Gilbert police received a call yesterday afternoon from a man reporting that his 2-year-old son wasn’t breathing. That man was 25-year-old Jonathan Cole, and the reason his son wasn’t breathing, as police would later discover, is because Cole squeezed the life out of him.According to court records obtained by New…
Admitted pederast Luis Mejia Ortiz was in Maricopa County Superior Court today, where he pleaded guilty to charges that he molested his girlfriend’s 9-year-old daughter on several occasions.In all, Ortiz pleaded guilty to one count of child molestation and three counts of attempted child molestation. Initially, Ortiz was charged with…
Hours before she was to appear at a candidates’ forum in Mesa and one day before a second, scheduled evidentiary hearing in Maricopa County Superior Court over her sham campaign, Olivia Cortes this morning officially withdrew her candidacy for state Senate at the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office. SOS spokesman…
The Drug Enforcement Agency wants to make it clear that it’s not just going after kingpins. Any “individual” or organization involved in growing or distributing pot for recreational use can be a target of an investigation, the DEA warns through a U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman. As we mentioned on…
Tempe police announced today that they’ve made an arrest in last week’s murder of 64-year-old Bonnie Raudman.Raudman was found dead inside her Tempe home in the 2700 block of West Minton Drive on Friday morning by a friend who’d gone to her house to check on her.According to the Tempe…
If you’re waiting for the eastbound light-rail train right now, it may be a few more minutes. A guy in a Cadillac just side-swiped the train at 12th Street and Jefferson, just outside our door. The collision happened about 15 minutes ago, interrupting us with the sound of a “thud”…
Eric Morales, 26, was found murdered and partially buried in the desert North of Gila Bend last month, and yesterday the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office announced it’s arrested a suspect: a man who was living in Morales’ house at the time of his disappearance.Morales was last seen alive by family…
So it’s come down to this–a fifth and deciding game tomorrow afternoon for the upstart Arizona Diamondbacks in what has become a humdinger of a a first-round playoff series against the Milwaukee Brewers. Last night’s 10-6 win seemed closer than the final score indicates, with neither team able to stop…
A group of accordion fanatics in Texas aren’t happy with Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake.This coming weekend is the International Accordion Festival in San Antonio, Texas. The Festival is subsidized by the National Endowment of the Arts, an independent agency of the federal government pegged with dishing out cash in the…
I learned Spanish in school as a teen. Then, it seems, because I was young, everybody was an usted. I would like to practice speaking it, but am now an adult and don’t know who gets to be a tú? I’m scared of getting it wrong and unwittingly offending. Tú…
Anthony Tsontakis, attorney for sham recall candidate Olivia Cortes, seems like a smart enough guy, but I’m guessing his eyesight’s a little off. In an op-ed he authored for the Arizona Capitol Times, he decried the lawsuit brought against his client by attorneys Tom Ryan and H. Micheal Wright on…
In his quest for the presidency, Texas Governor Rick Perry says three things: His state’s economy is better than America’s. Low taxes and small government are the reasons. He gets the credit. Almost none of that is true. The Texas economy isn’t stronger than the national economy, and it may…
DETECTIVE O’NEAL A bunch of amateurs at Tempe P.D.: It’s always a hoot to read stories about how local cops, politicians, and whoever cozy up to celebrities (“Shaqzilla,” Paul Rubin, September 22). This story says more about the Tempe Police Department’s willingness to kiss Shaquille O’Neal’s posterior just to hang…
I am forever amazed that otherwise seemingly sane politicians seek and accept the endorsement of the grab bag of certifiable nuts, conspiracy theorists, and bigots that make up the Tea Party. Though I know I shouldn’t be.After all, politicians are shameless and at one time in American history, the Ku…
In the 24-hour news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries:…
Former Alaska Governor/the best person Governor Jan Brewer could find to write the foreword to her new book, Sarah Palin, isn’t going to run for president this year — but there’s a Senate seat in a certain Southwestern haven for far-right-wing-nuts that she’s rumored to have been eying for several…
If you’re a criminal, illegal immigrant, or just don’t want to get hassled by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s boys in beige, avoid West Phoenix tomorrow — the MCSO’s staging its latest “crime-suppression operation.”The MCSO isn’t saying where it will focus its op, only noting that it will be in Phoenix and…
Dennis Burke, who abruptly resigned in late August as the United States Attorney for Arizona after becoming mired in controversy, had to deal with another traumatic event earlier that month: Burke nearly killed a pedestrian with his vehicle in an accident on North Central Avenue. Phoenix police records show that…
This weekend is the 11th annual International Accordion Festival in San Antonio, Texas. It’s a three-day gathering of accordions, polka music, and, of course, beer.But if you ask Gwen Rivera, director of the International Accordion Festival, it’s more than just a gathering of polka fans who sit around and consume…
Just when you thought you could go one day without more shenanigans from the pro-Pearce crowd, here comes Anthony Tsontakis, attorney for sham recall candidate Olivia Cortes, with a desperate appeal to the Arizona Supreme Court, seeking to halt a Friday hearing where more evidence is to be introduced in…
Unbelievably, there was only one fatality in a series of large-vehicle wrecks on Interstate 10 yesterday afternoon, and the deceased has been identified 66-year-old William Tatsch of Austin, Texas.In total, there were three separate wrecks — involving nearly 30 vehicles — caused by a dust storm that hit the highway near…
Kimmie Dwayne Baker apparently is a religious man. Well, at the very least, he owns a Bible — in which he allegedly stashed evidence from a burglary he’d committed at Tempe High School where he works.According to the Tempe Police Department, Baker was arrested yesterday for allegedly stealing more than…
