KABUL - A Taliban firing squad killed a young couple in southwestern Afghanistan for trying to elope, shooting them with AK-47s in front of a crowd in a lawless, militant-controlled region, officials said Tuesday.

Better access to the business community is the last stage of the civil rights struggle for minorities, the Rev. Jesse Jackson said during a Valley visit Tuesday.

NEW YORK - Alicia Keys says she's not a conspiracy theorist. In a statement issued Tuesday, Keys said she was clarifying "comments that were made during my recent Blender magazine interview since they have been misrepresented."

October 29, 2004

Two people have been arrested after authorities raided a Chandler home and seized more than 100 pounds of marijuana plus some automatic weapons.

Jose Bustos, 18, has plead guilty to two counts of first-degree murder and one count of armed robbery, Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas said Thursday.

Folks, I don’t advocate the total repeal of the Second Amendment, but can we please put it in perspective? Can there be a balance between that right and the “inalienable” right of those children in Connecticut to life and the pursuit of happiness?

I am writing about the not-so-thoughtful letter from gun (lover) Arthur C. Peterson: “What kind of country do you want?” I’d like to live in a country where so-called law-abiding citizens do not have access to weapons of war like AK 47’s that are designed to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible. I also certainly don’t want to live in a country where citizens are allowed to possess chemical or biological weapons like Peterson advocated.

A second Tempe man has been found guilty of conspiracy in the illegal purchase of AK-47-style guns at a January 2010 gun show in Phoenix.

FLORENCE — An Arizona sheriff's office says independent testing of a bloodied shirt backs up the story of a deputy who contends he was shot by drug smugglers in the remote desert amid speculation by some that it was a hoax.

Amid a heated national debate on illegal immigration, a sheriff's deputy was shot and wounded Friday after encountering a group of suspected illegal immigrants who apparently had been hauling bales of marijuana along a major smuggling corridor in the Arizona desert.

CHICAGO - An outburst of gunfire rattled the city during the weekend, with at least nine people killed in 36 separate acts of violence. The shootings were reported from Friday until Monday morning, police spokeswoman Monique Bond said Monday. They included gang shootings, drive-by attacks, and even one case in which someone used an AK-47 to shoot up a plumbing supply store.

Police arrested a man Sunday in connection with kicking down the door of a Mesa home and holding a teen girl at gunpoint with an AK-47 assault rifle.

“Ben Arredondo violated the public trust to enhance his personal wealth and image in excess of the legal and moral limits. There are few lower than him in society, maybe only child molesters. Now his buddies, Democrats, act like he is a persecuted choir boy.”

“Recall may be too kind for our elected officials in Maricopa County and in our state legislature. I’m thinking tar and feathers might be more appropriate.”

A deputy who came under scrutiny earlier this year after claiming he was wounded by drug smugglers in the Arizona desert has been suspended over comments he made to a weekly Phoenix newspaper, the Pinal County sheriff's office said Wednesday.

A man accused of fatally shooting his parents and brother is in custody after turning himself in to authorities.

Authorities arrested a man they said fired a high-powered rifle into the air, the ground and surrounding areas Sunday in east Mesa.

A Bosnian national became the third of four men to be sentenced to federal prison for robbing two armored truck guards at Casino Arizona at Talking Stick more than 18 months ago.

One of four men involved in the 2006 robbery of an armored vehicle outside Casino Arizona at Talking Stick — which included an elaborate escape plan involving all-terrain vehicles in Scottsdale sewers — was sentenced to 6½ years in federal prison earlier this week.

Spread across a conference table at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Phoenix are enough weapons to equip several carloads of drug runners.