'As an actor, it's shaky ground: Joaquin Phoenix

PHOENIX — The elementary school teacher died and a man is injured after a head-on collision in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon.

The crash took place between 33rd and Grand avenues. Phoenix Fire said that a 24-year-old man was taken to a hospital in serious condition.

Crash investigators found that the man was driving a 2019 Toyota Camry and turning on Weldon Avenue to go south on Grand when he crashed with the woman who was heading north on the 2008 Ford Fusion.

The woman was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. Police have identified her as 25-year-old Heather Began.

The Littleton Elementary School District said that on Sunday Began was in her second year of first-grade teaching at the Estrella Vista STEM Academy. She graduated from the University of Eastern Illinois and moved to Arizona.

The district said it was bringing "plans together to support the community."

"It is with a heavy heart that we report the death of Ms. Heather Began, a first-class teacher at the Estrella Vista STEM Academy. Ms. Began involved in a fatal car crash yesterday afternoon. The school expresses its sympathy to all who knew her both in and out of the Littleton Area," the district said in an e-mailed statement.

Police do state that impairment could be a factor in this incident. The investigation is ongoing. Traffic on Grand Avenue was opened between 33rd to 35th Avenues. The place is now being reopened.

A man died while in Phoenix police custody on Sunday morning, when cops responded to a call to fight at a convenience store in the West Valley.

Officers say they received a report that a 49-year-old man was "pushing customers acting erratically and making paradoxical comments." At one stage, police said he locked the store's front doors with customers and staff inside.

"The victims were able to escape unharmed, and the police came in contact with the suspect said Sgt. Vince Lewis, Phoenix Police Spokesman, in a Sunday statement

The police came to Circle K at 51st Avenue and McDowell Road at about 5:45 a.m. The police said the man initially resisted arrest but was ultimately taken into custody.

When seated in the patrol car, the police said the man had started to hit his head inside the vehicle Police asked the Phoenix Fire Department to respond due to its actions and physical signs."

"While he was being checked, he was not responding and was removed from the patrol vehicle," Lewis said. The man who was not named by the police until his of kin was informed was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

No police or customers are injured. The officers involved wear body cameras and the investigation is ongoing, Lewis added.

"You're a mysterious man, will you agree?"

So the talk-show host Jimmy Kimmel questioned his guest, Joaquin Phoenix, during Tuesday night's session of "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"But an actor could be observed at any given moment. Phoenix is known for his off-screen ambiguity almost as much as he is for his on-screen volatility, and it is often difficult to determine when he is, or is not, sincere. For proof, we need only point to the interaction between the two men that took place later in the episode, after Kimmel had played what he believed to be the exclusive outlet of Phoenix's latest film, "Joker."

The clip said to have been courtesy of director Todd Phillips, consisted of Phoenix in the clown makeup of his character, taunting filmmaker Lawrence Sher for "constantly whispering" during filming. At one point, the actor seems to respond to Sher's comment about him acting like a diva, saying, "This isn't even an apology. Cher, really? She's a musician, actress, actress, fashion icon.

Phoenix shifted to his chair and laughed nervously at the clip, telling Kimmel, "Yeah, look, sometimes movies get severe because you are a lot of people in a small space, and now you're trying to find something that can make you feel intense. Well, that was supposed to be private. I'm a little embarrassed. "Kimmel's cracking remarks about what Phoenix said in the video only intensified the embarrassment of the situation and after hitting YouTube the next morning, the show came round.

Good news for all those who suffered the anxiety of second hand: the outbreak of Phoenix was fake! His reps revealed to The Wrap that it was recorded as a comedy, which also proves to us that Phoenix is a great actor and that Kimmel, who seemed suspiciously okay with the palpable annoyance of his guest, is not. 

Those familiar with the antics of Phoenix could recall a similar incident that occurred over a decade ago. Sporting sunglasses and a hardy beard, Phoenix featured on a channel of "Late Show With David Letterman" on February 2009 and informed the presenter in a slurred speech that he was dabbling to jump-start a rap profession. 

"UNITED IN CHRIST A CALL TO PRAYER," reads a peculiar flyer that announces the Christian vigil and reveals Phoenix Chief Jeri Williams and other policemen with their heads bowed and their hands folded. The police-themed vigil, allegedly starring Chief Williams, was scheduled to be conducted outside the Phoenix City Council Chambers on Friday, October 4.

But the event has been postponed since the American Civil Liberties Union in Arizona argued that the Constitution prohibits government agencies from holding such prayer services. The newsletter promoting the event indicates that this is not the first Phoenix police-led prayer vigil, but the sixth.

The event is being promoted and organized by the BridgeBuilders International Leadership Network, a Glendale-based organization whose mission is to "promote God's honoring relationships that mobilize the body of Christ."

BridgeBuilders ' website is packed with advertisement posts such as "Pray for Our President in Turbulent Times" and "Will Kavanaugh Verify to the Supreme Court? How to Hope!"

Since September 20, the flyer and the event have been shared on Facebook, the MailChimp newsletter and the City of Phoenix Employees for Christ website.

"BridgeBuilders, Phoenix Police Officers, their families, and our partners invite you to join us in the 6th Annual Phoenix PD Prayer Watch," the newsletter says. "It is a night dedicated to praying for those who sacrifice so much to keep us safe on the streets and in our homes."

"Please make plans to be part of this powerful evening of prayer leading by Phoenix police officers," said the bulletin signed by BridgeBuilders founder Hal Sacks. "Together we publish strong vows of the covenant, calling upon God to safeguard and defend our law enforcement staff in Phoenix and across our state."

PHOENIX — Phoenix police say they have caught a telemarketing scam ring that has scammed thousands of senior citizens out of more than $40 million. Thirteen people had been arrested. In 2014, the investigation began with a 75-year-old woman from Iowa.

Phoenix Police Detectives of Commercial Crimes The details say that the woman was scammed by a criminal organization working as a telemarketing company or named WyzeMoney for thousands of dollars.

The telemarketer convinced her to invest money in the company, promising no risk and guaranteeing money back.

Phoenix police officers, collaborating with the Arizona Attorney General's Office and the Better Business Bureau, identified new victims who had lodged a complaint.

The victims, who numbered in thousands, ranged from the late 60s to the 90s and lived out of the state. The total monetary damage is estimated at more than $40 million.

"We identified 9,000 victims," said Jeri Williams, Chief of Police for Phoenix. "We estimate that $40 million was stolen from these vulnerable adults, all of whom were over 65 years of age and some of whom were people with disabilities."

WyzeMoney, which has changed names many times, has set up call centers in different cities within Maricopa County.

Police say the company made a range of fake promises to persuade victims to provide their debit or credit card numbers over the phone. The victims were promised thousands of dollars in returns as well as a 100% money-back guarantee, making it seem risk-free.

Police continued to investigate the allegations, and the suspects were identified and interviewed in 2016, which shut down their operation.

Furthermore, the Federal Trade Commission partnered with the investigators and recognized and recovered about $7 million of the illegally obtained money for transfer to the victims.

PHOENIX – When deciding whether to relocate to one of several cities in the Phoenix metro area or to the city of Phoenix, the United States' 6th largest city by population, one top consideration might be the worker's commute time to Phoenix. Nearly 90 % of the Phoenix metro area workforce drives a car to work, resulting in those rush hour stop-and-go traffic crawls. Accordingly, a new study released by Commercial Cafe ranks the top ten cities near Phoenix for commuters to consider residing in. In addition to commute times, the study also examined the local housing market, crime rates and school ratings. The best ten commuter cities chosen on the list are all 5 to 50 miles away from Phoenix.

In the study, commute times were weighted at 40 %, and home affordability was weighted at 30. School ratings and crime rates were both weighted at fifteen percent. The top total score possible per city in the study is 100. Drivers from the top ten cities listed in the study spend an average of 29 minutes driving to their Phoenix jobs, and the longest and shortest commute times were separated by a twenty-minute margin. Driving times were calculated using data from Google driving directions and were based on a Monday 8 a.m. arrival in Phoenix.

Housing values were calculated from 2013-2017 census estimates of median housing costs. Crime rates were gathered from FBI statistics on violent crimes per 100,000 residents. Only cities with a violent crime rate less than the average for the state were considered. School ratings were derived in August 2019 from average scores by town data on GreatSchools.org. Only cities in 2017 census estimation with a population of at least 10,000 residents were considered for the study's top 10 lists:

1. Scottsdale – The city had a total of 83.1 points out of 100, and had the shortest commute time of around twenty minutes to Phoenix. Scottsdale came in third place of the list's top ten for its schools, including its BASIS Scottsdale high school, which was recently named the nation's third best high school by U.S. News & World Report. However, Scottsdale fell behind 8 of the other 9 cities when it came to house values, with $433,500 as the median home price.

2. Peoria – Earning a cumulative score of 79.4 of 100, Peoria scored 36.4 of forty points in commute time and 26.8 of a possible 30 points in housing. It earned 6.7 for its crime rate and 9.5 for its schools out of a possible fifteen points each.

A man who fell between a running Metro light rail train and a bus platform in Midtown on Wednesday is expected to survive a leg injury.

The person was waiting to board the Red Line Southbound train at Wheeler Street station about 2 p.m. When he stepped into the moving train, sliding into the inch-wide gap between the platform and the station, the Houston firefighters reported. He was pushed on his foot, and he was pulled along the platform by the train until it came to a stop.

He suffered serious leg injuries, but was quickly pulled from under the train car by firefighters. He was transferred to Ben Taub Hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, said the firefighters. While the southbound red line was temporarily shut down, people were sighted on and off another southbound train at around 2:45 p.m.

Houston's murders in 2019 were outstripping the number of murders in 2018 and 2017, police claim.

As of Wednesday, Houston Police Department Homicide Detectives solved the murders of 210 people compared with 207 in 2018 and 186 in 2017. This is a rise of around 1.5 percent over 2018 and almost 13 percent since 2017.

The spike was due to the fact that the FBI figures reported by the Houston Chronicle indicate that total crime is down, but violent crime is still on the rise. Of the 210 people killed so far in 2019, 129 were convicted by the police.

Just recently, retired Houston police officer Gerald Goines was charged with two counts of murder for conducting a failed raid on 7915 Hardin St. that killed Dennis Tuttle and Rh

In August, the Texas Department of Public Safety arrested more than 2,000 vehicles driving 85 miles per hour or higher, with the highest speed reported in the state of Texas, according to data obtained through the Department's records request.

The Dodge Charger was the vehicle manufacturer and the version that was most checked by the DPS Troopers, records show. Four of the top 20 biggest speedboats are driving the Dodge Charger in August in DPS Region 2A, which covers Harris, Chambers, Brazoria, and Galveston counties.

The top speeder was operating the Lexus SC on U.S. 290 in Harris County and allegedly was going 124 mph in a 60 mph zone, data showed.

The second-fastest driver was halted in the Chevrolet Corvette and pulled at 124 mph in a 65 mph zone.

In total, 2,145 drivers were caught by DPS in August, records indicate.

A man who fell between a running Metro light rail train and a bus platform in Midtown on Wednesday is expected to survive a leg injury.

The person was waiting to board the Red Line Southbound train at Wheeler Street station about 2 p.m. When he stepped into the moving train, sliding into the inch-wide gap between the platform and the station, the Houston firefighters reported. He was pushed on his foot, and he was pulled along the platform by the train until it came to a stop.

He suffered serious leg injuries, but was quickly pulled from under the train car by firefighters. He was transferred to Ben Taub Hospital for treatment and is expected to survive, said the firefighters. While the southbound red line was temporarily shut down, people were sighted on and off another southbound train at around 2:45 p.m.

Houston's murders in 2019 were outstripping the number of murders in 2018 and 2017, police claim.

As of Wednesday, Houston Police Department Homicide Detectives solved the murders of 210 people compared with 207 in 2018 and 186 in 2017. This is a rise of around 1.5 percent over 2018 and almost 13 percent since 2017.

The spike was due to the fact that the FBI figures reported by the Houston Chronicle indicate that total crime is down, but violent crime is still on the rise. Of the 210 people killed so far in 2019, 129 were convicted by the police.

Just recently, retired Houston police officer Gerald Goines was charged with two counts of murder for conducting a failed raid on 7915 Hardin St. that killed Dennis Tuttle and Rh

In August, the Texas Department of Public Safety arrested more than 2,000 vehicles driving 85 miles per hour or higher, with the highest speed reported in the state of Texas, according to data obtained through the Department's records request.

The Dodge Charger was the vehicle manufacturer and the version that was most checked by the DPS Troopers, records show. Four of the top 20 biggest speedboats are driving the Dodge Charger in August in DPS Region 2A, which covers Harris, Chambers, Brazoria, and Galveston counties.

The top speeder was operating the Lexus SC on U.S. 290 in Harris County and allegedly was going 124 mph in a 60 mph zone, data showed.

The second-fastest driver was halted in the Chevrolet Corvette and pulled at 124 mph in a 65 mph zone.

In total, 2,145 drivers were caught by DPS in August, records indicate.