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We caught up with Earl and Mary Rose Wilcox, the power couple who plans to open El Portal Downtown, a new restaurant on ASU's Phoenix campus. 

Mary Rose Wilcox is a longtime elected official who sits on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.  The Wilcox family owns El Portal, a  warehouse district Mexican restaurant that's favored by Phoenix power brokers. 

Look for more details about the deal for El Portal's second location -- and Mary Rose's thoughts on whether she got special treatment -- in Friday's edition of the Phoenix Republic.

Meanwhile, Earl Wilcox, president of the family's firm, Grant Park Enterprises, talked about long term plans for El Portal. Down the line,  the family would like to build a bigger version of  the 701 S. Second Avenue landmark -- on land across the street from the existing restaurant, he said. 

The super-sized El Portal would have more elbow room for customers and bigger banquet space.  The original location could become a market, Wilcox said.

For now, the ASU site is a top priority and plans to build a larger El Portal are "on the back burner," Earl Wilcox said.

El Portal has done incredibly well since he and Mary Rose  opened it nearly a decade ago, Wilcox said, adding that Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean was at the restaurant on Monday.

"When I bought (El Portal) eight years ago, it was just a place for Mary Rose and I to eat,” Wilcox said. “We can't believe what a blessing that it has turned out to be.”

Phoenix took a giant step forward on Thursday, unveiling a new immigration policy that will allow police officers greater discretion to call ICE when dealing with crime suspects.

The policy was endorsed by the people who matter most – the cops on the street. Mark Spencer, head of the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association, called it “a proactive step in right direction,” one he predicted will help the cops fight crime.

Under the old policy – what Spencer calls the “blind-eye policy” --  a person had to have commited a major felony before police could question his or her immigration status. The new order will allow officers to call ICE if they have a reasonable suspicion that a person is in the country illegally and may be involved with criminal activity.

Spencer explains it this way.  Say you have four guys in a car, late at night. None can provide identification and all admit that they’re here illegally. The driver has a concealed weapon. Under the old policy, police could turn over the driver to ICE because it’s a crime for an illegal immigrant to have a  gun. The others would have to be let go because they had commited no crime.

Under the new policy, he says ICE could be called to pick up all four, provided a supervisor agrees, because they could be connected to a crime.

The policy isn’t perfect. For one thing, the cops will have to get permission from their supervisors before they can call ICE.  We trust police officers to know when to shoot people without first calling their supervisors. We trust them to know when to arrest people without first calling their supervisors. But we can't trust them to know when to call ICE without first calling their supervisors?

But as Spencer said, it’s a welcome start here in the city that leads the nation in identity theft and kidnappings.

The city already has experienced a decrease in violent crime in the last year – a 29 percent reduction in vehicle theft and a 10 percent drop in emergency calls even as the population of Phoenix has increased. Spencer attributes the stats to state and local initiatives aimed at combatting illegal immigration. The new policy , he said, should help make the streets safer still.

“When you see proactive legislation, proactive strategies like the sheriff’s department engaging in and now you see a proactive immigrataion policy finally coming through from the Phoenix Police Department, the winner here is the citizens of the city of Phoenix."

Coach Ken Whisenhunt said after today's practice that offensive coordinator Todd Haley is going to call plays in 2008. My story was posted on azcentral.com.

Haley, Whisenhunt said, called a lot of the plays in the latter part of last season. This move fulfills a promise Whisenhunt made when he became head coach, to eventually hand off play-calling duties to Haley.

The Cardinals didn't commit a turnover in a three-day minicamp a few weeks and continued that trend in the first two days of organized team activities.

But the streak came to an end today when linebacker Gerald Hayes tipped a pass from Matt Leinart and linebacker Clark Haggans intercepted. There also was an interception later in the practice.

Five days and seven practices without a turnover was an impressive streak, said coach Ken Whisenhunt. "Now if we can just cut down on the penalties," he said with a smile.

Defensively, here's a look at the depth chart in OTAs:

LE -- Calais Campbell (for Darnell Dockett). Campbell also played with the second team.

NT -- Alan Branch (for the injured Gabe Watson), Keilen Dykes

RE -- Antonio Smith, Kenny Iwebema

WOLB -- Travis LaBoy,  Joe Tafoya (Bertand Berry, injured)

ILB -- Gerald Hayes, David Holloway

ILB -- Karlos Dansby, Matt Stewart

SOLB -- Clark Haggans, Bo Schobel (Chike Okeafor absent)

RCB -- Eric Green, Ralph Brown

LCB -- Rod Hood, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie

SS -- Aaron Francisco, Oliver Celestin (Adrian Wilso injured)

FS -- Antrel Rolle, Matt Ware.

And the offense, with the exception of receivers. I wasn't able to nail those done. It looked like Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston, followed by Early Doucet and Sean Morey. But keep in mind, Anquan Boldin is absent and Jerheme Urban didn't practice because of a foot injury.

LT -- Mike Gandy, Thaddeus Coleman

LG -- Reggie Wells, Carlton Medder

C -- Lyle Sendlein, Scott Peters (Al Johnson, injured)

RG -- Deuce Lutui, Elton Brown

RT -- Levi Brown, Elliott Vallejo

TE -- Ben Patrick, Jerame Tuman (Leonard Pope, injured)

QB -- Matt Leinart, Kurt Warner

RB -- Edgerrin James, Marcel Shipp

FB -- Terrelle Smith, Tim Castille