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26 Jan 2012 10:13

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Politics: Jan Brewer vs. Obama: An airport meeting turns into an epic battle

  • She wrote some things in her book he didn’t like: The tough-on-immigration Arizona governor, who was not particularly happy with the way the president treated her in a much-talked-about-at-the-time 2010 meeting, wrote about it in her new book “Scorpions for Breakfast,” and Obama didn’t like what she said. So, last night, when Obama got into Phoenix, this happened. “I will say that a picture is what it is,” she said. “I must say, I was not hostile. I was trying to be very, very gracious. I respect the office of the president, and I would never be disrespectful in that manner.” What we would give to hear that conversation up close. (AP Photo) source


08 Jan 2012 23:02

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U.S.: Gabrielle Giffords, one year later: How an error defined real-time news

  • The sausage was being made in front of our eyes, with all of the messiness that analogy implies.
  • Poynter’s Craig Silverman • Discussing the Gabrielle Giffords shooting one year ago today, as well as the way the media covered it on Twitter. Very notably that day, NPR tweeted that Giffords had died of a gunshot wound to the head, and a number of media outlets reported it, when she in fact hadn’t. Silverman, who runs Regret the Error for Poynter, kept a Storify from that day. It was a key moment for the real-time news movement, and a decision that once might’ve played behind closed doors is now in plain sight. It reflects the new world we live in as both news producers and news consumers — one where the errors play out in the open. source


22 Dec 2011 20:58

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U.S.: Arizona State student describes recovery after going missing for 10 days

  • I am so thankful to be alive and warm. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers — they worked. At times I was afraid, but mostly I had faith that I would be found.
  • Arizona State University student Lauren Elizabeth Weinberg • Making a statement about her 10-day ordeal, in which she and her car were stranded in a remote, snow-covered part of Arizona. She survived on just two candy bars and snow water she melted in the sun. After taking a drive with no particular destination, she found herself stuck with roughly two feet of snow around her. She lacked a blanket or heavy coat to keep warm, making her survival all the more remarkable to rescuers. Good luck in your recovery, Lauren. source


30 Nov 2011 11:31

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Offbeat: Arizona gun club offers photos with Santa — and a few AK-47s

  • Dear Arizona ShortFormBlog readers: If we were to give you a picture of our mascot, Julius the Laid-Off RSS Robot, could you go visit the Scottsdale Gun Club on December 10 to take a picture with Santa and a few AK-47s? If you want, you can even play target practice with the printout afterward. (We’d expect pictures of that, too.) Julius is a big fan of the Second Amendment and he’d really get a kick out of it. Thanks. (Editor’s note: This is a real offer.) source


24 Nov 2011 12:02

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U.S.: Arizona plane crash: Mother notified after her three children killed

  • They were spending Thanksgiving with their father. Last night’s deadly plane crash in Superstition Mountains, a rugged patch of mountains east of Phoenix, was especially sad because of the time of year. Six people died, including three children and three adult men. The mother of the children, who was not on the plane, was notified by authorities late Wednesday. “The mother is a pilot herself,” noted Elias Johnson of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Department. “She understands when a plane crashes at 230 miles an hour … directly into the face of the mountain … and when it’s a fiery crash,” the odds of survival are low. source


23 Nov 2011 22:29

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U.S.: Plane crashes into mountains east of Phoenix; details coming in

  • The crash happened on rough terrain, making rescue tough. A plane crash in the Superstition Mountains, east of Phoenix, appears to have left a large explosion, based on the webcam video above (key moment 53 seconds in). Details are hard to come by right now. “We don’t know yet if it’s a passenger plane or a crop duster,” said Angelique Graham, the Pinal County (Ariz.) sheriff’s spokeswoman. “We can’t tell the size of the aircraft involved from the air and we can’t tell how many people may have been aboard.”  Details are coming in as we speak. (Edit: Just got an update; the plane had three adults and three children on board.)  source


05 Nov 2011 15:06

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U.S.: Green Party candidate in Tucson mayoral race lives in Occupy tent

Tucson Mayoral candidate Mary DeCamp sits outside her tent at Occupy Tucson
Mary DeCamp is about to have her house foreclosed upon, but she’s decided to walk away from it and run her Green Party campaign from a tent. She certainly has the right name for such a move. source


 

01 Nov 2011 00:16

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U.S.: We just hope “Breaking Bad” doesn’t end the way this drug cartel did.

  • 76 arrested in a major drug ring which ran from Mexico into Arizona
  • $2B in profits over the past five years collected from the ring
  • 3M number of pounds of marijuana the drug ring brought to the U.S. source
  • » Their leader “El Chapo,” or “Shorty,” is still at large. Officials admit that it took them a long time to bust this particular ring, which also sent tens of thousands of pounds of cocaine and heroin into the United States. The drug ring, linked to the Sinaloa cartel, reportedly operated right under the noses of authorities by staying on rugged terrain. There are still plenty of holes in the U.S./Mexican border, but this is a very big win in the Drug War, regardless.


28 Sep 2011 10:50

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U.S.: Judge to decide on Jared Lee Loughner’s fitness to eventually stand trial

  • The gunman in the Gabrielle Giffords shooting has been diagnosed as a schizophrenic. Loughner’s mental health issues, which manifested themselves in a disturbing way back in January, could prevent him from going to trial on 49 charges relating to the shooting which nearly killed a congresswoman. Did his time in a federal prison hospital help improve his condition enough to eventually stand trial? Does he need more time (as prosecutors are arguing), or is he not improving at all, as his defense attorneys claim? A judge will parse through these issues today. source


16 Sep 2011 15:48

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U.S.: Tucson Air Force base: No shooting, but unconfirmed gunman reports

  • first Reports of gunfire at Tucson’s Davis-Monthan Air Force riled up Twitter users nine months after the Gabrielle Giffords shooting.
  • then Details were scarce from the beginning, with word of gunfire, ambulances on the scene — but ultimate news coming in drips rather than buckets.
  • now The reports now suggest suspicious activity, not a shooting. “No shots have been fired and no one has been hurt,” the Air Force base sayssource


 
 
 

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