Redfin, an online real estate brokerage, named McDowell Mountain Ranch and Grayhawk the top two “hottest neighborhoods of 2014” in the Phoenix area.(“Phoenix area” meaning north North Scottsdale, in the case of these two neighborhoods.)The company’s calculation of the “hottest neighborhoods” is kind of funny, but two actual Phoenix neighborhoods…
Even when the Great Recession was at its worst, the average Arizonan was more likely to be a millionaire than he is today.Phoenix Marketing International, a financial market research company that tracks millionaire households in the United States, released its annual ranking of the states with the highest ratio of…
A North Carolina fat-boy like me has no business talking about what other people look like, but let’s just say I remember when veteran Valley journo Dennis Welch, formerly of the East Valley Tribune and the Arizona Guardian, stalked the state Capitol with long hair and Howard Hughes-esque fingernails, looking…
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has opened its massive new Gilbert temple for public tours before it goes into operation.If you’d rather not travel to Gilbert to check out the temple, the LDS church has released photos showing off the interior and exterior of the 85,000-square-foot structure,…
Insults, condescension, personal attacks. Hey, it’s all in a days work for Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery, particularly when it comes to the issue of legalized pot-smokin’, which he recently debated on Channel 3’s Sunday Politics Unplugged show with state Representative Ruben Gallego. Gallego, a Democrat, whose wife, Kate, recently…
Electric-car manufacturer Tesla Motors has a dinky presence in Arizona.There’s no dealership here, and although the company operates a “gallery” at Scottsdale Fashion Square, the company technically doesn’t sell any cars in Arizona. However, that’s only due to state law, and there’s a proposal to change that law…
I work in one of those progressive companies. Most of the gabachos bosses are actually pretty cool — at least when your back isn’t turned. There are a few a-holes, pero there will always be a few; they’ve got gigs lined up in talk radio. Sabes que . . …
It was a fine morning on the day after Christmas, crumpled gift wrap still lying in the sleepy Paradise Valley homes below as a 17-year-old climber clung desperately to a sheer rock face at Camelback Mountain. Getting to the top of this freestanding 100-foot finger of pink rock on the…
State Representative John Kavanagh revels in his self-appointed role as the rightwinger Arizona lefties love most to hate. Since recalled, disgraced former state Senate President Russell Pearce (Kavanagh’s pal) was pounded into mainstream political irrelevance in 2011, Kavanagh’s eclipsed his erstwhile mentor to become Sand Land’s Lord Voldemort for liberals,…
State Representative John Kavanagh revels in his self-appointed role as the rightwinger Arizona lefties love most to hate. Since recalled, disgraced former state Senate President Russell Pearce (Kavanagh’s pal) was pounded into mainstream political irrelevance in 2011, Kavanagh’s eclipsed his erstwhile mentor to become Sand Land’s Lord Voldemort for liberals,…
The team tasked with reviewing the 6,500-plus “not investigated” cases at Child Protective Services says nearly 400 children involved in those cases have been removed from their homes.Although these children would have been removed from their homes sooner had these cases not been shelved at CPS, those kids would likely…
Arizona State University has released the plans for its $210 million renovation of 56-year-old Sun Devil Stadium.The school announced that it’s starting a campaign to raise $50 million in private donations to fully fund the renovation. Although there were reports indicating that ASU’s football team was looking for somewhere else…
While marijuana has been legalized for personal use for the past couple of weeks in Colorado, there have been several large pot busts in Arizona during that timeframe.In addition to a couple of unlicensed dispensaries being raided in the West Valley last week, Phoenix police also seized about 650 pot…
Among the bills turned in early this legislative session is a proposal to create a registry of convicted animal abusers.The bill, sponsored by Democratic Senator Steve Farley and Democratic Representative Andrew Sherwood, calls for the Arizona Department of Public Safety to run the registry, similarly to how it currently operates…
How can anyone say Arizona State University isn’t a party school when there’s a former Republican presidential candidate there dancing “Gangam Style”?We told you last week that Mitt Romney would be at ASU over the weekend for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ “Young Single Adult” (YSA) conference,…
Governor Jan Brewer said Monday that she signed an executive order to get rid of Child Protective Services “as we know it.”Today, Brewer’s office released a document that attempts to explain why CPS 2.0 and the Division of Child Safety and Family Services are improvements over the previous CPS system…
The best item, by far, to come from a police blotter in the Valley today is the tale of a Phoenix cop rescuing a cat from a can of soup.You can see from the photo above why the cat needed to be rescued from the can, and the tale told…
It’s been said that the most important demographic group for the success of Obamacare is the “young invincibles” — healthy young adults.And there’s no state with a smaller proportion of young people buying health insurance through the Obamacare exchange than Arizona…
Jerry Sheridan, chief deputy under Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is a reasonable guy compared to the corrupt man he replaced — but he sure sucks at math. In a column that ran in the Arizona Republic’s opinion section on Monday, Sheridan claims that “Sheriff Arpaio is a fiscally responsible…
A Phoenix resident is petitioning the City Council to allow members of the public to speak during the council’s formal meetings instead of making them wait until the sometimes lengthy public sessions are over. Dianne Barker, who first raised the issue in November, also would like to see the current…
Among the first bills submitted this legislative session is a proposal from a trio of Republicans to create a drug-testing program for people seeking unemployment insurance.Perhaps the most important part of the legislation from Representatives Phil Lovas and David Livingston and Senator Judy Burges is that it wouldn’t apply to…
Governor Jan Brewer says she has signed an executive order that “abolishes [Child Protective Services] as we know it.”UPDATE: Brewer’s office has provided information about how this new system’s supposed to work. Click here for details.Brewer made the announcement Monday afternoon in her final State of the State speech…
