It isn’t easy running a Valley landmark — especially when it’s a restaurant. The task of preserving a building’s heritage while making updates for a new generation of diners — whether the changes regard the restaurant’s atmosphere, menu, or otherwise — is akin to a taste-making (or -breaking) tightrope walk…
An interview with PAOLA EMBRY, CEO of The Wrigley Mansion (See accompanying feature story.) When I was asked to run the Wrigley by Jamie Hormel, I was flattered and thought it was a great opportunity, but it’s a team effort, and I have a great team. The story goes that…
An interview with TIM SMITH, owner of The Pink Pony (See accompanying feature story.) The day I made my first communion, my parents brought me to the Pony to celebrate and I thought, “Wow, this place is so cool.” Buying the Pink Pony was a sentimental thing. We couldn’t help…
An interview with MICHAEL MONTI, owner of Monti’s La Casa Vieja (See accompanying feature story.) In the ’70s we had the market cornered, and people would wait two hours or more to get in. That was a different time, before the saturation of restaurants began. Focaccia bread was too hip…
The news first surfaced in the Hollywood trade press last month: The Lifetime cable network is developing a miniseries about the 1999 school shootings at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. Based on a best-selling book about the tragedy, the project involves a team of heavyweight producers whose collective film…
The most interesting item to drop from the lips of recalled state Senate President Russell Pearce at Mesa’s Red Mountain Tea Party meeting on Monday was not the fact that he’s running for state Senate in Legislative District 25. Rather, it was something Pearce said to me as I buttonholed him…
This weekend, Phoenix police arrested 33-year-old David Denton after allegedly leaving his meth and heroin stash with his 6-year-old kiddo so he could jump off a third-story balcony to avoid the cops.This morning, a Peoria police official says the SWAT team served a search warrant on a house, where cops…
We most admired departing ASU swingman Trent Lockett this past season after he badly twisted his ankle in a mid-January game against the Oregon State Beavers. …
To the casual observer, Congressmen Ben Quayle and David Schweikert may seem like the same dude.They’re both freshman in the House, and they’ve voted the same in 94 percent of the 1,146 roll call votes they both voted on.They’re both running for the Republican nomination in Arizona’s Sixth Congressional District,…
Last month, Governor Jan Brewer signed emergency legislation that was passed quickly through the Legislature, with the intent on banning the substances known as “bath salts.”We informed you the legislation wouldn’t work.Now, an “out of control” Gilbert man was arrested yesterday after destroying his family’s home, attacking and threatening to…
Less than 24 hours after we told you about the mailman claiming the “foreign” Barack Obama hinted to him about a “prearranged” presidency while hanging out at the Ayers residence, and just hours after we asked our readers if this whole thing could get any more loony, it happened again.Fresh…
If the feds decide to pull up their jackboots and bust state employees for administering Arizona’s medical-marijuana program, the director of the state Department of Health Services could be a target.After all, Will Humble is the boss at DHS, the state agency that will be approving applications for dispensaries and…
Robert Arcieri, a former Phoenix businessman and exceptionally devious criminal who was on the lam for a quarter-century, was sentenced to ten years in prison this morning…
Paradise Valley Councilman Vernon Parker is making it official today that he’s entering the race for Arizona’s newly formed Ninth Congressional District.Since Congressmen Ben Quayle and David Schweikert seem intent on running against each other in the primary for CD6, the primary in CD9’s pretty much wide open for any…
We wrote last week about our weird experience watching (on TV) an NCAA first-round tournament game between Southern Mississippi and Kansas State. t was memorable only for the chants that came from the Southern Miss pep band as KSU player Angel Rodriguez stepped to the line to attempt two foul…
Over the last few weeks, a few websites have been posting an email response — purportedly from Republican state Representative Terri Proud — responding to concerns over Arizona’s “fetal pain” bill.Proud’s response to these people is that Arizona’s abortion laws don’t go far enough.”Personally I’d like to make a law…
The Phoenix Suns, looking for their fifth-straight win, had a 10-point fourth-quarter lead on one of the NBA’s best teams but lost 99-95 to the Miami Heat in Florida on Tuesday night. Over the last 7:28 of the game, the Suns missed 15 of 17 shots, allowing the Heat to…
Well, wouldn’t you know it — Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s “birther” investigation has gotten worse.Mailman Allen Hulton — who was only identified as a “retired government employee” at the “birther” press conference — has taken an oath swearing that Ayers’ mother told him about a “foreign, black” student at…
A 10-year-old boy shot his 12-year-old sister with a handgun by accident, Gilbert police say.Their dad is a police officer.The incident happened at about 8:30 this morning, according to a news release just put out by Gilbert police Sergeant William Balafas.Police learned of the shooting after the girl was already…
Joseph Grooms and his friend, Harold Ruggles, were each sentenced to about three years in prison for scamming Dell Computers. Dell has a great warranty program for its computer equipment — just ask Harold Ruggles of Phoenix and his friend, Joseph Grooms of Glendale.These two 20-somethings made a fortune in…
Bullhead City resident Helen Flint seems to have a penchant for cat collecting.After Bullhead City police served a search warrant on Friday at the 74-year-old’s mobile home, they discovered more than 40 cats inside — not including the nine dead ones in a trash can that were described by police…
Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu is featured in an editorial cartoon in the latest edition of GayCalgary, a magazine based Canada. Not long ago, he was the subject of a column in a London newspaper. Babeu is getting a lot of international press, but certainly not the flattering coverage he’d…
