doug Ducey fired Charles Flanagan, director of Arizona’s Department of Child Safety, and in his place, installed Greg McKay, a police officer who headed the…
For more than 11 months, prosecutor Juan Martinez and defense attorney Kirk Nurmi clashed during the trials of convicted boyfriend murderer, Jodi Arias. Now the two lawyers are sparing once again in conflicting books about the case. Martinez’s book, Conviction: The Untold Story of Putting Jodi Arias Behind Bars, is set…
Terrorist supporters of ISIS in Phoenix are attempting to recruit high school students, according to the controversial and outspoken former president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association. Just days following the November 13 coordinated ISIS attacks in Paris, members of the FBI met with patrol officers at the Cactus Park…
Will you live a long life? Or die young? That may depend, in part, on your neighborhood. People who live in South Phoenix’s 85004 zip code, for example, have an average life expectancy of 71, according to a new study. But just 12 miles away in Scottsdale’s 85258 zip code…
Arizona may not be known for having a world-class education system or a good relationship with the federal government — hell, even our most famous “law enforcement” agent, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is on trial for contempt. But after the drama of last week’s State Fair goat disappearance went…
Scientists have warned for years that the continued burning of fossil fuels may send Earth’s ice caps into a near-total meltdown someday, submerging many of the world’s greatest cities. A bombshell new study in the journal Science Advances predicted that if people keep adding carbon to the atmosphere at the…
A woman in a pink T-shirt and beanie crept up to the Tempe house, quickly snatched a package from the porch and scurried back to her car. At his job several miles away, homeowner Rob Biggs got an alert on his iPhone announcing movement in front of his home near…
What’s more fun than opening a present or two on Christmas Eve? Opening a present or two while drinking a glass of eggnog or mulled wine, that’s what. For some of us, Christmas weekend spells champagne toasts, whiskey, and plenty of grown-up hot chocolate. For others, it means Chinese food…
If there was any question about whether Senator John McCain would endorse Republican front-runner Donald Trump now that his long-time BFF Lindsey Graham dropped out of the race, the answer is loud and clear: absolutely not. In the latest back and forth between McCain and Trump, the Arizona Senator called…
New Times has forced two more law-enforcement officials to follow a little-known state law, but it’s likely that many other elected officials in Arizona still aren’t following it. In an article last week, New Times revealed that a statute passed by the Arizona Legislature in 2010 requires local governments to…
Granite Mountain Hotshot Superintendent Eric Marsh did not make or receive cell phone calls in the three hours leading up to the burn-over that claimed his life along with 18 other members of his crew during the Yarnell Hill Fire on June 30, 2013, his wife Amanda Marsh tells New…
Arizona is the second worst state in the country at addressing mental-health issues, according to a new study from the nonprofit Mental Health America. To determine the ranking, Mental Health America analyzed the prevalence of mental illness in each state and the District of Columbia using statistics on adults and…
This year was the most historic in history for Arizona’s cannabis culture. One of the pioneering states for marijuana freedom in the country, Arizona has a well-established medical-marijuana program that includes nearly 90 retail outlets. Advocates worked hard in 2015 to collect signatures for a legalization measure expected to be…
Simon Kunesh arrives at his physical therapy appointment hanging from his mother’s neck, arms locked, swinging back and forth like a pendulum. She’s prying at his fingers, trying to put him down, but he stubbornly has retracted his long, spindly legs and flexed his feet to avoid touching the floor…
Once again, the facts have gotten in the way of arguments by cannabis prohibitionists. Echoing the messages of anti-pot warriors like Kevin Sabet, local cannabis critics Sheila Polk and Seth Leibsohn wrote in a widely published op-ed just last month that legalization would lead to more teen use of the…
Well, 2015 was an exciting year! From the horrific murder-suicide in Tempe Town Lake to the anti-Islam protests and the Salt River Horse drama, Arizona produced quite a few headline-grabbing stories. So get ready to go down memory lane because here’s our roundup of the ones that will always remind…
Videos of “Stoner Sloth,” a cute-but-pathetic character created by the Australian government who can’t handle life because of marijuana, are bringing in more laughs than self-reflection by cannabis advocates. Stoner Sloth is portrayed as both male and female in the ads, which were produced by the New South Wales Department of…
Two days after comedian Tina Fey reprised her role as Sarah Palin on Saturday Night Live, the former Alaska governor and one-time vice presidential hopeful shot back with her own impersonation of Fey. Palin plays “Lynn Melon,” a la Fey’s Liz Lemon from theTV show 30 Rock, in a fake…
“We’re not going to let them get away with it,” is the message Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton has for a group of Arizona state legislators trying to defund Planned Parenthood. “This is the sort of same old tired playbook we’ve seen nationally from Republicans,’ Clinton’s Director of Women’s Outreach,…
Who says all the good fights happen on Black Friday? With Christmas less than a week away, the benevolent spirit of the season failed to stop a fight from breaking out during a Saturday morning protest at a Phoenix shopping center shared by a Home Depot and a Walmart, near…
Richard Anthony “Cheech” Marin, best known as Cheech in the legendary comedic duo, Cheech and Chong, and America’s most public “stoner,” says he still smokes as much as always and doesn’t differentiate between medicinal and recreational. “I don’t do it medicinally,” said Marin, “I don’t think it makes a difference…
Come shop at Walmart and Home Depot, stay for the fisticuffs. That could be the pitch for the shopping center at 37nd Street and Thomas Road in Phoenix, where each chain has a store. Its parking lot has recently been the site of angry confrontations between heavily-armed nativists and a…
