Trunk Federation Lay the Hip (Plastique Recording Co.) That Trunk Federation even managed to get together and put out a third album after a year of dissolution, defections and personal problems is amazing enough. That Lay the Hip turns out to be their best effort to date is nothing short…
“Grant Them Your Unending Strength And Courage In Their Duty Assignments.” — from the Firefighter’s Prayer Phoenix fire Captain Autry Cheatham and his crew had just picked up their lunch when dispatch alerted them to a nearby shed fire. The four hoped the call would be brief as they arrived…
Can Kelly Blake’s civil attorney really expect a jury to blame psychiatrist Bill Sbilris for not foreseeing what she would do to her children and herself? After all, even though the mother of three did something to make a nurse at Southwest Behavioral jot down “Danger to children” on Blake’s…
A few years ago, when Steve Brittle suspected improper activity in the local office of the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, he wrote an impassioned letter to the FBI. He says he got an apathetic response from the feds suggesting that he take it up with the bureau’s supervisor…
He may not know a Coquille St. Jacques from a Jumbo Jack, but self-styled “Mill Avenue Food Critic” Dennnis (that’s how he spells it) Skolnick knows what he likes: a free lunch. But four years after he first began dispensing dining tips to tourists walking along Tempe’s main drag, the…
A legislative bill to increase state employee salaries by 1 percent didn’t survive the Appropriations Committee during this session. The Legislature is about to adjourn, and underpaid state employees apparently won’t get legislative attention again for another year. For Loreen Swanson, this means another year of scraping by. She has…
When Tucson attorney William Morris died of a heart attack on March 11, he left behind a lawsuit that promises to be as divisive as the school finance rulings of the 1990s. In fact, perhaps more so, because it not only involves money for educating poor children, but also bilingual…
Cyber Nemeses Sheriff Joke Arpaio has a new arch enemy — a Web site, www.arpaio.com. Its raison d’etre? Ridicule of the Crime Avenger. A home page introduction informs surfers: “This site is dedicated to the men and women of the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office whom [sic] have been victimized by…
Stifle Tower I really appreciate your story about the Babbitt growth plan (“Babbitt’s Secret Growth-Control Plan,” Michael Kiefer, March 2). It is a very important topic, even though it must be a dry read for many. After I read it, I could see that all three plans you presented could…
Agua Prieta, Sonora Six months ago, when Xavier first arrived in Agua Prieta, he would spend his days sitting on a corner, four blocks from the border fence, plotting a new way to sneak into the United States. Now he sits on the same corner, plotting a new way to…
Maricopa County schools chief Sandra Dowling has been on a power trip for 11 years, and only two groups can stop her: the Arizona Legislature or the electorate. I hope someone is successful — and soon. But if history is an indication, Dowling will continue on indefinitely. In her three…
The hockey fans at Tucson Convention Center are getting what they’ve come to expect. The University of Arizona Icecats look like they’re about to administer their umpteenth butt-kicking to the Arizona State Ice Devils. On this February night, Arizona quickly jumps to a 2-0 lead in the first period, and…
Governor Jane Dee Hull says she’s not interested in a proposal by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt to federalize nearly 200,000 acres of state trust land to protect it from developers. In a March 7 letter to U.S. Senator Jon Kyl and other Arizona congressional representatives, the governor says she instead…
As an employee of the Arizona State Parks Department, Matt Chew first entered Kartchner Caverns through a shaft drilled for access to the southern Arizona wonder. He left the Parks Department last week by shaft as well, fired because of an opinion piece he wrote for the Boston Globe that…
Opponents of a controversial Pentagon program that is forcing all members of the military to be inoculated against anthrax have a new unlikely ally in U.S. Senator John McCain. McCain, whom anthrax opponents say has never returned their calls or letters seeking his support, has called for a suspension of…
Crime of the Millennium Nothing makes the Flash’s day like being accused of a crime. Especially when the accusation comes from a lawyer. Especially when the lawyer is a former editor of New Times. Strange but true. The mail brings a sniffly protest from First Amendment sharpie David Bodney, who…
Bully-ish on Music When I was about 10 years old, some buddies and I were hanging around a canal ditch, having fun, looking for crawdads. Some older neighborhood kids came around on their bikes and started circling us and teasing us. I chose to ignore them and was bent over…
It’s 2 a.m., and the Chute is packed. The 50-space parking lot behind this gay sex club in central Phoenix is nearly full, and there’s a line forming beyond the tinted glass door that serves as the Chute’s main entrance. Inside, a young, muscular, topless man wearing a bondage harness…
The Mollys Only a Story (Apolkalips Now) Calling the music of Tucson’s Mollys eclectic is a bit of a disservice. While the statement is intrinsically true, the subtle distinctions are easily lost. The band does more than simply throw a handful of styles together in an attempt to sound worldly…
The central idea behind Brian De Palma’s new space epic Mission to Mars — that the red planet is the source of all earthly life — is being treated in the ads like a revolutionary, provocative sci-fi concept. Yawn. Hardcore enthusiasts of ’50s-era arcana have been there and done that…
Seventeen-year-old Jose from Culiacán, Mexico, sits handcuffed to a metal folding chair, looking as though he just dropped his ice cream cone in the dirt. He speaks no English and has only been in Phoenix for two months. Still, he knew Van Buren Street was the place to pick up…
Next time you’re sitting in traffic, look up. Opponents of a proposed Phoenix mass transit system would like you to picture their own pie-in-the-sky people-mover — an overhead sky-rail system, where a computerized chauffeur zips you along at 100 mph in your private SkyTran vehicle. No unnecessary stops. No congested…
