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An official "unusual event" was declared at the Palo Verde Nuclear Generation Station west of Phoenix on Saturday after water in a junction box outside of reactor containment building caused an electrical short.

KTAR (92.3 FM) radio is the only outlet that appears to have reported the incident, but maybe that's because -- according to Arizona Public Service, anyway -- this is a non-story.

Jim McDonald, a spokesman for APS, told the radio station that McDonald went on to say that "some water got into a junction box. It shorted out. As a result, we declared a notification of unusual event. That is an emergency level, but a very, very, low one. The lowest one."

We're guessing that in the nuclear plant instruction manual, a meltdown would be called a "really, really, REALLY frickin' unusual" event.

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We are huge fans of modern gospel music, having been turned onto it many years ago by one Buddy Strong, then a South Mountain High music wunderkind and now one of the most sought-after and respected sidemen in the biz.

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UPDATE: Here's a short clip from Cornel West's address on Saturday, October 2:

We're not the only ones to have noticed that progressives, Democrats, and their ilk don't currently have a central charismatic leader whose every utterance is sociopolitical Gospel, the way Glenn Beck seems to affect many right-wing Tea Partier types. That (along with the fact that many liberals trend a little younger than retirement age and have Things to Do, as a comment on this Washington Post blog points out) is most likely why fewer people showed up on the Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday for the "One Nation Working Together" rally, a love-in of labor organizations, environmentalists, queer-friendly groups, church members, Socialists, the NAACP, and other uneasily diverse bedfellows, than attended Beck's "Restoring Honor" event on August 28 (even after correcting for delusional hyperinflated crowd estimates).

We'll see how many people show up to restore either sanity or fear when Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert visit the Lincoln Memorial lawn later this month, but meantime, Cornel West (Councillor West in The Matrix's sequels, okay?) is a major touchstone for most of what the left holds dear: peace, equality, opportunity, diversity -- all that hippie crap -- and he was in Phoenix on Saturday to energize opponents of Arizona Senate Bill 1070 and socially progressive activists in general, at a lecture and panel discussion (a.k.a. an indoor rally) called "How We Got Here: Historical Roots of SB 1070," co-sponsored by Puente Arizona and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), at North High School's auditorium.

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​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:
Joe Arpaio's Goon Squad Blasted by Chicanos Por La Causa, MCSO Fishing Expedition Under Way

Joe Arpaio on Nightline: Mexicans Bring Disease Into the U.S. (Ahem, Not), and Probably Built His House

Up on the Sun:
Metric, Brett Dennen, Phoenix Tequila Festival, Outer Bounds of Sound and Rogue Brewing Over the Weekend

Incoming: Mariah Carey Plays Dodge on February 20

Chow Bella:
Phoenix Tequila Festival Goes Down Smoothly

Watch Football Tonight, Get Sushi for a Buck

Valley Fever:
Do Lil Wayne Fans Know How to Spell? For the Ones Who Read Valley Fever, All Signs Point to No

Sheriff's Deputies Visit a Half-Dozen County Employees At Home This Weekend

​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:
The Anarchists Own the Nazis, and the Nazis Cause a Car Wreck as They Amscray

Transgender Nativists? MySpace for T-Girls and the Curious Case of Lynne Stevens

Up on the Sun:
Arizona Apparently A Hotbed for Aspiring Yodelers

Wrestlemania XXVI Pre-Sale Party, Arizona State Fair's Demolition Derby and DOSE Over the Weekend

Chow Bella:
What's Cooking at First Fridays

Tasty Weekend Brunch at Fez

Valley Fever:
Congressman John Shadegg Uses Baby as Prop on House of Representatives Floor

Cop Accidentally Shoots Self in (Guess Where?) at Phoenix Police Academy

 

One employee of the Arizona Republic noted wryly in a Facebook status update that he was at home on a mandated, unpaid leave when news came of a second round of Gannett furloughs.

The new mandate requires most of Gannett's 41,000 employees -- including those at the state's largest newspaper and Channel 12 (KPNX-TV) -- to take an additional week of unpaid leave between April 1 and March of 2010. Employees who make $90,000 or more annually must take a two-week furlough.

"Revenue numbers continue their downward slide..." says Gannett CEO Craig Dubow in a memo obtained by Gannett Blog. The company was forced to choose once again between layoffs or more furloughs, Dubow writes.

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Jan Brewer took her oath of office as governor of Arizona today, completing the transfer of power required after Janet Napolitano left the state to become secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Here's a shot of her accepting a Native American blessing on stage just prior to officially taking the reins.

Brewer gave a short speech following her swearing-in before a packed crowd on the State Capitol lawn, referencing the state's fiscal woes and saying she felt sort of like she just got to a party where all the guests are gone -- but someone is handing her the bill.

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"Breaking Dawn" Midnight Release at Changing Hands Bookstore

Several fans showed up to get their hands on the latest Stephenie Meyer release on Friday August 1, 2008.

See more from the midnight release in our slideshow "Breaking Dawn Midnight Release Party at Changing Hands Bookstore"

Top 15 Rocker Faces of Lollapalooza

Didn't make it to Lollapalooza? No worries, we've got a slideshow of the top rock faces of the festival courtesy of our Village Voice Media family. Get those horns up and pay these punks the rock tribute they deserve.

Discount Assassin Premiere at Samurai Comics

Need someone bumped off? It'll cost ya'. How much? $3.

Check out the film yourself on Up on the Sun.

Miss Gay Arizona Party at Apollo's

With the pageant a week away, hopefuls for the 2008 Miss Gay Arizona Pageant dragged themselves to Apollo's to see past winners suit up and strut their stuff on August 3, 2008.

By Jonathan McNamara

Top Chef at Phoenix Public Market

The Summer heat didn't slow Downtown Phoenix Public Market down a bit this Saturday. While just across the street early morning people scrambled to get a seat at Matt's Big Breakfast, market shoppers selected fresh produce, traded crafts and oh yeah, got autographs from Top Chef cast members Richard Blais (season four) and Betty Fraser (season two).

Romantasy Cabaret at The Sets

Life is a cabaret old chum, and that means the audience was treated to music, dancing and even a few revealing acts at The Sets on Saturday July 26, 2008.

Native American Basketball Invitational at U.S. Airways Center

The NABI’s men and women's brackets battled it out to determine who would win it all and who would go home on July 26, 2008.

Also: Don't miss "Senator Files Ethics Complaint Over Gay Marriage Vote" posted Saturday by John Dickerson on Valley Fever.

By Ray Stern

Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas is too high.

Too high, that is, when it comes to the hysterical statistic quoted in his new public service announcement about drop houses.

Like much of the government propaganda about drugs, Thomas' PSA uses a questionable stat to grab our attention: "About 90 percent of illegal drugs come from south of the border."

Nobody doubts that plenty of illegal drugs are funneled through Mexico on the way to the United States. But Ramona Sanchez, spokeswoman for the local office of the DEA, says it's more like 60 percent or so.

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