The Phoenix Civic Plaza is a tax rat hole. In 1998-99 alone, it cost nearly $30 million to operate, yet took in about a third of that. The $20 million operations deficit was made up by unsuspecting local taxpayers. They ponied up the equivalent of 30 bucks apiece for every…
One of the special privileges of Flashdom is having a window onto a world few people see. You see, most correspondence generated in America today gets copied to the Flash. This keeps this Burst of Light extremely busy and extremely entertained. The Flash sees travails. The Flash hears the most…
Lisa Stevens hadn’t a clue what was happening with her child-custody case. “I just needed an answer from the judge about where my son was going to live during the new school year,” says the 32-year-old single mother who lives in Phoenix. For sure, Stevens didn’t know until recently that…
All the goofball publicity antics of “America’s Toughest Sheriff” would be really funny, all the strange, mean, paranoid maneuvers in this cage match of a sheriff’s race would be really funny, if amid all the madcap mayhem you didn’t have to read letters like this one from Catherine Smith: “I…
Metalheads News from downtown: The Flash’s sources say we can expect the Phoenix Downtown Partnership to sharpen its identity and spiff up its image by dubbing its area of influence the “Copper Square.” The partnership is dedicated to boosting business, development and redevelopment in the downtown core.And, of course, keeping…
For Frank Baranowski, the trouble started when he was 8 years old. Until then, Baranowski, the 57-year-old host of KTAR’s weekend paranormal showcase “Mysteries Around Us,” was just another blue-collar Polish kid growing up in the hayseed town of Michigan City, Indiana. But Baranowski says at the age of 8…
When U.S. military officials recently admitted the mandatory anthrax immunization program was in trouble and could be shut down due to supply problems, many who had fought against the program were heartened. But for Jeffrey Bettendorf, 27, the first serviceman to face a court-martial over his refusal to submit to…
Mimi Rodriguez’s mother was a hot tomato in the ’50s. On Friday nights, she would break out TV dinners for the kids and put on her mink, her gloves, her hat and her little black lace cocktail dress for an evening of dinner and dancing.So when Rodriguez and two business…
Artificial Intelligence Claudia’s no ideal: I was completely surprised by your recent edition that featured Claudia DiFolco on its cover (“I, Claudia,” Brian Smith, August 17). Since when did someone who isn’t real become an ideal? Claudia simply stands for everything that is wrong with Phoenix. Your article lauds her…
Say what you want about Ani DiFranco; she knows how to associate herself with certified, 100 percent American radical pains in the ass. Fortunately, DiFranco has a certain amount of freedom in this respect; her albums, distributed through her Buffalo-based Righteous Babe label, are popular enough by now that she…
TVK-TV’s Claudia DiFolco reaches for my hand and gently brings it to her face. Sliding my forefinger under wisps of hair, she says with a coy smile, “I’ve got something for your story.” She blinks her eyes and they reveal a bright, mirthful innocence. Her cameraman, standing off to the…
As his body shivered and convulsed, Sam Moore mumbled a quiet prayer. “Dear God, please . . .” Moore knew about praying. He knew the church and his almighty Lord, even if he hadn’t always followed Him. He had stood in His house, been moved by His spirit and had…
For months, disgruntled parishioners of Immaculate Heart of Mary Church had been trying to get someone from the Catholic Diocese of Phoenix to respond to their concerns. On Friday, August 11, about 20 minutes into an impassioned protest outside the diocese office in downtown Phoenix, the diocese finally spoke –…
Is the little woman boinking behind your back?No need to get your panties in a wad. Just grab a pair of her soiled lacies and let the folks at Forensex labs get to the bottom of this potentially sticky situation. “We believe that everyone has a right to know if…
Correction New Times incorrectly reported the number of times the Arizona Republic has won the Pulitzer Prize (“Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss,” August 10). The newspaper has won twice for cartooning. Also, Eugene S. Pulliam was Nina Pulliam’s stepson, not her son. Shiny Clean, No Tangles…
Saving the D-Banks The Arizona Diamonbanks have gone to a bank for a $20 million cash infusion. Major League Baseball had to co-sign the loan. Hmmmm. Wonder if it was Bank One.In any case, it’s time to trim the payroll and come up with new Colangelic methods of increasing revenue…
Last week, the nation’s largest newspaper chain took ownership of the Arizona Republic. The first day was quiet, the only news the appointment of Susan Clark-Johnson as CEO and president of Phoenix Newspapers Inc. The petite, salt-and-pepper pageboyed fiftysomething is considered a star within the Gannett chain, and the lead…
A great measure of competence is how much your nearest competitor fears and loathes you. Freedom Communications, which took control of the East Valley Tribune last week from Thomson Newspapers, is best known for its flagship paper, the 368,000-circulation Orange County Register. The Register does battle against a zoned edition…
While hanging out at Scottsdale Civic Center back in the early ’80s, teenager Alison Farmer and her friends often dropped in to Jutenhoops gift shop, where they’d kill time perusing greeting cards in the Adults Only racks. “They were pretty risqué cards for the time,” says Farmer, who remembers snickering…
Three months ago, Zia Record Exchange celebrated its 20th anniversary with a festive blowout at the Tempe club Boston’s. There was much cause for celebration. In an era dominated by corporate megaliths, Zia stood as a rare example of a family-owned enterprise that had survived the unpredictable barometric shifts of…
If you’re waiting for a civil trial in Maricopa County Superior Court, you may not get to tell it to the judge any time soon. The courts’ new presiding judge, Colin Campbell, decreed July 26 that no civil trial will be held in Superior Court while a criminal trial is…
Dr. Marguerite Kay, the besieged University of Arizona Alzheimer’s researcher, has won two more battles in her attempt to get her lab back and her name cleared (“Committing the Truth,” Robert Nelson, July 13).On July 24, the three-member Arizona Court of Appeals reversed an earlier ruling by Pima County Superior…
