State investigators have proposed a $559,000 penalty against the Arizona State Forestry Division for “serious” safety violations in the Yarnell Hill Fire.Most of those proposed penalties are a result of the deaths of the 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots, who died in the fire on June 30…
Here’s a guy who’s not ashamed to let everyone know how he feels about penises.This truck with the “NOCIRCM” license plate was spotted this morning in Phoenix, along the Loop 202 Red Mountain Freeway…
The Arizona Technology Council, a trade organization that you might expect to push for laws related to things like job training and tax credits, announced that it’s adding lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality issues to its lobbying agenda.Consider that just five years ago, a clear majority of Arizona voters…
A 15-year-old boy and 17-year-old girl in Tempe were arrested yesterday in an alleged plot to kill the boy’s grandmother.The grandmother wasn’t harmed, as police were notified of the alleged plot when the 15-year-old left his Facebook account open on a computer, and someone found discussions regarding the plot…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s agency can’t even arrest a few drunks with the other cop shops without first submitting his plans in writing to federal court. As part of the order by U.S. District Judge Murray Snow last month in a wide-reaching racial-profiling lawsuit, procedures to help stop Arpaio’s…
The state legislators who serve on the Child Protective Services Oversight Committee will take suggestions from the public tonight at a forum in Phoenix.The Children’s Action Alliance and about a dozen other groups are hosting the forum, which is billed as an opportunity “for community members to share suggestions and…
It turns out that a bunch of people on a flight to Phoenix were not exposed to tuberculosis, according to the county health department.The horrifying story over the weekend was that passengers on US Airways flight 2846 from Austin to Phoenix were told upon their arrival at Sky Harbor International…
For the second time in as many years, a teacher at Tempe High School is accused of having sex with a student.This time, police arrested 26-year-old Joel Calderon, a student of Arizona State University’s education program who was a student-teacher in the high school’s math department…
Just in time for the holidays, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is cutting back on visitation for inmates of the county’s six jails.Both the number of weekly visits and the days available for visits were cut back, as of Sunday…
A federal lawsuit resulting from the soured affair of an Arizona State University professor and one of his former students is not time-barred and may continue, a judge has ruled. Tasha Kunzi, a former graduate student at ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, alleges that Professor Travis Pratt harassed…
With another day comes another promise that something is going to be done about the thousands of ignored child abuse and neglect allegations phoned in to Child Protective Services over the past few years.Governor Jan Brewer held a press conference this morning to explain her plan to deal with the…
No matter how many police reports we read through on a monthly basis, the criminal creativity, stupidity, and craziness never ceases to amaze us. Just when you think you’ve seen it all, there’s always something worse. From a crime spree sparked by a fear of Alice Cooper’s restaurant, to a new…
Listen, folks, some very difficult decisions had to be made last week for our list of the 10 hottest TV news women in Phoenix.Since we don’t disagree with many of our readers’ suggestions of who deserved a top 10 ranking, we bring you the readers’ choice listings for the 10…
Welcome to Courthouse Update, a weekly rundown goings-on at the Maricopa County Superior Court.This week, a Scottsdale man pleads guilty to murdering his wife, while the alleged killers of a teenage boxing champ plead not-guilty, a Mesa man in a murder-for-hire plot has a court date, and more:…
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:…
This week was a weird one for traffic in Phoenix, and around the state.In addition to the typical antics of bad drivers, there was some odd weather, extraordinarily packed roadways, and strangely vacant roadways due to Thanksgiving — all captured by the Arizona Department of Transportation’s highway cameras. Check out…
The Arizona Snowbowl and the Sunrise Park Resort are opening today.Both the Snowbowl, near Flagstaff, and Sunrise, near Greer, will be opening just parts of their parks today and the rest of the weekend…
Drunk driving is bad.With that out of the way, here’s where police will be setting up “saturation patrols” around the Valley, looking for impaired drivers this weekend:…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the desert’s own Fourth Avenue Jail. To be considered for our Maricopa County mugshots of the week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest.This week, all of our alleged offenders are…
The union-backed protests planned for Walmart stores nationwide on “Black Friday” includes a protest at one of the Walmart locations in Tempe.Phoenix-based United Food and Commercial Workers Local 99 says workers will be protesting at the store at Elliot Road and Priest Drive at 7 a.m. on “Black Friday.”…
My father and mother were able to come over because after the “yellow scare” was over, the States didn’t seem to mind that Chinese were coming over here by the boatloads. Since my parents were given visas and green cards pretty easily, my father was able to get into school…
The other day, I spoke on the phone with a woman named Taz Loomans. She stepped out of a coffee shop in Portland, Oregon, into lightly falling rain to take my call, which sounded pretty romantic considering that I was hunched in my car in the parking lot at Scottsdale…
