![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/caveman-tempe-city-council.png\")
\u201cI\u2019m just a humble caveman,\u201d Jack Maverik told the Tempe City Council. \u201cI\u2019ve never been a clown. I have never gone to clown college like the rest of you.\u201d<\/p>\nArizona, you\u2019re a mess. But that\u2019s why we love you.<\/p>\n
Maybe other places in the country make for idyllic places to live, where every news story is good and nothing bizarre ever happens. That is not the Grand Canyon State, though. With our mix of sane and crazy, far right-wing and dyed-blue progressive, we have tension. Millions of people raise perfectly normal families here, but we\u2019re also a playground for the filthy rich and the politically batshit insane. At its worst, that mix gives us abortion bans, election conspiracy theories and other societal woes. At the same time \u2014 just often enough to make you chuckle \u2014 we get some truly weird stories that seem like they were meant to happen here.<\/p>\n
The stories listed below fit that bill. As we wave goodbye to 2025, here\u2019s a trip down WTF Lane with the 10 wildest news stories Phoenix New Times covered this year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just a humble caveman,\u201d Jack Maverik told the Tempe City Council. \u201cI\u2019ve never been a clown. I have never gone to clown college like the rest of you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoenix, make your New Year\u2019s Resolution Count!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWe\u2019re $13,000 away from our End-of-Year campaign goal, with just a few days left! We\u2019re ready to deliver \u2014 but we need the resources to do it right. If New Times matters to you, please contribute today to help us expand our current events coverage when it\u2019s needed most.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Fred Flintstone berates the Tempe City Council<\/p>\n
Tune into a city council meeting, and odds are you\u2019ll see something weird. At least when Jack Maverik spoke to the Tempe City Council in January, he was trying to be weird on purpose. Inspired by recordings that revealed city councilmembers laughing at the description of certain residents as \u201cCAVE people\u201d \u2014 that stands for \u201cCitizens Against Virtually Everything\u201d \u2014 Maverik donned a Fred Flintstone get-up<\/a> to dress down the council during his three minutes of public comment. <\/p>\n \u201cI am just a humble caveman,\u201d Maverik stated to the council, referencing a famous SNL sketch about a\u00a0thawed-out caveman who becomes a corporate lawyer<\/a>. \u201cI\u2019ve never been a clown. I have never gone to clown college like the rest of you. So if I get things wrong, I apologize.\u201d<\/p>\n Maverik then hit the council over the ongoing rezoning saga with Danelle Plaza and over the council\u2019s concerted effort to criminally cite people who feed the unhoused in city parks. For the performance, New Times christened Maverik the \u201cBest Yabba-Dabba-Dude.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n Comedy show at Mesa brewery draws neo-Nazis<\/p>\n In late January, the popular Mesa brewery 12 West found itself issuing an extraordinary apology<\/a>. A comedy show hosted in the brewery\u2019s basement event space \u2014 featuring comic Quinn Dale and opener Leonarda Jonie, the latter of whom regularly makes racist jokes on social media \u2014 had drawn neo-Nazi pamphleteers outside the show. Inside, brewery staff cringed as Jonie cracked jokes about being attracted to old-school Nazis. In a statement at the time, 12 West claimed it had not done enough research into the acts.<\/p>\n \u201cThe views of the performers do not reflect the views of 12 West Brewing, and in no way do we support the presence of any sort of neo-Nazi groups around our business,\u201d 12 West\u2019s statement read. \u201cOnce alerted that there were people outside handing out materials and harassing guests, we immediately closed the gates and denied any entrance into the building. We absolutely do not support neo-Nazis, hate speech, white supremacy, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ+, or racism of any kind.\u201d<\/p>\n The Jessica Bueno saga<\/p>\n It started off as a coffee story \u2014 Randall Denton, the founder of the popular cafe Xanadu Coffee, had been busted in an underage sex sting<\/a>, ultimately pleading guilty. The coffee shop closed, and the story could have ended there. But New Times kept digging, and what we found took on a life of its own.<\/p>\n After his 2024 arrest, Denton had been bailed out<\/a> by his friend and former business partner, Jessica Bueno. Who\u2019s that? Well, at the time, she was the president of the Phoenix Union Elementary School District No. 1. The revelation that a woman responsible for the education of thousands of young Phoenix children had sprung an accused (and later convicted) sex offender enraged many parents, who called on Bueno to resign. She ducked the first school board meeting<\/a> after New Times\u2019 report. She ultimately tendered her resignation, but not before receiving a tongue-lashing<\/a> from Arizona Secretary of State and Phoenix parent Adrian Fontes during public comment.<\/p>\n Virojt Changyencham\/Getty Images<\/p>\n Phoenix golfer sues his club over a tee time<\/p>\n The Valley is a golf mecca, so it only makes sense that we\u2019d generate a lot of golf lawsuits as well. Here\u2019s hoping most of them are a bit more weighty than the one Phoenix golfer Brad Ghaster filed<\/a> in March, though.<\/p>\n Ghaster was a member of Anthem Golf & Country Club in north Phoenix, but he wasn\u2019t a happy member. Despite paying $47,000 up front and at least $1,300 a month for his \u201cFull Golf\u201d membership, Ghaster had problems securing a tee time. After receiving his preferred time only nine times \u2014 over an unspecified period \u2014 Ghaster requested a refund of his membership fee. When he was denied, he sued.<\/p>\n The lawsuit was short-lived. After New Times contacted Ghaster for comment, a motion for dismissal appeared in the court docket.<\/p>\n Gage Skidmore\/Flickr\/CC BY-SA 2.0<\/p>\n Someone mails poop to the county attorney<\/p>\n In April, New Times was the first to report<\/a> a prank an unidentified person had made on Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell two months earlier. Apparently using the site PoopSenders.com, the prankster shipped a package supposedly containing animal dung \u2014 its actual poopiness is unclear \u2014 to Mitchell\u2019s home. Instead of rolling her eyes and tossing it in the trash, the Republican prosecutor called Phoenix police.<\/p>\n Mitchell fingered a few possible suspects for the cops \u2014 animal rights activists, pro-Palestine protesters and terminally online suspended attorney Vladimir Gagic, who\u2019d feuded with Mitchell\u2019s significant other online. Gagic in particular denied any involvement, and the smelly mystery figures to remain unsolved.<\/p>\n Police helicopter spells out \u2018ALEX\u2019 during a flight<\/p>\n What\u2019s that buzzing overhead? And does whatever is making it know how to spell? If you were in west Phoenix one night in July, the answers were: a Phoenix police helicopter, and yes.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not clear why a Phoenix helicopter pilot decided to trace the name \u201cALEX\u201d <\/a>with their flight path that night. What is clear is that the helicopter did it after midnight while hovering only 2,000 feet above a west Phoenix neighborhood. Phoenix police did not share the pilot\u2019s name but told New Times a few days later that the incident was referred to the department\u2019s Professional Standards Bureau. It\u2019s unclear when that review will be complete.<\/p>\n Female GOP candidate says women shouldn\u2019t run for office<\/p>\n There\u2019s nothing like your own words coming back to haunt you. And hooboy, did Mylie Biggs give her opponents ample ammunition.<\/p>\n In June, Biggs filed a statement of interest to run for the Arizona Senate seat once held by her father, GOP Rep. Andy Biggs. In August, New Times was the first to report<\/a> podcast comments the younger Biggs made a year earlier that would seem to invalidate her entire political project. On the podcast, Biggs said she wasn\u2019t sure if she would \u201cvote for any female\u201d and that women should stay in the home. \u201cI don\u2019t think women should hold office in general,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s my position. That\u2019s my stance.\u201d She also laughingly questioned women\u2019s right to vote and said she has a fondness for conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t get me started on 9\/11,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Biggs is still in the race, despite widespread backlash.<\/p>\n Buckeye woman says unknown body is squatting in her grave<\/p>\n When the time came, Nancy Marshall was to be buried alongside her late husband and her late mother. She\u2019s already reserved a specific plot next to their graves at Buckeye\u2019s Louis B. Hazelton Memorial Cemetery. Then, last year, she got a phone call.<\/p>\n The cemetery informed her that there was an unidentified body already buried in her plot<\/a>. The cemetery had looked through its nearly 90 years of records but could not figure out who it was. Would Marshall like a different plot? Would she like her husband and mother disinterred and buried elsewhere? Marshall decided to sue the cemetery instead.<\/p>\n After New Times reported on the story, the two sides appeared to reach an amicable solution. The cemetery asked a Maricopa County Superior Court judge to grant them authority to disinter and rebury the unknown corpse. Marshall said that was fine with her. But earlier this month, the court denied that request in a ruling. The body remains.<\/p>\n Win McNamee \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n QAnon Shaman sues Trump for $40 trillion<\/p>\n When you\u2019re able to storm the Capitol, you probably think you can do anything. For Jacob Chansley \u2014 otherwise known as Arizona\u2019s infamous QAnon Shaman \u2014 that apparently means thinking you\u2019re the rightful president of the United States.<\/p>\n Chansley said as much in a self-authored lawsuit<\/a>, consisting of one paragraph that runs on page after page, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court in September. Among the defendants: Donald Trump (on whom Chansley has turned<\/a>), the Federal Reserve, Israel and T-Mobile. All Chansley is asking for is $40 trillion and to be named the leader of the \u201cNew Constitutional Republic of the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n Despite its format, the lawsuit makes for quite the read. In it, Chansley claims that the NSA spied on him and catfished him as the actress Michelle Rodriguez, that the movies \u201cAvatar\u201d and \u201cThe Dark Knight\u201d stole his ideas and that \u201call radio stations and most of their DJ\u2019s are a part of the intelligence community.\u201d We\u2019d love to see where this one goes, but unfortunately, the lawsuit is currently on the court\u2019s dismissal calendar.<\/p>\n Avondale city councilmember accused of kidnapping<\/p>\n Earlier this year, MAGA devotee and Avondale City Councilmember Jeannette Garcia made headlines by accusing Tom Hanks of being a \u201cpedo,\u201d though she attempted to walk it back in the face of widespread condemnation. What goes around comes around, it seems, because in November, Garcia was accused of her own (non-sexual) misdeeds with a child.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/12_west_beer_lineup.webp.jpeg\")
12 West Brewing in Mesa apologized for a racist comedy act it hosted.<\/p>\n![\"an](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/jessica-bueno.webp.jpeg\")
Jessica Bueno, the Phoenix Elementary School Board District No. 1 president, did not attend a board\u2019s meeting at which parents called on her to resign.<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/golf-stock-getty.webp.jpeg\")
A man sued Anthem Golf & Country Club for not giving him the tee times he wanted.<\/p>\n![\"rachel](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/rachel-mitchell.webp.jpeg\")
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell called police on Feb. 12 after she received a package in the mail filled with animal poop.<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/alex-phoenix-pd-flight-1.png\")
Good spelling. Good use of resources, though?<\/p>\n![\"mylie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/mylie-biggs.png\")
Now running for a seat in the state legislature, Mylie Biggs told a podcaster last year that she wouldn\u2019t vote for a woman.<\/p>\n![\"a](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/louis-b-hazelton-cemetery.webp.jpeg\")
Nancy Marshall said the city of Buckeye sold her a plot next to her late husband and mother in the city cemetery, only to find out later that someone else is buried there.<\/p>\n![\"the](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/jacob-chansley-getty.webp.jpeg\")
Jacob Chansley screams \u201cfreedom\u201d inside the U.S. Senate chamber on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n![\"jeannette](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Jeannette-Garcia.png\")
Avondale City Council member Jeannette Garcia.<\/p>\n