I’m sitting in a restaurant in Peoria on Monday with the family of Ernest “Marty” Atencio, who was laid to rest today with full military honors. Next to me is his 29-year-old brother, Eric, a solid, muscular guy who works with his elder brother, Mike, in the family real estate…
On the same day Tucson residents commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Tucson shooting that left 6 people dead and 14 others wounded, including Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, Crossroads of the West will hold a gun show at the Pima County Fairgrounds.Crossroads of the West bills itself as one of the…
Governor Jan Brewer and her legal counsel will study today’s dismissal of her lawsuit against the medical marijuana law while keeping a ban on dispensaries, a spokesman says.Brewer, with the help of state Attorney General Tom Horne, filed the federal complaint back in May, claiming a letter by a former…
A Phoenix man was arrested this morning after police found in his home hundreds of videos and images of kiddie-porn that investigators are calling “some of the most egregious child porn” they’ve seen in a long time.John Landrum Jr., 52, was booked into a Maricopa County jail this morning on…
A federal judge today tossed Governor Jan Brewer’s lawsuit against the state’s Medical Marijuana Act, saying in her ruling that the state’s complaint wasn’t ripe.U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton dismissed the case without prejudice and invited the state to file an amended complaint to correct the flaws in their argument…
There’s good and bad news about the deadline the Department of Justice gave Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to decide whether he’d cooperate with the feds in fixing the problems outlined in the DOJ’s report on the MCSO’s racial-profiling practices (last month, the DOJ concluded that the MCSO is guilty of…
The arrest of men on suspicion of sexual misconduct with their own family members makes for a journalistic conundrum: Name the suspect, and you’ve all but identified the victim.Local media was presented with this challenge yesterday — twice. Court records show that two men — Jose Alfredo Rivera of Glendale…
Family, friends and those touched by the tragedy of Ernest “Marty” Atencio, the Army vet Tased and brutalized till brain dead in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jails, gathered at Peoria’s Heritage Funeral Chapel for his funeral service today.Atencio, who was 44 at the time he was removed from life support on…
Say what you will about the local TV news-hounds at KPHO, but the station is again leading the way in chupacabra-related journalism — for the third time in less than a year, KPHO is reporting a sighting of the mythical animal, which doesn’t actually exist.If you’re unfamiliar with the fictitious…
It seemed like only a matter of time, but Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu announced this morning that he’ll run for Congress in Arizona’s Fourth Congressional District.”The American people are sounding a giant 911 call on Washington,” Babeu says. “And I’m responding.”In a press release issued this morning, Babeu regurgitated…
Happy January 4! Today’s the day we’ll find out whether Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio will cooperate with the federal government in correcting some of the problems outlined in the Department of Justice’s report on the MCSO’s alleged racial profiling practices — or lead taxpayers head-first into another pricey lawsuit.As…
*UPDATE (7:13 p.m.): Good news — the weapon is semi-automatic. After publishing this post, Tempe police spokesman Steve Carbajal says he got word that the rifle is not automatic — despite his telling us about an hour ago that the TPD would not be releasing any additional information about the…
In a move that doesn’t come as much of a shock to anyone familiar with state politics in Arizona, Democratic state Senator Kyrsten Sinema announced today that she’s resigning from her Senate seat and running for Congress — potentially against Congressman Ben Quayle (although, that’s unlikely. More on that below)…
Jose Alfredo Rivera of Glendale and Bruce Allan Branscom of Mesa likely don’t know each other, but they’ve got something in common:Both were arrested on New Year’s Day for allegedly molesting 12-year-old girls.The situations are separate, but also shockingly similar. The suspects knew the victims in both cases.Branscom’s a 28-year-old…
It’s been more than a year since Senator John McCain mopped the floor with former congressman/phoney conservative/free government-money huckster J.D. Hayworth in Arizona’s GOP Senate primary, and the former congressman’s finally gotten around to getting himself a full-time job.A right-wing San Francisco radio station announced yesterday that it’s hired Hayworth…
Greg Stanton took the stage as Phoenix’s 52nd mayor and delivered an inauguration speech earlier today that, in part, announced his plans to develop a second bio-medical campus in north Phoenix with the Mayo Clinic and creation of a “Mayors’ Futures Forum on Education,” a way for Arizona mayors to champion…
Tempe residents who live near the Union Pacific rail line just north of Tempe will sleep easier this year after a “quiet zone” program takes effect later this month.Chandler and Phoenix are among the Valley cities that already have such programs, under which the railroad agrees that train operators will…
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge has denied state Senator Scott Bundgaard’s request to put a stop to the State Senate ethics hearing over the fight the senator got into with his former gal-pal on the side of a Valley highway last year.See our coverage of the scuffle the senator…
Omitting the Libertarian and Green parties as options to check on Arizona’s new voter registration forms is unfair and has already led to confusion, the parties say in a federal complaint.Representatives of the parties are suing state Secretary of State Ken Bennett in hopes of halting the new forms and…
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge today will consider whether to put a stop to the State Senate ethics hearing over the fight Senator Scott Bundgaard got into with his former gal-pal on the side of a Valley highway last year.Bundgaard’s attorneys have requested that Judge John Buttrick issue a…
Two hunters found 126 pounds of bundled pot lying in the desert near Sasabe, about a month after Border Patrol agents discovered 220 pounds of pot south of Dateland.Arizona’s desert has apparently become a treasure-hunters paradise — if your idea of treasure is tens of thousands of dollars worth of…
Just back from a fast-pitch softball tournament in, of all places, the wildly endless sprawl known as Sao Paulo, Brazil. They say that about 20 million people live in Sao Paulo, which makes it one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas. During “down time” from the games, which was about 90…
