Free Republic

Police say they responded to an apartment complex near 8th Street and McClintock at 1:30 a.m. after reports of a woman screaming in the parking lot. When police arrived, they found Kristina Howato suffering from stab wounds. Officers were able to get a description of the suspect's car and located the vehicle driving along Interstate 10 near Quartzsite, Arizona. The suspect, 20-year-old Fabian Durazo, was taken into police custody around 11:45 a.m. Howato, who was in her third trimester, was transported to Scottsdale Osborn hospital where both she and the baby died.

Quartzsite resident and activist Michael Roth, who was convicted in 2010 of two counts of disorderly conduct, has had his convictions overturned in appeals. The convictions stemmed from an incident at Quartzsite Town Hall while the Council was in executive session in another room. Roth addressed the crowd with his complaints about the Council and Police Chief Jeff Gilbert. An officer who was present testified that Roth became offensive in his remarks, and Gilbert arrested him. The appellate court found that there was insufficient evidence of disorderly conduct, finding that “the state failed to present any evidence that Roth’s conduct...

The Quartzsite, Ariz., police officers who were being dismissed by a police chief described by the mayor as a "Nazi" have been ordered by a judge to be reinstated until after a show cause hearing scheduled Aug. 15 and after hearings before a "neutral decisionmaker." The orders came in two temporary restraining orders issued this week by LaPaz County Superior Court Judge Randolph A. Bartlett, who acted on emergency pleadings by an attorney representing the officers. The weeks-long confrontation erupted in Quartzsite when city officials ordered police to remove a woman from a town meeting, even though the mayor was...

QUARTZSITE, Ariz. - A state of emergency has been declared in the small western Arizona town of Quartzsite after a video of a woman being arrested during a public city council meeting went viral and prompted death threats to council members. Jennifer "Jade" Jones, a blogger and vocal critic of local government, was delivering remarks during the public comment session of a June 28 city council meeting when she was interrupted. A video posted on YouTube shows council members interrupting her and asking her to leave or be escorted out. The mayor of Quartzsite, Ed Foster, is heard telling officers...