A report that appeared this morning in MyFoxPhoenix.com relates the news that part of Mill was shut down by a “suspicious package” that local bomb squad detonated.

The report is extremely short,

Police responded to the intersection of 7th St and Mill Ave after reports of an unattended package near the statues, next to the parking garage.

They closed off the area and the package was detonated by the bomb squad.

After further investigation, it was determined that the package was not a threat.

Fortunately, it also means that there was no danger—however, it might be nice to know what they blew up. After all, once the bomb squad blew up someone’s luggage and shut down the light rail (smoldering underwear everywhere.)

At least we now know that Mil Ave is open again and ASU is safe.

People who frequent the ASU campus and the surrounding area may have noticed that there have been a certain number of changes to our fair city. One of the most striking is that the church on prominent display on the corner of Forest and University suddenly stands alone amidst a dusty hole. The fuming crater is all that’s left of the All Saints Catholic Newman Center—a religious community center and a small church, which has stood there for years.

The church on the corner is a historic building, referred to by Newman Center staff as the “Old Church.” The chapel itself is claimed to be the oldest of its kind in the valley and doesn’t seem to have its own name—actually, it does have a name, “Old St. Mary’s Church” but the name is never used and so it fell out of common usage—thus why it’s referred to as the Old Church. In a way, it’s rather endearing that Tempe has the culture to support a nameless church in our midst, rising from the riven landscape.

According to sources briefly available at the All Saints Catholic Newman Center website the heavy demolition began March 8, 2011 and completed March 18. Early estimates put the expectation that construction would begin March 21—obviously this has not happened as it is already mid-July 2011 and no motion has been made on the site.

It’s hard to tell exactly what’s holding up the construction efforts. Looking through their bulletins and constant calls for donations and charity it seems that perhaps there’s been stagnancy in fundraising. Not that fundraising has stopped, but it certainly has not been able to keep up with expenses piling up as the planning and demolition progressed. In fact, during the demolition plans the discovery of asbestos in the original materials that needed to be removed safely (an expensive prospect.)

The run up to the intended construction project has seen a strange history that has been chipping away at the original funds and left the coffers somewhat bare. Include in this the housing crash of 2007—and the loss of potential investors for the church—that lead to the loss of a huge pledge from a company who wanted to build a dormitory to the tune of $250k. Also, a significant percentage of the original fundraising had come through as pledges from the community and in the wake of the crash people lost jobs or found themselves unable to keep to their pledges.

Further, a political shake up with church management changing the staffing of the Newman Center from Dominican leadership to a different faction has caused a certain amount of animosity from the community. As a result, people familiarly connected with Dominican leadership backed out.

Between the economy and internal politics, and the beginning of the construction, this has thoroughly exhausted their finances and serves as a roadblock to starting as immediately as they hoped.

[Pictured above is the “Old Church” the only remaining structure still standing in the lot that once harbored the All Saints Catholic Newman Center.  As a structure, the Old St. Mary’s Church has been in Tempe for over 100 years. The new chapel and community center are expected to be built up around it without affecting the old city architecture.]

Officially announcing the most recent semi-comical work added to the Vexations arsenal: Snatch and Grab (or How Brother Jed Met Vex Harrow.)

This story continues on immediately after the events of Hadaly’s Day Out from Black Hat Magick (although the site is still offline.) It also shows some of the differences between the storytelling across both of these properties; while they cross universes, Elaine Mercer and Vex Harrow have fundamentally diametric approaches to problems.

People probably recognize Brother Jed as a vituperative Christian mall preacher who visits campuses who uses insults, false shame, sexist remarks, and generally bald-faced hateful opinions to gather crowds and preach his message. Of course, in Vex Harrow’s universe activities such as this come with consequences and those can sometimes be quite damming and damaging.

This from the woman who discovered a portal to Hell in the middle of a lane at a local bowling alley.

Read: Snatch and Grab! and while you’re at it check out “Hello Cory” and No, I Do Not Want Fries With That.

It’s time to announce the first of two stories that involve a particular celebrity who visits Arizona State University time to time and his appearance in Mill Avenue Vexations and Black Hat Magick; although, not precisely in that order. This upcoming Monday the 9th, a short story of three parts will begin appearing on the Black Hat Magick site that makes a narrative of something that happened earlier this year on ASU campus.

I’m tentatively calling this story Hadaly’s Day Out (feat. Brother Jed) and hopefully it will bring some light and amusement to those who already suffer this celebrity’s presence on the campus.

Immediately after that story is published, a Mill Avenue Vexations short-story and extension of that self-same story will publish here. I will not be announcing its name until it’s time for it’s publication. And you don’t need to read one to enjoy the other—although they’re probably both pretty fun.

As we will get to see Elaine, Frog, Hadaly, Vex, and Nathan in their natural habitat—surrounded by high weirdness.

Be ready, visit Black Hag Magick and catch up now.