Phoenix News Blog

"The First-Aid Bandit"

​There's a new bandit in town and authorities have given him what is possibly the least-cool moniker since the infamous "Salon Bandit."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking for the man it is calling "The First-Aid Bandit."

Don't let the name fool you, this guy isn't running around slapping Band-Aids on the bleeding masses, he's robbing banks -- four of them to be precise.

Word from ASU today that its longtime head baseball coach Pat Murphy has resigned is a mind-blower on every level.

 

​The immediate explanation?

None.

We haven't been able to contact one of our favorite coaches yet, though we suspect that Murph will call back at some point soon.

For sure, university vice-president of athletics (fancy title for Athletic Director) Lisa Love's less-than-revealing written statement sure raises a slew of as-yet unanswered questions.

"Coach Murphy has an outstanding record of success on the playing field," Ms. Love said "I thank him for 16 years of hard work and service to the university and the sport."

Thank you, too, ma'am.

Murphy had been ASU's very successul coach since shortly after his legendary predecessor Jim Brock's death in 1994.

Though his Sun Devils never won the coveted NCAA title, the program managed to flourish year after year (no small achievement in college baseball) and consistently were among the nation's top teams. In fact, next year's squad already was being touted as a championship contender, and one of Murphy's potentially best teams.

 

​The East Valley Tribune may have a new lease on life, just two weeks after the failing publication announced it would be closing its doors on December 31.

At the time of the closure, Trib CFO Mark McEachen told employees that the closing might be "a good marketing tool" to lure potential buyers and he may have been right.

Elvis Amir Saloum

​A prolific Valley speeder wasn't quite fast enough to escape the long arm of the Department of Public Safety.

DPS officers had been looking for 29-year-old Elvis Amir Saloum since July and finally caught up with him Thursday at a mall near his Peoria home.

www.motivatedphotos.com

​A new device developed by a British inventor supposedly kills lobsters "humanely" before they're cooked.

But when PETA attempted to bring the device to Arizona last weekend for a lobster bake fundraiser for the Child and Family Resource Center in Tucson, things didn't quite go according to plan and PETA was forced to sit back as hundreds of lobsters hit the boiler the old fashion way -- alive.

www.psychologytoday.com

​Peoria police are looking for the person or person responsible for robbing the home of a Peoria family. On the list of missing items: The ashes of the family's dead son.

Lindsay Grannis, the child's mother, says when she came home yesterday afternoon, her garage door was wide open. When she went into her house, the place was cleaned out.

The thief took your standard items -- televisions, jewelry, electronics, but also took a small music box from a cabinet inside the home.

It's slippery, slashing Rams RB Steven Jackson vs. Arizona's nutty road-field advantage on Sunday in St. Louis.

​

Talk about a daft stat.

If the Arizona Cardinals get back to the Super Bowl in 2010, it'll likely be thanks to their nutty road-field advantage. Sitting pretty with a road record of 4-0 (6-3 overall) in '09, Ken Whisenhunt's Redbirds got smoked on the road last season by scores of 47-7 (New England), 48-20 (Philadelphia), and 56-35 (New York Jets).

With road games remaining against St. Louis, Tennessee, San Francisco, and Detroit, this year's Birds have a perhaps once-in-a-lifetime shot at going 8-0 away from Glendale's happy confines. (Heck, they haven't even made it to 5-0 for more than six decades. Fans of history should note that that team, the 1948 Chicago Cardinals, made it to the NFL Championship Game, but lost 7-0 to the Eagles.)

Ironically, the two biggest bumps in the thruway for the Cards have a combined record of 4-14. That would be the Rams (1-8) on Sunday and the Titans (3-6) the week after, and that would be because of St. Louis running back Steven Jackson (ranked third in the NFL in rushing with 915 yards) and Tennessee RB Chris Johnson (No. 1 with 1,091 yards).

www.nba.com/suns

Jared Dudley: One of the Suns' few bright spots, scoring 17 off the bench.

​You're kidding, right? The Phoenix Suns' game Thursday night against the Hornets in New Orleans was supposed to be a gimme. Before the game, fans and local sports talk radio hosts had already chalked up win number 11 for the Suns. "The Suns' second team alone could beat the Hornets," they said. "The Suns are almost guaranteed to come home from this road trip 11-2," they said. "This was a nice gift from the schedule-maker," they said.

​Representative Doug Quelland must give up his seat in the legislature. Quelland was found to have violated campaign finance rules earlier this year. Quelland plans to appeal the ruling in Maricopa Superior Court...A fire broke out in the auditorium at Red Mountain High School in Mesa last night. Fire officials believe the fire started when a curtain was pressed against a hot stage light. A teacher quickly grabbed a ladder, cut down the curtain, and extinguished the fire...Patrick Chorpenning, the former director of the Arizona Department of Veterans Services, has been indicted on charges of misusing public money and sidestepping state procurement rules. The Attorney General's Office believes that Chorpenning violated several laws, including creating unadvertised jobs for his son and wife...Opponents of the controversial photo radar cameras are poised to file a lawsuit against the state. Shawn Dow with Arizona's

Representative Doug Quelland.

​Citizens Against Photo Radar claims that Redflex, the company that manages the speed cameras, has been ticketing people illegally for several months...A toddler found walking alone on the streets of Buckeye yesterday has been reunited with his mother. Police say the mother fell asleep and the child snuck out of the house. The mother claims the child, despite being a toddler, knows how to operate the deadbolt on the front door of the home...About 3,000 Scottsdale residents are without power today. APS officials say they doesn't know what caused the outage, which killed power in homes and businesses in the area of Pima Road/Loop 101 to the west, Greenway Road to the north, 100th Street to the east and Sweetwater Avenue to the south. Traffic lights are also out and APS officials are urging motorists to treat dark traffic lights as a four-way stop.

​In the 24-hour news cycle it can be difficult to keep up. We have the solution. Check back on Valley Fever every evening for highlights from each of New Times' blogs. Today's entries:

Feathered Bastard:
Blue Boy Video: See the Creation of the African-American Face That Was Too Much for an Arizona Town

Holocaust Denier David Irving's Uberbabe Assistant Jaenelle Antas Ready to Bounce According to Hacked Emails

Up on the Sun:
Interview with MC Hammer: Once The Awesomest Guy Alive, Now Another Social Media Guru

The Love Me Nots Plan Live Album With Jack White's Nemesis

Chow Bella:
Let Us Do Thanksgiving For You

Stuffing Showdown: Vegan "Sausage" Stuffing

Valley Fever:
Legislative Special Session Expected to End Today; $400 Million Down, $1.6 Billion to Go

Today is World Toilet Day; Group Asks Phoenicians, "Are You Squatting?"