If you were an Arizona state senator, where would you go while the state faces one of the worst financial crisis of your lifetime? If your answer isn’t to go on a Caribbean cruise, you may want to tell that to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Gray. Gray whisked off to…
If you can’t beat em’, quit. That’s what one Arizona lawmaker chose to do today as the state budget battle wages on.Senate Majority Whip Pamela Gorman resigned her post in the Republican leadership in response to the party’s support of a 1-cent-sales-tax increase.”This tax increase issue is tearing our otherwise…
Who reads the AZ Republic? Apparently, the paper isn’t so sure anymore. Which is why the Republic invited a group of Arizona lawmakers to a “test group” two weeks ago hoping to learn whether the paper’s still relevant. According to one of the participating politicians (who would not go on…
We knew it!We’ve long been of the opinion that the disclosure forms mandated by the Arizona Secretary of State for public officials are confusing as hell. Every time we read these things, in fact, we find ourselves wondering how the doltish pols we typically deal with are able to sort…
Looking for love in all the wrong places? Here’s one more.The producers of ABC’s The Bachelor will be holding open casting calls this week, right here in the Valley.On Thursday at 5 p.m., single ladies can audition to win the heart of an undisclosed bachelor, and duke it out with…
Most of us have been drunk, but have you ever been “Drank”? Drank, a new beverage sold in Valley stores, is a concoction of herbal supplements that is said to cause a sensation similar to the high we get from marijuana. It’s been described by users as “weed in a can.” Says…
Check out Arizona Senator John McCain’s stated reasons for his pending no-vote against U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. One word that comes to mind is hypocrisy. Here’s part of what the defeated 2008 presidential candidate (that’s him in the infamous debate photo) on the floor of the Senate yesterday: “Again and…
Federal investigators announced that a 2008 incident where two pilots for Go! Airlines, a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, didn’t respond to air-traffic controlers for more than 15 minutes as their plane flew over Hawaii happened because both pilots fell asleep. Yikes! Air-traffic controlers tried to contact the snoozing aviators…
Youtube videos of people screaming “don’t Tase me bro” while getting zapped by police officers could become as common as reports of police who use their Tasers more liberally than civil rights leaders condone. Scottsdale-based Taser International announced recently that it’s creating a head-mounted video-recording system for police officers that they expect will cut the companies legal fees in…
This was almost the ultimate disaster in a season chockfull of them. On the same day that Brandon Webb had season-killing surgery, the Arizona Diamondbacks were in New York’s Citi Field, putting the hurt on the host in an attempt to win three out of four from the struggling Metropolitans…
Arizona’s three state universities will receive a boost next week, as the federal government begins dishing out $154 million in stimulus funds. The universities permanently reduced their budgets by 20 percent this year, but university officials say the funds will still help save hundreds of jobs…A bankruptcy judge has moved…
Ever read those tales of the Children’s Crusade when you were in junior high? You know, where legions of kiddies during the Middle Ages supposedly marched toward the Holy Land with the idea that they would somehow convert Muslims to Christianity, but ended up being sold into slavery? Well, everything…
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: Harold Fish Supporters and Gun Nuts Fire Back, and Help Prove My Point Up on…
God bless those busy bees over at the East Valley Tribune. These days no one’s got time for massive enterprise projects — and we mean no one! Some times we’re jumping on news so fast, we feel like we’re literally going to keel over from the sheer insanity of journalism…
As both Republicans and Democrats in the Arizona Legislature are failing miserably at agreeing on a state budget, three new political parties are emerging on our state’s political landscape. The American Independent Party, the Constitution Party, and the Modern Whig Party are fighting to get on the Arizona ballot in time to…
Al Garza’s resigned as the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps’ second in command. No, the “war” is not over, says Garza, who’d been the organization’s vice president, but he can no longer support the Minuteman organization for a host of reasons — including political infighting and how the group is perceived by the general public. “Unfortunately, the public perception of…
Janet, Janet, Janet …We found ourselves sadly shaking our head while reading the New York Times yesterday, wondering (yet again) how our former governor could have gotten things so wrong.Governor Janet Napolitano, need we remind you, repeatedly insisted the state was not in a budget crisis — suggesting as late…
Lorena Sanchez-Ramirez, caught with more than 500 pounds of marijuana last year in Missouri, received a suspended sentence Friday after originally getting a 10-year prison term from the judge who wound up setting her free. Sanchez-Ramirez, a 43-year-old housekeeper and grandmother of nine from Douglas (a border town about 250 miles from Phoenix), was…
We like Herb Sendek (pictured) and how he’s taken a beaten-down ASU men’s basketball program up a notch in the past few years, thanks in large part to his now-departed superstar James Harden. guys always play hard and, at times last year, well enough to compete with all but the very…
Arizona, kicking ass? We really couldn’t believe it either.Yet that’s the word from Richard Wexler, executive director of the National Coalition for Child Protection Reform, who’s long been an outspoken critic of Child Protective Services here. We’ve gotten to know Wexler in the course of reporting some pieces about CPS…
The hundreds of millions of dollars the cities of Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa fronted for the federal portion of the Light Rail Transit Project will soon be almost completely repaid, thanks to a $90 million reimbursement from the federal government. The $587.2 million bill paid by Valley taxpayers went toward…
Nobody at the the homeless shelter where Richard Walters lived before he died in 2007 could believe the news. But it was said that the homeless man was the same guy who had given away $4 million to about a dozen non-profit organizations — including National Public Radio. Turned out Walters was…
