In November, New Times reported that the $2 billion Solana solar plant near Gila Bend had produced only two-thirds of its advertised electricity output. Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal reported that the plant is producing only “half” of the expected output. New Times talked to Arizona Public Service…
For years, Arizona authorities have been telling poker enthusiast John Schnaubelt that he can’t host poker tournaments that include cash prizes for the winners. The same authorities have no intention of hindering the upcoming U.S. Open Chess Champion — an event that’s older than the state — even though it…
A motor vehicle with its windows rolled up generates interior heat like an oven, as most Phoenix metro residents know. The sun’s rays come in, the heat doesn’t go out. The air temperature inside a vehicle can rise to temperatures of 120 degrees or more even on mildly warm days,…
Arizona State University officials threatened a Texas Internet company with legal action this spring following the publication of a viral blog post that claimed the university had the nation’s highest rate of STDs. At least a little damage to ASU’s reputation was probably done because of the huge online crowd…
Joe Arpaio’s lawyers recently bought the sheriff and his Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan a little time by asking for federal Judge G. Murray Snow’s recusal in contempt proceedings against the pair and three of their current and former MCSO colleagues in the racial profiling case Melendres v. Arpaio. Contempt…
Scottsdale police want your help to identify a man who urinated on mail through the door of a downtown Scottsdale shop. This bulked-up gym rat forgot the one rule of embarrassing, unlawful behavior: Don’t get caught on video. While walking past a row of shops on North Craftsman Court with…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. 10) Booked on suspicion of: Marijuana PossessionEar gauge PSA…
Immigrants caught crossing the Mexican border into Arizona are thrown in cold, concrete cells for days at a time, denied medical care and subjected to inhumane conditions, a new lawsuit states. The American Immigration Council, the National Immigration Law Center, the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona and other groups…
Many of us stared at the star-besotted sky as children and wondered how long it would take to count all those pinpricks of light. The answer is 10 years, once the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope begins its count in 2022. Construction began in October. Everywhere we look, our mastery grows…
More than half of Arizona State University’s writing instruction staff signed a letter this week pledging to fight the school over what they say are unfair employment contracts. The teachers have been testy since December, when university officials announced writing instructors would be required to teach five classes each semester…
Faced with an urgent need to reform Arizona’s withering public schools, Governor Doug Ducey proposes giving them $1.8 billion in the next five years from the state land trust fund. Ducey’s office calls the proposal a “win-win,” since it involves raising no new taxes and the money is destined for…
For years, Arizona recyclers have been making big bucks by shipping empty aluminum cans in trucks to California, a state with a lucrative, consumer-subsidized recycling program. Passing Arizona cans off as California cans is illegal in California, but not in Arizona, leading to a cottage industry of can-shipping that’s destroying…
A lot of high hopes are riding on the November 2016 general election in Arizona. Paperwork for no less than six marijuana-related ballot measures has been filed with the state Secretary of State’s Office in the last few months, each aiming to make fundamental changes to the state’s drug laws…
Sheila Polk, Yavapai County Attorney and the state’s chief marijuana opponent, found her so-called facts about marijuana falling flat in a legalization discussion hosted by Arizona State University on Thursday. The Republican politician’s been on a crusade against cannabis freedom for several years now, appearing frequently at town-hall presentations across…
The American Civil Liberties Union, along with Planned Parenthood and the Center for Reproductive Rights, filed suit in federal court today to block an Arizona law requiring doctors to tell patients it is possible to reverse a medication-induced abortion. Arguing that there is “no credible medical evidence” that supports the…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the Fourth Avenue Jail in downtown Phoenix. To be considered for Mugshots of the Week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. This week: We start publishing Mugshots on Thursday mornings…
Do your countrymen still worship the rock band Santana? Or are they looked on as, like the Who in England and Crosby Stills and Nash in America, old relics from the good ol’ Woodstock days?
An embezzlement case that cost a local labor union more than a quarter-million dollars shows that the organization has a “zero-tolerance” policy for corruption, its officials said. “We’re relieved that the legal process is over and happy that justice has been served,” Bob Bean, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union’s Local…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s lawyers achieved what they set out to do on May 22, when they moved to have federal Judge G. Murray Snow disqualify himself from overseeing the sheriff’s contempt trial. That is, they slowed Snow’s judicial express train to the speed of a three-toed sloth. One day before this…
Guadalupe Torres held her head in weathered hands. Tears trickled between her fingers. In a world with a God, your children do not die before you. But Guadalupe’s son, Felix, did, in fact, pass over. He was 47. Abuela Guadalupe is that saddest of women. No faithless husband ever inflicted…
A new Rocky Mountain Poll finds that 53 percent of Arizonans back legalizing marijuana for adults, with only 39 percent opposed to the idea. The poll also shows that 83 percent of Arizonans now support the type of university research on the potential medicinal effects of marijuana advocated by Dr…
The former treasurer of the transit union that represents Valley bus and light-rail drivers faces up to 16 years in prison after pleading guilty on Tuesday to embezzling $273,000 from the organization. Richard Wayne Johnson served as secretary/treasurer for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1433 from April 2005 until he…
