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Compiled by William Brown
Woman arrested after fire at Flagstaff-area home
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Authorities say a woman has been arrested in connection with an arson case at her home in northern Arizona.
Coconino County Sheriff’s officials say 31-year-old Amber M. Shaw of Doney Park was taken into custody Monday.
Shaw is facing one count of arson of an occupied structure and three counts of felony endangerment. It is unclear whether she has legal representation yet.
Investigators say Shaw lives at the home east of Flagstaff with another adult and two children. All were able to exit the house safely after Saturday afternoon’s fire
Shaw said she threw a cigarette on the front porch, unintentionally starting the fire.
But after speaking with witnesses and neighbors, deputies say there is probable cause to believe Shaw intentionally started the fire.
Tribe asks feds to reaffirm AZ land for casino
PHOENIX (AP) — The Tohono O’odham Nation is asking federal officials to reaffirm that land it purchased near Glendale is eligible for gaming.
The Arizona Republic said the U.S. Department of the Interior plans to take the 54 acres near Glendale’s sports and entertainment district into the reservation system May 16 as a precursor to a casino.
The Tohono O’odham Nation aims to build a casino, resort, shops and restaurants on 54 acres near 95th and Northern avenues.
Casinos in Arizona can be built only on American Indian reservations.
The Tohono O’odham Nation maintains the 54 acres are part of a land settlement claim that allows for gaming on reservation lands acquired after 1988.
The city of Glendale is among those appealing the reservation status in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
AZ House endorses bill to combat ‘drop houses’
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona House gave preliminary approval to a proposal that would make it a felony to use forgery to rent or buy a home to be used as an immigrant-smuggling “drop house.”
A violation would be a felony punishable by up to seven years in prison.
The bill cleared the Senate in February and awaits a formal vote by the full House after Tuesday’s action.
Drop houses are homes, apartments or motel rooms where immigrant smugglers hide their customers after they have crossed the border but before they are sent to destinations across the country.
Police have discovered dozens of drop houses in metropolitan Phoenix in recent years; the city is the nation’s busiest hub for immigrant smuggling.
Arizona death-row inmate execution set for May 25
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday issued an execution warrant for a man who has been on death row since 1985 for raping and suffocating a 13-year-old girl in Tempe.
The high court scheduled 56-year-old Donald Edward Beaty’s execution for May 25 at the state prison in Florence over objections from his attorneys about the lethal injection method that will be used against him.
The attorneys had argued the court should not order Beaty’s execution because of lingering questions about the execution drug sodium thiopental, which they said was illegally obtained and is unregulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
The last inmate to be executed in Arizona was Eric John King, who was put to death March 29 for a double-murder at a Phoenix convenience store. His attorneys failed to get his execution delayed or stopped over arguments about the execution drug, and Cook’s attorneys won his reprieve over an unrelated argument that he had ineffective lawyers during his post-conviction proceedings.
