Times

As we reported late on Friday, all charges against Phoenix New Times have been dropped. The paper and its executives faced charges for publishing Sheriff Joe Arpaio's home address on the internet and for disclosing grand jury information. Now the Arizona Republic is reporting that the State Bar Association has launched an internal investigation into Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas and special prosecutor Dennis Wilenchik, in part for their actions in the New Times case. In addition, attorneys for Phoenix Newspapers, Inc., which publishes the Republic, have filed a motion to unseal all transcripts and court filings related to the case. Lastly, New Times reports that the disorderly conduct charge that reporter Ray Stern received last week for looking at public documents has not been dismissed.

Facing intensified threats of felony criminal prosecution for publishing the home address of Sheriff Joe Arpaio in 2004, New Times and reporters Paul Rubin and John Dougherty filed a complaint against Maricopa County and a special deputy county attorney in federal court earlier this month. It alleges that the Arizona law being used to threaten felony prosecution "is invalid and unconstitutional because it violates the guarantees of free speech and free press under the First Amendment" and seeks an injunction prohibiting authorities "from using investigative procedures and compulsion to investigate" or prosecute the paper and its writers and editors. "It is extraordinary and unprecedented for a newspaper to find itself subject to criminal legal attacks for the publication of newsworthy, true facts about such a publicity-seeking, controversial elected official as Joe Arpaio," New Times co-founder and Village Voice Media executive editor Michael Lacey says. "New Times has no choice but to vigorously defend its constitutional free-speech rights against those in the government who seek to abuse their power."

As we reported last month, a Phoenix suburb is in the process of deciding whether to remove the Phoenix New Times from its public library. The Chandler Library Board met on Sept. 20 to hear complaints from a lone resident against the paper, and will make its decision Nov. 15. The Phoenix-based ACLU chapter has sent a letter to the board urging it not to remove the paper and the other materials under consideration from the library, according to the Arizona Republic. "It's premature to say, 'We'll sue you,' but we wanted to add our strong feelings on the issue," says legal director Daniel Pochoda. "The neighborhood public library is the one institution -- the historical bastion of free speech -- that should always stand firm against pressure to censor newspapers or books."

Larry Edwards has voiced his objections to the alt-weekly being available at a suburban Phoenix library branch shared by a high school, and now the Chandler Library Board will hear the details today, the Arizona Republic reports. Library manager Brenda Brown said Edwards "questioned the appropriateness of the alternative newspaper's advertisements and articles for teenagers." Brown tells New Times' Stephen Lemons that this is the first complaint against the paper she's heard in the three years she's worked at the library. "New Times is nearly ubiquitous in this part of the world," Lemons writes. "And if the Chandler book-barn bows to what one local gum-smacker has to say, it's gonna make Chandler look like a town full of first-class hayseeds." Also on the Library Board's indecency agenda: a children's book about a racing sperm, a fairy tale DVD narrated by Robin Williams, and George Carlin's audiobook When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? A decision from the Board isn't expected until November.