It’s Only $2 Billion Before Governor J. Fife Symington III seized power, state retirees knew their $13 billion nest egg at the Arizona State Retirement System was safely invested by reputable Wall Street money-management firms. But Symington, whose real estate development company once borrowed–but did not pay back–a six-figure loan…
Japanese animation icon Speed Racer does many extraordinary things. He has fantastic driving skills. His car can perform amazing feats. He is adept at throwing a punch, and getting himself into and out of incredible jams where evil lurks just around the next hairpin turn. But one thing the hot…
Buffaloed Bills Not only did John Dougherty’s article “DOC Paid Some of Fife’s Bills” (February 20) scream with detail, but Senator George Cunningham’s contention rings true that a department that generates unilateral decisions on spending undermines the Legislature in the very act, putting yet another yellow brick in the road…
The cop and his prey faced each other in a quiet room at the Phoenix Police Department. It was the early evening of September 14, 1995. Veteran detective Ed Reynolds had craved this moment since 1992, when he’d taken on the task of revisiting one of Arizona’s most infamous unsolved…
The Lopezes are like a lot of South Phoenix families. They work hard, obey the law and pay taxes like their neighbors. But for years they’ve been frustrated that the public school where they send their daughter Lupe is falling apart. State lawmakers say they’ve been trying to improve funding…
Warner’s Warning When Department of Public Safety lieutenant colonel Charlie Warner summoned the troops in the Criminal Investigations Bureau to an emergency meeting on February 14, many officers believed a St. Valentine’s Day Massacre was at hand. “We thought the Hells Angels had declared war,” says one DPS officer. But…
At first, Rosemary Diehl didn’t realize she had been robbed. She owns two houses in northwest Phoenix. Her mother lives in one, but over the Christmas holidays, her mother was staying with a relative in Kansas. When Diehl would stop in to pick up the mail and check her mother’s…
Bargain Debasement I was very disappointed in Amy Silverman’s article about Last Chance (“Possessed!” February 13). As the manager of the store, I want to assure every single one of our customers that the views presented in this article by one of our employees regarding our customers are not the…
Sometimes a workingman gets bored. It’s the same grind, shift after shift, everything heading forward like a crippled sludge barge into the vague promise of those sacred sixth and seventh days–the weekend. Those 48 hours can be a gamble, but you’ve got to play to win. At least, that’s what…
Hangar No. 5 can be found at the end of a stucco building just off the runway at the Scottsdale Air Park. The interior of the hangar looks like a set from Sanford and Son, only with aircraft parts instead of junked cars. Cigar-shaped aluminum fuselages lie side by side…
By modern ski-industry standards, Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff is a failure. It has no slope-side hotels and condos; no high-speed detachable quad lifts; no “terrain gardened” (bulldozed) slopes to make sure the downhill run is as effortless as the uphill ride; no snowmaking equipment; no picturesque village full of art…
Although Governor J. Fife Symington III is bankrupt, cash is never a worry for him. When Symington needed $1.5 million to run for governor in 1990, he got it from his mother and his wife. When legal bills related to his pending criminal trial surged past $600,000, Symington’s wife, Ann,…
U.S. Wants Fife Locked Up The word from sources inside state government is that Governor J. Fife Symington III is desperately seeking a plea agreement with federal prosecutors before he goes on trial in May on 23 felony counts. The Fifester wants to cut a deal that will keep his…
Jeremy Voas has been appointed editor of New Times, executive editor Michael Lacey announced Tuesday. He succeeds John Mecklin, who has been named editor of SF Weekly in San Francisco. Both publications are owned by Phoenix-based New Times, Inc. Voas, 40, has been managing editor of New Times since 1992…
After 13 years of participation in task forces with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration, the state Department of Public Safety has withdrawn its officers from the multi-agency effort. The move continues DPS’ eight-month trend of scaling back narcotics enforcement. The state’s largest police agency has been strapped for funds since…
How many times has this happened to you? You awake to yet another glorious Arizona dawn. You tumble out of bed and immediately engage in your ritual, 40-second sitz bath, splash on some brisk perfume or aftershave, wink into the mirror and stride out to the garage to retrieve your…
Paper Cuts Regarding the layoffs at Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., one will find that for the most part, the reporters who were terminated are those who have been writing articles sympathetic toward Valley citizens in their fight against dragons like Sumitomo-Sitix (“Scenes From a Slaughter,” Amy Silverman, January 23). Those reporters…
Sheriff Promotes Gambling The betting action was furious February 6 at downtown Phoenix’s American Legion Post No. 1 as Sheriff Joke Arpaio swaggered to the podium. People were giving odds on exactly how vainglorious The Crime Avenger would be. The occasion was the Legion’s 60th annual Policemen of the Year…
Kim MacEachern, Mary Simmerer and Peggy Guichard-Watters are women of unusual courage and honor. But these three environmental regulators have learned, painfully, that in a government ruled by J. Fife Symington III, state workers who display courage and honor may well find their heads on the chopping block. Three weeks…
Curtains! I find it irritating that in a city as large as Phoenix, a publication as large as New Times can’t seem to find a theater reviewer who actually will review a production. The previous reviewer was too busy illustrating his knowledge of the industry and the history of the…
The cornflower-blue, kid-leather Donna Karan handbag dangles from her fingers. “I don’t want it. I don’t need it. I don’t even particularly like it,” she says. “But it’s Donna Karan–not just DKNY, but Donna Karan–and it’s perfect.” She turns to her girlfriend–who stands mutely, draped in four designer scarves and…
Were the ghosts of Marilyn Monroe, John Belushi, Patsy Cline, Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley to converge on Earth, they could hardly have picked a more unlikely location for their postmortem summit meeting than the far East Valley, a snowbird wonderland of RV parks, propane stations, swap meets and all-you-can-eat…
