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Business leaders: Solution to dire worker shortage is immigration reform
More than a year after its passage, the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act is creating jobs all over the country, including in Arizona — but the United States doesn’t have enough skilled workers to fill those jobs. In hopes of easing the workforce shortage, more than 120 business leaders across the country, including nine from […]
Kari Lake says it doesn’t matter if she lied about Stephen Richer in bid to toss suit out
Failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake says that it doesn’t matter whether the statements she made about Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer are false and his defamation lawsuit against her should be tossed out of court because of a state law curtailing public officials from suing their critics. In a motion filed on Monday, Lake […]
GOP lawmakers say Phoenix is breaking state law over firearm donation to Ukraine
The city of Phoenix wants to donate hundreds of unclaimed firearms to the National Police of Ukraine, but two Republican state representatives say the city’s plan is illegal and have filed a complaint that will force Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to investigate. Rep. Quang Nguyen, of Prescott Valley, and Rep. Selina Bliss, of Prescott, […]
Tom Horne, Kris Mayes clash over dual-language teaching in AZ classrooms
The fight between Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne and Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes over whether Arizona schools can use dual-language models to teach students who are learning English continued this week, with Horne again threatening to take legal action. In an Aug. 14 letter to Mayes’ legal counsel, Horne accused the Avondale, […]
Arizona Republican Party’s fundraising abysmal in run up to pivotal 2024 election
The Arizona Republican Party’s fundraising efforts so far this year have been dismal, with Democrats outpacing them seven to one, leaving political operatives wondering if the party’s new chairman can right the ship in time to mount any sort of meaningful campaign in 2024. The party took in only $165,293 in contributions so far in […]
AZ Freedom Caucus & GOP leaders bitterly divided over transportation tax vote
The ultra-conservative Arizona Freedom Caucus has cultivated a highly visual and vocal presence at the Capitol in its first legislative session since launching last summer. But the caucus, which seemed to drive many of the policy priorities of the one-vote GOP majorities in both the state House of Representatives and Senate, ended the session with […]
Maricopa County Prop 400 transportation tax election set for November 2024
Maricopa County voters will get to decide whether to extend a half-cent tax to fund highways, roads and public transportation, now that Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the Proposition 400 bill. The Prop. 400 bill, formally named Senate Bill 1102, passed through both chambers of the state legislature on Monday with bipartisan support. But that was […]
Legislature passes Prop. 400 bill, ends lengthy session
In a defeat to the Arizona Legislature’s conservative Freedom Caucus, both chambers on Monday passed a bill that will ask voters in Maricopa County to continue Proposition 400, a half-cent transportation tax that funds roads and public transportation. The passage of Senate Bill 1102, which will put Prop. 400 to the voters for the third […]
‘QAnon Shaman’s’ sentence will not be vacated
Jacob Angeli Chansley, better known as the “QAnon Shaman” will not see his guilty plea or his sentence vacated for his part in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection, a federal judge decided Thursday. Chansley, who grew up in the Valley and now lives in North Phoenix, was sentenced in November 2021 to 41 months […]
Kari Lake asks Supreme Court to overturn her loss, let her skip the appeals process
Kari Lake has — once again — appealed to the Arizona Supreme Court in her bid to overturn her 17,000-vote loss last year that has so far been rejected at every turn because she has failed to produce evidence backing up her bombastic claims of fraud and vote-rigging. Lake on Friday petitioned the state’s high […]
Runbeck: We did not use AI in 2022 signature review
Even as court challenges to last year’s election results continue to fail and candidates gear up for another election in Arizona, a Republican-led legislative committee continues to give credence to 2022 election conspiracy theories. An attempt by that panel, the Arizona House of Representatives’ Municipal Oversight and Elections Committee, to use the state’s public records […]
AG agrees that law banning filming police is unconstitutional: settlement pending
An Arizona law that banned filming police in certain circumstances will be blocked permanently through a settlement agreement between media organizations and civil rights advocates and Attorney General Kris Mayes. The law, which was approved last year by the state legislature and signed by then-Gov. Doug Ducey via House Bill 2319, has been temporarily blocked […]