News
Liz Harris claims she didn’t do anything wrong by inviting person to air wild conspiracy theory
Republican Rep. Liz Harris doesn’t believe that any “direct criminal allegations” were made during a committee meeting she organized wherein a speaker accused the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and a laundry list of local and state officials of being involved in an illicit money laundering scheme orchestrated by the Sinaloa drug cartel. […]
Trump indicted by Manhattan grand jury, according to reports
WASHINGTON — A New York criminal grand jury has indicted former President Donald Trump, according to multiple news reports Thursday night citing persons familiar with the case. A former president has never been indicted before. Trump is also a Republican candidate in the 2024 race for the presidency. The New York Times and Washington Post […]
Hobbs vetoes bills punishing businesses for denying vaccine exemptions, public camping
Gov. Katie Hobbs on Thursday vetoed Republican-backed bills that would have fined businesses that didn’t grant their employees religious exemptions from vaccines and made it illegal for the unhoused to camp in public spaces. The vaccine exemption would have required all companies in Arizona to allow employees — including those who work in health care […]
U.S. judge rules insurers don’t have to cover many free preventive health services
WASHINGTON — Health insurance companies may no longer need to cover a wide swath of preventive health care services that were required by the 2010 Affordable Care Act, under a federal judge’s ruling issued Thursday in Texas. The decision could affect millions of Americans’ access to no-cost preventive health care — including pregnancy-related care, cancer […]
Bernie Sanders confronts former Starbucks CEO over union-busting allegations
WASHINGTON — Democratic senators at a hearing on Wednesday grilled the former CEO of Starbucks over allegations that the giant coffee company intimidated, harassed and fired workers who tried to form unions. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont independent and former presidential candidate who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, focused on Starbucks’ […]
Dueling bills aim to allow the AZ School for the Deaf and Blind to remain open
Competing bills to allow the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind to remain open were both heard in the state Senate on Wednesday as parents, teachers and former students pushed for lawmakers to keep the school open. The school, which serves some 2,100 students at campuses in Phoenix and Tucson, was created the same […]
U.S. Senate clears measure to undo Biden WOTUS rule on wetlands
WASHINGTON — Both Republican and Democratic members of the U.S. Senate voted Wednesday to repeal the Biden administration’s intensely contested expansion of what qualifies as wetlands that the federal government can regulate. The Senate approved a resolution, sponsored by West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito, that would revoke the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of […]
Postpartum Medicaid expansion is the first step to maternal health equity, experts say
Arkansas has the highest maternal mortality rate in the United States: 43.5 deaths from 2018 to 2021 for every 100,000 live births, according to the latest federal data. But the state only extends postpartum Medicaid to 60 days after childbirth. A bill by Arkansas Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, aims to change that and would seek […]
Hobbs’ press secretary resigns after outrage over violent tweet
A spokeswoman for Gov. Katie Hobbs has resigned after Republican backlash erupted when she tweeted an image implying violence against transphobes. On Monday, a shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville left three children and three adults dead. Later that night Josselyn Berry, Hobbs’ press secretary, tweeted a gif of a woman wielding two […]
State election officials at U.S. Senate hearing discuss threats to workers, call for funding
WASHINGTON — Election officials on Tuesday detailed to the U.S. Senate Rules Committee how their states countered threats to election workers and worked to combat misinformation and disinformation during the 2022 midterm election. With the 2024 presidential election closely approaching, Senate Rules Committee Chair Sen. Amy Klobuchar said she was concerned about threats to election […]
Anti-trans school bathroom bill advances with GOP backing
Republican lawmakers are charging ahead with their attacks on transgender Arizonans, despite veto promises from Gov. Katie Hobbs, unanimously backing a measure on Tuesday that calls for separate school facilities for trans students. The House Education Committee voted 6-4, with only Republicans in favor, to pass Senate Bill 1040, which forces schools to provide separate […]
Fontes asks court to order Finchem to pay $75,000 for bringing ‘groundless’ election challenge
Secretary of State Adrian Fontes wants Mark Finchem, the Republican Fontes defeated in last year’s election, to pay nearly $75,000 in attorney’s fees for filing what a judge said was a “groundless” lawsuit to overturn the election. Finchem lost by more than 120,000 votes, but still filed an election contest in which the conspiracy-friendly former […]