Author

Caitlin Sievers

Caitlin Sievers

Caitlin joined the Arizona Mirror in 2022 with almost 10 years of experience as a reporter and editor, holding local government leaders accountable from newsrooms across the West and Midwest. She's won statewide awards in Nebraska, Indiana and Wisconsin for reporting, photography and commentary.

Parents want answers on how ESA money is spent

By: - September 21, 2023

Parents whose children go to public schools and those whose kids attend private schools through Arizona’s universal school voucher program want more transparency about how the program uses tax money to pay student tuition at private schools.  The Empowerment Scholarship Account program has existed since 2011, originally created to help special education students, those attending […]

AG says Phoenix firearm donation to Ukraine is illegal 

By: - September 20, 2023

The City of Phoenix’s donation of more than 500 firearms to the National Police of Ukraine last month was illegal, according to Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.  The city already transferred 500-600 unclaimed firearms to Gruelle, a private company based in Philadelphia, which was set to deliver those firearms — worth around $200,000 — to […]

Kari Lake appeals again, accuses Maricopa County of ‘engineered Election Day chaos’

By: - September 19, 2023

More than 10 months after she lost the 2022 race for Arizona governor, Republican Kari Lake is still fighting the results of the election, telling an appeals court that Maricopa County “engineered the Election Day chaos.” Lake and her attorneys have yet to stop their quest to overturn the results of the election that she […]

‘You think that you’re dumb’: Graduates of AZ’s English immersion model say it was traumatizing

By: - September 18, 2023

As the Arizona Department of Education continues its fight to teach English language learners through full immersion, the department’s deputy chief said that she’s never heard that the learning model contributes to mental health issues for students.  But several former students who learned English that way told the Arizona Mirror that their experience with full […]

There are no rules for school vans because the council tasked with making them has no members

By: - September 14, 2023

Who is ensuring that the people driving vans full of K-12 students in Arizona are properly qualified? Not the Student Transportation Advisory Council, which is tasked with making recommendations for the use of those vans, because the council effectively doesn’t exist — and hasn’t for at least a year.  When lawmakers passed a bill last […]

Judge: Is the mere potential for hacking enough to ban voting machines? 

By: - September 12, 2023

A federal appeals court judge on Tuesday failed to buy into some of Kari Lake’s favorite talking points, including that she actually won the 2022 election for governor and that hand-counting ballots in elections is more accurate and less prone to error than counting with tabulators.  A three-judge panel for the 9th Circuit Court of […]

GOP senators accuse University of Arizona nursing school of ‘grooming’ children

By: - September 8, 2023

Arizona Senate Republicans are accusing the University of Arizona school of nursing of “stealing the innocence of young children” by instructing doctoral candidates on how to discuss gender identity issues with patients. In a Friday morning statement, the Republicans accused the school of “catering to a radical left agenda” after learning that students at the […]

Will the 14th Amendment bar Trump from the Arizona ballot in 2024?

By: - September 8, 2023

Lawsuits have been filed in three states so far to attempt to keep former President Donald Trump off the ballot in the 2024 presidential election, but at this point, it’s unclear if a suit filed in Arizona will follow.  The suits, including one filed in neighboring Colorado earlier this week, argue that a provision of […]

AZ Republicans say Big Tech bias against conservatives costs them elections

By: - September 5, 2023

Kari Lake told the small crowd gathered in a Arizona House of Representative meeting room on Monday that Google has “more power than any entity in the world when it comes to choosing our leaders here in America,” just before state Rep. Alexander Kolodin declared that he sees modern America as a “nascent totalitarian society.” […]

Republicans clash over presidential primary election plans

By: - September 1, 2023

The Arizona Republican Party is refusing to call a meeting to consider opting out of the state-run 2024 Presidential Preference Election, outraging the Maricopa County Republican Party, which last week called at the AZGOP to run its own presidential primary election.  The deadline for parties to opt out of the state-run election is 5 p.m […]

Maricopa County GOP wants the cash-strapped AZGOP to fund a costly presidential primary

By: - August 30, 2023

The Arizona Republican Party is basically broke, but that’s not stopping the Maricopa County GOP from attempting to force it to run a hand-count presidential primary election this spring with a price tag of up to $15 million.  The Maricopa County Republican Committee voted on Saturday to send a resolution to the state party asking […]

Auditors: MVD lack of oversight may put Arizonans in danger

By: - August 29, 2023

The Arizona Department of Transportation’s Motor Vehicle Division is potentially putting the public — including school children — at risk by not providing the proper oversight to contractors that have issued licenses to people who were not qualified.  Following two audits by the Arizona Auditor General, one looking at ADOT’s oversight of third-party companies that […]