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Committee praises charter school board, recommends 10-year continuance
The Arizona Senate and House education committees have put their backing behind the Arizona State Board for Charter Schools to continue its work regulating charter schools for another 10 years. Like many other state boards, the charter school board must be renewed by the legislature at least once every decade, so the committees on Wednesday […]
Task force: Pay teachers more and provide support or they’ll keep quitting
Teachers in Arizona are leaving the profession because of low pay, a lack of support from administrators and burnout. In September, a month or so into the current school year, at least 2,229 teaching positions in Arizona were vacant and another 3,997 were occupied by teachers who weren’t fully credentialed. Gov. Katie Hobbs’ Educator Retention […]
Cochise County supervisors face felony charges for delay in certifying 2022 election results
Two Cochise County supervisors have been charged with felonies for delaying the certification of last November’s election results. Republicans Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd were both indicted Tuesday in Maricopa County Superior Court on charges of conspiracy and interference with an election officer. After most of the Republicans running for major state offices lost their races […]
Mohave County votes against illegally hand counting the 2024 election, again
Mohave County will not hand count ballots in its 2024 elections, its board of supervisors decided Monday, after hours of arguing over whether a hand count was legal or even possible. The board voted 3-2 to throw out the idea, with Chairman Travis Lingenfelter and Supervisors Buster Johnson and Jean Bishop voting against. This is […]
The State Bar of Arizona is investigating Kari Lake’s election challenge attorneys
The two attorneys who represented Kari Lake in her failed attempt to overturn the results of Arizona’s 2022 gubernatorial election are being investigated by the State Bar of Arizona. Bryan Blehm, a Scottsdale divorce lawyer, and Kurt Olsen, an employment attorney from Washington, D.C., have represented Lake in multiple court cases over the past year. […]
More questions than answers on school vouchers as a legislative oversight committee wraps up
Many questions about how Arizona’s school voucher system will impact funding for public schools and the larger state budget remain unanswered after the likely final meeting of a temporary legislative oversight committee. But parents who receive government funding to send their children to private schools or homeschool them through the state’s Empowerment Scholarship Account program […]
Arizona legislative Democrats are divided on Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The anger, despair, sorrow and division that the escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas has caused is deeply personal to Democratic lawmakers in Arizona who lament the loss of innocent lives but disagree on how to move forward. Rep. Athena Salman, of Tempe, whose father came to the U.S from Palestine, led the […]
Republicans who have spent years lying about ‘rigged’ elections now need your vote to win
She told you the 2020 election was rigged. She claimed that thousands of “illegal ballots” counted in 2022 meant that your vote didn’t matter. And now she wants you to vote for her in 2024. Kari Lake, the leading Republican candidate for U.S. senator from Arizona, spent the last year fighting unsuccessful court battles to […]
Hobbs gives $2M to election efforts, orders departments to ramp up voter registration
Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday announced she was dedicating $2.3 million to improve Arizona elections, and she issued a trio of executive orders that are aimed at bolstering elections in the Grand Canyon State. The $2.3 million from the federal American Rescue Plan Act will go toward paying for some of the 16 proposals that […]
Hundreds of vacancies stymie the work of many state boards and commissions
Boards and commissions meant to create rules to keep kids safe, and to provide insight and oversight on things like tax codes and Native American Health Care are completely devoid of members thanks to former Gov. Doug Ducey and current Gov. Katie Hobbs. The 210 boards and commissions to which the governor appoints members inform […]
Hobbs skips out on final election task force meeting
Gov. Katie Hobbs’ Bipartisan Election Task Force, which she chairs, voted Tuesday to approve numerous voting and election change proposals to recommend to the legislature. But the governor didn’t stick around for the vote, instead leaving a member of her team to vote in her place. Republican state Sen. Ken Bennett, of Prescott, expressed frustration […]
Club sues to ban unstaffed ballot drop boxes in Arizona
A group dedicated to “taking on the establishment and the radical left” is trying to get unstaffed ballot drop boxes banned in Arizona. The Arizona Free Enterprise Club, along with Yavapai County resident Mary Kay Ruwette, filed a suit in Superior Court on Oct. 19, challenging Secretary of State Adrian Fontes over the use of […]