Arizona's Rep Way South of the Border? It Sucks!

Categories: Back in Arizona
Just back from a fast-pitch softball tournament in, of all places, the wildly endless sprawl known as Sao Paulo, Brazil.
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"You have much hate in your part of the world, right?"--Brazilian woman
They say that about 20 million people live in Sao Paulo, which makes it one of the world's largest metropolitan areas. 

During "down time" from the games, which was about 90 percent of the trip, we bounced around the city in search of samba, steak (suspension of our skimpy red-meat eating habits was mandatory) and other adventures.

For the record, nothing we did (or can recall at this point) has to "stay in Sao Paulo," a la Las Vegas.

Brazilians for the most part are a friendly and lively bunch, and love to converse in English with their American guests whenever possible.
 
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Mikhail Drachev, Suspect in Police Informant's Murder, Extradited to Arizona

Categories: Back in Arizona

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Image: MCSO
Mikhail Drachev, indicted for the 2001 murder of a police informant, was extradited from Canada to Arizona on Sunday.
​Phoenix detective Tom Britt listened intently on the phone in late 2001 as his informant, Konstantin Simberg, told him about stolen human growth hormone. Then came the scream.

Simberg, 21, was found dead near Fossil Creek a couple of days later.

Two of the murder suspects were soon caught and later convicted; a third, Mikhail Drachev, managed to elude authorities for five years. Drachev, now 27, was captured in Canada in 2007 after his girlfriend, to whom he'd lied about his identity, turned him in.

The former Tempe resident and Russian immigrant lost his years-long battle to avoid extradition, and on Sunday was flown in from Canada and picked up at Sky Harbor by Phoenix detectives working with the FBI. Police seek charges of murder and kidnapping.

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