By Stephen Lemons Palin supports constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. So, um, only straights should be miserable? Rep endorses Mitchell in CD5. Dems discover Shadegg credit card in Tempe office. State GOP-ers return $105K in dirty ad money. (Maybe they can borrow Shadegg’s Visa.) Valley house prices down for 17th…
By Ray Stern Trib Publisher Julie Moreno Follow the money. That’s sound advice for any investigative journalist. And it’s a key aspect of the drastic new business plan for the East Valley Tribune . As previously reported in this blog and by the Trib itself, the corporate owners of the…
By Ray Stern A Mesa official disputes the idea that Maricopa County sheriff’s deputies had any legitimate reason to be inside Mesa City Hall during last week’s nighttime raids on municipal buildings. Search warrants prepared by the Sheriff’s Office and signed by Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gary Donahoe, soon…
By John Dickerson A video that shows the brutal killing of an inmate in Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s jail has garnered attention from news outlets across the country. The footage, released last week by KPHO Channel 5 shows one inmate brutally beating another inmate to death in Arpaio’s jail. The sheriff…
By Stephen Lemons NY Times, Montini, and the Rep’s editorial board pile on Arpaio. Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy. Saban dukes it out with Joe for headlines. Obama backed by Colin Powell on Meet the Press. So-called “Joe the Plumber” owes Mesa moolah, had his AZ driver’s license suspended…
By Ray Stern It’s no stretch to characterize the raid by Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s deputies on Mesa’s city hall and library as a heavy-handed political move. As covered in the July 10 edition of New Times, the city’s outspoken Cuban immigrant police chief, George Gascon, and Arpaio have sparred publicly…
Wall Street Journal picture of Lillie McCain, a descendant of slaves owned by John McCain’s ancestors By Ray Stern As a story on the front page of the Wall Street Journal points out today, the race for the White House isn’t just between a white guy and a black guy,…
By Stephen Lemons Mesa Mayor slams Arpaio on City Hall raid. Lady lobbyist denies getting intimate with McCain. (Can you blame her? For denying it, that is.) Rick Renzi’s lawyers say the FBI tapped his phone. Electorate offers thumbs down on McCain in new poll. Suns coach Porter puts the…
Ted Simons hosts the “debate,” with cowardly Joe as a no-show. Dan Saban is such a class act in so many respects, especially when compared to our clownish county constable Joe Arpaio. Take the KAET Horizon “debate” this Tuesday, which Arpaio blew off because his ego can’t handle going head…
What did Joe know, and when did he know it? Remember when the dirty anti-Saban ad came out a couple of weeks ago, and everyone was wondering who ordered the Republican Party to do it, and who paid for it? What did Arpaio tell Channel 12’s Joe Dana about whether…
By Benjamin Leatherman Could this train be a post-midnight express? Would you like for light-rail to operate until 2 a.m.? You should, especially if it’s going to keep your drunk ass from getting a DUI one night. As I reported a few weeks ago, the Phoenix City Council’s Transportation and…
By Ray Stern Problems with apparently bogus voter registrations turned in by ACORN, a group now under investigation by the FBI for voter fraud, haven’t been a problem in Maricopa County, says Maricopa County Elections Department director Karen Osborne. Even if the group had turned in bad registrations here, Arizona’s…
By Ray Stern Here on the light-rail stop at 12th Street and Jefferson, we’ve been hearing the guttural “honk-honking” and trolley-like “ding-dinging” for a few days during test runs of the new trains, which are set to kick off operations on December 27. But let’s face it — you probably…
McCain’s “how-do-I-get-off this stage” faux pas at the end of last night’s debate resulted in what may be the silliest picture ever of a U.S. Senator or presidential candidate. The perspective almost makes it look like McCain wants to literally chew Obama’s ass, doesn’t it? The picture — this one…
By Stephen Lemons Obamarama brushes off Old Man McCain’s attacks in final debates. Polls say Obama won. Sheriff’s SWAT raids Mesa library looking for illegals. Board of Supes protesters duct-tape mouths. (And we thought the Supes’d done that for ’em.) Guard on celly while killing went down in Joe’s jails…
Contrary to newswire accounts, our lawsuit against Sheriff Joe Arpaio, County Attorney Andrew Thomas, and former special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik is not dead, though parts of it have been compromised by a new ruling. What is true is that Federal Court Judge Susan Bolton found little wrong with this cadre…
A group of very young soldiers in the Mexican Army was being chased through a castle by U.S. Marines. At the end of the chase, the Mexicans realized they were trapped on a balcony. Instead of falling on their bayonets, they wrapped themselves in Mexican flags and leapt to their…
IMMIGRATION NATION Round-ups are a wasted effort: Your story demonstrates how a bunch of racist rednecks are driving the agenda on illegal immigration (“Police State,” Ray Stern, October 2). These bigots have yelled so loud and so long that they have forced every law enforcement agency in Maricopa County (and,…
Almost a year after New Times’ two top executives were arrested and jailed, a federal judge dismissed parts of the newspaper’s lawsuit against the Maricopa County officials involved and left other parts in play. In her October 7 ruling, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton dismissed County Attorney Andrew Thomas from…
The crime was so heinous, it made headlines across the nation — and sent some animal lovers racing to their phones to make death threats. Dr. Joshua Winston, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, had repeatedly punched a Chihuahua in the head, using such force that the poor dog’s…
This is Part 2 of a two-part story. Read Part 1 here. It’s September 24, 2008, seven years to the day since Faylene Grant tumbled off a cliff in Utah. Faylene survived the mysterious fall, only to drown in her bathtub three days later after ingesting enough of the sleep…
If you want to know what it’s like to be a veteran in John McCain’s home state, stop by the Justa Center in downtown Phoenix. On a Thursday morning not long ago, a volunteer named Twyla stands in front of a group of clients at Justa, a day program for…
