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PHOENIX - Just days after Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced a plan to have posse members search for drugs by air, he's calling the mission a success. On Monday, Sheriff Arpaio announced "Operation Desert Sky." About 30 posse members volunteered their time and aircraft to help deputies patrol the desert. On Thursday, Arpaio showed off the mission's haul so far: more than a ton of marijuana, 115 arrests. Six of those arrests were illegal immigrants smuggling drugs. "So it is a big problem when you talk about drugs (slash) illegal immigration, it's getting more connected every day," said Arpaio....

This is a video of a teleconference of Michelle Bachman at the Baxter Center in Rock Hill, South Carolina, Feb 18. She was supposed to appear in person, but she stayed in DC to finish voting last Friday. The video is over 1 hour long.

The body of a woman who died at her work desk went undiscovered by colleagues for at least a day. LA County employee Rebecca Wells, 51, apparently died while she was at her work station cubicle on Friday morning. Her lifeless body lay slumped over her desk until it was found by a security guard at the LA County Department of Internal Services on Saturday afternoon. Though her time of death is not clear, Ms Wells, who was a compliance auditor, had not been seen since 9am Friday. Detectives say, at worst, she had been there a day. Co-worker Hattie...

The Arizona shootings have made Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, the man in charge of investigating the tragedy, a liberal hero for his comments targeting what he calls the “irresponsible” political rhetoric of conservatives. But he also has critics who say his department was well aware of Jared Loughner’s mental instability and may have been slow to respond to death threats the suspect made in the months leading up to Saturday’s rampage. Mr. Dupnik has been Pima County sheriff for 30 years and is a seasoned law enforcement professional. But he hasn’t sounded that way of late. A Democrat and...

I'm looking for input relating to County level spending, specifically in CA if possible. For example: How does one assess the fiscal performance of a county/city or is that even possible? Do City and County employees participate in the SS program, in addition to receiving a pension from the City or County? What about School teachers? In my county, the road department is always whining about not having sufficient funding to fix county roads - is there a way (for a citizen) to assess performance at the county department level?

County Settles Case of Pro-Life Advocates Strip Searched Bel Air, MD -- Harford County officials have settled a case involving a federal lawsuit attorneys filed on behalf of pro-life women who were shackled and strip searched after peacefully protesting abortion in Maryland. http://www.lifenews.com/2010/12/27/county-settles-case-of-pro-life-advocates-shackled-strip-searched

An annual survey conducted by Business Insider magazine has concluded that Ashburn, Va. is the nation's most obscene city -- stealing the crown from last year's winner, Herndon. The survey used comedian George Carlin's famous "seven dirty words you can never say on television," plugged them into Google Trends, and then assigned a score to cities across the country based on the frequency of foul terminology in their Web searches. This year, Ashburn took the prize. (Herndon stayed on the list, taking third place, according to the survey.)

Tensions in the Orange County Jewish community are high following a UC Irvine talk by George S. Rishmawi, co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The talk triggered a barrage of letters from various divisions of the Jewish community, which in turn lead to the unusually high internal fractiousness. ISM is a well-organized anti-Israel movement purporting to be a non-violent initiative, despite demonstrated support for the late Yasser Arafat and ISM members’ assistance to known terrorists. Israel banned ISM foreign activists in April of 2003, following a terror attack perpetrated by British Muslims at a pub in Tel Aviv. Rishmawi,...

Buchanan County Clerk Kelley Stahlin confirmed on Wednesday morning she has fired election winner Mary Baack-Garvey from the clerk’s office. Citing tensions that she said had existed for years, Ms. Stahlin said she let go of Ms. Baack-Garvey to quell any drama until the latter takes office on Jan. 1. “With all of the insubordination and the blatant disregard ... I just felt it best with us going forward that there wasn’t room for both of us in here,” she said. Claiming she doesn’t think she will suffer any repercussions for the decision, Ms. Stahlin said she had no regrets...

Minnesota officials are investigating a citizen's allegations that mentally disabled voters in one county were coached by their attendants to cast their ballots for specific candidates, a county attorney told FoxNews.com. Montgomery Jensen, a voter in Crow Wing County, says he and his wife saw a group of mentally incapacitated individuals ushered through the voting process by mental health staff, who told some of the group who they should vote for and, in some cases, filled out ballots on their behalf, according to an affidavit filed with the county attorney's office on Monday, a copy of which was obtained by...

Amid the worst recession in modern history, the salaries of top Los Angeles County officials have shot up 12 to 45 percent in three years and some public servants are now making more than $400,000 annually in total compensation, according to county records. The analysis of a county salary database obtained through the California Public Records Act found 17,686 of the county's more than 100,000 employees make more than $100,000 annually in total pay. This includes a Coroner's Office executive secretary making $113,825 and a firefighter who collected a whopping $271,498 last year.

DeKalb County is suing a man for growing too many vegetables on his own land, Channel 2 Action News reported. Steve Miller of Clarkston said he plans to fight the county and has gotten his 2-acre property rezoned so that he can have his garden. But he still faces nearly $5,000 in fines, Miller told Channel 2. Miller has been growing a variety of vegetables for 15 years, and his neighbors support him. He sells what he grows at local markets and gives some away, he said. "It's a way of life, like it's something in my blood,” Miller told...

Abuse Of Power: Our misnamed Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against an Arizona sheriff at the top of the administration's enemies list. Prosecute border sheriffs and sue states but protect the Black Panthers? Gotcha. The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, the county itself and outspoken Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The suit alleges that the sheriff's office is in violation of civil rights laws by refusing for 17 months to fully cooperate with an investigation into police practices and jail operations. The federal probe itself deals with alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures,...

The Justice Department filed another lawsuit against immigration practices by Arizona authorities, saying Monday that a network of community colleges acted illegally in requiring noncitizens to provide their green cards before they could be hired for jobs. The suit against the Phoenix area Maricopa Community Colleges was filed less than two months after the Justice Department sued Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer (R) over the state's new immigration law. It also comes as the department is investigating Joe Arpaio, the sheriff in Maricopa County, who is known for tough immigration enforcement. In Monday's lawsuit, Justice officials said the colleges discriminated...

The White House is very proud of its Race to the Top education program but should remember that pride goeth before a fall in educational standards. “U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced today that 10 applicants have won grants in the second phase of the Race to the Top competition,” the White House revealed on Tuesday. “Along with Phase 1 winners Delaware and Tennessee, 11 states and the District of Columbia have now been awarded money in the Obama administration’s groundbreaking education reform program that will directly impact 13.6 million students and 980,000 teachers in 25,000 schools. “The 10...

PHOENIX — Border Patrol officers are being told by supervisors to stay out of certain areas because they’re too dangerous, Cochise County’s top law enforcement officer said Tuesday. “Agents have told me — this isn’t second-hand — that there are places where they don’t work right along the border because it’s too dangerous,” Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever told Capitol Media Services. More to the point, he said the line officers told him they are simply listening to what they are told by their superiors. “There is concern at the management level, at a certain level, that it’s too dangerous...

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Jackson County will no longer prosecute people for certain gun related offenses. The District Attorney made his statement Friday following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling earlier in the week that says gun laws should be left up to the states. Jackson County's District Attorney Gerald Fox says it's every law-abiding American citizen's right to arm themselves for self defense," The 2nd Amendment as part of the Bill of Rights really does protect an individual American's right to keep and bare arms for defense of self, home, family and community."

Arizona Senator Jon Kyl has confirmed, Arizona is, in fact, on the border with Mexico. Kyl sent Milwaukee County Supervisor Peggy West a letter in which he says, "You will be interested to learn that Arizona does indeed share a border with Mexico. I have enclosed a map for your convenience." Kyl goes on to urge West to, "actually read the Arizona law before forming an opinion about it." West appeared confused about Arizona's location during debate about a measure that would have had the county boycott the state over its controversial new immigration law. She said, "If this was...

Associated Press - June 25, 2010 10:24 AM ET EL MIRAGE, Ariz. (AP) - The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has raided a sanitation business in El Mirage and neighboring Youngtown northwest of Phoenix. The Sheriff's Office said deputies began serving search warrants early Friday at Parks & Sons sanitation of Sun City. The search warrants are based on anonymous tips from current Parks & Sons employees.