Criminal charges have been filed against Steven Anderson, a local pastor we wrote about yesterday who claims he was brutalized at an Interstate 8 checkpoint. Anderson, however, says he’s the victim and that he plans to sue the authorities involved in the incident. His family’s personal Web site now includes…
Last night we gave you details from the crew of the M/V Maersk Alabama as they were attacked by pirates. Now we’ve got a full e-mail from the crew. Check it out after the jump…
In an attempt to recapture his status as an equal-opportunity sadist, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s reprising his 200 Mexican March, which inflamed the Hispanic community and civil rights activists back in February. However, this time, he’s moving 900, and there’s no indication in his press release that it’ll be other than…
Camilla Strongin, spokeswoman for Covance, took issue with our Tuesday post about a planned march of beagles this Sunday in protest of the medical testing company in Chandler: Maybe you should do a little research on Jan McClellan before providing her cause such ligitamcy. I have included a story that…
The ASU Advantage program is a scholarship, despite the fact that it was never called a scholarship prior to being renamed the Barack Obama Scholars Program, Arizona State University officials argue.This could just be a game of semantics: Is it a financial aid program or a scholarship? Terri Shafer, ASU…
The Diamondbacks sucking wind with the bottom-feeders? The Padres in the clouds? What in the name of collective mediocrity is going on in the National League West? Thankfully, there’s one constant that NL West watchers can depend on, post-Barry Bonds: The San Francisco Giants still bite. At the moment, our…
A gay rights group says they were harassed by a Casa Grande police officer when they gathered to protest taxes along a city street. The group filed a complaint, and Casa Grande police chief Robert Huddleston says the incident is being investigated…Former state legislator Karen Johnson announced she plans to…
I’m not sure what the highlight of Wednesday’s big tea-bag-Obama-hate-fest at the Capitol was for me. Was it the high-school girl carrying a sign comparing President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin? Or the belligerent dork talking to state Senator Thayer Verschoor about how he (the dork) wanted…
We understand that in the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. Worry not! We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times’ blogs. Today’s entries: Valley Fever:Larry Fitzgerald, Jordin Sparks at Minnesota Fundraiser in Memory of Fitzgerald’s…
You know what happened to the captain of the M/V Maersk Alabama after it was attacked by pirates. Now read exclusive details of how the crew handled the attack. Village Voice writer Graham Rayman obtained e-mails from a crewman describing how shipmates took control of the engine and steering rooms…
Phoenix Police Chief Jack Harris is stepping down from his position as a board member of the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board after a five-year run. No reason was given for the departure in an announcement by police this afternoon (see below). The announcement itself, police say, was…
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted today to file a special court action to force the county’s treasurer to open his accounting books and explain a mysterious transfer of funds. The Supervisors say (see full text of news release below) that nearly $900,000 in a state account managed by…
A Casa Grande man faked FAA certification when he conducted an inspection of a small airplane that later crash-landed, says a federal indictment. Wesley Glen Forsythe, who worked at a maintenance facility at the Casa Grande Muncipal Airport called “The Plane Man,” was not a fully qualified airplane mechanic yet still worked on airplanes, the…
A local Baptist pastor who was left bloodied and indignant Tuesday night after a stop at the Border Patrol’s checkpoint on eastbound Interstate 8 wonders in a recent video, “Why is this happening in the United States of America?” New Times readers who remember our February 2008 article on the infamous checkpoint…
The Arizona Republic, desperate for something to squeeze between the ads as more reporters get laid off, started running a new, syndicated column today by greener-than-thou marketer Danny Seo. Seo’s like a cross between Heloise, Martha Stewart and Al Gore — he wants to save Earth by small acts…
Arizona Cardinals’ star wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr. was in his home state last week for a memorial fundraiser with family and friends, including Jordin Sparks (above). The event at the Metropolitan Club Ball Room in Golden Valley, Minnesota, was to raise money for breast cancer in the name of…
The Suns set in the West on Wednesday evening. And they dropped below the horizion with a purple and orange glow, beating the Golden State Warriors in the last game of the season for both teams, 117-113. Phoenix wound up two games out of the Western Conference playoffs, behind the Utah Jazz. It…
The Maricopa Association of Governments plans to announce a partnership with Nissan and a Scottsdale-based company called Ecotality Inc. to create charging stations in the Valley for electric and hybrid vehicles. Nissan wants to bring 1000 electric vehicles to Phoenix, and Ecotality Inc. said tax incentives for those who buy…
In an earlier column, you mentioned that conservatives can’t have an argument against illegal immigration without it degenerating into a diatribe against culture. Here’s an argument that has nothing to do with culture: In California, we now have a severe water shortage. I work for a municipal water agency. We…
CLEAN MESS State GOP leader calls Clean Elections unconstitutional: I read with interest your recent article [about Clean Elections] and was delighted to learn that your in-depth examination has revealed what Republicans in Arizona have argued since the inception of the program nearly a decade ago: The law lacks the…
HATE CRIME When Orlando Diaz returned to his mobile home recently from a two-week vacation in Mexico, he found the remnants of what looked like a skinhead hoedown. On the outside, the house looked like any of the other residences in this tidy, pretty mobile home community in north Phoenix…
The folks at the Arizona Department of Gaming are convinced that onetime Phoenix Justice of the Peace Harold “Bud” Lee isn’t playing with a full deck. It infuriates them that the 64-year-old Tombstone resident continues, as they see it, to break the law and laugh in their faces as he…
