Law & Government
Arizona abortion access initiative to start signature gathering
The initiative seeking to make abortion a fundamental right in the Grand Canyon state has officially launched the signature gathering effort necessary to land on the 2024 ballot. Reproductive rights advocates gathered Thursday to urge Arizonans to support the campaign for the Arizona Abortion Access Act, which aims to enshrine the procedure as a right […]
Parents want answers on how ESA money is spent
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
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 […]
Arizona seniors are cheering for lower health care costs
Thanks to the work of President Joe Biden and Congress, seniors are finally starting to get the lower drug costs they deserve. August 16 marked the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act, which lowers prescription drug and health coverage costs for millions of Americans. And finally, after 20 years of waiting, Arizona seniors are […]
There are no rules for school vans because the council tasked with making them has no members
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 […]
Surge in Maricopa County evictions continues, with no sign of slowing
Maricopa County is continuing to see a record number of eviction filings, and August was the third-busiest month county courts have ever seen. More than 7,600 evictions were filed in August, a figure beaten only by August and September 2005. Last month trailed September 2005 by six eviction filings. “We are going straight ahead towards […]
A men’s movement takes reins in a nationwide quest to end abortion
Wendell Shrock doesn’t believe in condoms. “We should leave the uterus to God,” the street preacher from Tennessee tells States Newsroom, in front of an abortion clinic outside of Atlanta, mid-morning in late July. Sweat drips from his cowboy hat into his salt-and-pepper beard that stretches halfway down his red-plaid shirt. The retired police officer […]
AZGOP’s senator of the year: 9/11 ‘never added up’ and was an ‘inside job’
On the 22nd anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Tucson Republican state Sen. Justine Wadsack shared a fake transcript from United Flight 93 and liked multiple posts on social media alluding to the events of the day being a “false flag” and an “inside job.” “It was an inside job, a false flag, to […]
Abortion advocates appeal rejected injunction of 2021 fetal abnormality abortion ban
A panel of federal judges on Monday heard arguments in the case to block a 2021 law that criminalizes doctors who perform abortions of fetuses with genetic abnormalities. The ban was previously put on hold by an injunction shortly after it went into effect two years ago, but the U.S. Supreme Court later ruled to […]
A group of far-right Christian lawmakers aims to merge church and state
LYNCHBURG, Va. – In the harshly lit breakfast bar of a Fairfield Inn, a dozen men and women sit hunched over microwaved eggs and steaming cups of coffee. The guests are a distinctive group: a collection of legislators and local government officials with one unifying purpose. Among them are an Arizona House member, a North Carolina […]
Hobbs, Horne spar over federal COVID aid for private schools
Nearly $27 million in federal pandemic aid for private schools is in limbo while the Arizona Department of Education and the Governor’s Office spar over who has the authority to spend it. On Friday, Gov. Katie Hobbs sent a letter to Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, accusing him of dragging his feet when it […]
Arizona Senate plans to sue Biden to block the Grand Canyon national monument
Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen announced Friday that he is giving the “greenlight” to the Arizona Senate to file a lawsuit against the Biden administration for last month’s designation of a national monument near the Grand Canyon, which he said was an unconstitutional “land grab.” “President Biden’s attempt to cloak his unconstitutional land grab in […]