Six months after a huge public outcry about the number of children sleeping in the Department of Child Safety’s Phoenix office buildings inspired the agency to open a 24-hour emergency placement center, the department is announcing the center will close, and that some kids in state care will probably have…
Justin LaClere, 33, was sentenced to 60 days in jail for “luring a minor for sexual exploitation,” a class 3 felony, and “sexual conduct with a minor,” a class 6 felony — charges that often carry a two- to seven-year sentence. A seven-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Department, LaClere…
As soon as the family and friends of 34-year-old Tempe resident Sean Mould learned that he had been fatally shot in the abdomen by a police officer for allegedly wielding a pocket knife, they were skeptical of the officer’s story. Multiple family members told New Times in the days after…
Arizona Senator John Kavanagh, a former officer with the New York Police Department and ardent pro-law enforcement advocate, filed a bill this week that critics say is patently unconstitutional and just another example of how Kavanagh “panders to the cops.” Senate Bill 1054 would restrict the public’s ability to record…
Forty-year-old Sidney Cranston Jr., got on his motorcycle the morning of June 16 to meet a buyer at a vacant property in Kingman. Later that day, he was scheduled for an important meeting with the Kingman City Council regarding the sewer hookup on the house he was selling. It was…
If there’s ever a time to put on your fancy clothes, pop that bubbly, and hit the town, it’s tonight: New Year’s Eve. If there’s ever a time to take an Uber, a Lyft, a taxi — or a bus or a train or a flying carpet – it’s tonight:…
A Tempe police officer fatally shot a knife-wielding man late Sunday night after two officers responded to a domestic-violence call on West Freemont Street. The shooting death comes at the end of a year in which officer-involved shootings dominated national discourse. According to Lieutenant Mike Pooley of the Tempe PD,…
2015 has not been a good year for Arizona’s most-vulnerable population: kids in the child welfare system. In early February, without much explanation, newly appointed Governor Doug Ducey fired Charles Flanagan, director of Arizona’s Department of Child Safety, and in his place, installed Greg McKay, a police officer who headed the…
For more than 11 months, prosecutor Juan Martinez and defense attorney Kirk Nurmi clashed during the trials of convicted boyfriend murderer, Jodi Arias. Now the two lawyers are sparing once again in conflicting books about the case. Martinez’s book, Conviction: The Untold Story of Putting Jodi Arias Behind Bars, is set…
Terrorist supporters of ISIS in Phoenix are attempting to recruit high school students, according to the controversial and outspoken former president of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association. Just days following the November 13 coordinated ISIS attacks in Paris, members of the FBI met with patrol officers at the Cactus Park…
A woman in a pink T-shirt and beanie crept up to the Tempe house, quickly snatched a package from the porch and scurried back to her car. At his job several miles away, homeowner Rob Biggs got an alert on his iPhone announcing movement in front of his home near…
What’s more fun than opening a present or two on Christmas Eve? Opening a present or two while drinking a glass of eggnog or mulled wine, that’s what. For some of us, Christmas weekend spells champagne toasts, whiskey, and plenty of grown-up hot chocolate. For others, it means Chinese food…
Gun-control advocates will hold a vigil Sunday at the “Release the Fear” sculpture in downtown Phoenix to honor victims of gun violence. “When we talk about gun violence, it doesn’t just affect the victims or their immediate family members,” said Geraldine Hills, founder of Arizonans for Gun Safety. “This takes…
Under the gleam of an electronic billboard, family and friends gathered in a circle, holding candles and saying prayers. Looking down on them was the image of two smiling 27-year-old women captioned with a question: “Who killed Melissa Mason and Nicole Glass?” It was the fifth year family and friends…
Check yourself before you start cursing at that out-of-town driver. Arizona drivers are among the worst in the nation, according to a new analysis of National Highway Traffic Safety Administration statistics conducted by the website CarInsuranceComparison.com. The state ranked sixth for most-dangerous drivers in 2015 after Montana, South Carolina, New…
With the Arizona Supreme Court refusing to intervene in the case, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Jose Padilla on Wednesday set a start date of April 4 for the trial of former minuteman and accused child molester Chris Simcox. “We need to get this to trial,” Padilla said during a…
Tempe police hit the social-media jackpot today with a clever meme based on the true tale of a guy who may now regret going that extra mile for his girlfriend. “CHIVALRY,” reads the caption of a picture of a white, four-door pickup truck in the parking lot of the Tempe…
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced during a press conference this morning that his office had filed a petition with the Arizona Supreme Court to remove the embattled Arizona Corporation Commission Chair Susan Bitter Smith from office for alleged conflicts of interests. In strident language, Brnovich said his fellow Republican…
A group of five condemned prisoners this week asked the U.S. District Court in Phoenix not to lift a moratorium on executions instituted after a botched 2014 lethal injection, arguing that the Arizona Department of Corrections has not properly addressed concerns about the drugs used for the procedure. A federal…
We’ve all done it: chugged our wine or whiskey during Thanksgiving dinner in an attempt to drown out the racist and political rambling of crazy uncle George. Dealing with family members often requires that the libations flow freely — we get it. But this year, if Uncle George goes on…
With the gun culture going strong here in the desert, it’s not hard to believe that Arizona is ranked the eighth most-dangerous state in the country.But there’s more to it than that. To calculate the measure of which states are most dangerous, the data crunchers at the personal finance website…
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona has launched a new cell phone app aimed at helping average civilians record inappropriate law enforcement activity and then safely and properly disseminate it to experts at the ACLU. The Mobile Justice AZ app has three major features: record, witness, and report. The…
