Ex-Minuteman and anti-immigrant vigilante Chris Simcox declined to speak on his own behalf during his sentencing today in a Phoenix courtroom. “I have nothing to say, Your Honor,” the former kindergarten teacher said, as he stood before Judge Jose Padilla. He was dressed in stripes with his wrists handcuffed in…
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump “doesn’t give a damn” about veterans. So said Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego hours before Trump was scheduled to deliver a speech about reforming the Department of Veterans Affairs’ healthcare system. “Trump has said so many things over the years that are just so utterly…
Arizona voters will likely get to decide this fall whether to raise the state’s minimum wage and mandate employers to provide paid sick time. The Arizona Healthy Working Families campaign submitted 271,883 signatures to the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office on July 7. If at least 150,642 of the signatures…
Anger and activism met with the blunt reality police force on the streets of Phoenix on Friday night in a dramatic, hours-long confrontation filled with tear gas, pepper spray, and pepperballs. New Times was, at times, at the heart of the action that stretched into early Saturday along Seventh Street…
Matters have gone from bad to worse for Jayme Valenzuela, mayor of the Town of Superior. Facing a recall election stemming from allegations of misusing public funds, Valenzuela has now been indicted on a charge of felony theft. After the announcement today by Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, Valenzuela lost…
One of the Arizona militants who occupied a federal wildlife building in Oregon earlier this year has pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States, court documents show. Blaine Cooper (real name: Stanley Blaine Hicks) was arrested on February 11 for his role in…
It’s not every day that a federal judge uses words like “absurd” and “disappointing” to describe a state-designed healthcare plan, but according to a transcript, obtained by New Times, of a recent court hearing, U.S. Magistrate Judge David K. Duncan did just that after reviewing a proposal by the Arizona…
In the wake of several heat-related deaths on city mountain-park trails, Phoenix officials have installed two electric fans on an outdoor shade structure at Echo Canyon trailhead. Installation was completed on Wednesday at the Camelback Mountain trailhead, and the pair of 18-inch fans – one on each side of the…
Remember that time about a year ago when Governor Doug Ducey announced that Arizona needed a “rebranding”? You know, so the world wouldn’t automatically hear “Arizona” and think of things like SB 1070 or the fact that the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating our botched presidential primary vote. Ducey said…
In the latest gesture of public support for the permanent protection of the Grand Canyon watershed, a coalition of environmental groups and tribal leaders announced today that they’ve delivered petitions containing more than 550,000 signatures to President Barack Obama demanding he create a 1.7-million-acre national monument around Grand Canyon National…
Someone is ringing a tiny silver bell. It’s tea time for the employees of Tuft & Needle. Two dozen young, carefully groomed men and women wander over to a table heaped with finger sandwiches and flaky croissants. Dressed in shorts and jersey skirts and polo blouses, they look less like…
As former Arizona Governor Jan Brewer appears to take a short break from campaigning for Donald Trump in order to announce her official endorsement of Senator John McCain in his bid for re-election, some wonder whether it will help him finally win some support with the conservative wing of the…
Phoenix has moved closer to issuing municipal ID cards that residents, including undocumented immigrants, could use as a form of identification and to access a range of city services. The Phoenix City Council voted 6-3 this past Friday to allow city staff to interview and begin negotiations with SF Global…
From the tons sold in legal medical-marijuana dispensaries to the tons imported each year from Mexico, Arizona is a place that knows its cannabis. Here’s a roundup of last week’s biggest pot news stories that affect the Grand Canyon State… Arizona Legalization Campaign Submits Signatures to State Welcome to the…
Arizona is known for a lot of things: the Grand Canyon, SB 1070, soaring summertime temperatures. But robust political polling isn’t necessarily one of them. That said, when stat hound Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight predicts something, folks take note. According to the FiveThirtyEight 2016 General Election Forecast unveiled this week,…
Whether online or in person, an angry mob bent on vengeance is not easily placated. Particularly when dead pets are involved. So it goes for some in the Twitterverse, who erupted in rage at Thursday’s news that Gilbert resident Todd Hughes and his mother, MaLeisa Hughes, had copped a plea…
It has been a good few weeks for those who want to see marijuana legalized in Arizona. Days after U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego announced his support for the state’s leading legalization ballot initiative, the group behind the measure, the Campaign to Regulate Marijuana Like Alcohol, submitted 258,582 petition signatures to the secretary…
How much does it cost to stage an Islam-bashing festival for law enforcement, tick off the local Muslim community, and engender widespread condemnation from the press, the general public, and civil rights groups like the ACLU and the ADL? About the price of a brand-spankin’-new BMW 328i. Which is to…
About 50 people gathered in a crowded room at Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church on Wednesday morning to hear a 10-member panel of community and government leaders discuss why, in the aftermath of Arizona’s March 22 presidential preference election, the U.S. Congress must restore the Voting Rights Act before the general…
The other day, Associated Press Congressional reporter Erica Werner tweeted a sweet tweet, quoting Arizona-Senator-slash-Donald-J.-Trump-hater Jeff Flake’s response to a question about whether he intends to go to the 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland in mid-July. “‘No. I’ve got to mow my lawn.’ -Sen Flake on whether he’s attending…
The New Times is looking for a dynamic editor to helm its daily website and weekly newspaper and lead its talented staff in producing stories that will engage readers and define a community. Ideal candidates will be gifted writers with a solid background in hard news. They will be adept…
A Phoenix driver who allegedly killed three men, including popular local rapper José “Low Key” Hernandez, in an auto crash last year, may wind up serving no more than a month in jail if he’s convicted, despite having admitted to drinking the night of the accident and to running a…
