Arizona judge orders Western Union to cooperate in smuggling investigations

VALLEY– A Maricopa County judge has ordered “Western Union to produce data relating to wire transactions that provide leads in human and drug smuggling investigations,” Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard announced on Monday.

Maricopa County Superior Court Judge James H. Keppel issued the order, according to a news release from Goddard’s office.

“The Attorney General’s Office, Department of Public Safety, Phoenix Police Department and Arizona Department of Financial Institutions have collected money transmitter data to further their investigations of organized coyote organizations operating in Arizona for several years,” the release stated.

Western Union had refused to obey a subpoena that was part of this program and when they did so, “the Attorney General sought a court order compelling the company to produce the requested data,” Goddard’s office reported. Keppel ruled that the Attorney

General “has statutory authority to request this data and that the information sought is relevant to the investigation of racketeering offenses,” the AG’s office stated.

Goddard was quoted as stating, “The data we’ve collected has led to hundreds of arrests of coyotes and money launderers who support human and drug smuggling operations.”

Housing starts drop sharply in August

WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction of new homes dropped a bigger‑than‑expected 6 percent in August, the Commerce Department reported Tuesday.

The department said that builders started work on 1.665 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate last month.

It was the fifth decline in the past six months and provided further evidence that the housing sector is slowing sharply after five record‑breaking years.

Wholesale price rise in August

WASHINGTON (AP)–Prices at the wholesale level edged up modestly in August, providing further evidence that inflation pressures are easing.

The Labor Department reported that wholesale prices edged up 0.1 percent last month as gasoline prices fell, helping offset a jump in food costs. Outside of energy and food, core inflation was even better behaved, falling by 0.4 percent after a 0.3 percent decline in July.

It marked the first back‑to‑back declines in core inflation in more than three years.