***Note: Please see update at bottom of post.*** Well, let’s hope they don’t jump in, ’cause crackers get soggy when wet, but something called the White Man March may be coming to Tempe Town Lake this Saturday, March 15, at 2 p.m. I know what you’re thinking: “White Man March?…
A group of same-sex couples have filed a federal lawsuit challenging Arizona’s ban on same-sex marriage.Several Arizona laws outlaw aspects of same-sex marriages in the state, including Proposition 102, passed by voters in 2008, which states that the only recognized marriages in the state are “a union of one man…
A survey of Phoenix residents suggests that people are generally confused about what happens if they don’t have health insurance at the end of this month.Consider that there are about 1 million uninsured people statewide, and only about 60,000 have purchased health insurance through the exchange established by Obamacare –…
It can be difficult to keep up with all the lawsuits surrounding Arizona’s litany of recent laws imposing restrictions on abortions.In one of those lawsuits, filed over Arizona’s 2011 law banning sex- and gender-based abortions, the plaintiffs are appealing the dismissal of their challenge to the law.The National Asian Pacific…
A funny thing happened in 2013. Both of us — two curmudgeonly writers who between us have lived in Arizona way closer to 100 years than either would like to admit — came to a shared conclusion. We like Phoenix. That’s funny because for years we’ve loved to hate this…
Go to Elizabeth Arden’s Maine Chance No, we’re not talking about the Elizabeth Arden salon at Biltmore Fashion Park or the new one in downtown Tempe. This was a full-blown spa, the western companion to Arden’s original spa in Maine, and it was a tattered mess in all the right…
The current clothing trend is for ladies to wear low-cut jeans and belly shirts that expose their midriffs. That looks great on a hard-bodied woman, so why do so many fat Mexica mujeres insist on dressing like this? It’s one of the grossest things imaginable. Their gut hangs over their…
It’s a typical Monday morning for Joe Simek, a veterans advocate at the Justa Center, a day program for homeless seniors in downtown Phoenix. He stops filling a plastic bag with toiletries for a homeless veteran to chat about his background and his job. Simek is retired Army, served for…
A grand jury has indicted former NFL safety Darren Sharper on sexual assault charges for alleged assaults that occurred in Tempe in November.Sharper was charged last month with drugging and raping two women in Los Angeles, and a few weeks later, authorities in New Orleans issued a warrant for Sharper’s…
As expected, Governor Jan Brewer will not be seeking a third term in office.Although the Arizona Constitution prohibits a governor from holding that office “for more than two consecutive terms,” Brewer has been insisting for several years now that she might be able to run for a third term. She…
Phoenix voters will likely be voting on reforms of the pension system for city employees, which includes actually phasing out the program, and replacing it with a 401(k)-style plan.A right-wing group called the Arizona Free Enterprise Club started its effort to collect signatures to put this on the ballot in…
The Maricopa County Community College District urged voters to approve $951 million in bond sales in 2004 to prepare for a 60-percent projected increase in student enrollment. After it passed, the district spent hundreds of millions from the sale of the bonds to add or renovate nearly 2 million square…
A 55-year-old Oklahoma man has been arrested for allegedly mailing a “bomb” to Sheriff Joe Arpaio last year.The package addressed to Arpaio’s office was intercepted by postal inspectors in Flagstaff in April. A federal indictment of Gregory Lynn Shrader confirms what a law-enforcement source with knowledge of the investigation told…
Despite the headlines, not everyone believes Phoenix has housed every homeless veteran in the city. It’s a typical Monday morning for Joe Simek, a veterans advocate at the Justa Center, a day program for homeless seniors in downtown Phoenix. He stops filling a plastic bag with toiletries for a homeless…
A man believed to be high on drugs stole an Orbit bus in Tempe this morning and took it for a dangerous ride through neighborhoods and across railroad tracks before crashing into a backyard fence. The suspect, later identified as James Martin, 26, was taken into custody after he jumped…
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid recently made headlines when he blasted the infamous Koch brothers as “un-American” for bankrolling anti-Obamacare ads that have kept fact-checkers in clover debunking them. But criticism of the Affordable Care Act comes not just from the far-right Koch brothers It comes from the left…
The Arizona House of Representatives voted unanimously yesterday in favor of a bill that would make it a felony offense to share someone else’s nude pictures without his or her permission.Arizona is among several states that are taking up so-called “revenge porn” legislation this year…
Bill, Hillary, and Chelsea Clinton will be at Arizona State University next week for the family’s annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University.According to an announcement from the Clinton Global Initiative, more than 1,000 college students from around the world are expected to attend the meeting, which revolves around…
A bill that was blasted by animal-rights advocates as an “ag gag” proposal was watered down a bit before being passed by the House yesterday.In its initial form, House Bill 2587 would have made it a crime to not turn over evidence of livestock abuse within five days — which…
Although Arizona’s Senate Bill 1062 ultimately did not become law, there’s more where that came from.We’ve detailed how the Center for Arizona Policy hasn’t skipped a beat in pushing its Christian-right agenda at the state Capitol, with bills promoting tighter abortion restrictions, and additional tax exemptions for religious organizations. Meanwhile,…
A waiter at a Chinese restaurant shot a cook in the head Sunday afternoon, police say.According to court documents obtained by New Times, there were at least 15 people eating in the Good China restaurant, near 67th Avenue and Thomas Road when 33-year-old waiter David Ong shot a cook who…
When a candidate begins poaching the endorsements earned by his or her rival, consider it a sign that things are not well. You know, like Captain Queeg playing with his ball bearings in The Caine Mutiny. Last week, shortly after Mark Brnovich’s campaign sent out an announcement that state Representative…
