Itsallphoenix, 3030 N Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ (2026)

09/05/2026

A 23-year-old is facing felony charges after Tempe police say he broke into a church student center, did about $10,000 in damage, and stole a PlayStation 5 belonging to the youth group.

It happened around 1:45 a.m. on August 21 at Grace Community Church near Southern Avenue and Rural Road. Investigators say a man used a crowbar or tire iron to get in. Surveillance appears to show him breaking a glass door and reaching through to unlock it, then wrecking a computer and damaging instruments. Police say televisions, screens, sound equipment, walls, doors and a waterline all got hit, and the broken waterline flooded the kitchen. Roughly $2,000 in electronics went missing.

Church cameras got the suspect and his car. Tempe’s Real-Time Operations Center picked the vehicle up on city street cameras and watched it lose a tire near the Tempe-Mesa border.

That’s the detail that cracked it. About 30 minutes after the break-in was reported, the car turned up in Mesa. According to court documents, the driver told a bystander he had just assaulted a pastor at a church because the pastor made his cousin uncomfortable. Mesa police showed up, found a man in clothing matching the church footage with fresh cuts on his hands and arms, and found no probable cause to arrest him at the time.

Nobody has said a pastor was assaulted. That’s just what he allegedly told the guy on the side of the road.

Tempe investigators later identified Erick Encinas. On September 1 the department’s Criminal Apprehension and Surveillance Team served a warrant at his Mesa apartment and recovered his car, stolen property, a lanyard and clothing matching the footage. He was arrested Tuesday and booked on burglary and aggravated criminal damage. He has not been convicted.

Via: FOX 10 Phoenix

Send us the wildest thing you’ve seen in the Valley.

09/05/2026

There’s a free medical, dental and vision clinic running in downtown Phoenix right now, and it goes through Sunday.

Phoenix Convention Center, South Hall, 33 S. 3rd Street. September 4 through 6, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Open to anyone. Free lunch each day and free childcare onsite.

Dental is the one people always come for. X-rays, fillings, cleanings, extractions and pediatric dentistry. Vision is full eye exams, evaluations and free glasses.

On the medical side, they’re listing women’s health, X-rays and labs, pharmacy, minor surgery, obstetrics, sleep medicine, pediatrics, cardiology, gastroenterology and echocardiogram. There’s also mental and spiritual health, financial and legal counseling, and massage and hydrotherapy.

In past years this has run first come, first served, so get there early if you’re going.

It’s put on by Liberty and Health Alliance, a Phoenix nonprofit founded by Seventh-day Adventist Christians that’s held clinics like this here before, staffed by licensed professionals and volunteers. There’s a conference happening alongside it.

If you make too much for Medicaid but not enough to cover a co-pay, or you’ve been putting off a tooth for two years because you can’t take the hit, this is three days and it costs nothing.

Check ffl250.org for current hours before you drive down.

Via: Liberty and Health Alliance

Send us the wildest thing you’ve seen in the Valley.

09/04/2026

A helicopter came down in the desert north of the Valley on Thursday morning, and both pilots walked away.

Crews responded around 10 a.m. to the area of Cave Creek and Dove Valley roads for reports of an aircraft down in a rural stretch. ABC15 reports the two pilots aboard made an emergency landing and are safe.

Phoenix police are leading the investigation with the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office assisting. Arizona’s Family, whose crew got to the scene, reported that no identification number or other markings were visible on the aircraft, which means the operator hasn’t been publicly identified yet.

That’s most of what’s been released so far.

Worth saying plainly, because “helicopter down” does a lot of work on people. This one ended with two guys standing in the desert next to their aircraft. Not every one out here does.

Still developing. We’ll update as more comes out.

Via: AZFamily and ABC15

Send us the wildest thing you’ve seen in the Valley.

09/04/2026

A grand jury has indicted a former Tempe Union High School District surveillance officer on eight counts of voyeurism, one more than he was arrested on.

Antony Cruz, 28, was arrested by Tempe police on August 22 on seven counts. The indictment followed within a week.

Court documents say Cruz accessed a security camera in a room at Corona del Sol High School that students were using to change clothes while the girls’ locker room was under renovation, and downloaded footage to personal storage devices.

Here’s the part the district is now investigating itself over. Court documents say school officials had requested the cameras in that room be disabled, and that they were inadvertently left functioning. Tempe Union says the space is a dance room, that it was never designated by the district as a changing area, and that during the renovations they had approved a separate camera-free location that wasn’t the one students ended up using.

The case surfaced because of an audit. A district security supervisor reviewing Cruz’s activity in the security system flagged it and called police. Records indicate videos were exported to external devices and that the system’s cloud storage was accessed from an IP address believed to be his home.

Cruz denied the allegations in court, telling the judge he had no sexual stimulation from the videos, that he saved them for documentation purposes, that he felt uncomfortable with the cameras, and that he tried to move them and notify his superiors. The police report states otherwise.

In a letter to families on August 31, the district said Tempe police believe there are additional victims in the case.

Parents spoke at Wednesday night’s school board meeting. Cruz remains held on a $100,000 cash-only bond and has not been convicted.

Via: ABC15

09/04/2026

The City of Phoenix released more than 50 personnel and disciplinary documents on the two former officers charged in an unreported traffic stop last month. ABC15 reports the files include positive supervisor evaluations written less than a week before it happened.

Antonio Felix and Luis Vasquez Jr. were arrested August 22 and fired by Chief Matt Giordano over the August 5 stop near 19th Avenue and Broadway Road in south Phoenix. They face felony charges including aggravated assault, kidnapping, criminal damage and hindering prosecution.

The entry that stands out is from 2018. FOX 10 reports that while working as an officer in training, Felix punched a suspect three times in the head and never told his training officer. He got supervisory coaching for it. He also failed to complete reports on calls for service in 2025 and 2026.

Vasquez’s file includes a 2021 failure to issue a citation, four missed court appearances between 2021 and 2025, and a 2025 written reprimand for failing to thoroughly investigate a collision and failing to activate his body camera. He was in a 2025 shooting reviewed and found within policy.

Both had commendations too. Vasquez 14, Felix 5.

Worth noting that outlets reading the same files disagree. KTAR reported the records don’t appear to show past behavior similar to the current allegations. FOX 10 reported both men had a history of failing to report or fully investigate incidents as required.

Phoenix PD’s Organizational Integrity Bureau and Professional Standards Bureau are now auditing both officers’ reports, body camera footage, calls for service and community interactions. They’re also reviewing their former squad and the entire South Mountain Precinct for systemic issues. Councilwoman Anna Hernandez has called for a broader investigation into the precinct.

Neither man has been convicted. The full records are on the city’s public records portal.

Via: ABC15

09/04/2026

Somebody called Maricopa County Animal Care and Control 18 times in about 40 minutes. Most of those calls got recorded.

Court documents allege Katie Michelle Dickson, 37, of Vancouver, Washington made the calls on June 26, 2024. Maricopa County says they included threats of arson, murder and sexual violence directed at shelter employees.

What officials initially believed was an explosive threat triggered an evacuation of the entire MCACC building and a search by the MCSO Bomb Squad. Investigators later determined there was no clear mention of one in the recordings.

Dickson turned herself in after a warrant was issued and later bonded out. She was charged with a felony.

Here’s the part worth sitting with. Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Galvin said Animal Care and Control employees do amazing work every day finding good outcomes for the pets in their care, and are often subjected to unfair criticism and relentless personal attacks, online and in person.

That’s the job. People at their worst on the phone, every day, over animals nobody else took.

MCACC Director Debbie McKnight said staff safety is the department’s top priority and that they’re committed to providing a safe, respectful space for everyone they serve.

This case was announced in September 2025 and stems from calls made in June 2024.

Via: FOX 10 Phoenix

Send us the wildest thing you’ve seen in the Valley.

09/04/2026

A grand jury has indicted the 20-year-old accused of causing two crashes during a police pursuit through Glendale in March, and there’s a number in the indictment that wasn’t public before.

According to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, investigators allege Ali Alebadi was driving on a suspended license with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.141 on March 22, running red light after red light and veering into oncoming traffic at speeds above 90 miles per hour while actively evading police.

He was indicted August 12 on felony charges including homicide, aggravated assault and unlawful flight from a law enforcement vehicle.

The pursuit produced two separate collisions. According to Glendale police, a patrol car chasing Alebadi collided with a pickup truck at 56th and Glendale avenues, hospitalizing an officer and the truck’s driver. Alebadi then ran a red light at 51st and Glendale and struck another car.

Eva Odette Puente Ravelo was a passenger in that car. She was unalived. The driver was seriously injured. Alebadi was also seriously hurt.

Prosecutors say he then left the country before returning and being arrested in Glendale on August 19. He’s being held on a $3 million cash bond.

He has not been convicted, and a criminal charge is only an accusation.

Five months between that intersection and anybody being in custody for it.

Via: FOX 10 Phoenix

Send us the wildest thing you’ve seen in the Valley.

09/03/2026

A teacher’s aide in Buckeye is accused of posting a threat against the elementary school where she works, and the reason police found her that fast is that Meta handed over the location data.

Court records say the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center was alerted on September 1 to an Instagram post that had been reported to Meta as a possible school threat. Investigators traced the post to an account associated with Sharde Booker, a paraprofessional at Westpark Elementary School.

The post went up at 1:58 p.m. Records say Meta provided location data showing the account was at Westpark Elementary at approximately 2:29 p.m.

Booker is accused of interference with or disruption of an educational institution and threatening or intimidating. She has not been convicted.

Nobody was hurt. No weapon has been mentioned in any of the reporting.

Worth noticing how this worked. Somebody saw the post and reported it in the app. Meta escalated it to a state counterterrorism center. That center got it to police, and Meta’s own data placed the account on campus. That’s the whole chain, and it started with one person hitting report instead of scrolling past.

Same week Buckeye PD swept a campus on Jackrabbit Trail over a separate threat.

Via: FOX 10 Phoenix and ABC15

09/03/2026

About two-thirds of every Valley fever case in the United States happens in Arizona. Most of them in Phoenix and Tucson.

It’s a respiratory infection you get by breathing in microscopic spores of a fungus called Coccidioides that lives naturally in the soil out here. Monsoon winds pick up dry desert dirt and carry those spores a long way, which is why the dust that rolled through the Valley this weekend prompted health warnings. It’s not contagious.

For Justin John, it started as what looked like the flu last February and turned into a year-long health crisis. He’s now telling people to take it seriously.

The honest version, though, because panic isn’t useful. Maricopa County health officials say most Valley fever symptoms resolve on their own within a few months without treatment. Cases like his are the exception. But the exception is real, and in serious cases the infection can spread beyond the lungs.

The reason it gets missed is that it looks like everything else. Dr. John Galgiani, who heads Banner Health’s Valley Fever Program, told Arizona’s Family that aches and pains are common, that some people get so fatigued they’re wiped out for weeks, and that others get a rash they can’t explain. His rule of thumb is simple. If it hangs on more than a few days, certainly more than a week or two, that isn’t a normal viral syndrome.

Watch for cough, fever, chills, night sweats, severe fatigue, joint pain, headaches, loss of appetite, and an unexplained rash, often red bumps on the shins. Symptoms usually show up two to four weeks after exposure.

If something won’t quit, ask your doctor specifically to test for Valley fever. It won’t show up on a standard workup unless somebody asks. Banner Urgent Care now automatically tests patients with pneumonia or red bumps on their shins who live in an endemic area.

And the part Galgiani says people get wrong. There is always a risk of getting Valley fever here. Not just when there’s a dust storm.

Via: AZFamily

Send us the wildest thing you’ve seen in the Valley.

09/02/2026

Kelsey Plum is a free agent this winter, and the Mercury have seen her play a grand total of 105 minutes.

Phoenix ruled her out for the rest of the 2026 season Monday with a lower leg injury. She came over from the Los Angeles Sparks at the August 2 deadline and got into five games, averaging 15.8 points and 2.8 assists, with a 25-point night against Connecticut.

That same morning she announced she was withdrawing from Team USA for the FIBA World Cup.

GM Nick U’Ren said Plum is a competitor who wants nothing more than to be on the court, that they know how much she means to the fans, and that this was ultimately about doing what’s best for her long-term health so she can come back at full strength.

Across both teams this year she averaged a career-high 21.5 points and 5.4 assists. In 17 games. Injuries have been a running problem all season.

So here’s where Phoenix sits. They gave up assets at the deadline for a five-time All-Star, got two hours of basketball out of it, and now have to sell her on staying based on almost nothing. There’s a real chance fans have already seen her entire Mercury tenure.

The team is 14-26 with four games left, a year removed from the Finals. DeWanna Bonner took a buyout last week to chase a title in Atlanta.

Not the month anybody planned.

Via: AZFamily

Send us the wildest thing you’ve seen in the Valley.

Itsallphoenix

09/05/2026

09/05/2026

09/04/2026

09/04/2026

09/04/2026

09/04/2026

09/04/2026

09/03/2026

09/03/2026

09/02/2026

Address

Website

Alerts

Shortcuts

Share

Category

Listing takedown request