The Glendale man who took a bus all the way to Virginia to meet and possibly have sex with a 13-year-old girl last July, pleaded guilty in federal court this morning.Jesse Lee Wise, a 25-year-old door-to-door salesman, admitted to trying to entice a minor for sex and is looking at…
Norman Davis, the presiding juvenile judge for the Maricopa County Superior Court, tells New Times that he has asked county officials to investigate serious allegations published in this paper’s current edition about Dr. Joseph Franzetti. The allegations about the local psychiatrist (he’s the guy in the photo) were published…
When rookie Paradise Valley Mayor Vernon Parker announced his interest in running for governor last week, he probably didn’t count on the founder of the organization in front of which he made the announcement to be linked to a high-priced hooker scandal.Not the ideal way to begin a campaign, but welcome to…
When the Goldwater Institute gave Arizona high school students a citizenship test similar to the one given to immigrants, it didn’t expect much from the students — but the results shocked even G.I.The survey found that only an embarrassing 3.5 percent of students who took the exam would qualify to…
After the “Great One” was run out of the Valley in disgrace last week, our neighbors to the north seem to be pulling out the big guns to make sure Canada’s favorite son heads home. Hockey Canada, the group responsible for organizing Canada’s Olympic hockey team, hopes that Gretzky will…
The Arizona Cardinals (1-2) came out of halftime on Sunday with the dominating enthusiasm of a team that nearly won the Super Bowl last year. In eight plays, the Cards marched 73 yards down the field in about four minutes, culminating in a 10-yard Anquan Boldin touchdown. As for the rest of…
The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the San Diego Padres 7-4 Sunday afternoon, in their final home game of the season. Chad Tracy homered and Augie Ojeda drove in three runs for the victory. The D-Backs’ next game puts them on Giants turf Tuesday…The demolition of the old Mountain Bell/Phoenix Qwest building…
These days, ACORN is what Commies were to Joe McCarthy and that bunch back in the dark old ’50s: a useful tool for painting one’s opponents as un-American. No matter how disheveled, no matter how scoundrel-like, McCarthy-ites (and “Tail Gunner Joe” himself) could always call someone a pinko, a Communist…
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: Feathered Bastard: NSM (National Socialist Movement) Neo-Nazis to Rally at Arizona State Capitol November 7 Up on…
Phoenix police officer Brian Lilly did not break any department rules in the shooting of homeowner Tony Arambula, the Phoenix Use of Force board decided today. Any other decision might have cost the city a lot of money, right away. Arambula, who heroically saved his family from an armed intruder,…
The Arizona Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of a Tucson woman for burying her newborn son in the backyard of her home in 2005. Regina Lockwood was convicted of conspiracy to abandon or conceal a dead human body back in 2008 after she and her friend, then 22-year-old Nicholi…
Nogales native Caroline Valdez is in quite the pickle. On Friday, this former executive assistant to California Representative Loretta Sanchez was sentenced to three years on probation for stealing nearly $7,000 of office funds. The dumbest part? Looks like she used the bulk of the money to buy pizzas, groceries, and…
The folks at PETA weren’t too thrilled with a photo we ran to accompany a story about their allegations of possible animal abuse at Arizona State University.The photo, which we opted to run again, can be seen above.PETA Spokesperson Holly Beal asked us to remove the photo because “it’s a…
Housewives across the Valley can thank our friends at Espresso Pundit for tracking down the addresses of the more than 3,400 people named in the “Desert Diva” high-end hooker roundup in August, 2008.Back in February, police released the names but didn’t release any addresses, making it impossible to positively identify any…
Like what makes a business successful, there are three things to consider when buying a home: Location, location, location.The Coldwell Banker Home Price Comparison Index was released yesterday, and Phoenix is ranked the most “affordable” housing market in Arizona.If location is truly king in determining home prices, this ranking seems…
This just in: Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas plans to waste even more of your tax dollars!The Yuma Sun reports today that State Representative Russell Jones, the Yuma Republican who was the first target of the Thomas/Sheriff Joe Arpaio anti-corruption task force MACE, won a big victory yesterday when the…
Chandler police are looking for a man with a history of sexual assault and violence, after he failed to turn himself in to police to face harassment charges yesterday.Trevor Mark Mazak, a 33-year-old registered sex offender, is wanted on charges of aggravated harassment and stalking after a female acquaintance filed…
Here’s my own quick little story about the Great One, Old Number 99 Wayne Gretzky, the hockey great whose tenure as coach of the star-crossed Phoenix Coyotes officially ended yesterday. I am browsing in the magazine section of a Barnes and Noble bookstore. It is just after last season ended…
Yesterday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleging that there were animal-rights violations occurring in classrooms at Arizona State University. As we said yesterday, everything coming from PETA should be taken with several grains of salt, but ASU seems to confirm…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio claims on his Web site that political enemies Don Stapley, Mary Rose Wilcox, Terry Goddard, and Sandra Dowling weren’t enemies before he began investigating them for alleged crimes. Writing in third person, (or maybe it’s an anonymous employee doing the writing on his behalf), Arpaio takes on an Arizona…
The Arizona Cardinals and Indianapolis Colts played two of the most interesting games of Week 2. The Cardinals (1-1), who everyone was ready to label as the bumbling losers that they were before last season, jumped out to a 31-3 lead on the Jacksonville Jaguars. Kurt Warner completed 92.3 percent…
There’s a reason baseball has plummeted to third place in the national-pastime sweepstakes. In a word: ennui. In a few more: great, shrieking, tedious torpor. This is true of most places in this year’s drama-challenged MLB, but nowhere so much as Phoenix, where the 2009 Arizona Diamondbacks have suffered through…
