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The hacker group LulzSec released what it said are sensitive documents from the Arizona Department of Public Safety today to protest the agency's "racial-profiling anti-immigrant" policies.

"We are releasing hundreds of private intelligence bulletins, training manuals, personal e-mail correspondence, names, phone numbers, addresses and passwords belonging to Arizona law enforcement," the group said in a statement on its site. "We are targeting AZDPS specifically because we are against SB1070 and the racial-profiling anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona."

SB1070 makes it a crime to be in Arizona without documentation proving United States residency. … Read more

A fire broke out today at an Intel chip plant in Arizona, injuring seven people. However, the chipmaker said it would have no impact on production.

The fire was in a "support building" next to an Intel fabrication facility--referred to as a "fab," Intel spokesman Bill Calder said in a response to an e-mail query. Among the seven injuries, one was serious, Calder said.

Five people went to the hospital, and the others were treated and released, according to an update from Intel late this evening.

The support area contains solvents used as part of the … Read more

You know they do things differently in Arizona.

They like to be forward-thinking, proactive, and pure in their motivations.

So who could not be impressed with Sheriff Joe Arpaio who has decided to add a new, public-spirited, and entertaining element to Maricopa County Sheriff's Office Web site?

Arpaio, whose county covers Phoenix and a number of suburbs, decided it would be amusing to have anyone who visits the site and eyeballs the gallery of mug shots to choose a "Mug Shot of the Day."

In a nation in which "Dancing with the Stars" and "… Read more

Among the scores of fabless chip companies and product design houses in Silicon Valley, Intel is a standout. It's an American high-tech company that not only creates but builds some of the most sophisticated tech products in the world here. That contrasts with others, like Apple and Hewlett-Packard, that consign virtually all product manufacturing and assembly abroad.

Last week, I asked Intel co-founder Andy Grove how the chipmaker became one of the last, great high-tech manufacturing giants in the U.S. and why many Silicon Valley icons haven't done the same. Grove was Intel's chairman from May 1997 to May 2005 and served as chief executive from 1987 to 1998.

Intel's manufacturing strategy was underscored by a recent announcement to invest as much as $8 billion in new factories and facilities in the U.S. That's in addition to the roughly $34 billion it has already invested in its U.S. factories, including investment in a joint flash chip manufacturing venture with Micron Technology.

Grove says Intel has been making, or "fabbing," chips in the U.S. since its founding in 1968--for practical reasons, mind you. "That was not a result of us wanting to be patriotic. Operationally that was the most logical thing for us to do," he said, in a phone interview.

Why, historically, has it been practical for Intel? "The people doing the technology manufacturing were highly trained, highly disciplined staff. And there was a lot of desire to not start manufacturing operations willy-nilly all over the place," he said. … Read more

They tell me you're never alone in Arizona. Somebody, somewhere, is always there to keep an eye on you, just in case you might be the sort of person who might do, or simple be, something undesirable.

So those of an equitable state, which may even include some from within the state of Arizona, might find their breakfast muffin slipping down more slowly when I reveal that Arizona has this week made a huge stand against excessive surveillance.

Has the state decided that, after all, it might not be wise to stop every car containing Lopez look-alikes (that's … Read more

TERRA, Utah--It seems like Road Trip 2009 has still just started, but the odometer hit 2,000 miles as I was driving through this tiny hamlet.

Terra is near the entrance to the Dugway Proving Grounds, where I was on my way to visit the Air Force's 388th Range Squadron and its Utah Test & Training Center--the largest bombing range in the country,

Since I hit 1,000 miles just a few days ago, I've done quite a few things and, obviously, covered a lot of ground in the Audi Q7 TDI clean diesel SUV I'm road-testing. … Read more

MOAB, Utah--Two years ago, as I made my way through the Southwest on Road Trip 2007, I traveled through Bryce and Zion National Parks in Utah, as well as the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and Grand Canyon West, and Canyon de Chelly in Arizona. At the time, I thought that collection of otherworldly rock formations was the most incredible I'd ever see.

But now, a week-and-a-half into Road Trip 2009, which is taking me on a route to the north of where I was two years ago, I'm not sure. I spent the last two days … Read more

Some utilities are thinking small when it comes to solar power.

Utility Arizona Public Service on Monday submitted a proposal to install and own solar power systems on customers' rooftops in Flagstaff. Customers will pay today's electricity and hot water heating rates for the energy those systems produce over a 20-year period.

Duke Energy last Thursday gained approval for a $50 million project in North Carolina with a similar model. The utility will install and own solar electric panels at 100 to 400 locations and pay a rental fee to property owners.

By owning the systems and the power … Read more

Nissan recently announced a partnership with the city governments of the Tucson Metro Area and the Pima Association of Governments (PAG), a nonprofit metropolitan planning organization in the Tucson area, to help them prepare for the anticipated wave of electric cars.

Most of the market research to plan and implement an EV-charging network will be done by ECOtality, a clean-electric transportation and technology company in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Part of Nissan's role will be to help PAG acquire electric vehicles. Nissan has been promising to come out with an all-electric car in late 2010, although it won't say what it is. Nissan has been adamant that the electric vehicle will not be the prototype electric Cube that was displayed in car shows last year, but it has committed that the car will be able to get up to 100 miles on a single charge. The five-passenger compact car will be about the size of a Sentra.

The new electric car will be equipped to handle the next-generation of 440-volt fast-charging stations, says Nissan spokesperson Katherine Zachary. The fast-charging stations are able to charge Nissan's electric car in 26 minutes and will be critical to extending transportation corridors and easing consumer fears of being stranded for hours with a drained battery. … Read more