Among the bills turned in early this legislative session is a proposal to create a registry of convicted animal abusers.The bill, sponsored by Democratic Senator Steve Farley and Democratic Representative Andrew Sherwood, calls for the Arizona Department of Public Safety to run the registry, similarly to how it currently operates…
A Phoenix resident is petitioning the City Council to allow members of the public to speak during the council’s formal meetings instead of making them wait until the sometimes lengthy public sessions are over. Dianne Barker, who first raised the issue in November, also would like to see the current…
Among the first bills submitted this legislative session is a proposal from a trio of Republicans to create a drug-testing program for people seeking unemployment insurance.Perhaps the most important part of the legislation from Representatives Phil Lovas and David Livingston and Senator Judy Burges is that it wouldn’t apply to…
The Maricopa County Republican Committee voted to censure Senator John McCain.In other words, with a 1,150-351 vote, the county GOP passed a resolution that says it doesn’t like McCain anymore…
Today in Found at the Border: U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers inspecting the vehicle of a Phoenix man on his way back into the United States found a Thai woman in the man’s suitcase.According to a CBP spokeswoman, the 56-year-old Phoenix resident — whose name wasn’t released — was…
The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals today ordered a full-court “en banc” hearing of Arizona’s voter-approved law that denies bail to undocumented immigrants accused of serious crimes. Since the challenge to the 2006 law appeared settled after a Ninth Circuit 2-1 ruling in June, the new order is a…
With contentious political races behind them, Kate Gallego and Laura Pastor are ready to take office on Thursday. Gallego beat out Pastor Warren Stewart to win the seat in District 8, and Laura Pastor bested Justin Johnson, son of former Mayor Paul Johnson, to win the District 4 race. Incumbents…
Al Melvin, a state senator running for governor, apparently has never heard of snopes.com. Nor is he showing interest in debunking anything after he was flambeed by his Twitter followers over the past week and embarrassed in news articles for misquoting Abraham Lincoln…
Phoenix employees are a generous people. As has become their annual tradition, city workers have raised more than $1 million for the city’s annual Community Service Fund Drive through payroll pledges and fund-raisers — money that will benefit various Valley charities, including Valley of the Sun United Way. In addition…
We shouldn’t be surprised that former Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon appears to be exploring a possible run for mayor. This is the same elected official who tried a few times, albeit futilely, to extend the city’s two-term limit for mayor. During a recent television appearance on 12 News “Sunday Square…
Christine Jones’ much-criticized 2011 essay in support of the Stop Online Piracy Act has disappeared from her personal website since New Times pointed it out. Jones, the former Go Daddy general counsel now running for Arizona governor, had been vilified by legions of Internet users following the essay’s initial appearance…
Phoenix officials and one of our favorite local curmudgeons, gun-law expert Alan Korwin, are scheduled for a courtroom showdown next month over banned firearms-training ads. The case was launched following the city’s move to censor 50 bus-shelter ads that Korwin had purchased in October 2010 for his firearms-training website, trainmeaz.com…
Today in Found at the border: There’s a new all-time record for the largest unsuccessful pot-smuggling attempt in Arizona.The previous record was set in January, when a Mexican man attempted to drive 14,121 pounds of pot — with an estimated value of $7.1 million — through the port of entry…
The Cochise County Record website and its crotchety publisher have been buzzing around southern Arizona officials for a couple of years now like flies on an old burro. One of those ticked-off officials, Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels, has managed to convince several Republican state lawmakers to take sides in…
A seat on the Phoenix City Council held for nearly five decades by an African American was lost today. Kate Widland Gallego handily beat her opponent, Pastor Warren Stewart, with nearly 63 percent of the vote to represent District 8, a predominately Latino district. In a concession speech, Stewart congratulated…
There are still votes to be counted. But preliminary counts on Election Night show Laura Pastor in District 4 holding a slight lead over her opponent Justin Johnson. Pastor has received 6,819 votes (52.11 percent), about a 4 percent lead over Johnson’s 6,268 votes (47.89 percent)…
Wanna celebrate with the winners, commiserate with the losers of Election Day? The polls closed about 40 minutes ago and candidates should be basking in the well wishes of optimistic supporters at various locations throughout Phoenix…
It’s Election Day. The truth is that most voters have cast their ballots early in the District 4 and District 8 elections. The voters will decide who is going to represent residents throughout central and south Phoenix on the City Council. But the polls close at 7 p.m. tonight, and…
There is precious little time to convince District 8 residents who haven’t voted to cast their ballot on November 5 in favor of diversity — that is, to vote for Pastor Warren Stewart over Kate Widland Gallego in Phoenix’s council race. For the first time in nearly 50 years, the…
Here’s a free piece of advice for all you journalism majors out there: Go to law school. As a lawyer, the hours are the same, you can read and write to your heart’s content, and you get paid a pant-load to make a phone call. No kidding. Reading through invoices…
Before she landed at Go Daddy, the company that made her famous, Arizona gubernatorial candidate Christine Jones co-wrote an important article on necrophilia law. The candidate who made headlines last week after the media discovered her 2004 DUI also publishes a lot, we found, on a blog she keeps called…
Black leaders are holding a press conference today to urge voters to cast ballots on November 5 and to speak out against what they say are attempts to “turn back the clock on political representative equality.” Standing on the steps of the Calvin C. Goode Municipal Building, representatives are planning…
