It is 2:30 a.m. Friday. A light rain is falling outside the chapel at St. Timothy Catholic Community in Mesa.

March 8, 2005

WASHINGTON — All-Star shortstop Miguel Tejada pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to Congress about the use of performance-enhancing drugs and admitted buying what he believed was human growth hormone.

March 9, 2005

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Federal agents on Wednesday searched the home of a man linked to the fatal 1982 Tylenol poisonings and the FBI in Chicago said authorities are reviewing evidence in the deaths that triggered a nationwide scare and prompted dramatic changes in the way food and medical products are packaged.

George Washington never trekked anywhere near the Valley, yet it’s in Tempe that researchers are building the most accurate approximation of the nation’s first president and leading Revolutionary War hero.

Lobbyists caught lying could soon be looking for a new line of work — and maybe even find themselves behind bars.

We’ve all had it occur to us that there “oughta be a law” about something. But you’d think that beyond a solid gut feeling, another requirement for “oughta” laws is that they should apply to situations that might come up fairly often.

ORLANDO, Fla. - Evidence mounted Friday that a child's skull discovered near Caylee Anthony's home belonged to the missing toddler, although investigators cautioned it could be a week or more before they have conclusive DNA evidence.

The last few moments of Travis Alexander's life - before he was shot in the head and stabbed to death - were captured on the memory card of his own digital camera.

The release this week of Army Reserve Sgt. Patrick Haab's seriously tarnished military records should take the bloom off efforts by some extremists to elevate him to hero status for his “citizen’s arrest” of a group of illegal immigrants and their smuggler at a highway rest stop near Gila Bend in April.

Day five of the Jodi Arias tria l included testimony from two police detectives.

Former Tempe police Sgt. Chuck Schoville — who told two black men they could rap their way out of a littering ticket last August — retired Friday after 25 years when a Scottsdale internal affairs investigation revealed he lied in a complaint he’d filed accusing the Tempe Police Department of racially discriminating against him.

Jodi Arias calmly tried to explain away her lies Monday as a prosecutor in her Arizona murder trial hammered her about not being honest with authorities, friends or family, even sending the victim's grandmother flowers after she killed him, all in an attempt to throw off suspicion and avoid being charged.

Jurors in Jodi Arias' murder trial made it clear they aren't satisfied with her stories about why she killed her lover, then methodically covered her tracks and couldn't recall much of anything from the day.

DENVER - Four former Qwest Communications executives went on trial for fraud Monday, accused of breaking accounting rules to log $34 million in revenue and then lying about it.

A former police officer who failed to write a report on a child molestation case or properly process evidence can no longer work as a policeman in Arizona.

The law-enforcement certification of a former Mesa police officer was revoked for his role in disposing potential evidence confiscated from a shoplifting suspect and lying about it.

DENVER - A federal judge refused Monday to acquit four former Qwest executives accused of artificially boosting company revenue by $34 million, saying there was enough evidence to let a jury decide the defendants’ fate.

WASHINGTON - A new audio recording purportedly of Saddam Hussein is probably authentic and was likely recorded recently, a U.S. intelligence official said Friday. The finding is further evidence that Saddam survived the war.

A new law that at first blush appears to be upholding a societal good — telling the truth — but is actually the sledge hammer of the state coming down to swat a fly, became effective in Arizona last week.

I recently wrote a Vent submission on global warming being a farce, which was rebuked by others.

Federal investigators who have charged a former Miss Bolivia with immigration fraud and perjury have now accused the woman of hiring illegal immigrants to work as servants in her Paradise Valley mansion.