An online image of several young Arizona men with a President Obama T-Shirts covered in bullet holes has led to an official problem by the United States Secret Service.

In the photo seven young men are shown holding guns while one of the boys holding the shirt that shows Obama’s face and the world “hope.”

The photo was discovered after it was posted to the personal Facebook page of an Arizona police officer last week but was taken down on Thursday.

According to a Secret Service representative:

“We’re aware of it, and we’re conducting the appropriate follow-up steps.”

In the meantime Peoria, Arizona police have joined in the investigation to find ”any possible policy violations on the part of our employee.”

The photo also appeared on the Facebook page of one high school student who appeared in the photo and that students school district has also decided to open an investigation of their own.

A spokesman for the Secret Service noted:

“Individuals certainly have a right to free speech, but we certainly have a right to speak to individuals to see what their intent is.”

The Secret Service routinely investigates internet threats made against politicians and the agency has an Internet Threat Desk to field such cases.

Do you think a probe should be opened into this type of activity or does the Secret Service have more important things to do then go after a bunch of young Republicans in Arizona?

Secret Service Probes Obama “Bullet Holes” T-Shirt Picture is a post from: The Inquisitr

When Jan Brewer greeted Barack Obama at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport on Wednesday, she probably wasn’t expecting a dressing-down from the President as she still stood on the runway tarmac.

Yet that’s exactly what Brewer got, with Obama taking the Arizona Republican governor to task over an extract from her November 2011 book, Scorpions for Breakfast. In the memoir, Brewer discusses how she handled SB 1070 and its after effects, and accuses Obama of deliberately mischaracterizing the immigration law. She also recounts a sharp exchange during an Oval Office meeting with Obama.

The two were spotted by reporters exchanging tense words, with Brewer at one point jabbing her finger in Obama’s direction. Reporters close to the conversation said both talked over each other at points, and revealed that Obama ended the conversation by walking away from Brewer while the governor was in mid-sentence. According to Brewer spokesman Matthew Benson:

“The president clearly was unhappy with the way he was characterized in her book. She was gracious but didn’t back down from the president when he voiced her displeasure with her.”

A slightly flustered Brewer later revealed that Obama said he hadn’t read her whole book, but an excerpt. She told one pool reporter:

“[I have] all the respect in the world for the office of the president. I thought we probably would’ve talked about the things that were important to him and important to me, helping one another. Our country is upside down. Arizona was upside down. But we have turned it around,” Brewer said. “I know again that he loves this country and I love this country.”

This video isn’t the most exposing footage – basically all of the juicy action takes place behind a presidential limo – but it’s basically the most revealing clip anybody shot:

Jan Brewer and Barack Obama in Heated Exchange on Runway [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has announced that she is officially stepping down from her Arizona congressional seat that one year earlier nearly cost her life.

Giffords announced her departure from her Arizona seat in a touching YouTube video in which she states:

“Arizona is my home. Always will be. A lot has happened over this past year,” while adding, ”I don’t remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice. Thank you for your prayers, and for giving me time to recover. I have more work to do.”

Gabrielle Giffords goes on to note:

“So to do what is best for Arizona, I will step down this week.” While adding, “I will return. And we will work together for Arizona and this great country.”

Here’s the entire Gabrielle Giffords YouTube video:

Giffords has spent the last year recovering from a bullet wound to the head which required the congresswoman to undergo various surgeries and painful and slow rehabilitation. It was just several months ago that she returned home with Astronaut husband Mark Kelly and began her rehabilitation in an outpatient capacity.

In supportive statements on her YouTube page fans of the congresswoman wrote:

“Thank you, Gabby Giffords – you are an inspiration, whether Congresswoman or not.”

and

“Not having you in Congress is America’s loss – hope you get really better soon ”

When she will return to politics is anyone’s guess but given her amazing recovery in a rather short period of time I wouldn’t be surprised if it was sooner rather then later.

Gabrielle Giffords Steps Down From Congress In Touching YouTube Video is a post from: The Inquisitr

In 2010 Arizona voters passed the Arizona Medical Marijuana Act but it wasn’t until this week that an Arizona judge finally ordered that the state license dispensaries and allow them to open starting by late Summer 2012.

The state will likely give out license agreements using a massive lottery system that will establish which growers can legally sell medical marijuana in the state.

It was U.S. District Judge Susan R. Bolton who paved the way for this decision earlier in the month when she threw out a lawsuit from Gov. Jan Brewer and Attorney General Tom Horne who both attempted to block the Arizona medical marijuana dispensary program from moving forward.

In their case Brewer and Horne argued that the program would open state employees up to possible federal charges, an argument that was ultimately rejected by Bolton. In her rejection the judge pointed to 16 other states where similar programs had been enacted without a single state employee being arrested.

With the case officially thrown out of court the Arizona Department of Health Services has been ordered to immediately start the dispensary application process.

The rejection of a state level lawsuit comes at a time when many other parts of the United States are dealing with how to control medical marijuana sales as the Federal government continues to come down hard on sellers of medical pot. States want the federal government to stay out of their voters decisions while the feds continue to claim absolutely control over dispensaries by citing federal laws against the sales of marijuana.

Do you think medical marijuana sales should be decided upon at the state level?

Judge Orders Arizona To Allow Marijuana Sales is a post from: The Inquisitr

It just may be the Touchdown of the Year!

Cincinnati Bengals’ Wide Receiver  Jerome Simpson, with three minutes to go in the first half against rival Arizona, may have shown us the “Touchdown of the Year! There was nothing so impressive about the short catch that Simpson made, but when he was at the five yard line he somersaulted in the air to avoid a defender and then “stuck” the landing in the end zone.

Have a look at the Touchdown of the Year!

Bengals’ Simpson: Touchdown of the Year? [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

As officials in Arizona continue to discuss a new border fence to keep out illegal Mexican immigrants a silent victim continues to roam through the areas forested areas. The Black Bears has recently been called out as one of the possible biggest victims of the border patrols efforts.

Using pieces of barbed wire to catch fur samples experts say that black bears in Arizona’s border area have close relatives living in northern Mexico. The researches also told the New York Times that the bear population near the border is less dense than up north.

According to the study northern black bears have a bigger habitat that is less affected by development which has led to more migration into the area making it a key spot for the animals.

Researchers also note that the border line is the northern limit for South American black bears.

While bear advocates are not asking the Arizona Border patrol to stop a fence project they would like them to consider border solutions that would still allow the bears to co-exist with efforts to protect the U.S-Mexico border. No solutions have been offered at this time but advocate groups are now hoping their research will lead to some novel ideas.

When asked to comment about immigration the research revealed: “We’re not weighing into that debate.”

Do you think special consideration should now be given at the Arizona border project locations based on the migratory of the black bear populations in both the south and north?

[Image via ShutterStock.com]

Black Bears Are The Real Victims Of An Arizona Border Fence [Study] is a post from: The Inquisitr

A 23 year old Arizona State University student, Lauren Elizabeth Weinberg, who went missing 10 days ago in northern Arizona has been found outside of Winslow.  She had gotten lost in the snow, and was found by two US Forest Service employees when they were out on snowmobiles inspecting gates.

Although she was freezing and lonely, she told a harrowing tale of using melted snow and candy for sustenance and just hoped that her ordeal would be over soon.

Weinberg released a statement from Flagstaff Medical Center saying “I am so thankful to be alive and warm. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers, because they worked. There were times I was afraid but mostly I had faith I would be found.”

Weinberg left her parents house ten days earlier and traveled down a road where the pavement eventually ran out.  She had been on the road before but was unaware that it is almost impossible to navigate in the snow.  She only had three candy bars and a bottle of water with her.  She portioned out the candy bars and used the sun to melt snow daily into her water bottle.  During the evenings the temperature regularly dropped below zero.

Unfortunately her cellphone had died.

Weinberg missed her final examinations at school, and her family was concerned because her behavior was out of the ordinary, police said.

ASU Student Survives 10 Days on Melted Snow and Candy Bars is a post from: The Inquisitr

In absence of direction from the Federal Government, States and Cities are passing laws to deal with illegal immigration.  States such as Arizona, North Carolina and Texas have all put more laws in the books making it more difficult for illegal immigrants to work, travel or move freely.  Vermont and some California Cities have passed laws making it harder for police to enforce already existing laws dealing with illegal immigrants. It has become clear that as jobs have grown more scarce the problem of illegal immigration is not just being dealt with in the border states anymore.

The Federal Government has taken an active position on the subject.  President Obama has asked the Justice Department to actively help challenge laws passed in Arizona which the States says are necessary to help local officials enforce Federal Laws. At the same time he has instructed the Attorney general not to interfere when cities vote to become “Sanctuaries” (places where local authorities are instructed not to enforce immigration laws).

A spokesman for Attorney General Eric Holder had this to say on the subject:

“There is a big difference between a state or locality saying they are not going to use their resources to enforce a federal law, as so-called sanctuary cities have done, and a state passing its own immigration policy that actively interferes with federal law, that’s what Arizona did in this case.”

The Republican primaries have also had there share of talk about illegal immigration, with front-runner Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry taking heat from contenders Michelle Bachmann and Ron Paul as being soft on illegal immigrants.  Recent polls have shown that 66% of Americans favor some form of program that lets illegal immigrants apply for citizenship as long as they meet Federal Requirements.

2012 being an election year, it is likely that this issue is going to be raised to a much higher level than in other years.  States and Cities will have the chance to have their platforms debated at the national level as the candidates look to use this issue to drum up support for their own positions.

Do you favor giving illegal immigrants to this country the ability to qualify for citizenship?

States and Cities Making New Policies On Illegal Immigrants is a post from: The Inquisitr

47-year-old Mark Goudeau, dubbed the ‘Baseline Killer’ in Phoenix, has been sentenced to death for his convictions by a jury.

The crimes committed by Baseline Killer Goudeau struck fear into the Phoenix metro area from the summer of 2005 until the summer of 2006. By the time Goudeau was stopped, nine people had died and more than a dozen had been sexually assaulted during the spree. Initially, Godreau had been sentenced to nearly 500 years in prison for his crimes- during which prosecutors say victims were subjected to agonizing over whether they would live or die- before he became eligible for the death penalty. Two weeks ago, Godreau prohibited his lawyers from further handling the case after they suggested to a jury that impotence and insecurity drove him to sexually assault and kill eight women and a man. Instead, Godreau himself addressed the jury, denying his role in the murders and saying that he hoped the “truth” about the crimes would come out:

“I am no monster… I could look in each and every one of your eyes today and tell you Mark Goudeau is no wolf in sheep’s clothing … I do pray that one day you guys learn the truth about this case.”

Prosecutor Patricia Stevens argued that Godreau was, in fact, a monster, and that the pain and anguish of his victims in part drove him to commit the Baseline Killer crimes. Stevens said:

“He enjoyed the power and dominion he exercised over these victims. He enjoyed the threats of force, the threats of death.”

Stevens noted that Godreau had not apologized to any of the victims families. He was sentenced to death for each murder conviction in the case.

‘Baseline Killer’ Sentenced to Death in Arizona is a post from: The Inquisitr

In the movie A Christmas Story little Ralphie is told by Santa Claus that he can’t have a Red Ryder BB gun because “you’ll shoot your eye out kid” but now a Santa Clause in Arizona is changing that thought process by posing for children’s pictures with gun toting kids.

Santa is currently sitting at the Scottsdale Gun Club where non-members can pay $5-$10 to have their picture taken with Santa and some heavy ammunition.

As you’ll notice in the backdrop Santa isn’t holding back as he displays a Garwood Minigun that can fire up to 6,000 rounds per minute.

You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out. Santa Claus Poses With Gun Toting Children is a post from: The Inquisitr

Country superstar Keith Urban recently released a new cologne called Phoenix and to help him move some units talk show host Ellen DeGeneres had the singer on her show where they put together a little spoof of the new product.

In the “sexy” clip Ellen gets closer to Urban than wife Nicole Kidman would let most women as Ellen licks Urban’s face and throws ice at him as part of the sales pitch, now that’s sexy!

Here’s the clip:

I have to give it up to Urban, I don’t think I could have kept a straight face if Ellen came out and started doing that stuff to me in that blonde wig and robe. The country singer also has decent comedic timing and offered some great looks on his face as Ellen basically molested him in the strangest ways possible.

His website says the cologne has a “woody oriental” scent which basically provides no insight into what the cologne actually smells like.

What do you think about the new Keith Urban fragrance and the Ellen DeGeneres clip that preceded it?

Keith Urban And Ellen DeGeneres Share An Intimate Moment [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

Killer bees attacked several farm animals and killed a 1000 pound pig at an Arizona farm. The bee attack was caught on a film by a local freelance videographer who was hired to film the gigantic hive which weighed 200 pounds and contained more than 250,000 Africanized killer bees.

Jane Hewitt, the owner of the farm in Bisbee, called in “Bee Killer” Reed Booth to deal with the massive hive.

Booth said:

“I do most of the Africanized bee eradications for the sheriff’s department, the fire department, and the border patrol.  They’re much ornier this year for some reason.  This is the worst I’ve seen in ten years.”

When Reed and his videographer Al Signori arrived at the farm located off U.S. 80 in Bisbee, they witnessed one of the worst bee attacks they had ever seen. Thousands of killer bees swarmed around the hog and stung it to death. According to KOLD News 13, the attack wasn’t just on the animals. The bees also started attacking the nearby farmers.

Jane Hewitt, farm owner, said:

“I jumped into a car but the passenger side window was down, and they came in a black cloud towards me.  I tried to swat at them and get them out the drivers side window.”

Booth said that he was surprised that the bees were able to kill the hog since the hog has several layers of thick skin. Booth also said that an 800 pound sow was put into a coma from the bee attack. The sow was pregnant and lost all of its babies.

Here’s the video from KOLD News 13.

Killer Bee Attack Kills Half-Ton Hog at Arizona Farm [Video] is a post from: The Inquisitr

What could possibly be worse than losing power during a major storm or other natural disaster, how about losing your power because a power worker accidentally turns it off. That’s what happened on Friday when an Arizona employee was attempting to move a piece of monitoring equipment and accidentally cut off power to 6 million Arizona, southern California and Mexico based customers.

A spokesman for Arizona Public Service later announced:

“This was not a deliberate act. The employee was just switching out a piece of equipment that was problematic.”

The loss of power was especially painful for customers in San Diego who were faced with searing heat and no air conditioning because of the power outage.

The worker’s actions also caused two nuclear generators  to go offline.

According to the Associated Press:

Power was restored last night for some dozen cities in San Diego and Orange counties in California. But most people affected were spending the night without power. “It feels like you’re in an oven and you can’t escape,” said an official working in California’s baking eastern desert. Officials are investigating why a problem in Arizona spread to such a large area. They have ruled out terrorism.

Perhaps a few more fail safes should be put into place, especially during the searing hot months.

Arizona Utility Worker Accidentally Shuts Off Power For 6 Million Customers is a post from: The Inquisitr

It seems that the Arizona Department of Corrections is a little hard up for money these and figured that since you want to see that precious family member that they have locked up in out of the way prisons you won’t mind paying for the privilege.

Sure it’s only a one-time charge of $25 for each person who will be visiting their family member but those background checks are cheap you know.

Except the only problem is that the money isn’t being used to do the actual background check but rather going to offset the $150 million the state need for the maintenance and building renewal of their prison system. Needless to say the family members that are being forced to pay this one-time background check fee are not very happy and the lawsuits are starting to fly.

“What will happen is that people will just stop visiting,” said the woman, adding that most prisoners “live for” visits from relatives. Because some friends of the family still do not know of her brother’s incarceration, she asked to be identified only by her first name, Shauna. She was one of several dozen family members of inmates who complained toMiddle Ground Prison Reform, a group based in Tempe, about the fee.

In a lawsuit filed last month against the Corrections Department, Middle Ground said the fee was simply a pretext for raising money “for general public purposes” and as such was unconstitutional because it amounted to a special tax on a single group.

Middle Ground has also filed suit over another provision of the law, which imposes a 1 percent charge on deposits made to a prisoner’s spending account.

Donna Leone Hamm, executive director of Middle Ground, said she thought that state legislators created the background check fee “out of sheer financial desperation” at a time when the state faces huge budget shortfalls.

“This was a scheme — in my mind, a harebrained scheme — to try to come up with the money,” she said.

via New York Times

I am sure that there are folks that will see nothing wrong with this idea and they probably hate puppies too.

Arizona to charge $25 for you to see family members inside – who’s the crook here? is a post from: The Inquisitr

With the Federal government refusing to get behind the Arizona border patrol wall state lawmakers have begun asking everyday citizens for the cash needed to create a wall between the state and the Mexican border.

Lawmakers in the state setup a website where people can make donations towards the $50 million project.

According to Senator Steve Smith:

“Donate to the country’s security,” and “This is an American problem, not an Arizona problem.”

On the opposite side of the argument Politico received the following message from Ali Noorani, the leader of the National Immigration Forum:

“Spending on a fence is bad public policy,” he went on to add, ”The mechanics of this are very murky. The data proves that a wall is a waste of money.”

There is no projected time frame for when the state would like to receive the needed funds, my guess would be as soon as possible.

Arizona Asking For Private Donations To Build Border Patrol Wall is a post from: The Inquisitr

A transformer explosion at the SRP substation in the eastern part of Mesa, Arizona exploded on Thursday forcing fire crews to rush toward the scene of the explosion while leaving 80,000 residents without power.

The outage not only left residents without  electricity, traffic signals were  on the fritz in certain areas and businesses in downtown Mesa were left without electricity, while other areas of the city were also experiencing intermittent issues.

Thankfully according to police spokesman Sgt. Edward Wessing:

“We are not dealing with any increase in heat related incidents due to the power outages.”

In the meantime city police officers are directing traffic at major throughways and at this time only two collisions have been reported with police warning that dark traffic signals should be treated as a four way stop.

To fight the electrical fire a specialized truck was brought in that shot foam at the flames, extinguishing the area in approximately one hour.

Mesa Transformer Explosion Leaves 80,000 Residents Without Power is a post from: The Inquisitr

I guess the good news in all of this is that hockey fans in Phoenix, Arizona will get to keep the Coyotes in Glendale, Arizona. The bad news is it is going to cost the residents of the city a heck of a lot of money. It looks like the latest deal is to give potential buyer Matt Hulsizer 100 million dollars next week when he completes the purchase of the team from the NHL. Then the city may give him up to 97 million dollars over the next five years for his organization to stage non hockey events at the stadium. The city plans to make the money back by charging for parking and selling off naming rights for each of the parking lots around jobbing.com arena.

For that price the City of Glendale could have bought the team from the NHL directly. In the sports world it is not unheard of for a municipality to own a sports teams as Lucas County in Ohio owns a minor league baseball and hockey team. However the plan seems to be shell out more money to keep the Coyotes in town, after building Jobbing.com arena for a price tag of 225 million dollars.

Instead of getting a tenant who would ya know pay rent and give the city some return on its investment, the city of Glendale is now doing whatever it can to keep the Coyotes in town and give their investment in the arena a chance. To be fair Hulsizer seems committed to building a winner, and has kicked in 25 million of his own money to help get a deal done.

With that being said, if the Coyotes cannot operate in Arizona without this kind of government subsidization they should not stay in Arizona. In is really that simple. The citizens should not have to keep handing out corporate welfare for a team that doesn’t seem to be able to make any profit.

This is why cities should not build facilities for pro sports teams is a post from: The Inquisitr

A homeless man who made headlines earlier this month for returning a backpack he found at a Light Rail station that contained thousands of dollars in cash has received a reward for the same large amount of money he returned.

According to the shelter at which Tempe man Dave Tally has lived for the past four years, gifts and donations have been filtering in from all over the US after news of Tally’s return of the $3,300 cash was picked up across the country. But the largest gift given Tally so far has been from the people who produce truTV and Forensic Files, in the form of a check for $3,300.

Tally, who fell on hard times after “a host of bad choices” and an “extreme DUI,” became emotional when presented with the check:

“The effects (the donation is) having on my life right now is overwhelming — the fact that I’m going to have a second chance to start my life up,” said Tally. “This is the closing chapter on this segment of my life. Thank you.”

Tally plans to stay at the shelter, where he serves as “lead monitor” and helps enforce order, for the time being. When he found the backpack belonging to a student, he says he was briefly tempted to keep some of the money, but ultimately was morally unable to:

“I won’t lie. I did think about buying a couple of things for me, but it didn’t take very long to come to the realization that I didn’t earn that money. It wasn’t mine,” Tally said.

[KPHO via Fark]

Arizona homeless man gets $3K reward for returning bag of cash is a post from: The Inquisitr

Really, it’s so easy a kid could understand what’s going on.

A simple guide to Arizona’s new immigration laws is a post from: The Inquisitr

Two men and four women were killed in an early morning bus crash in Arizona today.

The rollover crash involved the tour bus, two semi trucks and and “several” cars. The accident occurred at 5:27 A.M. local time on Interstate 10 south of Phoenix, when the bus is said to have rear-ended a pickup truck. Several passengers were thrown from the bus during the collision, and two 11-year-olds are among the fifteen injured riders taken to area hospitals. The rollover is said to have precipitated at least one additional crash, with a truck and a sedan colliding in the aftermath. Passengers in those vehicles are expected to survive.

The bus began its trip in Mexico, and was headed to Phoenix to switch drivers at the time of the crash. The bus is owned and operated by Tierra Santa Tours of Durango, Mexico. While 21 people were removed from the bus, some reports indicate a 22nd person may have been trapped beneath the bus.

[Image]

6 killed in Arizona bus crash is a post from: The Inquisitr