Arizona | featured news

A power outage Thursday left more than 1.5 million people in the dark in parts of Southern California, Arizona and Mexico as authorities scrambled to figure out what happened and how to get the lights back on.

Rapper DMX is shown in this booking mug shot by the Maricopa County Sheriff in Arizona released to Reuters August 25, 2011, after being arrested for speeding on August 24.

Forget snakes on a plane -- a Mesa man was arrested for having snakes down his pants, the Arizona Republic reported Wednesday. Eric Fiegel, 22, was picked up on theft charges Tuesday after police said he was caught on video stuffing an albino boa constrictor and several other exotic reptiles down his pants at Predator's Reptile Center on July 30, the paper reported.

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords is now aware of who was killed during the January shooting rampage in Tucson that left her seriously wounded, her spokesman said. C.J. Karamargin confirmed Friday that the Democratic politician was told in late July the names of the dead, including her aide Gabe Zimmerman; U.S. District Judge John Roll, a close friend; and 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green, the Arizona Republic reported.

A computer hacking group Friday posted a new batch of personal details about Arizona law enforcement officers, marking a third attack on the state's police and an escalation of a spree of cyber break-ins.

The death of an Arizona patient could be linked to the deadly German E. coli epidemic that caused 29 deaths and sickened thousands, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Thursday.

The last wave of evacuees from a wildfire that has grown to 45 square miles may be allowed to return home Thursday, authorities say.

Together and apart, the lives of Gabrielle Giffords and husband-astronaut Mark Kelly have been extraordinary. She the congresswoman from Arizona who has miraculously survived being shot in the head. He the commander of the space shuttle Endeavour, exchanging wedding rings with his wife before his final mission in space. Now, he is retiring to be with her full time and the two are collaborating on a memoir that will tell a story, their story, that Kelly says the public hardly knows.

Arizona’s Sen. John McCain (R) said illegal immigrants may have started some of the wildfires that have forced thousands of people from their homes in his state, but he did not give evidence to support the statement.

Russell Pearce, the president of the Arizona Senate, has sought to solidify his state’s reputation for hard-edged conservative policies, but now he must defend himself in a special election.