The Islamic State released a statement today claiming that an Arizona aid worker the terror group was holding hostage in Syria has been killed in a Jordanian airstrike. ISIS reported that Kayla Mueller, 26, was buried in the rubble of a building in Syria’s ar-Raqqah governorate. Air assaults on the…
A new tax break for some religious groups was passed yesterday by the Arizona House of Representatives. The bill, which is being pushed by the notorious Center for Arizona Policy, was vetoed by Governor Jan Brewer after it was passed by lawmakers last year…
Chalk one up for patient rights: the Arizona Court of Appeals has opened the door for people to sue prescription-drug companies under the state’s consumer fraud act. Previously, the court held pharmaceutical companies liable for warning doctors about dangerous side effects — but not the people who were actually taking…
Kristen Keogh, spokeswoman for Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, has been named by a local magazine as one of the Valley’s “Most Eligible” singles. The award isn’t surprising to us a for a couple of reasons: Keogh is a a former Arizona Coyotes cheerleader and TV news reporter who just…
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 found some fantastic –…
Advocates for LGBT immigrants are again trying to bring attention to a case of a transgender woman being mistreated in immigration detention. After an alleged rape of a transgender woman at an immigrant detention facility in Eloy last year, advocates are rallying behind another trans woman who’s claiming to have…
Two more people have been arrested in a 2014 ax murder Phoenix police say was carried out by members of the white-supremacist Aryan Brotherhood gang. Christopher Paul Mason, 31, was arrested for the crime in December, but court documents obtained by New Times indicate police have arrested two more people…
Do Mexicans sling racial slurs at each other or casually refer to each other as “wabs,” similar to the way blacks call each other “nigger?” What’s your take on the whole “nigger” thing anyway?” Kingfish the Cabrón What do I think of “nigger”? Um, it’s bad? I think you mean…
Save for his cast-bound right leg and the scooter next to him, which he uses to get around while recuperating from a recent bone-graft operation, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich looks like John Belushi in Animal House. Maybe it’s the wiry black hair, dark features, and jovial persona. The comparison…
Arizona lawmakers are discovering that it costs a lot of money to be “tough on crime.” Just as Governor Doug Ducey was elected under a promise of getting the state in fiscal shape, he’s proposing new spending of more than $70 million a year for more space in private prisons…
A new Pew Research Center survey shows a serious disconnect between what scientists and the public believe about nuclear energy and climate change. Members of the public generally don’t believe climate change is man-made, as scientists do, the poll showed. This is what the news media focused on when the…
A group of Republican Arizona lawmakers are proposing a law that would force police agencies to significantly delay the release the identity of officers involved in deadly shootings. Senate Bill 1445 would keep the officer’s identity under wraps for 90 days following any incident “that involves the use of deadly…
After diagnosing two cases of the measles in one month, the Maricopa County Department of Public Health announced that unimmunized children must stay home from school if they have been exposed to the disease. The county is in the process of contacting the families of about 195 children who were…
A Phoenix-area doctor who’s received national media attention for his stance against vaccinating children, is under investigation by one of the state’s medical boards. Dr. Jack Wolfson, a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, is under investigation by the Arizona Board of Osteopathic Examiners for several recent complaints, the agency confirmed to…
Citing Arizona’s “dangerous, severely deficient foster care system,” today a group led by the Arizona Center for the Law in the Public Interest filled a federal class action lawsuit blaming the Department of Child Safety and Department of Health Services for “structural and operational failures” harming 16,000-plus children in the…
Arizona is one step closer to officially declaring nuclear power a renewable-energy source. (Yes, you read that correctly.) The Senate Committee on Water and Energy narrowly passed SB 1134, a bill that classifies “nuclear energy from sources fueled by uranium fuel rods that include 80 percent or more of recycled…
Governor Doug Ducey is the headliner of an event at the Arizona capitol next week sponsored by the organization behind the state’s infamous Senate Bill 1062. Flyers for the Center for Arizona Policy’s “Day at the Capitol” prominently feature Ducey as the organization’s “special guest.”…
An Arizona lawmaker is again proposing a registry of convicted animal abusers. The bill proposed by Democratic Senator Steve Farley would lead to the creation of a website that would operate similarly to the state’s sex-offender registry, allowing the public to search for convicted animal abusers by name or location…
If you did this Super Bowl thing right, you’re one of the many visitors flying home from the Phoenix metro area in your private jet. The FlightAware website this morning shows what one blogger calls a “swarm” of posh personal airplanes leaving the Valley. Accessing the site’s general-aviation listing for…
Last year, the press and marijuana-legalization opponents gave a lot of attention to a study suggesting that daily marijuana causes abnormalities in the brain. New research, reportedly using better techniques, indicates that claim and other reports of cannabis-caused changes to brain structure simply aren’t true. The authors of the new…
ASU is taking a hit in the news for offering a senior-level English class next semester called U.S. Race Theory and the Problem of Whiteness. The controversial 18-student class will be taught by assistant professor Lee Bebout, whose expertise is critical race theory, American studies, and Chicano studies. Critics of…
Phoenix is often thought of as a land of sunshine, but that’s not always the case. Although Phoenix has better weather than most American cities, here are the less-than-ideal weather conditions we deal with:…
