Rob, a newly divorced, 41-year-old SWM known to the online dating community by his Match.com screen name “phxbuddy,” is 24,000 feet over Pocatello when it suddenly dawns on him: The only piece of identifying information he has on the woman he’s traveling 726 miles to see tonight is her e-mail…
On a hot afternoon in May, Michael Hovan sat silently, unmoving, on a concrete bumper in the parking lot of his apartment complex. His neat white tee shirt and denim shorts were still virtually spotless despite having spent the previous few moments face down on the hot asphalt as Phoenix…
Head Games Ring leader: Thanks for Paul Rubin’s article “Off With Their Heads” (June 26). Mr. Rubin got it right when he summarized the United States Supreme Court decision in Ring v. Arizona as holding that jurors, not judges, decide whether factors exist to make a convicted murderer eligible for…
Ironic Chef The acclaimed Zagat Southwest Top Restaurants Guide calls the decor at RoxSand “stark.” As in “sophisticated,” in a “New York City” kind of way. The place is stark, to be sure, but as of last week, it’s in a low-class, shameful kind of way. The upscale restaurant at…
I find myself on the couch excited about watching the last few innings of an Arizona Diamondbacks game. I haven’t felt this way since the postseason run in 2001. What the hell is going on here? I’m supposed to be mowing. My 10-year-old son joins me. I look at him,…
The state Auditor General’s Office has begun a preliminary investigation into the finances of a polygamist-controlled school district in northern Arizona in the wake of New Times’ reports of extravagant and improper spending by the tiny, one-school Colorado City Unified School District. The auditor general’s “special review” could lead to…
Inspired Stupidity And now another black eye. For the Arizona Republic, natch. On its front page the other day it listed Bishop Thomas O’Brien, Evan Mecham, Charles Keating, Fife Symington and AzScam — scandals one and all to be sure. Then, as only the Republic can, the paper grasped its…
I still see you in your googly-wheeled Escalade, alone, cruising down the HOV lane at rush hour sporting your sky-blue “alternative fuels” license plate. But I no longer reach from my own fumigating jalopy to offer the spiteful spike of my middle finger. I have sold my portable tire spikes…
Momentous rulings about anti-sodomy and affirmative action laws stole headlines last week as the U.S. Supreme Court ended its term, but the talk at the Maricopa County courthouse was about another far-reaching opinion. By a definitive 7-2 vote, the high court sided with a convicted Maryland killer and said defense…
Death Row Death be not proud: Thank you for an article that had to be written. (“Off With Their heads,” Paul Rubin, June 26) Instead of placing pressure on the state Legislature and the county boards of supervisors for the money to conduct death penalty cases correctly (e.g., proper training…
Matthew “Scar” Haugen kneels in the middle of a wrestling ring preparing for battle. The gangly 20-year-old knots the laces of his dirty navy-blue sneakers and then gathers up several weapons. He grabs a battered kendo stick and throws it into an aluminum trashcan, along with several other tools of…
Bob Storrs looked spent last week as he left a Maricopa County courtroom after trying to save a young killer’s life. Storrs has been a criminal-defense attorney for nearly 35 years, and has tried many murder trials. But his defense of Tony Aguilar differed from the others in one major…
It was one of the least-publicized emergency sessions in memory, but one of the more momentous — at least for death-row inmates, the families of murdered victims, and taxpayers. Last July, then-Governor Jane Hull asked the Arizona Legislature to devise new laws in response to the landmark Ring vs. Arizona…
For the last decade, Archbishop Michael Sheehan has been a leader in a little known clique of American Catholic prelates known as the “fixer bishops.” They are the Pope’s relief pitchers in America. When a diocese or archdiocese is shelled by scandal, it’s the job of a proven “fixer bishop”…
Skin Flicks Facing hate: I was compelled to pick-up your magazine when I saw the swastika on the cover and I must say your piece was wonderfully powerful and compelling. (“Local Hero,” Susy Buchanan, June 19) I commend you for your coverage of this issue because people really don’t realize…
“The skinhead path leaves a trail of broken trust, lost comrades, and a little love and a lot of betrayal along the way. […] For the very unfortunate ones it ends behind bars for one reason or another. For these people there is no chance to ever make something of…
The Galloping Gourmet Ron Walker has set the foodies in town talking — not just because he bought one of the most celebrated restaurants in the Valley, but for his unique brand of charm. In April, Walker and his stunning bride, the lovely Margarita Lopez Walker, held a coming-out party…
When Phoenix native Angela Johnson moved back to the Valley after living in Los Angeles for eight years, she was prepared to leave the fashion industry behind. She had found success with Monkeywench, her own line of snowboard wear, and with her job as a designer for the popular streetwear…
Kick Asbestos The joke’s on us: Again and again, as I read all the stories of abuse, neglect and total lack of regard for human life and dignity, I am disgusted at the condition of our society (“Outlaw Dumping,” Robert Nelson, June 12). This is just another example of our…
NEAR SAFFORD — The five inmates weren’t told why they were being transferred to Fort Grant. Four of them didn’t really care. In prison, you take any change of scenery you can get, and Fort Grant, the frontier fort turned minimum-security prison at the base of the towering, pine-capped Mount…
Flour Power The letters appeared one Saturday morning last month on the southern side of the mountain like one of the gods wrote them with a giant stick of chalk. On Tempe’s once-doomed “A” Mountain, the letter G was interlocked with ASU’s infamous A, and then an E (with a…
