Independent Journalism for the Valley

THE MARICOPA MERIDIAN

Maricopa County, Arizona · Established 2026

Vol. 1 · Issue 1 · Inaugural Edition

THE RECORD | THE RACKET

THE FRONT · LOCAL NEWS · SPORTS · VICE · REVIEWS · HEY RUBE · PUBLIC NOTICES

NEWS ANALYSIS

Tempe shuts off Flock as Scottsdale weighs safeguards

Tempe pulled the plug on Flock Safety’s surveillance network while Scottsdale weighs what safeguards, if any, it wants.

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LOCAL NEWS

Tempe shuts off Flock as Scottsdale weighs safeguards

Tempe pulled the plug on Flock Safety’s surveillance network while Scottsdale weighs what safeguards, if any, it wants.

SPORTS

70 Points Bought ASU One Week of Optimism. Kyle Field Will Tell Us What It’s Worth.

ASU hung 70 on Morgan State. Now Kyle Field will show whether Cutter Boley and the rebuilt Sun Devils are ready for a real test.

VICE

BlackCoconut: The Phoenix Drug Market That Fit Inside a Mailbox

A Phoenix dark-web vendor case shows how modern drug trafficking can hide inside ordinary commerce, shipping meth across the country through everyday infrastructure.

HEY RUBE | OPINION

Sports, Politics & Other Dangerous Games

Everybody Loves Growth Until the Bill Arrives

Maricopa County keeps betting on growth. Data centers, subdivisions and power demand keep coming. The question is who pays when the infrastructure bill arrives.

Read Hey Rube →

THIS ISSUE

LOCAL NEWS

City Government · Development · Water · Schools · Transportation · Neighborhoods

CITY GOVERNMENT

DEVELOPMENT

WATER

SCHOOLS

TRANSPORTATION

NEIGHBORHOODS

COMMUNITY

70 Points Bought ASU One Week of Optimism. Kyle Field Will Tell Us What It’s Worth.

ASU hung 70 on Morgan State. Now Kyle Field will show whether Cutter Boley and the rebuilt Sun Devils are ready for a real test.

Continue reading →

ASU / COLLEGE

PRO SPORTS

SPORTS BUSINESS

Stadiums, Ownership & Money

Where the games are played, who owns the team, who built the arena, and who wrote the check. Sports business coverage starts here.

BETTING & ODDS

→ HEY RUBE covers the intersection of sports, money and power.

BlackCoconut: The Phoenix Drug Market That Fit Inside a Mailbox

A Phoenix dark-web vendor case shows how modern drug trafficking can hide inside ordinary commerce, shipping meth across the country through everyday infrastructure.

Continue reading →

FRAUD & SCAMS

LAW ENFORCEMENT

CORRUPTION

STRANGE ARIZONA

The desert produces a specific genus of story that does not occur anywhere else. This column is for those.

NIGHTLIFE

Phoenix Has Always Been a Bet Against the Desert

Paolo Bacigalupi imagined Phoenix dying of thirst. Reading The Water Knife from Maricopa County makes the novel feel less like dystopia and more like a warning.

Read full review →

BOOKS

MUSIC

FILM

FOOD