Even an Arizona Republic basher would have to admit ....
… that the front page today doesn’t suck.
It’s symptomatic of the design changes so many papers have adopted that only four actual stories begin, or purport to begin, on that page. But they include:
- A long recap of the the legislative shenanigans that created this year’s budget crisis
- A look back at the economic meltdown, one year ago (This was technically a long blurb to an AP story, but it should count.)
- The lede, the first in a series by by reporter Pat Kossan at how some local charter schools are abusing the tuition tax-credit program
- And a splashy intro to the first of another series, this one on the underlying issues of the health-care debate.
3:49 AM
Hate crime in Fountain Hills
Three years ago, Michele Jaber left Burbank, Calif., for Fountain Hills with a better future for her children in mind.
On Sunday, as Jaber, who is Black, and her husband, Mike, hoped for a quiet barbecue with friends from California, they instead found a swastika, “KKK” and sexual images painted on the windows of two vehicles.
“I was completely shocked and saddened for my friends to come all this way and see this,” Jaber said.
The vandals wrote on the passenger’s side window of the Jabers’ Ford Bronco. A Cadillac Escalade rented by Classietta Foreman, who traveled with others from California, also was tagged as it sat near the curb.
It’s the second local incident of the sort, the story said. Jaber is quoted in the story saying that sheriff deputies said the vandals might have been “children in the area with too much time on their hands.”
AZFamily.com has video here.
Update: Abc15.com’s Tim Vetscher has this bigger-picture story:
PHOENIX — Experts who track hate crimes say the number of instances nationally and here in Arizona is on the rise.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center’s website, 19 hate groups currently call Arizona home, including 12 right here in the Valley.
One of the most high profile hate crimes here in the Valley happened on February 26th, 2004.
On that day, investigators say two alleged white supremacists from Illinois sent a letter bomb to Don Logan, then Director of Scottsdale’s Office of Diversity.
[…]
According to the SPLC, the Aryan Nation and the KKK are just two of the hate groups, currently calling Arizona home.
6:00 AM