In a bombshell filing in federal court Tuesday, Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan admitted that they are guilty of civil contempt, in a blatant attempt to avoid an upcoming civil trial before U.S. District Court Judge G. Murray Snow. Since earlier this year, when Snow ordered…
Debra Milke has filed a lawsuit for being “robbed” of 23 years of her life, which she’d spent on death row for her son’s murder. Milke was released from prison in 2013 after a federal appeals court ruled that the state unconstitutionally withheld information about the key witness in the…
Arizonans, here’s a video of your lawmakers at work, debating whether God is responsible for letting you have guns. This debate took place late last week as the Arizona House of Representatives voted on a pair of gun-related bills, and Democratic Representative Sally Ann Gonzales took exception to Republican Representative…
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich is in no way backing down from the state’s lawsuit that seeks to end in-state tuition for young people who have been granted relief from deportation. Although many Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients in Arizona have been educated their entire lives in Arizona…
As the closing of the Men’s Overflow Shelter makes headlines, another more frightening countdown looms: the day the Central Arizona Shelter Services runs out of money for the East Lot, the parking lot where 300-400 homeless men and women sleep every night. As it stands, CASS only has funds to…
Drunk driving is bad. That said, here’s where police will be setting up “saturation patrols” around the Valley, looking for impaired drivers this weekend, as well as St. Patrick’s Day:…
At the end of the week, we bring you a roundup of visitors to the desert’s own Fourth Avenue Jail. To be considered for our Maricopa County mugshots of the week, get arrested, strike a pose, and we’ll take care of the rest. This week, we point out some things…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is dropping the hammer on convicted killer Jodi Arias. For the foreseeable future, she’s been cut off from visitation, phone calls, and buying snacks from the jail commissary. Sheriff Joe Arpaio issued a statement saying Arias “seems to be escalating her bad behavior now that…
Were it not for the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Act, Diane Douglas would not be Arizona’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. The crazy cat lady now in charge of the Arizona Department of Education would still be a wall-eyed instructor at Glendale’s Stained Glass Shop if she hadn’t scored $97,620 of…
A Phoenix police officer was stabbed yesterday morning while trying to break up an attack on a woman in the middle of rush-hour traffic. Phoenix Police Sergeant Trent Crump says both the woman and the officer were stabbed by the man, who turned out to be a suspect in a…
So there I was, sitting in Spanish class, like the good half-frog/half wop (i.e., “frop”) that I am, when I observe the Spanish teacher write the word “esposas” up on the board. Imagine my shock/horror when the teacher told us “esposas” has two meanings: “wives” and “handcuffs”! PLEASE TELL ME THIS IS…
The black SUV had been parked outside Dr. Jack Wolfson’s Scottsdale office for more than an hour. Inside, two people — one a formidable-looking man — sat staring into the window, watching the receptionist prep files and check in patients. A few weeks earlier, Victoria Broussard might have brushed it…
President Obama is making a trip this Friday to the Phoenix Veterans Affairs hospital that was the center of a national scandal over lengthy wait-times at VA facilities. Obama was bashed by critics in January when he came to visit Phoenix but did not stop at the hospital, despite his…
The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is clamping down on visitation for convicted killer Jodi Arias. Even though MCSO now exclusively offers visitation only by video, Arias has still managed to cause a ruckus…
An employee for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality is accused of embezzling $34,000 from the state. The Arizona Attorney General’s Office announced the arrests of the employee, 48-year-old Susan Marie Rall, as well as her husband, 60-year-old David Jerome Rall. According to the AG’s office, Susan Rall made payments…
A bill that would have used $10 million in state funding to build a virtual border fence in Arizona was passed by the state Senate yesterday, but not before the $10 million was stripped from the bill. Republican Senators Bob Worsley and Steve Smith have been trying for a couple…
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has filed a request in superior court seeking to bar alleged child molester and former Minuteman Chris Simcox from personally cross-examining child victims during his upcoming trial in Phoenix, scheduled to begin March 16. In the 14-page pleading, dated March 6, deputy county attorney Yigael…
In a desperate move to secure more money for sorely underfunded K-12 schools, 47 Phoenix-based Teach for America corps members and alumni have appealed to the nonprofit to return $500,000 set aside by the Arizona Legislature to fund its programs. Governor Doug Ducey is asking schools across the state to…
This is actually two videos of the same stop taken by Anderson Jean-Louis, with a pause between the two. To judge from a recent video of an encounter with a black motorist, it looks like some Tempe cops could use a refresher course in the First Amendment. The video was…
Maricopa County Deputy Sean Pearce pleaded guilty to speeding and took a driving class last week for his role in an on-duty fatal crash. In June, County Attorney Bill Montgomery announced that Pearce would face no serious criminal charges for the December 2013 crash that took the life of John…
Arizona lawmakers passed a budget over the weekend, which includes spending cuts that the president of the state’s largest university calls a “setback for Arizonans.” The state is making a $99 million cut to higher education as part of the $9.1 billion budget, which Governor Doug Ducey’s office says “solves…
In case all the ocelots, jaguars, and Mexican spotted owls are starting to feel too safe, the Arizona Committee on Military Affairs and Public Safety is stepping in, having passed a memorial to modify the rules and provisions of the Endangered Species Act. SCM 1009 encourages Congress to exempt U.S…
