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The Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office is investigating the cause of a Wednesday evening fire that appeared to be intentionally set at the Fountain Hills Presbyterian Church.

The fire, which broke out at a wooden play set at the church at 13001 Fountain Hills Blvd., jumped from the swing set to the awning of a church classroom building nearby, said Fountain Hills spokeswoman Katie Decker. The fire caused $75,000 in damage.

The fire was extinguished about 10 p.m. by crews from the Rural/Metro and Scottsdale fire departments, according to Decker.

The fire extended into the church’s classroom building, affecting several classrooms and caused extensive damage to the roof,and smoke damage throughout the classrooms, according to Decker. No one was injured from the fire, and the church sanctuary was not a total loss, she said.

No one at the church answered the phone for comment.

Two people were killed in a rollover collision on State Route 87 south of Payson Saturday night.

Arizona Department of Public Safety officers said the passenger vehicle had been heading south on SR 87 before it ran off the road at 7:45 p.m. about 10 miles south of Payson. Officers said the vehicle rolled down an embankment and landed 50 feet below the roadway.

A third person in the vehicle was taken to a local hospital with injuries. Officers did not immediately release the victims’ identities and were still investigating the cause of collision late Saturday.

A fire broke out tonight about 9:30 p.m. at Bloom, a Paradise Valley restaurant, fire officials said. The small grease fire was contained to the kitchen of the eatery at 8877 N. Scottsdale Road, said Joe Witt, who dispatches for the Scottsdale Fire Department. There was no word what caused the fire or how much damage was done, Witt said.See below for a map.View Larger Map

Indonesia’s ambassador to the U.S. is scheduled to be in Carefree on Tuesday to talk about his nation’s success in combating terrorism. "Many of the terrorist leaders in the Marriot bombing and Bali attacks have been rounded up and tried," says a flier promoting the event. "And, when Osama bin Laden declared it was the duty of Muslims everywhere to kill Americans, Indonesian clerics condemned the statement." According to the U.S. State Department, the U.S. and Indonesia have a friendly relationship with common goals of peace and security in the region. It should be noted, too, that Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world.The event, which begins at 5:30 p.m. at the Boulders Resort and Spa, is being sponsored by many Valley groups including: Scottsdale Community College, Scottsdale Boomerz and the Fountain Hills Chamber of Commerce. It’s called "Indonesia: A Model for the War on Terror?"

A federal jury in Phoenix has convicted a Paradise Valley man and his California business partner on eight charges related to a pornographic e-mail spam operation.James Schaffer, 41, of Paradise Valley and Jeffrey Kilbride, 41, of Venice, Calif., were found guilty Monday of transporting obscene materials, fraud, money laundering and conspiracy for the operation they started in 2003. The two sent e-mails with links to pornographic Web sites to hundreds of thousands of people, Assistant Attorney General Alice Fischer said. Prosecutors said that every time someone followed a link to a Web site, Schaffer and Kilbride earned a commission. They were paid more than $2 million, which they moved in and out of the country to conceal the proceeds, Fischer said. Witnesses from AOL and the Federal Trade Commission said more than 660,000 complaints were received due to the spam. Sentencing is set for Sept. 24.

A man convicted of breaking into the Paradise Valley home of a prominent doctor last year, tying her up and robbing her was sentenced Friday to 14 years in prison.Robert Medeiros, 44, pleaded guilty last month to kidnapping Dr. Pearl Tang in February 2006. Medeiros tricked the woman, then 84 years old, into letting him into her home, where he hit her, tied her to a chair and stole items from her, police said.Tang lost consciousness, but later awoke and called police. DNA helped police link Medeiros to the scene.Tang was the first Asian-American woman to practice medicine in Arizona, the county attorney

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