On Thursday in Phoenix, U.S. District Court Judge Diane Humetewa denied a defense motion asking her to dismiss the five-year-old criminal case against veteran newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin. The ruling clears the path for an August 8 retrial…
See judge’s order, here: Journalists Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin tell a federal judge that they do not oppose severing their retrial in Phoenix from four co-defendants, with some caveats, while prosecutors oppose the idea. Responding to a recent inquiry…
See judge’s order, here: Unprompted by the parties in the case, federal Judge Diane Humetewa suggested severing the upcoming trials of ex-Backpage owners Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin from their fellow defendants. In an order filed Thursday in federal court…
Two months after Arizona’s lame-duck, Republican governor, Doug Ducey, announced a statewide, multi-media campaign to promote the insidious, long-discredited notion that the Super Bowl causes a surge in sex trafficking, the office of his Democratic successor, Katie Hobbs, released an…
A coalition of sex worker-rights organizations will demonstrate from 5-8 p.m. today, Monday, Feb. 6, outside the Footprint Center in Downtown Phoenix as part of a “public and media education action” ahead of Super Bowl LVII in Glendale, now less…
Despite more than a decade of research, reports, editorials, magazine articles and even police accounts debunking the odious myth that the Super Bowl is a magnet for sex trafficking, this zombie lie remains catnip to local politicians, police and media…
Today, a coalition of organizations committed to sex workers’ rights denounced an ongoing statewide media campaign by the Arizona Governor’s Office promoting a dangerous, disproven myth: that the Super Bowl serves as a magnet for sex trafficking and prostitution. In…
The U.S. Department of Justice’s duplicity knows no bounds when it comes to the prosecution of veteran newspapermen Michael Lacey and Jim Larkin under the U.S. Travel Act, a Kennedy-era law intended to target organized crime. Case in point: the…
Getting arrested for not doing much more than standing around may sound like the exclusive purview of repressive regimes like those in China, Russia, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Still, standing outside a Chase bank branch in Phoenix, or peacefully watching…
In Toronto and Tucson, Auckland and Amsterdam, Las Vegas and Sacramento, and countless other cities worldwide, sex workers and those who care about their safety will gather Saturday, December 17, as part of the International Day To End Violence Against…
