“Ryan distinguished himself among an impressive group of candidates for our GM position,” said Lon Babby, president of basketball operations with the Suns. “His natural leadership and communication skills will serve the Suns well. And, his prodigious work ethic and ability to identify talent will enable us to take full advantage of the 10 draft choices, including six in the first round, that we have over the next three years. We welcome his championship pedigree to our organization.”

McDonough began his NBA career in 2003 as a special assistant to basketball operations with the Boston Celtics. In that position, McDonough was heavily involved in scouting work.

Most recently McDonough served as the assistant general manager of the Boston Celtics. According to the Suns, his experience in draft evaluation and scouting will make him perfect for the organization, considering the team’s six first-round draft picks over the next three years.

According to a report from Phoenix CBS station CBS 5, 62-year-old Eugene ‘Gino’ Maraventano used a 14-inch kitchen knife to stab his wife while she slept. He then knocked on his son’s bedroom door and sliced his son’s throat when he answered the door. He called 911 four days after murdering his family and admitted to the crime.

Maraventano told police that he had been planning to kill his wife and then commit suicide. He stated that he tried slicing his wrists and taping a plastic bag around his head, but failed in his suicide attempts.

Maraventano’s wife, Janet, had been sick and tests for cancer had recently come back negative. The man told police he was afraid that he had given his wife a sexually transmitted infection, such as HIV, through his contact with prostitutes.

As for murdering his son, Maraventano told police that he didn’t think his son, who was unemployed, could get by on his own.

CBS 5 – KPHO

(Image courtesy Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office)

The committee, which is made up of Republican legislators, county sheriffs, and state department officials, was created by the Arizona legislature in 2010. The goal of the committee was to make recommendations to the governor about border security, but it has not yet provided any recommendations. It has been fundraising for the border fence project, though, and it has raised over $273,000. The committee is speaking with construction companies about beginning the project and possibly using inmate labor.

Though the committee has not made any recommendations, it does hear testimony from border security experts and has visited the border twice, according to the Republic. The committee has also set up a rudimentary website that has a presentation on the proposed border fence, as well as a page where donations can be made. Al Melvin, Arizona state senator and co-chair of the committee, also stars in a YouTube video introduction for the committee, in which he asks for donations to the border fence fund:

Arizona is combating internet trolling, albeit in an inadvertent and dangerous fashion, with Arizona House Bill 2549. For anyone who understands how freedom of speech works in conjunction with the internet; this bill absolutely reeks. Here’s the clause everyone is up in arms over…

“It is unlawful for any person, with intent to terrify, intimidate, threaten, harass, annoy or offend, to use any electronic or digital device and use any obscene, lewd or profane language or suggest any lewd or lascivious act, or threaten to inflict physical harm to the person or property of any person.”

When you read it in this simple form, you begin scratching your head and wonder how the Arizona congress could be so clueless. It’s the wording of “any electronic or digital device” which is worrisome. If you begin to dig deeper it’s pretty obvious where things went awry.

The link I posted above leads you to a PDF of the bill in its purest form, where you see that the original bill was constructed to prevent harassment by use of the telephone. The clause I posted above begins to look a whole lot different when you’re talking about the law protecting against telephone harassment.

I don’t think anyone wants to support the right for someone to call another person directly and harass them, or annoy them. However, the wording leaves a lot to the imagination even when dealing with a phone conversation. I think if the lawmakers left out the words “annoy or offend”, there probably wouldn’t be much to make over this.

For those who are well versed on first amendment rights, internet policy, and communication methods utilized online, this bill represents the worst kind of slippery slope. If someone wanted to be creative they could use this bill as ammunition for anything they didn’t like being said.

Imagine if I posted an update on Facebook stating, “President Obama is a pedantic old fart, and hates the United States“, and then someone comes along and tells me, “What a ridiculously stupid comment, why are you acting so foolish? Stop spewing hatred“… Um, excuse me, this person has just annoyed me and I don’t like it. Oh, we both happen to live in Arizona, where HB 2549 states that I have a right not to be annoyed by someone using an electronic or digital device for communication. I guess it’s time to call the police. Technically, the law would be on my side. A judge would probably laugh me out of court, but I’d still have enough to bring about charges.

This is a ridiculous scenario of course, but that’s the point. The language of law is important, as it can open up ridiculous situations and allow laws which were once drafted to protect us be turned into a joke. The bill has made it through both houses of the Arizona congress, and only has Governor Brewer to stop it. Please, just take a second to reword some of the language.

No one likes the invisible man, but it doesn’t mean he deserves to be shot in the face.

Allegedly, the comedian ran out of the medication he was taking, and began to feel chest pains, prompting him to seek treatment at an Arizona hospital. According to a representative of the entertainer, “Gallagher suffered a mild heart attack today at a hospital in Sedona due to complications from his previous heart attack. He is awake and resting comfortably now.”

Gallagher was initially hospitalized for his current medical condition on March 14, after collapsing just before a performance. He was then placed in a medically induced coma while recovering.

Gallagher had recently claimed he was set to retire from live performances after 32 years, calling his trade ‘baby-sitting people who can’t handle alcohol.’

If your MySpace page defines you as a ‘wild debaucher’, you should probably be a college student and not executive director of Arizona’s state fingerprinting agency.

An AP report on Dennis Seavers said his MySpace profile contained some questionable content, where he stated his less than ‘for the public good’ outlook on life:

Seavers’ MySpace.com web page said he lived “a quiet daytime life as a state employee” but that his friends knew him “as wild debauchery, interested in self-promotion and enrichment. And by enrichment, I mean money. None of this self-esteem crap. Though afflicted by dipsomania, I stroll through crowds under the guise of sobriety. I volunteer as a Big Brother, only to indoctrinate children in the gothic splendors of lawlessness.”

“It’s exactly the opposite of me as a person,” Seavers said in the report. “If I had known that the public would see it, I never would have done it.”

IBM recently announced a partnership with the University of Arizona’s business school aimed at offering a New Media curriculum to students. One of the major components of this curriculum will likely focus on the concept of podcasting as a communication resource.

In an effort to probe deeper into the importance of podcasting and new media technologies, I had the opportunity to converse with Dr. Kathleen P. King, Director of the Fordham RETC Center for Professional Development and professor of Adult Education and Human Resource Development at Fordham University’s Graduate School of Education.

Dr. King comments on the podcasting phenomenon, “If students are studying communications in the specific efforts to understand newest digital media, this would be an interesting area of concentration to explore.”

“However, it would be important to include trends in digital media and communications. Podcasting is one of the current forms that New Media is taking at the given time.”

Acknowledging the importance of podcasting on the social media landscape, however, is only the beginning of the process. One must also understand that successful, informative, and meaningful podcasts are intricately woven together with the right mixture of technique and content.

Dr. King elaborates, “While technical aspects of “how-to” of course are important in such a program because they have the potential to really provide us with some leading edge developers, the technology will constantly change with time, even week by week.”

“However, the myriad of options for developing content even within this one medium needs to be explored tremendously. For example, if you carefully comb through podcasts and listen to them, you can pull apart the ideas and see strands of ways that people address content in creative ways.”

When the understanding of podcasting significance and the exploration of content come together in a harmonious way, the end result is significant content. That statement may seem a bit melodramatic, but the medium of podcasting offers an unparalleled platform for expression in today’s digital landscape.

Dr. King considers the possibilities, “On an even more conceptual level though I believe the depths of sociological, multicultural and global relational dynamics and impact are real questions and issues that can be discussed and explored.”

“We are spanning the globe in milliseconds with our podcasts. We are bringing people around the globe into partnerships and relationships in podcasting and broadcasting and Web 2.0 New Media development that would otherwise be so much further separated by time and space.”

The ultimate significance of podcasting lies in its ability to give voice to the “average” person. Traditional media models are losing ground to social networking communities, and the commentary of popular podcasters is becoming more persuasive to public opinion than expensive marketing campaigns.

Dr. King summarizes these concepts nicely, “Podcasting and New Media is a nexus of innovation, technology and empowerment: these are generative elements.”

So if you’re college undergraduate with a nose for journalism and a penchant for new media, you might check out what IBM and the University of Arizona are doing with this new project.

Maybe your show will be the next big hit on the Internet.

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Joe is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest ebusiness news.

So, while reading the papers, I look at it from a PR perspective and more often than not, I just sit there shaking my head and wondering what the thought process was for the person speaking.

So, this past week a few gems popped out at me.

From the Arizona Republic came an interesting story about homeowners who have sold their homes at what they hope is the top of the market, moved into an apartment, and are looking for the market to correct itself. It’s an interesting investment strategy, but two things jumped out at me.

Kurt Nishimura is taking a calculated ride on Arizona’s real estate wave. He sold his home in the Willo neighborhood, believing its value has topped out, and is renting an apartment in the Arcadia area for a year, hoping to buy something after the wave has crested.

Kurt, however, is the vice president of acquisitions for Pivotal Group. Pivotal Group is a “strategically sophisticated investment and development company.” Yes, they are in the business of developing residential communities (among other high-quality real estate assets). Okay, so following this thought … your VP of acquisitions tells a local paper that he thinks the market is over valued and is getting out? Must have been a fun day in the office that following day.

Here’s a great PR lesson: make sure that only qualified and media trained executives speak to the media. There was no reason Kurt should have been contacted … unless he’s going out on his own. There’s a reason we have PR people: to create messaging. I am pretty sure … this was not on message.

From USA Today, about the lawsuit against Nickelodeon and Kelloggs because, well, kids are fat comes a great quote.

“Going out on a limb here, perhaps her (Carlson’s) kids want these foods not because of ads, but because they’re children,” said Dan Mindus, spokesman for the Center for Consumer Freedom.

Now, just a guess, but that was probably not the message that was meant to get out: so, your kids are fat not because there are Kellogg’s products with Nickelodeon characters, but, hey, they don’t exercise and you are a crappy parent who folds when they whine for certain products.

I have to admit – I agree with the guy. What happened to the Presidential Fitness Tests where we would get the certificates in front of the whole school? Yes, the pudgy or non-athletic types would feel bad, but we (yes, I was one of the non-athletic types) would work harder the next year to not feel so ashamed. There’s nothing wrong with peer pressure like that.

But, man, I am sure that was not the message that was supposed to get out. Funny, but not on message.

Also, from USA Today … Amazon is working with Bill Maher. Yes, I know everyone loves podcasting and video podcasting and how streaming videos are great … but what’s the upsell here? Commercials at the beginning of each show? Why not just sponsor KSSX or Rocketboom?

“This is the next step,” says Kathy Savitt, Amazon’s vice president for strategic communications. “The mission or common thread through all of these series is to offer innovative and interactive opportunities for customers to discover … new films, music and books.”

Okay, and it gets people to buy films, music and books … how? Maybe I’m being dense, but from a PR standpoint it seems like another instance of stunt PR. How about making the shopping experience better? That might work as well.

Jeremy Pepper is the CEO and founder of POP! Public Relations, a public relations firm based in Arizona, USA.

He authors the popular Musings from POP! Public Relations blog which offers Jeremy’s opinions and views – on public relations, publicity and other things.

It’s a typical product story – first rumor, then confirmation – from Google, and Google itself put out a sorta response on its blog – since Google doesn’t do PR.

But, the interesting thing is that it’s not really news if you read media other than blogs, or if you have the (mis)fortune of living in Phoenix, and reading the tepid Arizona Republic (a good example of how to make a bad paper worse is to get bought by Gannett) and the very good Phoenix Business Journal. Why? Well, when it was announced that Google was going to set up operations in Phoenix, it was noted that

Sources tell The Business Journal that search engine titan Google (NASDAQ: GOOG) is the company in question and that Valley plans will likely include operations related to online auctions and expanded Internet and technology services.

Go PBJ! They got the story before the press conference, and had a nice scoop that Google was going to be launching an online auction division, something that was barely picked up anywhere. But, hey, now the Base story is out there, and the reporter that might have broken the story will get no recognition.

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Jeremy Pepper is the CEO and founder of POP! Public Relations, a public relations firm based in Arizona, USA.

He authors the popular Musings from POP! Public Relations blog which offers Jeremy’s opinions and views – on public relations, publicity and other things.

Arizona mayors rose from their beds with visions of property and payroll taxes in their heads, as the Arizona Republic wrote Chandler, Mesa, and Tempe are all vying for Google’s attentions.

The prospect of Silicon Valley meeting East Valley bears important significance for civic leaders, beyond the allure of fattened city coffers. Google has achieved a cachet with its name that few brands rival in the world.

Early consideration would have to be given to Tempe, home of Arizona State University. “Tempe is about high-tech, bio-tech, nano-tech business,” Mayor Hugh Hallman said in the report.

Chandler has Loop 101, a high-tech corridor with a solid telecom and power infrastructure that Chandler’s mayor calls “probably one of the hottest locations in the state if not the southwest United States.”

Mesa, like the other two cities, isn’t giving anything away with regards to the targeted marketing pitch it will make to Google. The report noted the prospect of light rail transportation could be a factor, to help future Googlers avoid Phoenix’s rush-hour traffic clutter.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.