Reporters 'dog' Arpaio today, but for the wrong reasons

I've got to give credit to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. He knows news. More importantly (for him), he knows how to manipulate news.

Clearly, something bad was going to break for the sheriff on Wednesday afternoon.

I knew this because his office put out a press release yesterday about Mickey, the dog.

The title of the release: Mickey the Pitbull Freed from Life Sentence in Jail – Headed for Undisclosed Secure Location.

Arpaio became a champion of the pit bull who attacked a 4-year-old Gilbert boy last year, saving him (the dog, not the boy) from the death penalty by agreeing to let him serve out his life in jail.

On Tuesday, Arpaio announced that the dog is moving because of health problems.

"Mickey will leave his jailhouse cell around 2 p.m. on Wednesday," the release said. "He will be brought down to the courthouse breezeway area where Sheriff Joe Arpaio and John Schill will answer questions."

I'm guessing reporters were all over that dog of a story -- yes, azcentral, too -- leading me to ponder what else was happening around 2 p.m. on Wednesday.

Yeah, even the guys who are defending Arpaio in the racial-profiling lawsuit aren't defending him.

Can you guess which story will wind up on the evening news?