Mesa should hire a consultant to look into building a city jail in the future, Police Chief George Gascón told the City Council on Thursday.

The five largest East Valley cities plan to open a privately-run jail in Mesa to house the region’s inmates instead of sending them to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s lockup in Phoenix.

The phone rings and jail supervisor Dan Padia switches on his surveillance monitors and looks up.

Chris Brady and Ron Miller have crossed paths before. At a time when Brady was being overlooked for the city manager position in San Antonio and Miller was recovering from a police scandal in Aurora, Colo., the two were announced as finalists for the city manager position in Arlington, Texas.

Chris Brady and Ron Miller have crossed paths before. At a time when Brady was being overlooked for the city manager position in San Antonio and Miller was recovering from a police scandal in Aurora, Colo., the two were announced as finalists for the city manager position in Arlington, Texas.

Rex Griswold’s official campaign hangout is Anzio Landing, an Italian eatery near Falcon Field in Mesa that he built into a successful business but sold a few years ago. As the owner of the building, he still gets the run of the place.

The man suspected of killing his ex-wife at a Mesa restaurant and shooting her parents in their Tempe home was captured Saturday night in central Phoenix. Wen Lie Zhang, 41, was booked into the Mesa City Jail then transported to Maricopa County Jail this morning, according to Mesa Police spokeswoman Holly Hosac.

Police arrested a man Saturday on suspicion of shooting another man to death outside his west Mesa home while at least six children and other adults slept inside.

An anonymous caller and a savvy 911 dispatcher led police to a Tempe man accused of killing his ex-wife and shooting her parents.

An anonymous caller and a savvy 911 dispatcher led police to a Tempe man accused of killing his ex-wife and shooting her parents.

Blame it on evil spirits or just the practical joke of a ghost.

Blame it on evil spirits or just the practical joke of a ghost.

Blame it on evil spirits or just the practical joke of a ghost.

As writer Katie McDevitt illustrated so well in Wednesday’s Tribune, 27 jail beds are not enough to serve a city the size of Mesa.

The Mesa City Council is set to decide today whether to make a fourth land purchase in a neighborhood south of downtown — this time from an owner facing a criminal code violation charge.

For several years now, the neighborhoods along the north side of Mesa’s Main Street in the city’s downtown district have had an identity within a serene setting of historic districts.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is now involved with the Mesa Fire Department in an ongoing investigation of a fire inside an airplane storage hangar at Mesa’s Falcon Field where firearms and ammunition was discovered, according to a Mesa Fire spokesman.

The Mesa City Council tried to deflect criticism Thursday away from police Chief George Gascón amid the growing rancor over what some consider the city’s permissive policy toward illegal immigration.

Phone directories rot outside an empty apartment, shattered glass lies strewn about the pavement and overgrown weeds mark the entrance to a housing unit near a busy intersection in Mesa.

A Mesa water resources worker is facing an intentional act of terrorism charge after he allegedly turned off numerous operating systems at the city's wastewater treatment plant in Gilbert.

Mesa’s mayoral hopefuls argued Tuesday over perhaps the most controversial issue facing Arizona — immigration.

Mesa police have opened an internal affairs investigation of the lieutenant whom Sheriff Joe Arpaio accused of turning a blind eye to illegal immigrants forging documents to get city identification badges.

Mesa police will be ready to enforce Arizona's new immigration law even if it takes two more months to fully instruct officers on its complexities, police Chief Frank Milstead said.