By Recker McDowell Get ready to drink the Kool-Aid or start grinding your gears. Fox News is bringing its Fox Nation streaming service to Scottsdale for its ‘Inaugural Summit’ on Tuesday. The March 14 event is at the W Hotel. Doors open at 5 p.m. for the 7 p.m. event. Fox Nation features conservative and pro-Trump voices such as Tomi … Read More
Scottsdale Leaders Across Political, Business, Neighborhood Spectrums Come Together for Inclusive Bond Campaign; Steering Committee Named, Scottsdale Firefighters donate $10,000
A politically and geographically diverse group of Scottsdale leaders came together Wednesday, May 8th, for the first meeting of a unified campaign in favor of new bond measures for public safety, parks and key infrastructure improvements. For The Best Scottsdale: Vote Yes On Questions One, Two and Three has named its initial steering committee for the campaign in favor of … Read More
Guest Editorial: James Beard Winner Shows Downtown Scottsdale's Culinary Chops
By Recker McDowell Charleen Badman is a bad-ass chef. She also shows how legit the food scene is in Old Town and downtown Scottsdale. The heart of Scottsdale is not just about the bar district, clubs and expensive shops and galleries. Badman just won the James Beard Award for Best Chef in the Southwest for her work at FnB Restaurant … Read More
Ending The Dispensary Desert In Southern Scottsdale
There’s no shortage of things to do or places to shop in southern Scottsdale. A quite a lot of ink (or pixels) have been spilled opining about the pluses and minuses of the situation. For residents of southern Scottsdale, there is a void. A big one. South Scottsdale has no medical marijuana dispensaries. Not one. North Scottsdale has four. It’s … Read More
Guest Editorial: Why the Big Push against Vaping?
By Recker McDowell Vaping is the new smoking — in more ways than one. Public health advocates and behavioral ‘normalists’ have vaping and e-cigarettes in their sights. In a political and social culture where left and right hold dear to and fight over liberties ranging from guns to abortion, they seem to come together when it comes to restricting vaping. … Read More
Guest Editorial: The Messy, Free Speech Truth Behind Facebook, Twitter Bans
By Recker McDowell No one is denying Facebook and Twitter have the legal rights to their recent bans and restrictions on controversial voices such as Paul Joseph Watson, Laura Loomer, Louis Farrakhan and James Woods. Their social media platforms are their property. We know all about property rights here in Arizona. The question is whether the social media giants along … Read More
Guest Editorial: Culinary Dropout a testament (but maybe a test) to Gilbert’s popular restaurant row
By Recker McDowell Gilbert — already the East Valley’s ‘cool kid’ — just got a bit cooler with Sam Fox’s Culinary Dropout at The Yard opening in the Heritage District. ‘Downtown Gilbert’ is already a walkable home to other popular restaurants and bars in the middle of suburbia. The new 25,000-square-foot Culinary Dropout location is both a testament and a … Read More
Guest Editorial: See What Scottsdale is Doing Right in the Age of Data
By Recker McDowell Billionaire media mogul and former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg doesn’t like soda. But Bloomberg likes Scottsdale. Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable arm of the former mayor, has put Scottsdale on its 2019 list of What Works Cities for its use of data and technology. Data and technology have their privacy drawbacks for the private sector and … Read More
Guest Editorial: Clock ticks on Sean Miller, Decision time for UofA, ABOR
By Recker McDowell The clock is ticking on Sean Miller’s tenure in Tucson as head basketball coach at the University of Arizona and the political and image pressure is on the school and the Arizona Board of Regents. ABOR and the UofA have stuck with Miller throughout a federal investigation into alleged bribes and payments to star recruits involving big … Read More
Guest Editorial: Easter Facebook post keeps on rising for Doug Ducey
By Recker McDowell That religious Easter Facebook post from Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey keeps on getting resurrected. And that is to the Republican governor’s political benefit, especially as he eyes a political future beyond his current office. Ducey posted scripture from John 11: 25 on Easter Sunday commemorating the Christian holiday. “Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and … Read More