Maricopa County has a monkey on its back: Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The local media act as the delivery method, funneling the dope to Arpaio junkies. At least twice a week — sometimes more — the eyes of this town’s TV hacks glow like coke fiends’ as they regale their audiences…
A tall, heavy-set man with shaggy blond hair and straight-cropped bangs stands in the middle of an empty gravel parking lot. He looks around aimlessly, hands shoved in his pockets. When he sees a car pulling up, he turns, hands still stuffed in pockets, and hurries over to a small…
Remember Mitt Romney?The 2012 Republican presidential nominee is listed as one of the keynote speakers for this weekend’s Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints “Young Single Adult” (YSA) conference at Arizona State University…
Activists aren’t satisfied with the court-ordered community meetings run by the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office and its “community liaison,” who participated in the MCSO’s immigration sweeps.So, members of Citizens for a Better Arizona brought folding chairs to the new MCSO headquarters in Phoenix and held what they called a “real”…
Peoria police served a search warrant at an alleged “illegal medical marijuana dispensary,” leading to the arrests of five people.A Peoria police spokeswoman says Pure Essentials, near 77th Avenue and Deer Valley Road, was leased as a “weight loss and wellness facility.”…
People in Phoenix don’t take off many days from work compared to the rest of the country, according to research.TriNet, a national HR company, compared the paid time off of the more than 218,000 workers employed by its clients, to see which regions where workers took more or less time…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s war continues against a 16-year-old Canadian kid who spends too much time on his computer.As the kid — whose name has never been released — continues to get arrested in Canada for a series of whimsical threats he’s e-mailed to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, Arpaio’s office…
Israel Lomeli, arrested last year for the 1998 slaying of a Phoenix teenager, has received probation and will be released from jail in March. Lomeli’s high-publicity March 2013 arrest marked the end of tragic saga for the family of victim Pete Cadriel, who disappeared without a trace in 1998. The…
From the week of Thanksgiving through New Year’s Eve, DUI task forces around the state arrested nearly 4,000 people on charges of driving under the influence.According to stats provided by the Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, there were actually fewer DUI arrests this holiday season (3,942) than in 2012 (4,054)…
Today in Found at the Border: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers inspecting the vehicle of a Phoenix man on his way back into the United States found a Thai woman in the man’s suitcase.According to a CBP spokeswoman, the 56-year-old Phoenix resident — whose name wasn’t released — was…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s newly appointed “community liaison” officer Hector Martinez received e-mails during his time with the MCSO’s notorious Human Smuggling Unit from other MCSO employees that contained offensive photos and videos demeaning Mexicans and other Latinos. The e-mails, one of which Martinez forwarded to his home address, speak to…
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has spent $375,442 to stop Supervisor Mary Rose Wilcox from receiving a $975,000 settlement and is preparing to spend more. A lawyer hired by Maricopa County will fly to and stay in San Francisco at county expense for a March 11 hearing on the…
The Scottsdale plastic surgeon accused of breaking into a neighboring surgical business and stealing vials of medicinal cocaine is back at work.Dr. Paul Holden sent an e-mail addressed to “friends and patients” to announce that he’s now working at North Valley Plastic Surgery in North Phoenix, near Desert Ridge…
Just to illustrate how miserable other parts of the country are right now, it feels about 110 degrees warmer in Phoenix than it does in Minneapolis, at the time of this post.It’s around -12 degrees in Minneapolis, according to AccuWeather, but it feels like it’s about -40 degrees. In Phoenix,…
We may have to change our mind about not wanting Phil Gordon to make another run for mayor of Phoenix. It’s just too much fun to poke fun of him…
The lead pastor at one of the largest megachurches in the state resigned after leaders at the Gilbert church heard he’d engaged in multiple extramarital affairs.In a note posted on the Mission Community Church website, lead Pastor Mark Connelly resigned after he “confessed to the affairs.”…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s actor buddy Steven Seagal claims to be “remotely” considering a run for Arizona governor.Although we assume Seagal’s aware that his chances of becoming governor here are somewhere between zero and none, his platform of choice is not surprising: anti-immigration…
Welcome to Courthouse Update, a weekly rundown of goings-on at the Maricopa County Superior Court.This week, the saga of a 2008 road-rage shooting comes to an end, two former employees of Valley high schools have court dates for alleged crimes against minors, and more:…
Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office has announced the hiring of a new “community liaison” oficer, one of many reforms required by federal Judge G. Murray Snow’s permanent injunction, issued October 2 in the ACLU’s big racial-profiling lawsuit, Melendres v. Arpaio. Deputy Hector Martinez is bilingual and a 10-year veteran of the…
In case you missed any news action this week, we’ve got you covered.Here’s our recap of the most-read news stories of the week:…
Phoenix police counted 125 murders in 2013, two fewer than last year. The preliminary figure released today at the request of New Times shows the city hasn’t had the large reductions seen last year in many other major U.S. cities. New York City, for example, experienced 20 percent fewer homicides…
The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office is pissed off at the news crew at ABC 15.For the second time in a matter of weeks, the Sheriff’s Office has issued a public scolding of ABC 15’s news-gathering techniques, which this time includes a story about a helicopter crash that didn’t happen…
