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PHOENIX — Bristol Palin, the 20-year-old daughter of Sarah Palin, has bought a five-bedroom house in Maricopa, a modest community south of Phoenix, setting off a flurry of speculation as to exactly what her plans — and those of her famous mother — are for the desert dwelling.

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,...

President Obama thinks that by recently signing a new bill spending $600 million to beef up border enforcement he will look tough on illegal aliens. But decisions such as today’s lawsuit by the Justice Department against Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio to stop his policies regarding illegal aliens shows where the administration’s policies are really headed. The bill Obama signed, which authorizes the hiring 1,500 new border personnel, the deployment of a pair of unmanned reconnaissance drones, and replacing some bases along the border is valuable, but it hardly undoes what the president has done up to this point. With...

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...

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.

PHOENIX (AP) - Sheriff's deputies raided two Sizzler steak house restaurants in Phoenix, arresting nine employees who are suspected of being illegal immigrants and using fraudulent documents to get jobs. The Saturday raids were part of an investigation into whether the operators of the two Sizzler locations broke a civil law by knowingly hiring illegal immigrants.

Maricopa County sheriff's deputies raided two restaurants to arrest nine employees who were suspected of being illegal immigrants and using fraudulent documents to get jobs. The raid was made as a part of an investigation into whether the operators of two Sizzler Steakhouse locations in west Phoenix broke a civil law by knowingly hiring illegal immigrants. The sheriff's office says it received a tip from a former Sizzler manager who claimed he had been fired for his refusal to hire employees without the proper documents. A message left at one of the two restaurants wasn't immediately returned Saturday afternoon. A...

Two-thirds of the 93 people arrested during the first day of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's latest crime and immigration sweep were believed to be illegal immigrants. The two-day sweep is being run in an area of west Phoenix with a high number of "drop houses" where smugglers hide immigrants who have been sneaked into the country. It's the 15th sweep that Arpaio has conducted since early 2008. During the sweeps, deputies flood an area of a city _ in some cases heavily Latino areas _ to seek out traffic violators and arrest other alleged lawbreakers. Critics say deputies racially...

PHOENIX – Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is expected to announce Monday if he'll run for Arizona governor. Several sources confirm to the ABC15 Investigators that Arpaio has already made a decision, and will likely run for the office. In a news conference after this story was first published, the Sheriff said he was still weighing his options, but also that he would in fact have an announcement on Monday. However, when asked about a state sales tax during the news conference, the Sheriff either misspoke or leaked his decision. "When I'm the governor, I'll study the issue," he said....

The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office announced Tuesday that two more manager's of Phoenix area McDonald's restaurants have been arrested in an identity theft and forgery investigation. The managers are identified as 31-year-old Arley Lopez and 35-year-old Jose Prado. Both were arrested Monday evening. Sheriff's deputies believe that Lopez was a store manager in Mesa and Prado is a general manager for the company. The Sheriff's Office said Prado was handed over to federal immigration officials and Lopez was booked into jail. The Sheriff's Office said the latest arrests are in connection with raids that took place last Friday at four...

PHOENIX – A disturbance broke out Saturday afternoon during a protest of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's immigration policies when a group of marchers allegedly threw water bottles and other items at police officers. Lt. Pat Hofmann of the Phoenix Police Department says officers used pepper spray as they tried to separate protesters from an officer on horseback who was trying to take away the bottles and got crowded by the protesters. Four people were detained, and Hofmann says one is expected to be charged with aggravated assault on a police officer.

PHOENIX -- Maricopa County jails will play Christmas music and holiday hymns throughout the season, continuing an annual tradition despite multiple lawsuits filed to prevent it, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has announced in a news release. The music is played all day in all jails and includes songs and melodies from all countries and faiths in many languages, KPHO-TV in Phoenix reported. In years past, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has personally chosen some of the songs and performers featured, including tunes from Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Bing Crosby and Doctor Demento. "People everywhere deserve a little...

PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court refused late Wednesday to block enactment of a new state law that requires public employees to report illegal immigrants. Without ruling on the merits of the law, the justices said that the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, which had asked that the law be struck down as illegal, had not shown that the issue merited being taken directly to the state's high court. Ken Strobeck, executive director of the league, said he was "shocked and disappointed"' that the justices did not see fit to weigh in on the question, at least at this...

Maricopa County (Arizona) Sheriff Joe Arpaio—hailed by many as America’s Sheriff—is under attack for cracking down on illegal aliens. The liberal-left politicians, activists and members of the news media are vilifying Sheriff Arpaio for his department’s immigration and crime sweeps in and around Phoenix. On Friday, government officials with the Homeland Security and Justice Departments stated that the veteran lawman’s deputies could no longer make arrests based on a person’s immigration status. However, during an interview on Fox News Channel’s “Your World with Neil Cavuto,” Sheriff Arpaio told viewers that he and his deputies would continue to enforce the law...

Notwithstanding the mind boggling insanity coming from Washington, D.C. and other fortresses of liberalism gone amuck, there is a shining light, a beacon of hope for those of us who believe in rule of law, American sovereignty, and the Constitution. That light emanates from the personage of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who, despite being publicly castigated by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, faces no shortage of courage or testosterone when it comes to doing his job...

The sheriff has started his own blog to combat media attacks. By KFYI News The Maricopa County Sheriff's Department has launched a new blog on the office's web site called "The Truth Behind the Headlines." The blog will swing back to media coverage the Sheriff believes is inaccurate and incomplete. So far, Sheriff Arpaio has only fought back against newspaper articles and editorials he says are skewed against him. Check out Sheriff Joe's blog here.

PHOENIX -- The American Civil Liberties Union is accusing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies of violating the constitution by arresting two men near a workplace immigration raid. A federal lawsuit filed Wednesday alleges that Julian and Julio Mora's truck was stopped as a result of racial profiling on Feb. 11. Deputies were raiding 66-year-old Julian Mora's employer when they arrested the two men and took them to the company's offices.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is spending $347 million to construct what they refer to as a “state of the art” brand-new court tower. Yet, many taxpayers are unaware of the details behind this project and the reason why this project continues may be found in the money.Maricopa County is facing a $138.2 million budget shortfall. In response, numerous county employees have been laid off in recent months, including 40 Superior Court employees that would staff some of these offices to be featured in the court tower. Also, county law enforcement has been cut by 15% and Sheriff...

WHOOOO HOOO!!!! (from a FIRE coalition email I just received) A MUST SEE video. "After all of the abuse the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office takes from La Raza, MALDEF, ACLU, and their Mayor Gordon of Phoenix for enforcing the law, the Sheriff Deputies finally fight back in a press conference of their own!"

<p>PHOENIX (AP) - Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio plans the latest in a series of "crime suppression" sweeps on Friday in a rural area west of Phoenix.</p> <p>An estimated 200 deputies and posse volunteers will fan out near Interstate 10 and Miller Road near the town of Buckeye.</p>