Pearce: State sales tax surplus must be saved
PHOENIX - Arizona Senate President Russell Pearce says additional tax collections don't mean the state will restore spending cuts or use the money to fund new programs.
Pearce said any revenue the state collects above current estimates must be saved to replace revenue lost when the temporary sales increase ends in 2013.
The sales tax increase, approved by voters a year ago to help balance the budget, provides about $1 billion in annual revenue but expires after three years.
State budget analysts reported this week that tax collections are above projections.
Former hockey official admits stealing $500K
PHOENIX - A former acting treasurer for the Arizona High School Hockey Association accused of embezzling at least $500,000 from the group has pleaded guilty to theft and forgery.
People are also reading…
Maricopa County prosecutors said Thursday that 48-year-old Mary Ann Williams is scheduled to be sentenced June 13. She was arrested in August 2010.
Williams began volunteering for the northeast Phoenix organization in 2003. An investigation into Williams began in early 2010, when the association contacted police about concerns that she was stealing money.
Police say Williams apparently began embezzling money from the organization in 2005 and continued until she was removed from the acting treasurer's post in 2010.
Williams also was accused of issuing checks to herself, making electronic payments from the association's bank account and using its debit card for personal purchases.
Woman guilty of abuse for dumping newborn
PHOENIX - A woman accused of dumping her newborn baby in a trash can last year has been convicted of negligent child abuse.
But a Maricopa County Superior Court jury was hung Thursday on a second-degree murder charge against 25-year-old Brittany Williams.
Prosecutors said Williams will be sentenced June 16 on the child abuse conviction and face a July 5 retrial on the murder charge.
Williams was arrested in early January 2010 after Phoenix homicide detectives developed probable cause that she knew her baby was alive before it was put in the trash.
Authorities said Williams had delivered the child days earlier at her family's south Phoenix home, although her family never knew she was pregnant.
Police say she originally was charged with first-degree murder through Arizona's felony murder law.
Son of Glendale cop fatally shot by police
GLENDALE - Authorities say a man fatally shot by Glendale police was the son of a sergeant on the city's police force.
Police said 28-year-old Michael Palomino Jr. pulled a handgun after being chased by two Glendale officers at about 11:30 a.m. Tuesday.
The officers stopped Palomino after they said he was riding his bicycle recklessly through a downtown intersection.
Police learned after the shooting that he was the son of Glendale patrol Sgt. Michael Palomino Sr.
State Department of Corrections records show the younger Palomino was released from prison in December after serving five years on a burglary charge.
Glendale police said he was on probation at the time of the shooting.
