Republicans continue to oppose extending operations for the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind
Senate Republicans continue to thwart efforts to allow the Arizona School for the Deaf and Blind to operate for more than just the next few years. As senators discussed a bill reauthorizing the board that [...]
Bill allowing lawsuits if schools let trans students use locker room showers advances
Arizona Republicans want to give students free license to sue their schools if they were allowed to use a shower facility where a person of the opposite biological sex was present — even if that [...]
U.S. Supreme Court justices seem skeptical of limits on access to abortion medication
WASHINGTON — The future of medication abortion access in the United States went in front of the U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday, where several justices appeared somewhat skeptical as anti-abortion organizations argued use of [...]
Southern AZ supporters of Affordable Care Act decry latest GOP call for repeal
Until he qualified for Medicare a year ago, Tucsonan James Bier bought his health insurance on the Affordable Care Act’s online marketplace. “I wasn’t working so I didn’t get it through my employer,” Bier said. [...]
One bill to regulate sober living homes advances, while another is rejected
State lawmakers on Thursday rejected a bill to crack down on sober living homes that had already unanimously passed the Senate, opting instead to back a different proposal that is opposed by Democrats. Following hours [...]
Where do Arizona’s congressional Republicans stand on IVF?
This week, lawmakers in Congress once again scrambled to avert a government shutdown, and negotiations opened with a Republican proposal that pushed for a national fetal personhood law — which nearly every GOP Representative from [...]
Congress rushes to approve $1.2 trillion spending package ahead of midnight deadline
WASHINGTON — The U.S. House approved a broadly bipartisan $1.2 trillion spending package Friday, sending the legislation to the Senate ahead of a midnight deadline. Senators have just hours to clear the measure for President [...]
Contraception access is important to all women. And it’s vital to military readiness.
As Women’s History Month heralds our strides in women’s rights, it’s juxtaposed with the present-day challenges that cast a shadow over these achievements. The onslaught of restrictive measures by far-right courts — exemplified by the [...]
GOP bills targeting migrants are ‘anti-business’
Arizona business leaders slammed a GOP bill allowing the state to arrest and deport migrants as “anti-business” and “bad for Arizona,” and called on lawmakers to defeat it. The Republican legislative majority has advanced several [...]
Republicans want to ask voters to ban early voting, put 1,000-person cap on precincts
In an effort to bypass a veto from Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, Republicans want to ask voters to end early voting by mail, sharply limit early voting in person and cap precinct voting locations in [...]
Suit alleging suppression of free speech met with skepticism at U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court seemed skeptical Monday of a lawsuit alleging the federal government colluded with social media companies to suppress the freedom of speech, with a majority of justices across the ideological [...]
Yet again, the AZ legislature hosts a COVID hearing full of misinformation
For the third time in less than a year, Arizona Republican lawmakers listened intently and offered no pushback during a special hearing at the state Senate that was billed as examining the state’s response to [...]
Appeals court weighs implementing Arizona’s trans student athlete ban
GOP legislative leaders and Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne went to court this week to bar two trans girls from playing on school sports teams consistent with their gender identity. Last year, 11-year-old [...]
Will lawmakers tighten regulations on sober living homes in the wake of massive fraud?
Nearly a year after Gov. Katie Hobbs and Attorney General Kris Mayes announced a crackdown on a sprawling Medicaid fraud scheme that preyed on vulnerable Indigenous people across Arizona, state lawmakers are taking steps toward [...]
Arizona leaders have misled the public about the scope of the state’s Medicaid fraud crisis
In the 10 months since Arizona officials announced an investigation into massive Medicaid billing fraud, they’ve maintained the abuse was mostly limited to a small share of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System: behavioral [...]
Solar projects in the Navajo and Hopi nations to electrify homes win federal funding
Two projects in Arizona have been preliminarily selected as part of the U.S. Department of Energy’s funding for community-driven energy projects aimed at lowering energy costs and enhancing energy security in rural and remote communities [...]
Republicans want to make it easier for lawsuits to block ballot initiatives
GOP legislation that passed through the Senate on Monday would ask voters to amend the Arizona Constitution to allow lawsuits against citizen ballot initiatives before the initiative goes to the ballot. The idea is the [...]
Five major takeaways from the Biden budget request
President Joe Biden’s budget request for fiscal 2025 would continue several administration goals to lower costs for most families while raising taxes on the wealthy and corporations, spend on climate initiatives and provide aid to [...]
Involuntary treatment bill highlights sharp divide on how to deal with substance abuse disorder
One Arizona senator helped to involuntarily commit his brother who now refuses to speak to him. Another whose brother has been in and out of treatment and incarceration now works to treat those with opioid [...]
Judge dismisses State Superintendent’s English Language Learner suit
A lawsuit launched by Arizona schools chief Tom Horne last year in the hopes of shutting down dual language instruction across the state was tossed out of court on Friday. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge [...]
Both of these women needed to end their pregnancies. Only one got to do it on her terms.
Jennifer Vollstedt and Ariel Cavanaugh-Okhah have never met, but they are connected by fatal chromosomal abnormalities that affected their wanted pregnancies, and the stress and heartbreak that comes with it. Their experiences of needing to [...]
What to expect in Biden’s State of the Union speech Thursday night
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is set to deliver his State of the Union address Thursday night, with a grueling reelection campaign already fully underway and speaking to a chamber full of Republicans poised to [...]
Five marijuana bills remain after weeks of deliberations
Illustration via Getty Images Arizona legislators introduced more than a dozen bills focused on amending marijuana laws this year, but just five are left standing as lawmakers have passed the midpoint of their annual session. [...]
Five months late, Congress is poised to pass a huge chunk of federal spending
WASHINGTON — Congress is on track to approve a staggering $468 billion in government spending this week, finishing part of the work it was supposed to complete by Oct. 1 — including a big boost [...]
In CPAC speech, Trump predicts ‘losing World War III’ if he is not elected
Former President Donald Trump painted a bleak picture Saturday of what would happen to the United States should voters reelect Joe Biden to the Oval Office in November. The front-runner in the 2024 GOP presidential [...]