At a special public meeting held Saturday, April 1, the City of Phoenix announced its plan to convert a busy portion of Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix into a bikes-only corridor.

The plan will permanently convert all existing traffic lanes along Central Ave. into bike lanes. The announcement is the newest phase in Phoenix’s B-2100 plan to convert all existing roads into bike paths by the year 2100. Phoenix Diablo has learned that initial plans were drawn up during a secret private meeting at the Grid station at Civic Space Park back in January.

Construction on the new lanes should be completed by tomorrow.

“This is part of a concentrated effort to make Phoenix the least walkable city in America,” said Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton. “We really think the biking community will be excited about this.”
Downtown Phoenix has an active biking community that has continued to grow alongside the city. Misha Larks of Phoenix Handlebars People said she’s excited about the announcement.

“Central Avenue has become a very busy road in recent years,” Larks said. “We hope this plan will convince the thousands of Valley commuters who work downtown to start biking to work instead.”
But not everyone is riding along with the new plan.

Some members of the public who attended the announcement meeting expressed concern regarding how this new plan would affect parking downtown. To counter this point, the city announced its intent to make all parking lots downtown bike-exclusive by 2019.

“There is plenty of free, convenient parking available downtown,” said PHX BikeLab founder John Romero. “I’m glad the city of Phoenix spoke out about this very real issue.”

Bike enthusiast Peter Perspiration said he loves the idea of phasing out a major thoroughfare in favor of bike lanes.

“It’s the most efficient form of transportation,” Perspiration said. “It gives people more transportation options, this is one of the major achievements of Phoenix.”

Jobot Coffee and Diner announced another big move this morning after spending its last few months inside Roosevelt Point, an apartment complex on Third and Roosevelt streets.

The trendy local favorite has cut a deal with Starbucks and ASU to make its new home inside the Taylor Place dorm building on Second and Taylor streets.

A post on Jobot’s Facebook page this morning read as follows:

Hi loyal customers,

We have loved the last few months perfecting our extensive coffee, food and cocktail menu, but felt stifled without corporate backing. We also felt it was time to rid ourselves of the grittiness of the Roosevelt arts district, and move closer to the more streamlined, sophisticated, government-funded, capitalist culture of ASU—especially after most of our staff had their hair dyed back to its natural color at the salon next door. As a result, we have accepted a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to merge with the ASU-affiliated Starbucks inside the downtown student dorms.

Jobot Coffee will henceforth be referred to as “Jo-Bucks,” and will serve businesspeople and students only. All others seeking coffee will be diverted to Fillmore Coffee Co., which is housed inside the Skyline Loft apartments.

ASU students living in Taylor Place seemed pleased to hear that the coffee shop would soon be within a more comfortable radius.

“I’m so glad we get a chance to support local while buying Starbucks!” said Dailee Grind, a freshman and gold card member with the global chain.

“Can’t wait for the Jobo-cinno,” said Moka Chino, a sophomore who is captain of his intramural football team. “I heard it tastes just like a crepe, but in blended form!”

Others, including local muralist Sky Blue, were disgruntled by the coffee shop’s announcement.

“It seems very exclusionary,” Blue said, adding that she had been a regular at Jobot for years; first at its original Fifth Street location, and then at its space inside Roosevelt Point. “Since I’m an artist and not a businessperson, I can’t go to Jobot anymore. But I’ll do anything for a crepe, so I’ve begun applying to more mainstream jobs, and I’ve got a great interview set up tomorrow with the Alliance Residential housing developer.”

Phoenix Diablo learned later from an inside source at Jobot that they will, in fact, no longer be serving crepes. The only way customers will be able to satisfy their nostalgia is with the crepe-flavored Jobo-cinno.

The developers of the Triangles Records building have disputed claims they are demolishing the building.

“It’s alternative construction,”said Jacob Jefferies, of Kingdom LLC, the developer for the project.

Bulldozers removed approximately three-quarters of the mid-century building Tuesday. Jefferies said the new method is an effort to maintain the character of the building while maximizing the height and profitability.

“Alternative construction is not construction,” preservationist Bill Dinlover said. “It’s demolition.”

The plan calls for a 30-story mixed-use building filled with 200 microunits that will house young urban professionals. Originally, the 69-year-old building housed a car dealership, but this project will maintain tribute to this purpose with 27 stories of parking.

Community members and preservation activists have been meeting with the developers to try to convince them to preserve the entire building and amend the plans. The alternative construction of the building led to outrage and controversy as people claimed the method was actually demolition.

Part of the controversy surrounding the development surrounds the possibility of the use of a tax incentive to help fund the project. Some community members feel alternative construction was not appropriate, and giving public money to the project could send the wrong message.

Kingdom maintains they are just keeping up with current methods for historic preservation in downtown and “doing more than most” to preserve the building. Michelle Todds, the historic preservation officer for Phoenix said she had never heard of alternative construction as a method of preservation.

“The standards for preservation are constantly changing,” Janet Daisy, a representative of the developer said. “Kingdom development is just adjusting to a changing downtown.”

Daisy also accused Phoenix Diablo of being fake news after reporting the development as demolition.

Jacob Jefferies the principal developer for the project said the new method is an effort to maintain the character of the building while maximizing the height.

“So many buildings these days are trying to knock it down and start all new,” Geoffries said. “We’re doing better.”

Artists will paint the building, and be heavily involved in the design. The murals and artwork will be a tribute to the memory to the artists.

“As rents rise and galleries close at least we’ll have the murals to remember the art district by,” Pat Metrisko said.

Kingdom plans to push forward with the alternative construction of the building. They maintain that a tax break is needed for the alternative preservation to be completed. If not they will have to demolish the building. Jefferies said the goal is to preserve the history of the building so long as they are still building the most profitable building possible.

“If all else fails I guess we’ll just put a tribute plaque outside,” Jefferies shrugged.

Newly elected Undergraduate Student Government Downtown (USGD) President Jackson Dangremond accused the current administration, which he also runs, of wiretapping his campaign headquarters during his unopposed election campaign.

The Dangremond-Leith-Yeban ticket has provided no evidence for the claim, despite the fact that as the current President of USGD Dangremond would know of any surveillance or wiretapping activities he may be conducting.

USGD Director of Public Relations Kaitlyn Kor said the administration would not comment on the allegations until they are further investigated by the USGD Intelligence Committee.

“You can’t allow this to happen,” said current Vice President of Policy and vice-chair of the USGD Intelligence Committee Timmy Harwood. “Claims like this can’t be made without evidence so we will be fully investigating it.”

Dangremond made the claim in an early-morning tweetstorm two days following his win in the undisputed USGD Executive Ticket Race. Responding to a request from Phoenix Diablo for comment at a joint press conference held with USG Tempe President Brandon Bishop, Dangremond denied responsibility for the accusations, saying he saw an article about it in the Stale Mess.

“Look, I read it and it was written by a very terrific student publication, very terrific, I can’t tell you how many terrific articles they’ve written,” Dangremond said. “So really you should take it up with them.”

Phoenix Diablo reported earlier this year that Dangremond had wiretapped Bishop last year as a part of a far-reaching USGD surveillance scheme that affected all four campuses.

“At least now we have something in common,” Dangremond said.

The day following Dangremond’s tweetstorm and after an exhaustive two-hour investigation, Arwood said there was no evidence of wiretapping from the current administration.

Responding to this, Kor said Dangremond had been taken out of context.

“When the President (of USGD) says ‘wiretapping’,” Kor said, making air quotes with her hands. “It can mean a whole host of different surveillance means.”

Kor said this could incorporate hacking as well as data collection of text messages between USGD members.

Vice President of Policy-elect Ryan Leith, who chairs on the USGD Intelligence Committee, took findings that showed Dangremond and associates were surveilled legally by Dangremond when they came into contact during the campaign with spies from the West Campus whom some have accused of leaking information damaging to Dangremond’s nonexistent opponents.

“Look, it was a judgement call, and I just think it was the right move to tell Jackson that we found evidence which supported his claim of wiretapping himself,” Leith said.

Arwood accused Leith of violating the integrity of the USGD intelligence Committee and called for his resignation from the committee.

“We have a Banana Republic of a student government downtown, the fact that he would brief Jackson with information he is already aware of while he is under investigation is a disgrace and he should recuse himself from any ongoing investigation,” Harwood said.

Breitbart co-founder Steve Bannon spoke to students and faculty about journalism ethics at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism’s Must See Monday event earlier this week.

The highly-regarded executive also announced that Breitbart just hired a new executive editor. Bannon would not reveal a photo of the editor but said the man went by the pen name of Ronald Lump.

“Ethics are a big deal. You don’t want to be fake news like PBS. You don’t want to be wrong,” Bannon said, emphasizing the word “wrong.”

Bannon told students it was important to be fair and accurate in reporting, at least when others are paying attention.

“During this election season, other papers did not adhere to journalism ethics like we did,” Bannon said. “It’s always important to report with an unbiased perspective and to make sure you get all the facts for both sides of the story.”

Many students left the Must See Monday with a new perspective on journalism ethics. Senior Eileen Wright said she now agrees with everything Bannon said about verifying information before reporting it detailed in the Breitbart Code of Ethics.

“Once I tried to Google ‘Breitbart ethics’ and got an error 401 page,” Wright said, “So the reason I came to the Must See Monday was to get the answers I’ve been looking for.”

Incoming freshman India Pendent said she agrees. “Breitbart has really interesting ethics,” she said. “I never knew fact-checking was an optional concept.”

Also attending Must See Monday was surprise guest and new White House Press Correspondent Sean Spicy. Students asked Spicy various ethics-related questions during the Q&A portion of the presentation, but Spicy refused to comment.

Still, Spicy was optimistic. “It’s going to be great,” he said. “I can’t wait for students to win a Pulitzer by following the Breitbart Code of Ethics.”

At the end of the night, Bannon announced he would be taking a position as an ethics professor at the Cronkite School.

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton accused Phoenix Diablo of reporting ‘fake news’ after the news organization published an investigation that revealed that the mayor was, in fact, a clown.

“When will Phoenix Diablo stop falsely reporting that I am a ‘ghost’ or ‘clown’ and focus on Crooked Hillary’s ties to Russia? Sad! FAKE NEWS,” Stanton tweeted at 2 a.m. Saturday and reiterated at a press conference at City Hall.

In 2015, Phoenix Diablo reported that Stanton was a ghost during his entire time as Phoenix mayor. In 2016, Diablo corrected the story to correctly report that Stanton was actually a clown the entire time.

Stanton has repeatedly butted heads with the media since taking office as mayor, but Saturday marks the first time he has completely discredited a news organization. Stanton has been known throughout his time as mayor for giving more access to news organizations that give him more favorable coverage.

Breitbart co-founder and noted ethics expert Steve Bannon criticized Stanton for his remarks, saying the mayor wasn’t giving facts and truth the respect they deserve.

“Calling a respected downtown Phoenix news organization ‘fake news’ is extremely disrespectful,” Bannon said. “But besides that, it also undermines the value of the truth.”

At a press conference called by Stanton Saturday morning, the mayor spent the majority of the time criticizing Phoenix Diablo’s coverage of downtown Phoenix, but would not take questions from the publication.

Sonia Kunthara, executive editor of Phoenix Diablo, stood firm in the website’s decision to publish the explosive reports about Stanton

“We are proud of our coverage of downtown Phoenix and see holding public officials like Mayor Stanton accountable as a great responsibility,” Kunthara said. “It’s ‘sad!’ that someone would use their public platform to discredit us, but we will continue to do the fearless, necessary journalism we are known for.”

Alleys, parking lots and the Phoenix City Council chambers are just three of many places clowns have been sighted downtown. But those jumping out at their victims aren’t just clowning around.

Sources say the clowns are actually raising money as part of a charity fundraiser called C.I.R.C.U.S., which stands for Clowns’ Instant and Remarkable Classic Upbeat Spirits.

C.I.R.C.U.S. spokesperson Alfie Terzen said the charity aims to give clowns self-confidence.

“A lot of people kind of look down on [clowns] for being childlike. We really just wanted to raise awareness for that and for lack of self-confidence in general,” Terzen said. “We felt like the time around Halloween would be a great time to start. Apparently not everyone agrees with that.”

Terzen said the charity is in tents.

“No, really. It is,” Terzen said. The C.I.R.C.U.S. team meets every Tuesday in the Arizona Center to raise money in a makeshift circus tent. Downtown residents are able to donate $10 or more to have a clown scare someone of their choice or someone at random.

“That money either goes to our workshops to boost self-confidence or to other organizations that help build confidence in clowns in any way, shape or form,” Terzen said.

One of those organizations is downtown Phoenix’s own Tightrope, which helps clowns balance things in their lives to give them self confidence.

Terzen said so far C.I.R.C.U.S. raised “a heck of a lot of money, like … $50,000 or maybe $1,000 … probably more like $1,000.”

Tightrope is run by Manager Engel Ovhell, who said the charity is thankful for everything C.I.R.C.U.S. does for them.

“We just think it’s great that other charities are out there to help us boost self-confidence in clowns,” Ovhell said.

Ovhell said Tightrope uses the money donated from C.I.R.C.U.S. to help expand their programs, which continue to grow.

“Last year we had about five programs, which included classes on teamwork and time management. This year we are planning to open three more,” Ovhell said.

Frequent donor to C.I.R.C.U.S. Anna Therwun said she enjoys donating to the charity because she thinks it’s a good cause.

“The clowns really mean no harm. They actually mean a lot of good,” Liwia said.

Along with Therwun, other people frequently donate to C.I.R.C.U.S. on a weekly basis as well.

“We’re really proud of the turnout,” said Alfie, who wasn’t sure on the amount of people that turned up. “50 … or 10. Yeah, it’s probably … you know what, it actually might be 15.”