The killing of the police chief in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, last weekend has alarmed officials on both sides of the U.S.-Mexican border and raised fears that the vicious drug-cartel violence that has plagued other regions may be spreading to an area that, for the most part, has been spared the bloodshed. Luis Fredy Rodriguez Soqui, 40, a former federal prosecutor who became director of public safety two years ago, was killed days before the city was scheduled to be recognized as one of the safest in Sonora, the state south of Arizona. He is the first police chief killed in Sonora in recent memory, Mexican officials said. "Obviously, this is some violence that hits pretty close to home," Yuma Police Chief John Lekan ... Continue reading →

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has sufficiently corrected jail deficiencies like overcrowding and poor sanitation to emerge in part from under a 35-year-old federal civil-rights lawsuit. The decision by a federal judge will effectively end court-ordered oversight of Sheriff Joe Arpaio's jail facilities when it comes to food quality, sanitary conditions and overcrowding in holding areas. But attorneys representing a class of not-yet-sentenced inmates in the decades-old lawsuit say the county's health-care system in the jails and the Sheriff's Office still have plenty of work to do to bring their facilities and programs into compliance with constitutional standards. Arpaio on Thursday touted U.S. District Judge Neil Wake's approval of the sheriff's efforts to improve his jails. "As the years went by, we've improved out internal ... Continue reading →

A device rigged with explosives went off inside a Phoenix Salvation Army distribution center Thursday afternoon, slightly injuring two employees, authorities said. Phoenix police said preliminary evidence suggests the incident is linked to two other cases in which a person or persons left flashlights packed with explosives in Glendale on May 13 and 14. No one was injured in the previous incidents. The incident Thursday occurred a few minutes before 3:30 p.m. at the Salvation Army at 1625 S. Central Ave. The building and surrounding area have been evacuated as a precaution, Phoenix police spokesman Sgt. Trent Crump said. No other details were immediately available. Continue reading →

Four new medical conditions could eventually qualify under Arizona's medical-marijuana program. State health officials are considering whether to add depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and migraines as "debilitating conditions," which would allow people to legally use medical pot. Arizona would become the only state in the nation to allow medical marijuana for anxiety and depression, said Will Humble, director of the state Department of Health Services, which oversees the medical-marijuana program. He said New Mexico is the only state that actively allows medical pot for post-traumatic stress disorder. The voter-approved Arizona Medical Marijuana Act requires the state health department to periodically accept and evaluate petitions to allow new medical conditions into the program. "At this point, it's just a hearing process -- it doesn't mean ... Continue reading →

Democrats blowing �birther� bonanza No wonder Democrats are a woeful minority in the Arizona legislature. Republican Secretary of State Ken Bennett makes a laughingstock of the state by diving head first into the shallow end of the ‘birther’ pool (there is no deep end), and instead of taking full advantage of this political bonanza, and e-x-t-e-n-d-i-n-g it, one of the state’s top Democratic lawmakers wants to toss it all away by getting Bennett to do … the right thing. What is wrong with these Democrats? Bennett not only is Arizona’s new top birther (Secretary of state trumps county sheriff, doesn’t it?) but he is also the Arizona co-chairman of Mitt Romney's presidential campaign. Campbell wants Bennett to resign from that post. Such a suggestion should ... Continue reading →