News
Criminal justice reform advocates taking aim at AZ’s “truth-in-sentencing” law
A Quaker organization focused on social justice issues that works toward criminal justice reform plans to make a push during the upcoming legislative session to reduce Arizona’s strict sentencing laws. In 1993, a time when tough-on-crime legislation was popular across the country due to decades of soaring crime rates, Arizona passed a “truth in sentencing” […]
Hobbs says she’ll push for transparency as secretary of state
Secretary of state-elect Katie Hobbs said she will push for transparency in campaign finance once she takes office as Arizona’s top elections official.
Arizona is not prepared for the next recession
Pew Charitable Trusts last week issued an analysis that ought to worry the incoming members of the 54th Legislature, which was elected earlier this month and will convene for the first time in January, about the fiscal health of Arizona.
It’s a straight line from the 2011 redistricting fight to Senator Sinema
The road that ended with Kyrsten Sinema winning a seat in the United States Senate began in 2011, as Democrats outmaneuvered Republicans in Arizona’s decennial redistricting process to create the congressional district that served as her stepping stone.
Ducey says tax conformity can wait, but doesn’t close door to special session
Gov. Doug Ducey wouldn’t close the door to a special session this year to conform Arizona’s income tax code the federal code, but said he believes the issue can wait until the legislative session begins in January.
Ducey won’t repudiate election fraud claims
Gov. Doug Ducey said the election is over and the people have spoken, but wouldn’t say whether he believes there was fraud in Arizona’s recently concluded election, a charge that numerous Republicans have made over the past week, though there has been no evidence to support those claims.
Tempe, Phoenix police lack policies on deploying ‘sound cannons’
The Phoenix Police Department recently won city council approval to purchase a device critics call a “sound cannon,” making it the second Valley law enforcement agency, along with the Tempe Police Department, to own the equipment.
Inspections of HUD housing in Arizona on the decline
Of Arizona’s 235 private and public Housing and Urban Development housing projects, only 17 have had inspections this year, according to data published today by ProPublica.
Hobbs doubles lead, poised to win secretary of state race
State Sen. Katie Hobbs is on the cusp of winning the race for secretary of state, which would put a Democrat first in the line of succession to governor, after ballot counts reported Thursday allowed her to more than double her lead over her Republican opponent.
Republicans question Fontes decisions on emergency voting centers
Republicans are crying foul over Democratic Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes’s decision to open five emergency voting centers in the days leading up to the general election, and at least one GOP lawmaker hopes to impose new restrictions on the practice. State law says in-person early voting ends at 5 p.m. on the Friday before […]
Hobbs only loses if something statistically anomalous happens
The race is officially too close to call, and there are roughly 124,000 ballots left to count. But a little bit of math shows me that there is almost no chance for Katie Hobbs to lose her slim, but growing, lead over Steve Gaynor in the race to be secretary of state.
‘Birther’ case against new legislator tossed out of court
A judge ruled Wednesday there’s no legal basis to the claim that representative-elect Raquel Terán is unfit to serve in the Arizona Legislature because she is not a U.S. citizen.