Tag Archives: Phoenix

Phoenix’s CBS affiliate reports: Phoenix police officer Christian Goggans is facing an internal investigation, according to the department. Multiple sources told Arizona’s Family Goggans was making and distributing pornography while he was assigned to work from home and on the clock. Our sources have confirmed it is officer Christian Goggans in extremely graphic porn videos he had been uploading to …

Phoenix’s Fox affiliate reports: Signs reading “Honor your oath” and “Abolish FBI” were seen outside the FBI office in Phoenix on Aug. 13, just days after news broke that the agency searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida. Several of those who were there were armed with guns. FBI agents seized classified records from Trump’s home during the …

Phoenix’s NBC News affiliate reports: A woman late for her flight was arrested for trespassing at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on Sunday, authorities said. Vickie Myers, 53, from St. Louis was booked into the Maricopa County Jail for running out onto the tarmac to stop a plane from leaving, the Phoenix Police Department said. The woman said she was late …

Phoenix’s NBC News affiliate reports: A new viral video of anti-mask protests sparked on Friday after a group from an organized demonstration entered a Christown Spectrum Target carrying flags and signs. Jenny Guzman was in the store looking for wrapping paper when she heard the protestors. “They were going through all the aisles screaming and chanting,” she said. The Phoenix …

The Associated Press reports: A fire that destroyed the Arizona and Maricopa County Democratic Party headquarters was an act of arson, authorities said. Investigators were gathering surveillance video from nearby buildings after combing the wreckage and concluding the fire was human-caused, authorities said. Nobody was hurt. Police Sgt. Mercedes Fortune declined to reveal what evidence convinced investigators the blaze was …

Phoenix’s NBC News affiliate reports:  The headquarters of the Arizona Democratic Party in Phoenix caught on fire early Friday. The Phoenix Fire Department said firefighters were dispatched to the building near Central Avenue and Thomas Road around 1 a.m. for reports of smoke coming from the building. When crews arrived, they found heavy smoke and fire coming from the building. …

Arizona Central reports: The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied multiple requests for a mega-COVID-19 testing site in Phoenix, according to Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego. Gallego said her office asked FEMA to implement a large-scale, drive-thru testing site — as they’ve done in other cities, including Houston — multiple times since the earliest days of the novel coronavirus pandemic. She said …

Tucson.com reports: Gov. Doug Ducey won’t support extending state laws to prohibit discrimination against individuals based on their sexual orientation. “I’m against discrimination in all its forms,” the governor said Thursday. But Ducey said he does not think it’s necessary to provide people who are gay the same legal protections that exist for already established protected classes. The governor also …

The Hill reports: A man went viral as #GreenShirtGuy on Wednesday after a video showed him hysterically laughing at a pair of Trump supporters circulated widely online. The video has been shared thousands of times, with hundreds of users sharing the hashtag #GreenShirtGuy. The incident — and the man’s viral fame — began with a protest of an Arizona city’s …

CBS News reports: Police say a man threatened and intimidated members of a Phoenix mosque Saturday evening. According to the Phoenix Police Department, 40-year-old Noel Thomas Becht was reportedly acting suspiciously at the United Islamic Center of Arizona located near 35th Avenue and Yorkshire Drive. He first entered the mosque and told members he was curious about the Muslim religion. …

The Arizona Capitol Times reports: A Christian law firm is making a last-ditch effort to convince the state’s high court that businesses — at least some of them — have a constitutional right to refuse to sell their services and products to gays. In new legal filings, attorneys for Alliance Defending Freedom are telling the Arizona Supreme Court that the …

The Arizona Republic reports: A Maricopa County Superior Court judge has quashed a local wedding shop’s attempt to override a Phoenix ordinance that protects lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people from discrimination. Joanna Duka and Breanna Koski, owners of Brush & Nib Studio and self-described evangelical Christians, create invitations and other handmade artwork for weddings and events. They filed a …

From the editorial board of the Arizona Republic: While America was talking about tearing down monuments that offend historically oppressed people, Donald Trump effectively erected yet another one. His pardon of Joe Arpaio elevated the disgraced former Maricopa County sheriff to monument status among the immigration hardliners and nationalists in Trump’s base. This erases any doubt about whether Trump meant …

The Phoenix New Times reports: For a few brief moments this Sunday, activists from Trans Queer Pueblo shut down the Phoenix Pride Parade, unfurling a giant banner that read, “No Justice, No Pride.” As Trans Queer Pueblo explained to New Times on Friday, their message was a simple one: They want Pride to be inclusive and stand up for the …

NBC News reports: Phoenix officials, infuriated over an ad for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign that includes city cops, fired off a letter Thursday demanding that the ad be taken down immediately. The ad, titled “Movement,” portrays Trump meeting with a variety of people — including, for about one second, uniformed police officers at what appears to be an airport, with …

Yesterday I reported that the anti-LGBT hate group Alliance Defending Freedom has been smacked down in their preliminary attempt to overturn Phoenix’s LGBT rights ordinance. Today World Net Daily reacts in typical fashion: A Superior Court judge in Arizona has adopted the position that “gay” rights outweigh the First Amendment’s protection for the “free exercise of religion” in a key …

Nobody has ASKED the Brush & Nib studio to create any same-sex wedding invitations, but they’re suing to overturn Phoenix’s public accommodations law just in case. Via press release: Alliance Defending Freedom attorneys representing a Phoenix art studio that specializes in hand-painting, hand-lettering, and calligraphy for weddings and other events filed suit in state court Thursday to challenge a city …

News outlets nationwide have reported on the mess in Arizona’s Mariciopa Country, the state’s most populous, where primary voters waited for hours due to a 70% reduction in the number of polling places. The GOP official who made that call says she won’t resign. Via the Arizona Republic: Maricopa County Recorder Helen Purcell took responsibility for the hours-long lines at …

The Satanic Temple, which is actually a group of atheist activists and pranksters, has trolled the Phoenix City Council into ending its practice of opening their meeting with prayers. The Washington Post reports: For weeks now, Phoenix lawmakers have wrestled with the idea of allowing members of a Satanic group to give the invocation before an upcoming city meeting. Phoenix …

The Democratic mayors of Phoenix and Tempe took to Twitter to denounce Arizona’s anti-gay bill and demand that it be vetoed by Gov. Jan Brewer. Notably quiet is the GOP mayor of Mesa, Scott Smith, who is running for governor. Also silent so far is Jay Tibshraeny, the GOP mayor of Chandler, Arizona’s fourth-largest city. (But he DID just tweet …