The Rev. Al Sharpton descended upon Phoenix Friday, taking the bombastic Mayor Joe Arpaio up on his challenge for a throw-down over immigration in the Valley of the Sun. Several months ago, the civil rights leader threatened to shine the spotlight on Arpaio, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Department and the racial-profiling of Mexican Americans, which Sharpton said is both racist and un-American. Calling Sharpton a publicity-seeking, outside interloper, Arpaio dared Sharpton to “bring his circus to town.” Said Sharpton on Friday, “We didn’t come to start trouble; we came to stop trouble.” “Let me make this clear – we are not here about Sheriff Joe as much as we’re here about citizen Jose,” Sharpton told a crowd at Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church in Phoenix. Read more.

Charles Barkley won’t be seen in T-mobile ads. The T-mobile cell company has announced that it won’t be airing those entertaining Charles Barkley-Dwyane Wade commercials, at least for the time being. Barkley, who was also suspended from his NBA commentating job for the TNT network, is still suffering backlash from his New Year’s Eve drunk-driving arrest in Arizona. T-mobile says the Barkley ads will be replaced by general company promo until further notice. After his arrest, the former NBA great told police he ran a stop sign while hurrying to get oral sex from a woman passenger.

The Judge puts a leash on DMX. It’s clear that the judge doesn’t trust DMX. The rapper was back in an Arizona slammer Monday after being extradited from Florida to stand trial on multiple charges. The judge slapped him with a $120,000 cash bond, saying the oft-AWOL DMX (whose real name is Earl Simmons) is a flight risk. The judge issued a bench warrant for Simmons’ arrest earlier this month after he missed a scheduled appearance in Maricopa County Court to answer charges of animal cruelty, drug possession, and ID theft. He was arrested at his home near Miami. Police had been tipped off about his whereabouts.

DMX misses his Arizona court date.

  DMX is in a Florida hospital after he was rushed to an emergency room early this week for what TMZ.com describes as “fear of a stroke.” X missed a scheduled Tuesday court appearance in Arizona, due to the health scare. “I don’t know the cause, but I know that he’s still hospitalized and that they admitted him and won’t be releasing him for a couple more days,” lawyer Charles Kozelka tells MTV News. The multi-platinum-selling rapper was free on bond after being extradited from a Florida jail to Arizona where he faces multiple felony charges.

 Accused murdered doesn’t seem crazy, judge says

Attorneys for Brian Nichols, the 36-year-old Atlanta man accused of killing his judge, a court reporter and two law-enforcement officials during a daring courthouse escape three years ago, does seem as insane as he wants everybody to believe, the presiding judge said Tuesday. Superior Court Judge James Bodiford did not hear expert psychiatric testimony, but he said he also hasn’t heard anything that would lead him to accept Nichols’ claims that his diminished mental state is the reason for his testimony. Nichols had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. The fact that defense witness Vincent Velazquez, an Atlanta Police detective, testified that Nichols was not only coherent but clear and articulate following the alleged murders helped undermine the insanity argument “that Nichols had suffered from a delusional compulsion at the time of the killings,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. “He was very up front and very detailed and meticulous in telling me what happened,” Velazquez said. “It was one of the easiest interviews I’ve ever done.” 

Anti-affirmative action measure dies in its tracks. Advocates of an Arizona initiative aimed at doing away with affirmative action programs have finally given up the fight – at least for now. Last week, the head of the Arizona Civil Rights Initiative – which critics say is deceptively labeled – told the East Valley Tribune that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Edward Burke gave supporters until this week to prove that a major chunk of the signatures they had accumulated to force a ballot initiative were not bogus. Max McPhail had claimed that he had garnered more than enough signatures from registered voters, and that Proposition 104 had earned a rightful spot on the November ballot. He apparently no longer thinks so. “Because of the upcoming primary, Maricopa County said we could have only two computers to check 4,000 signatures,” he said. “It takes about six minutes to check each signature. It’s not humanly possible to check all the remaining signatures (the county declared invalid) to present on Tuesday.” But the fight isn’t completely over, McPhail says. He says that a new ballot initiative will be introduced in the 2010 election. If passed, the measure would prohibit the consideration of race or gender in any state hirings or college admissions. However, state Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Phoenix) says the initiative won’t pass now or ever because she’ll work to expose it for the divisive program it is. “When they understand it’s going to eliminate programs that help, for instance, young Latina women prepare for college, like the Mother-Daughter Hispanic Program, they don’t want to eliminate those programs,” she said.

DMX gets sweet plea deal on Miami drug charges. After cursing at his recent bond hearing and saying he wasn’t coming back to a Florida court on pending drug charges, rapper DMX has been proved correct. X’s lawyer Brad Cohen, who once competed on Donald Trump’s show “The Apprentice,” got the hook-up: a deal letting the rapper plead guilty to attempted purchases of cocaine and weed, in exchange for time already served in jail and a $483 fine. If he’s not returned to Arizona on a bench warrant within 15 days, the performer is free. Not a bad look after Judge Lawrence Schwartz warned Cohen about X’s mouth; the rapper had muttered, “I ain’t coming back on f–king Oct. 3,” the date Schwartz set after denying bond. “You need to tell your client that I’ve heard the ‘F’ word before,” Schwartz told Cohen. “…He can send it to me anytime he wants to come in, if that’s what makes him happy, but he certainly didn’t help his stature any with what he mumbled as he left the podium.” Apparently, something did help the rapper’s “stature” – he could’ve faced six years in prison, if convicted.

Tyrese Gibson: “Racing is what I do…for real.” Maybe the adrenaline from shooting scenes in his current flick simply hasn’t worn off, but singer-actor Tyrese shows little concern about admitting to an illegal pastime: street racing. The former Guess jeans model says he’s challenged his Death Race co-star Jason Statham to a contest off the set. Nevermind the danger, possible jail time or less-than-exemplary image, the singer says he literally wants to take it to the streets with Statham: “He’s like this big rock star, but let’s take it to the freeway for real. Let’s go get us a high-speed speeding ticket. Let’s go dip in and out of the traffic. So let’s go make it happen. I’m calling him out, and I’m gonna keep calling him out until he accepts my offer because I’m ready. Racing is what I do in the streets for real.” Keep an eye out for Tyrese at a courthouse near you.