Free Republic

Despite being outraised by his opponent, Flake, a six-term congressman, had seen strong backing from both establishment and tea party Republicans in his quest to win the open seat soon to be vacated by retiring Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl....

PHOENIX (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department has announced that it will monitor primary elections in Arizona's Maricopa County. The department said Monday that federal observers will be dispatched Tuesday to make sure that Maricopa County follows the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965. That law prohibits discrimination in the election process on the basis of race, color or membership in a minority language group. Observers will watch and record activities during voting hours at polling locations

Police in Arizona are hunting for a pair of teenage hellions who nearly killed a man when they tossed water balloons at him and then ran him over in their truck. Steven Bright, 26, of Chandler, was walking with his brother near Carson Elementary School at around 10 p.m. on Aug. 4 when two teen girls in a truck attacked them with water balloons, ABC News reported. While trying to dodge the balloons, Bright ran into the road, where the truck slammed into him and dragged him for a few feet. Bright eventually broke free, but the truck kept going.

MIAP is a nationwide project with the purpose of finding and identifying the cremated remains of American veterans that have been left in funeral homes and seeing that they are buried with honors as our nation promised it would do when these men and women signed up to serve in the armed forces. To that end, the MIAP Arizona organization will be conducting interment services for 19 veterans at the Southern Arizona Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Sierra Vista on Wednesday, September 12th, 2012. We are looking to have some volunteers post flyers with businesses along the route from the Adair...

This is what government is all about. Forget roads, mass murder through warfare, or locking people up for their consumption choices: it's making sure that no one gives out water without a permit.This is from last week but I believe un-noted here: ABC-TV 15 from Phoenix reports that local Christian proselytizer Dana Crow-Smith was ordered by a "Neighborhood Preservation Inspector" to stop giving out free bottled water last month because she lacked a vending permit, though she was not vending.She is threatening to sue the city with help from the Rutherford Institute, a civil liberties group with a focus...

A national group representing off-highway recreationists is suing the U.S. Forest Service to try to overturn a new travel management plan on national forest lands in the Sierra west of Reno they say is overly restrictive. The Pacific Legal Foundation said in a lawsuit filed recently the agency plan adopted in 2010 illegally closed more than 800 miles of roads and trails the public has used for years in the Tahoe National Forest. ... Similar disputes are under way in the Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, primarily in northeast Nevada's Elko County, and in the Eldorado National Forest in California mostly west...

PHOENIX – Don't have a decent command of the English language? Then forget about running for public office in Arizona – or even being appointed to one. In a decision with statewide implications, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled that candidates who are not proficient in English cannot even try to become an elected or appointed official. The justices said the requirement, which has existed since territorial days, is justified.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is proposing that 838,000 acres near the U.S.-Mexico border be designated as critical habitat for jaguars. While a small section of the proposed zone is in New Mexico, most of the land is in Southern Arizona, including the area of the proposed Rosemont Mine. The move was hailed by the environmental group that has long worked for jaguar protection. "Jaguars once roamed across the United States, from California to Louisiana, but have been virtually extinct here since the 1950s," said Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Tucson-based Center for Biological Diversity, which sued to...

Welcome to the Wild West, 2012 style. The Feds to Tombstone: “If you want to fix your water line, better lawyer up and talk to President Obama.”... Obama, is truly the out of touch candidate. The U.S. Forest Service — of which the president is ultimate boss — is preventing, on the flimsiest of excuses, Tombstone Arizona from rebuilding its water pipeline. Obama, conniving, is putting Tombstone, a fixture of American history, in mortal danger. ... A massive forest fire in 2011 wiped out the vegetation in Coronado National Park, wherein lies Tombstone’s waterworks — which were destroyed by the...

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Glendale Police responded to reports of a shooting in the parking lot of University of Phoenix stadium Friday night, while the Cardinals were playing the Raiders in their first preseason game. We're hearing a man in his 30s was taken to the hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. He's currently in stable condition. A suspect has apparently been taken into custody. No other information was made available. Stay with myfoxphoenix.com for updates on this developing story.

CHANDLER, AZ (CBS5) - A 22-year-old registered sex offender was arrested Sunday evening on suspicion of assaulting an 11-year-old boy in the men's restroom at Red Robin Restaurant in Chandler, police said. . . The child attempted to leave the restroom but Chavez blocked his path, Tyler said. The child was eventually able to get away and Chavez fled in a red pick-up truck. .. After his release from the hospital, Chavez was booked into the Maricopa County Jail

Rule of Law: Arizona finds itself in more hot water with the left, declining to give state benefits to illegal aliens whose deportations have been stayed as a political favor by the White House. Tell us again what "illegal" means? On Thursday, Governor Jan Brewer enraged the White House, the ACLU and open-borders activists by issuing Executive Order 2012-06, stating that her state reaffirmed the intent of Arizona law on state benefits — from driver's licenses to in-state college tuition — to illegals, which is a big fat "no" to all of the above. That was in response to the...

PHOENIX -Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has signed an executive order directing state agencies to deny driver's licenses and other public benefits to young illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under a new Obama administration program. Brewer's order issued Wednesday says she's reaffirming the intent of current Arizona law denying taxpayer-funded public benefits and state identification to illegal immigrants. Young illegal immigrants could start applying Wednesday with the federal government for work permits under the Obama administration's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.

Administration officials confirmed on Tuesday that they have expanded the White House immigration policy for younger illegals to include low-skill immigrants who have not completed middle school or high school. The shift adds roughly 350,000 low-skill immigrants to the Department of Homeland Security policy, which was initially portrayed as including only 800,000 people under the age of 31 when it was announced by President Barack Obama in a Rose Garden statement on June 15. The inclusion of middle school dropouts clashes with Obama’s portrayal of the illegal immigrants as skilled workers, scientists and entrepreneurs. ... The foreign workers will enter...

There’s a stunning trend happening within the immigrant community around the country and in New Mexico. Many undocumented parents are fearful not just of immigration officials, but of their own children. “I don't know what to say about that. That's kinda terrible," said Paul Martinez of Albuquerque. It may sound unreal but there have been cases reported of U.S. born kids and teens threatening their undocumented parents with having them deported. ... ‘"Even the little ones, two years old, start to abuse their mothers because they see that violence at home," she said. “The idea is that they're going to...

by John HillStand With ArizonaNot in my state, you don't!After a day of lawlessness, with hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens lining up across the nation to apply for Obama's "deferred action" amnesty plan, and with spineless politicians cowering in the shadows, it took an Arizonan to stand up to Obama once again. Obama's old nemesis Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer tonight signed an executive order directing state agencies to deny driver's licenses and other public benefits to young illegal immigrants who obtain work authorizations under a new Obama administration program.Brewer's order issued Wednesday says she's reaffirming the intent of current Arizona law...

Phoenix officials have until next Friday to apologize for the actions of a code enforcement officer after he stopped Christians from giving out water bottles to city festival participants on a day that reached 112 degrees. A legal team that fights for religious and civil rights is also demanding a commitment that the city will no longer interfere with the Christian group’s acts of charity. According to a letter to the city from the Rutherford Institute, the case developed in July during a “First Friday” festival when Dana Crow-Smith was giving “free bottles of cold water to passersby” on the...

by John HillStand With ArizonaHe's known as "America's Toughest Sheriff". But Joe Arpaio continues to show he deserves the moniker of "America's JOBS Sheriff". Because every time Sheriff Joe conducts a raid, he frees up jobs for legal American workers. Yesterday was no exception, as Maricopa County Sheriff's deputies raided the large General Nutrition Corporation (GNC) distribution warehouse in Phoenix. GNC is the dominant retailer of nutritional supplements in the U.S., with stores across the country. MCSO's Jeff Sprong says the vitamin distribution business employed as many as 21 suspects using false identifications to secure employment. Two suspects were using social security numbers belonging to...

Looks like the Department of Homeland Security could be renamed the Department of Hyper Sexuality. A blistering federal discrimination suit accuses agency honcho Janet Napolitano of turning the department into a female-run “frat house” where male staffers were banished to the bathrooms and routinely humiliated. James Hayes Jr., who now is New York’s top Homeland Security cop, claims Napolitano filled top spots in Washington, D.C., with two of her gal pals who were bent on tormenting male employees.

Jared Lee Loughner pleaded guilty Tuesday to 19 counts involving a 2011 shooting in Tucson, Ariz., that left six dead and 13 others, including then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, wounded. As part of the deal, Loughner will receive a sentence of life without parole. Victims' families have been spared the rigors of a trial, and prosecutors can be sure that Loughner will never again endanger the general public. Thank the federal death penalty, which applied because Loughner shot people at a federally protected political event. Defense attorney Gerald L. Shargel wrote on The Daily Beast that though it would have been...