Thomas Interviewed by Obama for High Court? Yeah, but Not Maricopa's Thomas

We had a momentary heart palpitation after reading this headline on the AzCentral site today: ...

April 29, 2010

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We had a momentary heart palpitation after reading this headline on the AzCentral site today:

Don't worry -- the Thomas in question is a federal appeals court from Montana, Sidney Thomas, not former Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas.

The tricky headline is also used this afternoon on the Web site's list of "breaking news" stories, which is where it first caught our eye. The Republic should know better than to use a locally familiar name in a headline about a Montana judge -- unless it's trying to get a few extra mouse clicks on its site.

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Ray Stern is the former news editor of Phoenix New Times. He worked as a newspaper reporter in Arizona for more than two decades. He's won numerous awards for his reporting, including the Arizona Press Club's Don Bolles Award for Investigative Journalism.