For many, there always was something fishy about the case against Leslie Allen Merritt Jr., the 21-landscaper previously accused of being the “I-10 Freeway Shooter.” Whether it was the way Governor Doug Ducey tweeted “We got him,” or the seemingly desperate way the Arizona Department of Public Safety adjusted its…
A federal jury has awarded a total of $28 million to Phoenix businessman Marc Wichansky, who alleged that his ex-partner assaulted him, committed fraud, and stole his company. Arizona U.S. District Judge David Campbell remarked that the “business divorce” between former friends and partners Wichansky and David Zowine was the…
Amy Goodman, the award-winning investigative journalist and host of the popular progressive news program Democracy Now! will be in Arizona this week to discuss the importance of an independent media and to promote her new book, Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America. She’ll be joined Denis Moynihan,…
Federal authorities arrested an arson suspect last week in the same area where a string of suspicious fires worried residents of a neighborhood on Mount Elden in Flagstaff. Court records filed on Monday detail how Officer Charles Emerson of the U.S. Forest Service and another officer nabbed Shawn Patrick Farnham,…
Late on a Tuesday night at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor Airport, an employee was taking trash to a Dumpster outside the air-traffic-control tower when a mysterious glow caught his attention. A massive V-shaped object was hovering off the ground, light emanating from the bottom. “The lights were what I noticed at…
The argument was getting heated so police allege that 28-year-old Rafael Arredondo decided to set his girlfriend on fire. Well, first, Arredondo, who lived with his girlfriend near 21st Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix, allegedly bound and gagged her with clear packing tape. Then, he doused her shorts…
Arizona has marijuana on the brain — and no wonder: The state has one of the country’s biggest medical-marijuana programs, its voters may approve an adult-use legalization initiative at the ballot in November, and it shares a border with one of the world’s biggest producers of cannabis. Here’s a roundup…
It’s all fun and games till the U.S. Secret Service comes knocking on your door. Actually, for controversial, right-wing street artist SABO, that’s when the games began. The Los Angeles denizen, infamous for his poster of a shirtless, tatted-up, butt-smokin’ Ted Cruz, was in Phoenix for the group show “Provocative…
An Arizona State University autism researcher is encouraging parents to see a controversial film alleging a connection between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and the neurological disorder — despite widespread consensus that the premise is scientifically flawed. James Adams, director of ASU’s Autism/Asperger’s Research Program initially posted an advertisement…
The director of the Arizona Department of Economic Security, Tim Jeffries, plans to take roughly 200 letters from pious DES employees to a popular religious site in France later this month. Jeffries requested the letters in an April 10 email about the trip he sent to the state agency’s…
Despite its many esteemed accomplishments, Arizona State University still remains the butt of many jokes, especially all the quips coming from Hollywood or the comedy world. ASU has certainly made itself an easy target for comedians and comedy writers alike ’cause of its notorious status as a party school, the…
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is taking some heat this afternoon by social-media users who think he went way too far in mentioning drug use by musician Prince, who died on Thursday at age 57. Arpaio’s known for making politically incorrect remarks and discriminating against Latinos, but he’s even ticked…
An Arizona Department of Economic Security worker cracked under the strain of an abusive boss, admitting herself to a psychiatric ward and talked of wanting to “shoot someone,” the agency says. When the DES Office of Inspector General investigated, witnesses corroborated the employee’s story of verbal and physical abuse, and…
Standing in line for hours to cast a ballot. Cries of “voter suppression.” The finger-pointing, the recriminations, the heads hanging in shame. These all could be things of the past, at least in relation to voter angst, if a Republican effort to repeal Arizona’s Presidential Preference Election, now held up…
Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego wants to bring some deported veterans back to the United States, the country they fought for and served. He introduced a bill this week that asks the U.S. Department of Homeland Security secretary to allow deported veterans who served in the U.S. military to come back,…
Phoenix ranks high on a list of U.S. cities where Latino families spend a larger portion of their household incomes on energy costs than average families, a new report found. The report by the American Council for Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) found that in 2011, Latino families in Phoenix spent on…
Veterans with post-traumatic-stress disorder will soon be able to take part in cannabis study in Arizona and Colorado after recent approval by the Drug Enforcement Agency. The study will be conducted by the California-based Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) with embattled Arizona Dr. Sue Sisley, fired from the University…
Scottsdale resident Laurice Dee started an online petition earlier this month to stop the Mexican entertainment company, Dolphinaris, from building a swim-with-the-dolphins facility in her area. Since the petition went live on April 2, more than 95,000 people have signed it. New Times spoke with Dee about her petition, what…
Arizonans could reject “recreational marijuana” on the ballot this November, according to a poll released on this week by a group that opposes the measure. Arizonans for Responsible Drug Policy, led by Seth Leibsohn and Yavapai County Attorney Sheila Polk, commissioned the poll from Data Orbital, a company run by…
Shortly after a worldwide campaign successfully got SeaWorld to stop breeding orca whales in captivity, a new animal-rights effort aimed at protecting marine animals seems to be picking up steam here in Arizona. As of publication time, more than 92,000 people across the country had signed a petition demanding the…
From the moment Arizona Governor Doug Ducey tweeted “We got him,” and announced to the world that a SWAT team from the Department of Public Safety had taken the suspected I-10 shooter into custody, people throughout Arizona were upset by the way the state was handling the situation – “What…
If the news releases posted on Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office website are supposed to represent what Joe Arpaio’s shop is doing lately, these must be the agency’s dog days. After 20 years of dog-and-pony shows from Arpaio, the intense focus on dogs has gotten to a ridiculous point. Something has…
