TJ L'Heureux

Phoenix

Writer at Phoenix New Times

Staff Writer @phoenixnewtimes | featured in @AP, @CodaStory, @CronkiteNews | MA Investigative Journalism @cronkite_asu

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Articles

Not so fast: Federal judge saves Oak Flat from mining company, for now

5 days ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

A huge mining company has to keep its hands off the holy Apache land of Oak Flat… for now. On Friday afternoon, a federal judge ruled that the decade-long battle over the federally-owned land roughly 70 miles east of Phoenix — and its 40 billion pounds of copper — will be for the Supreme Court to decide. That hits the brakes on a planned transfer of the land to Resolution Copper, a company owned by British-Australian mining megacorporations Rio Tinto and BHP.
Trulieve workers nab Arizona’s first union contract for weed growers

6 days ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

Wednesday night, workers at Trulieve’s notoriously odoriferous Magnolia production facility in Phoenix near Interstate 10 approved a three-year union contract, becoming the first cannabis cultivators in state history to get one. Other weed workers have secured union deals, but to this point, they’ve all been point-of-purchase employees, not weed growers.
Oak Flat supporters run 70 miles to court for hearing on Apache holy land

6 days ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

They started atop the mountain in Oak Flat on Sunday, roughly 70 miles east of Phoenix. There were nearly a dozen of them, members of the group Apache Stronghold, and by the end of the day, they’d covered 40 miles on foot. They slept, arose and then headed off again, running another 25 miles toward the heart of the Valley. By Tuesday evening, they’d trekked another 12 miles to reach the Sandra Day O’Connor U.S. Courthouse in downtown Phoenix.
EDM party MELT Fest changes location and date. Here are the details

1 week ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

Organizers of MELT Fest, a sustainability-focused party featuring mostly local Phoenix artists, announced just a week before the festival was scheduled to begin on May 9 that it would be moved to September. It was the second consecutive week that organizers announced a major change.
It’s cheaper to own a home than rent in these 3 Phoenix suburbs

1 week ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

In Arizona, the rent is too damn high — or so that’s what a newly released report indicates. Rent in the Grand Canyon State has skyrocketed in the past five years at a rate nearly triple the national average, according to a “state of rent” report released by Rentec Direct, a software platform used by landlords and property managers. The company used rent payment data from about 350,000 tenants nationwide to craft its report, finding that rent increased an average of 31% nationwide since 2019.
How a Scottsdale lab got into the business of growing peyote

1 week ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

A batch of scientifically studied peyote — a holy “medicine” to many Indigenous peoples — was about to go up in smoke. It was February 2024, and the Scottsdale Research Institute had just received concerning news. Morning Star Conservancy, an Indigenous group dedicated to preserving the ritual use of peyote, had warned the institute that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency was about to set flame to 2,000 peyote cacti that had been neglected by a lab at Sul Ross State University in Texas.
Danelle Plaza, Tempe’s ‘last cool place,’ prepares for a new era

1 week ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

If the Danelle Project has been a spinning wheel of art and expression, Rob Moore has been the hub for nearly a decade. The nonprofit group aims to raise awareness about Danelle Plaza’s artistic and commercial legacy, and under Moore’s vision and leadership, the space at Southern and Mill avenues went from a derelict eyesore to what some artists and residents have dubbed “the last cool place in Tempe” — a grassroots-organized haven for local artists of all experience and skill levels.
GOP official loses it, publicly blames bereaved man for mom’s heat death

1 week ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

Last year, 602 people died of heat-related causes in Maricopa County. Kate Korman, an 82-year-old woman who lived in Sun City West, was one of them. Korman died May 19, six days after APS shut off her power due to nonpayment. Temperatures in the days leading up to her death were in the high 90s and even reached 100, contributing to Korman becoming one of 13 people who died of heat-related causes who lacked working air conditioning last year.
Cop who was fired for killing a man throwing rocks sues Phoenix

1 week ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

A year ago, the Phoenix Police Department did something it has rarely done — it fired a cop who shot and killed a civilian. Now that officer is suing the department over his dismissal, claiming his civil rights were violated. Jesse Johnson was one of three Phoenix police officers involved in the killing of 34-year-old Ali Osman, a Somali refugee who was allegedly throwing rocks at them. Osman’s death generated outrage in Phoenix and led to a $5.5 million settlement from the city.
MELT Fest EDM party announces 11th-hour move to Playa Ponderosa

2 weeks ago | phoenixnewtimes.com | TJ L'Heureux

Organizers of MELT Fest, a sustainability-focused party featuring mostly local Phoenix artists, has announced that it will relocate its festivities from Arcosanti to Playa Ponderosa, a beloved forest camping and event space just outside Flagstaff known for hosting June Jam. The announcement came just two weeks before MELT begins on May 9.