Dark skies on Tuesday afternoon gave way to heavy rain across most of metro Phoenix, hitting the central Phoenix area at about 5 p.m. and making life tough on thousands of commuters. The monsoon storm caused epic flooding across the Valley, reminiscent of a similar deluge two years ago. Vehicles…
Opponents of a ballot measure to legalize marijuana in Arizona threaten a looming catastrophe of liability lawsuits for employers. From the start, Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, an anti-legalization political action committee led by conservative radio show host Seth Leibsohn and Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, has maintained (see PDF below) that the…
In the latest episode of that uniquely Arizona political soap opera, The Shameless and the Stupid, and hot off her “Someone Please Pay Attention to Me” tour of the media tents at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, former Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has endorsed Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu in the…
When Duane “Chili” Yazzie learned that a massive load of bright-yellow toxic mining waste was flowing down the Animas River toward his small farming community in Shiprock, New Mexico, he rushed home and turned on every sprinkler and hose he had. With the plume of waste about 100 miles upstream…
Today is the last day the U.S. Bureau of Land Management will accept public comment about a proposal to expand the Daneros uranium mine in southern Utah. The mine, which began excavating uranium in 2010, is located in the heart of the proposed Bears Ears National Monument, at a site…
On June 1993, about a month before her second birthday, Emily Eoff was at her grandmother’s house in California, swimming in the pool with her cousins, when she slipped off her floaty. Her older sister, who was five at the time, spotted Emily at the bottom of the pool and…
Abuse of power. Embezzlement. Misuse of funds. Inappropriate sexual encounters. Another day. Another political scandal in Arizona. Most recently, Arizona Democratic lawmaker Cecilia “Ceci” Velasquez, 42, was indicted for allegedly defrauding the federal government out of $1,726 worth of food stamps. If convicted of a felony, Velasquez, who was elected…
Andy Biggs probably wishes he never stopped by a recent Legislative District 16 meeting in Mesa, where he reportedly picked a fight with his fellow Republican state legislator, Rep. Kelly Townsend. The fallout from their verbal donnybrook has encouraged others to go public with grievances against the departing state senate president,…
As Arizona’s housing market continues its recovery, homebuilders are struggling to find enough skilled workers to keep up with the demand for new houses — and that’s leading to costly delays. Arizona employed 244,300 construction workers at the peak of the housing boom in 2006, according to the Bureau of Labor…
Newly released body-cam video (embedded below) shows Loreal Tsingine brandishing a pair of scissors at Officer Austin Shipley of the Winslow Police Department before he shot her during a confrontation outside a Circle K store on Easter Sunday. The police department has edited the actual shooting out of the March 27 clip. It…
On the eve of the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the Democratic National Committee was rocked by the release of an archive of nearly 20,000 internal e-mails — the result of a hack many believe was orchestrated by the Russian government. Amid the slew of documents the website WikiLeaks…
If there’s one single quality that former U.S. Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Wendy Rogers has in spades, it’s moxie. One of six hopefuls in the GOP primary for the open seat in Arizona’s First Congressional District, Rogers came out swinging from day one of her campaign, bloodying the nose of…
The Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia has adopted a bold pro-marijuana platform that could have an effect on Arizona’s upcoming legalization vote. With heavy input from Bernie Sanders supporters, the draft platform document was publicized earlier this month and showed a heavy lean to the left wing of the party. Regarding…
Following calls from New Times and an ex-Cottonwood city councilman, MATFORCE, the Yavapai County-based group that opposes cannabis legalization, has corrected a misleading tweet that proclaimed, “Evidence of THC found in Colorado town’s water supply.” Despite a very brief public scare last week, THC, the main psychoactive component in marijuana, never…
Dear Stoner: How long have people been getting high off of marijuana? Sean in Lakewood Dear Sean: Recorded cultivation of cannabis for fiber goes back as far as 7,000 years in some parts of the world — that much we know. As for how long humans have been getting stoned,…
Despite the threat of a lawsuit and allegations that its investigators tried to frame an innocent man, the Arizona Department of Public Safety continues to try to link Phoenix landscaper Leslie Merritt Jr. to four shootings in 2015 on the I-10 freeway. Court documents recently unsealed by superior court Judge…
May 4, a Wednesday. Luis Mariscal Munoz called the Phoenix VA Health Care System to say he wouldn’t be coming in to work. He drove to a shooting range at the Table Mesa Recreation Area off Interstate 17 and parked. At about 6:30 p.m., having walked about 70 feet from…
State Rep. Sonny Borrelli defended himself on Monday regarding scathing details in a recently published 2001 police report, including the allegation that he punched his wife in the face. Borrelli (R-Lake Havasu City) was arrested in the incident and later convicted of misdemeanor disorderly conduct — facts he now calls…
From outside, Geraldine “Jerry” Johnson Emmett’s house looks like any other quaint single-family home on this suburban street in Prescott, Arizona. But step inside and it’s a different story. It’s like walking into a shrine to the Democratic Party. “Vote for Hillary” and “I’m with Her” and other campaign signs are all…
The two main issues behind a cannabis-legalization law set to make the ballot this November are 1) individual freedom, and 2) an end to felony prohibition for possession of marijuana for personal use. But if voters approve it, the Regulation and Taxation of Marijuana Act would do more than just…
Think it’s hot out now? Summertime high temperatures in Phoenix will average 10 degrees hotter by the year 2100 — as hot as current-day Kuwait City — according to new projections by the nonprofit group Climate Central. Worse, average daily temperatures in the hottest months will probably be three to five…
It has been 15 years since Robert Fisher allegedly butchered his wife and two children before blowing up the family’s Scottsdale home. After more than a decade on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list, Fisher has yet to be apprehended. But the 15-year anniversary, coupled with recent media coverage, has fueled…
