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Climate change and extreme weather events are forecast to further reduce water supplies in the American Southwest, and a new futures market could allow water users to recoup losses if the price of water spikes. The futures market is the first of its kind, allowing investors and farmers alike to bet on how much water.

SCOTTSDALE – Consumers will start seeing new “STOP” signs at gift card displays in many Arizona stores, part of an effort to fight a growing and costly fraud in which scammers – often posing as government officials – ask consumers to pay off a debt or penalty through gift cards. Attorney General Mark Brnovich and.

PHOENIX – Blanca Collazo started working as soon as she could. She was approved for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, at 16. She then was hired as a hostess at the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant to help her family with bills and to save for college tuition. She worked long shifts after school.

PHOENIX – Hunger in America is on the rise, putting more pressure on food banks already struggling to keep up with the unprecedented need during the COVID-19 pandemic. St. Mary’s Food Bank, which has been feeding families for more than five decades, has seen the need soar over the past several months, spokesman Jerry Brown.

WASHINGTON – Six Arizona mayors were among hundreds who urged Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill that includes $350 billion in aid for state and local governments who say they are on the front lines of the crisis. Republicans in the House and Senate have said they want to approve COVID-19 relief but.

PHOENIX – As COVID-19 pummels away in Arizona, unemployment in the state dipped slightly in December, with the restaurant and entertainment industries continuing to take the hardest hits. The state unemployment rate was 7.5% last month, compared with 8% in November, putting Arizona among 20 states with the good fortune to post December decreases, according.

PHOENIX – May Tiwamangkala remembers mornings at Perryville Prison west of Phoenix, when the Wildland Fire Crew members began chanting and stomping their feet on concrete to let the rest of the prison know it was 5 a.m. On their training runs, she recalls, one veteran on the all-women crew would shout, “Who are we?”.

LOS ANGELES – Like music venues around the world, the Paramount ballroom has been forced to endure months of limited work, reduced revenue and a forced transition to the digital world – no easy task for the venerable Boyle Heights venue, which is nearly 100 years old and has a legacy of supporting underdog artists..

WASHINGTON – For two months since the election, President Donald Trump has challenged the election of President-elect Joe Biden, but there is no question that in some parts of Washington it will soon be time for Trump to go. The Trump key chains, that is. And Trump mugs. And T-shirts and posters and finger puppets.

PHOENIX – Most of 2020 has been marred by uncertainty. The fickleness of daily routines. The indecision of divided leadership. The precariousness of an American lifeline, sports, as society once knew them. What lies beyond the scope of doubt, however, is that formerly marginalized voices are headed to the podium to ignite tangible, national growth..

On a typical pre-pandemic weekend, the Hector Espino tianguis – or flea market – is teeming with buyers and sellers. But on a recent pandemic weekday, it was all but dead: Most of the roll-up doors were down, and the smattering of shoppers were outnumbered by shopkeepers. Tianguista Benito Encinas was helping a potential customer.

One of five stories in the series, “Hello, Joe: How Biden policies may be felt in Arizona.” WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump entered office pledging to blow up trade deals, and he later imposed tariffs on trading partners around the world – but the biggest threat to Arizona-Mexico trade over the past four years appears.

WASHINGTON – After years of steady declines, enrollment in Affordable Care Act coverage ticked up in Arizona and held steady in the U.S. this year in what one advocate called a “pleasant surprise” after a challenging year. The six-week open enrollment period that ended last Tuesday showed enrollment going from 153,020 in Arizona for coverage.

PHOENIX – Details of Michelangelo’s famous frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, which are all but impossible to see in the Vatican, are right above your head at a new exhibition downtown. Visitors to “Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel: The Exhibition” can view life-size prints of some of the artist’s most famous works spread across 10,000 square feet.

WASHINGTON – The staff at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church in Scottsdale was planning to go ahead with its annual office Christmas party this year – but with social distancing and other COVID-19 precautions in place. As coronavirus cases continue to surge in Arizona and across the country, however, the Rev. Thomas Hallsten and parish.

GILBERT – Nine months since closing down because of COVID-19, the Made With Love Market is back and bringing some much-needed exposure to small businesses in metro Phoenix. Made With Love Market came to be three years ago with the help of Maribeth Suvlette and her business partner, Cody, along with their shared love for.

PHOENIX – At one point Tuesday, cars came through at a rate of one every minute, six lanes across, to get boxes and bags of turkeys, potatoes and canned food from St. Mary’s Food Bank. Members of the National Guard and volunteers in neon-orange vests, all wearing masks or bandanas, loaded up one car trunk.

WASHINGTON – Thanksgiving travel is expected to be down sharply this year because of COVID-19, but as many as 50 million Americans are still expected to travel this week despite pleas from health experts to stay home. And those people who do travel could run into a bewildering array of restrictions when they reach their.

PHOENIX – A slew of high-profile races and Arizona’s new status as a battleground state made Phoenix the top market in the country for television political advertising during this election season, according to a recent report. Those factors, along with the fact that the Phoenix market dominates Arizona as few other large cities do in.

PHOENIX – The pay gap is confoundingly stubborn: On average across the United States, women make 81 cents for every dollar a man makes, with the size of the gap varying based on a woman’s job, family status and race. In Arizona, women fare slightly better than the national data, making 84 cents for every.

WASHINGTON – Arizona’s unemployment rate bounced back up to 6.7% in September, but economists say there may actually be some positives behind what look like negative numbers at first glance. At least one of the reasons for the increased jobless rate is that more than 150,000 people returned to the labor force, which suggests that.

WASHINGTON – In a typical year, there would be nothing unusual about longtime Arizona concert promoter Steve Chilton scrambling all over a venue to prepare for a show. But this is not a typical year. And the concert Chilton is pulling together this weekend is far from typical. “I’ll be on my couch,” he said..

ANAHEIM, California – Guidelines for theme park reopening are coming “very shortly,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in mid-September, but the Magic Kingdom remains closed and Disney fans, laid-off workers and city officials are pleading for tourism’s return to Orange County. Newsom last week pointed to the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic and told reporters the.

LOS ANGELES – Napa Valley is no stranger to natural disasters. Year after year, the world renowned wine region faces flames. In 2019, wind and the Kincade Fire brought smoke and blackouts. In 2018, the County Fire affected a small part of the valley – the same year the enormous Camp Fire devastated other parts.

GLENDALE – A new resort and water park planned for the city’s sports entertainment district can help anchor economic development and keep West Valley residents spending time and money closer to home, city officials and developers said. Officials said Crystal Lagoons Island Resort, scheduled to open two years, is expected to draw Arizonans and tourists.

WASHINGTON – To American Airlines flight attendant Robyn Walters, her co-workers are like family. That made it all the more difficult last weekend when she had to say goodbye to colleagues who were working their last flights before being furloughed. “It’s been absolutely heartbreaking,” Walters said. “They’re being separated from a career they’ve grown to.

President Donald Trump denies it, Arizona Republicans largely ignored it but state Democrats pounced on it – a New York Times report this week that the president paid as little as $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017. “These reports show that Donald Trump is one of the biggest con artists in American.

WASHINGTON – The poverty rate in Arizona fell for the eighth straight year in 2019, to 13.5%, but while advocates welcomed that as “great news” they also cautioned that the state’s economic gains were not shared equally by all Arizonans. Despite the improvements, the Census Bureau numbers show Arizona’s poverty rate remained higher than the.

WASHINGTON – Gilbert resident Nadia Saco bought the home of her dreams this August. But landing it, she said, was a “nightmare.” Saco, 32, and her husband, who spent a year and a half looking for a larger home for their growing family, were outbid on two houses before finally winning a bidding war for.

WASHINGTON – Arizona users of the popular apps TikTok and WeChat brushed off federal government threats Friday to prohibit the platforms, and downplayed concerns that the two products are being used as a tool for Chinese spying. The Commerce Department said Friday that downloads and updates for the two apps would be blocked effective Sunday,.

WASHINGTON – Arizona’s unemployment rate plummeted last month to almost pre-pandemic levels, falling from 10.7% in July to 5.9% in August, according to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While state officials hailed the drop as a sign that the economy is on the rebound, economists warned the new number may reflect.

TEMPE – New technology aims to bridge the gap between social media and the college football recruitment process. Now, more than ever, players across America have easy access to a pathway that may amplify the odds of reaching the next level. Just ask former Chaparral and Sunrise Mountain high school standout Elijah Castro, and he’ll.

Sun Devil Stadium was expected to be a beehive of activity in 2020, a facility buzzing non-stop with football, live concerts, yoga, movies, obstacle courses and food festivals. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a hush to fall over the concrete playground in Tempe, plans are in place to ensure the stadium doesn’t remain completely.

PHOENIX – Ivanka Trump on Wednesday made a case for her father’s reelection, saying he is committed to business deregulation, tax cuts and supporting businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic, and she praised Arizona as a model for its response to the deadly disease. Ivanka Trump spoke at an in-person business roundtable in downtown Phoenix hosted.

WASHINGTON – The Senate on Thursday failed to advance a new COVID-19 relief bill, continuing months of partisan stalemate over a plan while people like Arizona native Koala Infante can only wait and watch. Infante, a flight attendant for United Airlines, joined dozens of other airline workers this week demanding that an extension of aid.

WASHINGTON – Coconino County Supervisor Liz Archuleta urged federal officials Wednesday to honor their commitments to fund rural counties, where increased demand for services from COVID-19 comes “at a time when we are stretched very thin to provide them.” Archuleta joined other county officials from across the country on a National Association of Counties call.

WASHINGTON – Arizona had the highest rate of “housing loss” in the nation, according to a new national study, and that was before what experts called a “tsunami of evictions” that is expected to hit this fall. The report by New America Foundation looked at evictions and foreclosures by county across the country and found.

WASHINGTON – American Airlines told more than 1,300 Phoenix employees in July they were at risk of furlough or layoff this fall, but the company insisted this week that the actual impact on Arizona workers will be smaller. Arizona on Tuesday released a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notice – which companies must file when they.

PHOENIX – For more than three decades, André House just west of downtown has provided food, showers, temporary housing and other services to Arizonans experiencing homelessness or poverty. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of families seeking such services has almost doubled, said Ash Uss, the faith-based nonprofit’s coordinator of advocacy and.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s payroll tax holiday started Tuesday, but for analysts looking at the program, the holiday might as well involve a Secret Santa. No one involved with the program – from the IRS to Arizona business organizations to Washington think tanks – could say how many businesses will actually participate in the.

WASHINGTON – American Airlines’ announcement that it could let go up to 19,000 workers on Oct. 1 has left the airline’s roughly 10,000 employees in Arizona worried, but hopeful the state can avoid the worst of the cuts. The airline has not specified which regions of the country will see the cuts – which American.

This story was supported by the Pulitzer Center. Four months after Congress rushed $4 billion to help the nation’s homeless population cope with the COVID-19 pandemic, most of those funds still have not made their way to local communities, the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism found, and even those with access to the money have.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, joined a chorus of Republicans defending the changes to the Postal Service and accusing Democrats in a sometimes-heated hearing of conspiring to create problems with this fall’s presidential election. “I want to clear up some obvious political disinformation that the majority is putting out,” Gosar said at the House.

WASHINGTON – Spoiled medication and missing rent checks are just some of the problems that Arizonans have seen as a result of recent postal system changes, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema said during a grilling Friday of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy. “Over the past week, my office has heard from over 18,000 Arizonans about the importance of.

PHOENIX – Black-owned businesses were particularly hard-hit when the spread of COVID-19 shut down or restricted nonessential activity throughout the country last spring, leaving many to wonder whether they could survive the plummet in daily customers. COVID-19 had shuttered 41% of Black-owned businesses by April, according to the National Bureau of Economic Research, compared with.

PHOENIX – The Cactus Bowl has had its fair share of sponsors over the more than 30 years it’s been played in Arizona, with several national companies putting their name to the annual Arizona-based college football bowl game. Another change came in late May, when Cactus Bowl’s most recent sponsor, Cheez-It, announced on their website.

WASHINGTON – The number of people on Arizona’s Medicaid rolls topped 2 million this summer, after a five-month surge in enrollment that coincided with COVID-19’s hit to the state’s health and its economy. Almost 1.88 million people were covered by the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System – the state’s Medicaid program – on March.

WASHINGTON – Arizona renters may have breathed a sigh of relief last month when Gov. Doug Ducey extended the state moratorium on residential evictions to Oct. 31. But for some of them, Oct. 31 could come as soon as later this month if they don’t act. In his July 16 executive order, Ducey said that.

PHOENIX – Thousands of gallons of wasted milk. Unpredictable, zigzagging prices. Abrupt dips and surges in demand. The past four months have been a roller coaster for Arizona dairy farms, as the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically changed the way some of their biggest clients did business. The ride isn’t over yet: Arizona is a COVID-19 hotspot,.

When he announced an extension Thursday of his order closing bars, gyms, movie theaters and more, Gov. Doug Ducey acknowledged that “businesses and employees have sacrificed” as the state fights the spread of COVID-19. But some of those businesses are tired of sacrificing. A lawsuit filed with the Arizona Supreme Court by 50 owners of.

Bertha spent 17 days in her bedroom after testing positive for COVID-19. There, she made the soup and the “hot, hot tea” that helped her endure the headaches and coughing fits associated with the contagious respiratory disease. Bertha, an agricultural worker, said she couldn’t risk going to the kitchen or other parts of the house.

WASHINGTON – Arizona’s interstate highways are in generally good shape, but they experienced the highest rate of fatalities in the nation in 2018, according to a national report released Tuesday. The report by The Road Information Program said that Arizona recorded 1.09 highway deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled on the state’s interstate highways.

PHOENIX – After a prolonged government shutdown cut into their revenues in 2019, business owners around the Grand Canyon National Park said 2020 appeared to be on track to being a bounceback year for them. Then COVID-19 hit. The park was closed from April 1 to May 15, when it began to reopen on a.

PHOENIX – With grocery stores picked over by panicked shoppers and relief checks slow to arrive in mailboxes, Arizonans are coming together to distribute goods and services to those in need through grassroots “mutual aid” groups that target the most vulnerable. The idea of mutual aid is not new, and it’s not the same as.

WASHINGTON – There’s often not much agreement on news out of Washington, but Arizona business leaders were hard-pressed this week to come up with negatives about the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement that took effect Wednesday. The deal, which has been several years in the making, replaces the 25-year-old North American Free Trade Agreement that created the.

WASHINGTON – Arizona posted one of the sharpest unemployment drops in the country in May, falling from a historic high of 13.4% in April to 8.9% last month, according to the latest numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But that drop still left May’s unemployment rate for the state at the highest point in.

With the Republican National Committee actively seeking new homes for its August convention, some in Arizona are angling for the state to get in line with the long list of other potential suitors. The RNC may still hold part of the convention in Charlotte – or it may not – as officials there say lingering.

Public spaces around the state may have been closed overnight by a statewide curfew this week – but the casinos have stayed open. After being closed for months by COVID-19, casinos around Arizona had just started to reopen when Gov. Doug Ducey on Sunday imposed a statewide dusk-to-dawn curfew in response to protests over George.

WASHINGTON – Arizona cities and counties will get access to nearly $600 million in COVID-19 relief funding, part of the more than $1.8 billion awarded two months ago to Arizona under the federal CARES Act. Larger jurisdictions received their funds directly from the federal government, but Gov. Doug Ducey said Wednesday that the remaining cities.

Memorial Day weekend crowds that one official said were “off the charts” at Arizona vacation spots have health experts worried that tourist behavior could lead to an increase of COVID-19 of cases. With the state’s stay-at-home orders largely lifted this month, tourists flocked to sites like Lake Havasu, Scottsdale and Lake Pleasant, according to news.

Arizona tribes were among those who could get too much – or too little – COVID-19 relief funding under a Treasury Department funding formula that is based on “probably not the best numbers,” according to the author of a new report. The policy brief from the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development and the.

The travel forecast for this Memorial Day weekend is fuzzy – just another victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. For the first time in 20 years, AAA has canceled its Memorial Day travel forecast as COVID-19 has affected the way it collects data for its survey. Experts say the traffic is not likely to be anywhere.

PHOENIX – The city of Buckeye got bumped from the top spot for population growth rate in 2019, but its 56.6% population increase since 2010 was still enough to make it the second-fastest growing city in the nation for the decade. New city and town population estimates released Thursday by the Census Bureau show Buckeye’s.

PHOENIX – If there’s any doubt that wildfire poses a high risk to property in Arizona, the U.S. Forest Service would like to paint a different picture – in blazing reds and flaming yellows. Those colors blanket the state in a tool the service released last month that attempts to show wildfire risk to communities.

WASHINGTON – Arizona took another tentative step toward reopening the state’s economy Monday, when dine-in restaurants were allowed to resume limited service. But while reopening the economy could come relatively swiftly, experts say reviving the economy could take years. As businesses shuttered by COVID-19 and resulting high unemployment have led to a collapse in sales.

PHOENIX – Dustin Campo knows how difficult it is to find work after prison, so he and his mother, Vicky, are opening a pop-up coffee shop that will give formerly incarcerated people a livelihood. The co-owners of Justice Java: Cold Brew With a Cause plan to give former prisoners a second chance at life after.

PHOENIX – To get an idea of how fast scams are developing around the coronavirus, just ask Katie Conner, a spokesperson for Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich. “It seems like every day … a new scam pops up,” said Conner, who said the attorney general’s office has been closely monitoring consumer fraud claims. “And we.

WASHINGTON – The number of new jobless claims fell for a second straight week, but the number of unemployed continued to rise in Arizona and the nation in what one expert calls a shock to workers and a “huge shock” to the system. Nationwide, 3.8 million people filed new unemployment claims last week, down from.

PHOENIX – COVID-19 has taken a blowtorch to the economy, with millions of people working from home and millions more furloughed or laid off. Still, medical, sales, food and delivery companies are hiring as they develop social distancing protocols to reduce workers’ chances of catching the coronavirus that causes the disease. Explore websites of grocery.

PHOENIX – Despite the federal government’s unprecedented efforts to aid businesses threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic, small farms are being left further behind, according to one local small farm owner. McClendon’s Select, a family owned farm in Peoria and Goodyear, normally sells its organic produce, citrus and honey to restaurants and farmers markets. Since Arizona.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led some Arizona companies to redirect their business plans in pursuit of a common goal – supporting the state’s first responders as the effects of supply shortages and other needs reverberate across the country. Providing assistance for essential workers ranges from making personal protection equipment, such as hospital gowns and masks,.

Gov. Doug Ducey has extended the state’s stay-at-home order until May 15, imploring Arizonans to continue physical distancing at a press conference Wednesday. “It’s 15 more days, I’m asking for some patience,” Ducey said. Ducey outlined reasons for the extension and limitations, such as continued travel restrictions to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. “We.

TEMPE – Arizona unemployment benefits will expand next month to cover workers who are not now eligible, to last longer than before and to pay more in weekly benefits to some jobless workers. But economists and advocates say that while the change is welcome – it’s probably too little, and too late. The changes, which.

With Arizona schools closed indefinitely, children have plenty of time on their hands – and parents are looking for teachable moments. One subject that’s not taught in most schools is money and how to earn it, spend it, share it and save it. Gregg Murset of Scottsdale, a certified financial planner and father of six,.

PHOENIX – New jobless claims in Arizona over the past five weeks have wiped out two-thirds of the new jobs created in the state over 10 years, according to the latest numbers from the Arizona Department of Economic Security. While unemployment filings fell for the second straight week, the 72,103 Arizonans seeking unemployment in the.

WASHINGTON – Money could start flowing to distressed small businesses as early as this week, after the House overwhelmingly approved a $484 billion measure that refills the exhausted Paycheck Protection Program and adds funds for hospitals and other services. The Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act passed 388-5 Thursday during an unusual session.

TEMPE – Laundering money with virtual currency is still a real-world crime, a federal appeals court ruled as it upheld a five-count conviction against an Arizona man. Thomas Costanzo was convicted on five counts of money laundering for taking cash from undercover investigators, who led him to believe it was the proceeds of drug dealing,.

Shocking videos of dairy farmers dumping thousands of gallons of milk have been circulating on the internet, as the coronavirus outbreak has forced dairy farmers across the country to dump their excess milk supply to offset their losses and keep prices stable. Arizona dairy farmers have taken part in this dumping process to help stay.

WASHINGTON – Mesa business owner Savannah Sanders said it felt like getting “a bomb dropped on you”: Shortly after being approved for a loan to keep her business afloat, the bank said the federal loan program was out of money. Now Sanders, like business owners across the country, will have to wait while Congress wrangles.

WASHINGTON – After three weeks of record-breaking unemployment filings, jobless claims for the state and the nation dipped slightly last week, but they were still in what one economist called “shockingly high” territory. Arizona recorded 95,382 new unemployment claims last week, down from 132,382 the week before, according to preliminary numbers from the Arizona Department.

PHOENIX – The CARES Act, the $2.2 trillion package of federal relief for Americans affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, included $349 billion in loans for U.S. small-business owners to sustain payroll, pay rent and meet other obligations. But those funds already have run out. The federal Small Business Association said 10,898 small businesses in Arizona.

WASHINGTON – Arizona hospitals are facing “dire financial consequences” and furloughing staff, as cutbacks meant to prepare for COVID-19 cases have instead cost them as much as $575 million a month, about 30-40% of normal revenues statewide. The cancellation of elective procedures meant to free up beds for potential coronavirus patients, combined with a drop.

TEMPE – While social distancing and staying at home may be driving you up the wall, it could also be driving down your auto insurance premiums. With fewer cars on the roads, auto insurance claims have dropped 80-90% in major cities and 60% in rural areas within the last month, according to the Consumer Federation.

TEMPE – Thousands of dollars started arriving in Arizonans’ bank accounts this week as the first payments from the massive coronavirus relief package began to be distributed in the form of expanded unemployment benefits and direct stimulus payments. The Treasury said Economic Impact Payments started to be disbursed this week, with the majority of Americans.

PHOENIX – Fears of winding up on the streets are on the rise as more Arizonans lose their jobs due to the COVID-19 outbreak, but a fund has been set up to help local nonprofits build housing with access to onsite support services for low-income people. On March 24, Gov. Doug Ducey issued an executive.

WASHINGTON – While Congress and the White House are promising to add billions to the Paycheck Protection Program, some small businesses say they are just trying to hang on long enough to get the money there now. Advocates say overwhelming demand and confusion have delayed disbursement of the $349 billion in loans made available last.

PHOENIX – Leaders of the Navajo Nation are self-quarantining after being exposed to a COVID-19 patient amid an outbreak that has killed more than 20 members of their tribe. President Jonathan Nez and Vice President Myron Lizer were in close proximity to a first responder on Tuesday who later was confirmed positive for the novel.

PHOENIX – Another 129,215 Arizonans filed for unemployment last week, boosting the number of new jobless in the state above a quarter million since March 1, according to the latest numbers from the Department of Economic Security. The Arizona numbers are part of a growing coronavirus-driven loss of jobs that saw more than 16 million.

PHOENIX – Social distancing is starting to show signs of flattening the curve on hospitalizations in Maricopa County, and state health officials are urging the public to continue taking all necessary precautions, 12News reported. There are 1,689 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Maricopa County alone, the highest number in any of Arizona’s 15 counties. The.

TEMPE – The Air Force plans to retire 42 A-10 aircraft at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson next year, according to a state lawmaker, a move that would cut the base’s fleet of the storied “Warthogs” in half. Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Tucson, identified the proposed cuts in letters to the Air Force and to.

WASHINGTON – Banks and small businesses reported an overwhelming volume of calls and some confusion Friday as the Small Business Administration launched the first phase of the $2 trillion economic stimulus package in the face of COVID-19. The $349 billion Paycheck Protection Program aims to help small businesses weather the economic crisis with loans that.

WASHINGTON – New jobless claims continued to soar to record heights in Arizona and the nation, with state filings jumping from the then-record 29,333 claims two weeks ago to 88,592 last week. They were among the 6.6 million unemployment claims nationwide last week, twice the 3.3 million of a week earlier. While the numbers are.

PHOENIX – A group of immigrant detainees have filed suit against U.S. officials, alleging federal inaction during the COVID-19 outbreak endangers those in detention and violates the Constitution. In a lawsuit filed March 30, four Cuban asylum seekers and one green-card holder facing deportation accused the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review and Immigration.

PHOENIX – The state is adding $600 to the maximum weekly unemployment benefit of $240, and the first checks should go out as soon as next week, the Arizona Department of Economic Security said Wednesday. The money was added in response to the tidal wave of workers laid off because of the novel coronavirus, with.

PHOENIX – Empty store shelves symbolize the frustrations and fears of the COVID-19 pandemic, with toilet paper, rice, beans and water in scant supply and purchasing limits imposed so more customers have a chance to buy such staples. Mark Miller, president of the Arizona Food Marketing Alliance, in an email interview, discussed how panic led.

TEMPE – When Tucson Mayor Regina Romero ordered nonessential businesses in the city to close Saturday in an effort to halt the novel coronavirus, she could only urge barbershops and nail salons to go along. That’s because those businesses were declared “essential services” last week by Gov. Doug Ducey, a designation that will continue under.

WASHINGTON – Arizona hospitals are rationing and ordering workers to reuse protective equipment like masks, gowns and eyewear in an attempt to head off shortages expected with the surge in COVID-19 patients in the state. While some health care workers said they understand the reasoning, they worry that the shift in standard operating procedures will.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump signed a $2 trillion economic stimulus package just hours after it was rushed through the House Friday, clearing the way for aid to businesses, increased benefits for workers and direct payments to taxpayers. The bipartisan CARES Act passed the House on a voice vote, over the objections of some members,.

PHOENIX – The spread of COVID-19 has “deeply affected” Arizona animal shelters, which are discontinuing some services, cutting hours and trying to juggle between taking animals in and adopting them out to stretch resources while protecting pets and people. Humane Society of Southern Arizona CEO Steve Farley said shelters are essential services and that his.

Arizona public schools will not be required to make up days lost to the novel coronavirus, and statewide testing was extended to May 31 under legislation signed Friday by Gov. Doug Ducey. In addition, all school employees will be paid throughout the closure, and general education options for students and remote work for employees will.

PHOENIX – New unemployment claims rose to almost 3.3 million last week, an increase of 3 million over the previous week and the highest on record, according to numbers released Thursday by the Labor Department. And economists say this could just be the beginning of a jobs spiral, as coronavirus closures and cancellations slam the.

WASHINGTON – The Senate gave unanimous approval late Wednesday to a historic $2 trillion economic stimulus package that calls for direct payments to taxpayers and hundreds of billions in relief for small businesses and targeted industries, like airlines. The 96-0 vote capped days of bitter debate and contentious negotiating that included two party-line votes that.

TEMPE – Nearly 30,000 Arizonans filed unemployment claims last week, more than eight times the average weekly rate of 3,500 claims before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, state officials said Tuesday. The Arizona Department of Economic Security is “doing everything possible to get Arizonans benefits as soon as possible,” which includes hiring more workers, approving more.

WASHINGTON – The Senate deadlocked for a second day Monday on more than $1 trillion in proposed support for an economy buffeted by coronavirus, as Democrats said the bill gives too much to corporations and Republicans accuse Democrats of making it a liberal wish list. A procedural vote to cut off debate on the measure,.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. and Mexico will stop all “nonessential” border crossings after midnight Friday in an effort to contain the spread of the coronavirus, but goods and essential workers will still be allowed to cross, the White House announced Friday. The action comes just days after similar restrictions between the U.S. and Canada and.

WASHINGTON – Wine drinkers may soon be able to reach for that Verde Valley vintage, if local wineries and vineyards have their way. Their application to designate the Verde Valley as a federally recognized American Viticultural Area is nearing approval by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau. If approved, the designation would allow.

PHOENIX – Arizona Snowbowl will replace an aging chairlift in need of repair with a much faster one, opening next season as part of a multimillion dollar, multiyear expansion, resort officials said Thursday. The lift will replace the Agassiz Chairlift, which has been used since the early 1960s. Mechanical problems put the lift out of.

WASHINGTON – Prescott businessman Brad Scott told lawmakers Tuesday that a Supreme Court ruling that was supposed to help small businesses compete against online retailers is instead threatening to drive small firms like his out of business. “Nothing has shaken us like Wayfair,” said Scott, adding that he and his wife have thought about closing.

PHOENIX – Arizona health officials have the go-ahead to test at the state level for coronavirus cases and are awaiting test results for a second potential case of COVID-19, a novel disease that has sickened nearly 89,000 worldwide and killed six in the U.S., public health officials said Monday. “We are taking precautions to protect.

FLAGSTAFF – Flagstaff businesses are struggling to deal with the highest minimum wage in the state, set in 2016 when voters pushed to set a living wage for workers. The state minimum wage reached $12 an hour in January, several years after voters approved a stair-step approach to raising wages. But Flagstaff established even more.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear Arizona’s challenge to California’s “extraordinarily aggressive” application of a tax against thousands of out-of-state companies, including as many as 13,000 in Arizona. Attorney General Mark Brnovich claimed in a petition to the court last year that California collects more than $10 million a year from.

WASHINGTON – Arizona fared relatively well in a national report card on its level of care for people with developmental disabilities, but advocates fear those services are being threatened by low pay and high turnover rates for caregivers. And Arizona is not alone. The 2020 edition of “Case for Inclusion” said states across the country.

WASHINGTON – Striking Asarco workers passed four months on the picket line Thursday, but union officials insist they have strong community support and that workers are committed to staying out until they get a fair deal. Pima County officials held a fourth job and resource fair on site Thursday, the same day union officials were.

PHOENIX – Blankets are tucked tightly on the beds. The bathroom sinks wait for faucets to be turned on. And the floors gleam in rooms, ready for patients to show up in a new mental health treatment center in west Phoenix. The center is in the old Maryvale Hospital, which shut down in 2017. Valleywise.

WASHINGTON – A federal judge has overturned environmental permits for the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine, saying the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service failed to consider the mine’s impact on several endangered species in the Santa Rita Mountains. It’s just the latest setback for the planned open-pit mine, whose owners said Monday’s ruling “does not come.

LOS ANGELES – Paloma Marolf had an active childhood with no major health concerns until she went into a diabetic coma at age 15. Her diagnosis with type 1 diabetes meant Marolf’s already struggling family gained a new financial burden, a monthly cost that ranged up to $2,000. There were times the University of Arizona.

WASHINGTON – Arizona businesses and elected officials hailed Wednesday’s signing of the new United States-Mexico-Canada-Agreement that they say preserves markets worth more than $20 billion in trade and 228,000 jobs in the state in 2018. President Donald Trump, flanked by hard-hatted workers in a White House signing ceremony, hailed the “colossal victory” of the deal,.

WASHINGTON – A federal court Wednesday ordered two Paradise Valley residents to stop operating businesses that prosecutors said were used to funnel hundreds of millions of overseas robocalls per month. The action by prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York claimed Tuesday that three businesses owned by Nicholas and Natasha Palumbo were used since.

PHOENIX – City officials have agreed to delay implementation of higher fees for rideshare companies at Sky Harbor International Airport now that the Arizona Supreme Court is considering whether the fee hike is constitutional. The fees, approved by the City Council in December, were scheduled to take effect on Feb. 1. After an investigation prompted.

WASHINGTON – Union leaders say the close to 1,800 striking Asarco workers in Arizona and Texas remain “strong” as the strike entered its fourth month Monday, with little hope of a settlement in sight. “They are hoping that it ends soon but they know it can go on for a while,” said Ruben Gonzales, vice.

WASHINGTON – With more than $58,000 in student loan debt from Northern Arizona University and a full-time job that barely got her from paycheck to paycheck, Kaitlin Kump never thought she would be able to buy a home in her 20s. Kump buckled down, working three or four jobs at a time and living in.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Census Bureau wants you – specifically 57,000 of you, the number of Arizonans needed to fill jobs in the state for the 2020 decennial census. It’s part of a push to hire 500,000 workers nationwide, mostly for census takers who will go door to door, but also for clerical, supervisory and.

WASHINGTON – When France decided to tax America’s tech companies, the Trump administration decided to hit the French where it hurts – in exports of cheese, Champagne and handbags. But trade experts and Arizona business owners say it’s U.S. consumers and small businesses who will likely end up paying the price. “It really bothers me,”.

WASHINGTON – They may have turned out the lights, but the party’s not over at the Navajo Generating Station and its affiliated Kayenta coal mine. The owners of both facilities face several years of decommissioning and cleanup as well as the possibility of decades of environmental monitoring of the sites, which closed down for good.

WASHINGTON – Arizona’s minimum wage rises from $11 to $12 an hour on New Year’s Day, a move advocates said is “long overdue” but also a long way from solving the state’s poverty issues. The automatic increase will give Arizona one of the highest minimum wages in the country. But advocates say that even at.

WASHINGTON – As many as 20,000 Arizona workers could be guaranteed overtime pay when they do overtime work under a Labor Department rule that takes effect Jan. 1, the first change to the rule since 2004. But critics say the change does not go far enough to protect workers, noting that it would affect only.

WASHINGTON – Retailers and local leaders said they were “caught with their pants down” by a Food and Drug Administration announcement last week that it had raised the legal age to buy tobacco products from 18 to 21. The higher legal age was slipped in to the final version of the fiscal 2020 budget that.

TUSAYAN – In a clearing on Forest Road 305, about 15 miles south of Grand Canyon National Park, an enormous steel headframe towers beside a retention pond. Beneath the headframe, a mine shaft drops 1,400 feet into the earth. This is the Canyon Mine, which opened in 1986 to extract uranium. A handful of employees.

PHOENIX – Time, distance and technology limitations are among the reasons Native Americans may be the most difficult demographic to count in the 2020 census, the Census Bureau says. But lack of trust is the biggest reason, said Patty Hibbeler, chief executive of the Phoenix Indian Center, which provides workforce and youth development, drug and.

WASHINGTON – Uber to meetings, Uber to parties, Uber to work. Sure. But Uber to the doctor’s office? Not only is it a thing, but for some people in Arizona, Medicaid will pick up the tab. The state is just over six months in to a first-in-the-nation program that lets some Medicaid patients use a.

WASHINGTON – Californians have been beating a path to Arizona over the past decade, but it hasn’t exactly been a one-way street. Although close to 500,000 people moved from California to Arizona from 2010 to 2018, just more than 308,000 people were moving in the other direction, according to state-to-state migration flow data released this.

WASHINGTON – Just hours after a bitterly partisan impeachment vote, the House turned around Thursday and gave overwhelming bipartisan approval to a new U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement that could affect billions of dollars in annual trade for Arizona. The 385-41 vote is just one step in the approval process for the USMCA deal, but it was.

TUCSON – Melissa Ortiz, a freelance software developer, encounters a lot of situations that make her feel uneasy. Ortiz has become hyperaware that her chosen industry largely excludes people who look like her. First, there was the biweekly meetup with 20 people – only three others were women, and she was the only Hispanic in.

WASHINGTON – Winter is coming – and so are the holiday parties. “Are there more holiday parties this year? Absolutely – for every event planner,” said Tye Conner, special events manager for Epic Party Team in Surprise. That apparently holds true nationwide, with almost 76% of U.S. companies planning to hold a holiday party this.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected Arizona’s attempt to fast-track a case against the owners of Purdue Pharma in an effort to protect assets of the company for victims of the opioid crisis. The justices without comment turned down Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s motion that the court should consider the state’s.

WASHINGTON – Earlier sales and expanded online shopping options have cut into Black Friday’s appeal, but they have yet to knock it from its position as the elbow-throwing, hectic start of the holiday shopping season for many. Call it Blackish Friday. The National Retail Federation said there are still 115 million consumers who are considering.

TUCSON – The University of Arizona and a neighboring school district are working on a pilot program to “grow” Tucson residents into teachers, offering free tuition and paying them $1,000 monthly stipends. Pathways to Teaching, an education program and support system, will help 10 people earn their K-8 teaching degree in 17 months – and.

WASHINGTON – Close to 3 million people are expected to jam U.S. airports when the Thanksgiving travel season officially kicks off Friday. And that’s not going to be the worst of it. The Sunday after Thanksgiving is expected to see a record-breaking 3.1 million passengers take to the skies, according to a forecast from Airlines.

WASHINGTON – A House committee gave preliminary approval Thursday to a bill that would add 20,000 farmworker visas and let some workers apply for permanent legal residency, despite Republican concerns that it could open the door to more illegal immigration. The 18-12 vote Thursday by the House Judiciary Committee split on party lines that reflected.

WASHINGTON – As many as 3 million Arizonans whose personal data may have been exposed in a 2017 data breach have to decide by Tuesday whether to be part of a settlement with Equifax for that breach. They can opt out of the settlement now and reserve the right to sue the credit monitoring firm.

WASHINGTON – The Navajo Nation said Tuesday it is canceling indemnity agreements for the Navajo Transitional Energy Co., fearing the tribe’s finances could be “placed in a state of uncertainty” by the company’s recent purchase of three coal mines. Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said in a statement that the move was made because of.

NOGALES, Ariz. – While she waits for a family member to pick her up, Daniela Minerva sits near the pedestrian gate in Nogales, Arizona, painting her nails. She often spends time waiting in this spot in order to see her husband who lives in Mexico. When she visits Nogales, Sonora, she needs to plan at.

WASHINGTON – The Navajo Generating Station will shut down for good in a matter of days, the plant’s owners announced this week, once the plant burns through its remaining supply of coal. The closure marks the final chapter in a two-year fight to save the aging power plant and the affiliated Kayenta coal mine, which.

WASHINGTON – Arizona farm groups said a proposal to expand the immigrant workforce and make it easier for those workers to stay in the U.S. is an important first step toward solving the problem of getting and keeping reliable workers. But it’s only a first step, they said, and will need further tweaking. The farm.

PHOENIX – A boom in manufacturing in Arizona – from electric cars to high-end golf clubs – is helping to lower unemployment in the U.S., Gov. Doug Ducey told business leaders this week, noting that manufacturing jobs in the state now outnumber construction jobs. Ducey, joined by Tom Gilman, an assistant secretary of the U.S..

WASHINGTON – Striking Asarco workers say contract talks with management have been set for Nov. 14, a month after close to 1,800 workers walked off job sites and onto picket lines at facilities in Arizona and Texas. An official with United Steelworkers said he does not expect Asarco to bring “anything radically different” to the.

WASHINGTON – Two weeks into their strike against Asarco, union officials said negotiations with the copper mining, smelting and refining company remain at a standstill and workers are starting to feel the pinch. Members across several unions voted Oct. 11 to strike against company plants in Arizona in Texas after rejecting the company’s “last, best.

WASHINGTON – Arizona universities suffered the largest percentage cuts in state aid to higher education since the start of the recession and saw the second-largest growth in student tuition at the same time, a new report shows. The report Thursday by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities showed only a handful of states have.

WASHINGTON – A House committee gave preliminary approval Wednesday to an overhaul of a 147-year-old federal mining law that supporters called “antiquated,” while opponents called the update a “point-blank” blow to the mining industry. The Hardrock Leasing and Reclamation Act would protect national parks and tribal areas from being leased for mining, increase mining royalties.

PHOENIX – Federal officials are determined to recruit workers and accurately count residents for the 2020 census, especially such historically underserved minorities as Native Americans and Hispanics, census leaders said Tuesday. “It’s important we hire people in every community in order to have a complete and accurate census,” said Timothy Olson, the Census Bureau’s associate.

WASHINGTON – Union officials said there were no talks Wednesday between them and Asarco, as a strike against the copper mining, smelting and refining company by about 1,775 workers in Arizona and Texas entered its third day. The United Steelworkers, which represents about 1,500 workers at four Asarco locations in Arizona, authorized the strike over.

SCOTTSDALE – Consumer spending is up and economic growth in Arizona and the rest of the U.S. is on the rise, but investor caution is one sign pointing to a potential recession in 2020, a global economist told Arizona business leaders. “There is an undercurrent of alarm in this country that a recession is not.

WASHINGTON – The number of Arizonans without health insurance rose by about 55,000 people last year, according to new data from the Census Bureau, as a relatively strong economy was offset by hefty cost increases for coverage. The change from 2017 to 2018 raised the total number of uninsured in the state last year to.

WASHINGTON – A Phoenix business owner told House members Wednesday that the Small Business Administration is doing a better job of giving minority-owned, small businesses a leg up, but that the agency still needs to improve. The comments by Fortis Networks CEO Clarence McAllister echoed those of other witnesses at a House Small Business Committee.

WASHINGTON – A congressional attempt to salvage a foundering student loan forgiveness program was only marginally better, with just 4% of Arizona applications approved in the second round – and that was four times better than the national rate. The Government Accountability Office reported this month the same confusing guidelines and lack of communication in.

WASHINGTON – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey joined business leaders in Washington on Monday to push for final approval of the “critical” U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement and protect trade that is worth billions in trade to the state. Ducey and Arizona Chamber of Commerce President Glenn Hamer, speaking to a meeting of U.S. Chamber of Commerce members from.

WASHINGTON – Arizona vape-store owners were alarmed by the Trump administration’s announcement Wednesday that it plans to begin enforcing rules that would drive flavored e-cigarettes out of the market, an industry official said. The surprise White House statement was in response to recent reports that vaping-related lung illnesses have been confirmed in 33 states and.

WASHINGTON – When the state’s new universal licensing recognition law took effect last week, the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners was ready. The board had “over 40 applications pending prior to the application date, waiting to be granted on the first day,” said Emily Rajakovich, the director of boards and communications in Gov. Doug.

WASHINGTON – Arizona business leaders said they worry that a 15% tariff on $300 billion in Chinese goods that takes effect Sunday will backfire and end up hurting economic growth at home. The new tariffs are set to be imposed on more than 6,000 items but will fall largely on consumer goods, according to the.

WASHINGTON – As state and Flagstaff officials battle over who should bear the cost of the city’s higher minimum wage, service providers for people with disabilities say they feel caught in the crossfire. Under a law that took effect Tuesday, the state can charge Flagstaff for added costs to state contracts that result from the.

WASHINGTON – Consumer advocates said Friday that Wells Fargo’s $6.5 million settlement of a Navajo Nation lawsuit that charged the bank with preying on tribal members is a “tremendous victory” for Native communities targeted by such practices. Wells Fargo & Co. said Thursday it will pay $6.5 million to the Navajo Nation to settle the.

WASHINGTON – The last 265 workers at Kayenta Coal Mine are being laid off this month, another step toward the looming closure of the Navajo Generating Station that will bring the loss of hundreds more jobs this winter. The mine was already down from about 350 workers last year and will likely retain only a.

PHOENIX – Look around central Phoenix and you see cranes, construction sites and impressive new buildings. The signs of a boom are everywhere, but the bustle isn’t benefiting everyone. Our population is among the fastest-growing in the country, with about 200 people moving to the Phoenix area every day from July 2017 through June 2018..

GOODYEAR – Rachel Miller’s chestnut hair is tied up in a ponytail that slides halfway down her back. She’s wearing steel-toe boots that are ripped at the seams and a plaid button-up over a gray T-shirt. Her clothing reflects a gap in women’s wear, where trade uniforms are rarely made for them. Through safety glasses,.

PHOENIX – Tourism continues to expand in Arizona, a boon for jobs, development and tax revenue, but the growth presents challenges to preserving the natural beauty drawing visitors to the state. “It just really appears that there is a problem as far as people management,” said Alicyn Gitlin of the Sierra Club. “But it’s a.

PHOENIX – Drivers are donning oven mitts to grip steering wheels, wildfires are burning and all the winter visitors have flown away for greener, possibly Canadian, pastures. Yes, it’s summertime in the inferno Arizonans call home. Whether you’ve lived here forever or are a recent transplant, you’ve probably noticed the effects of the heat on.

PHOENIX – The Police Department continued its rollout of body-worn cameras Wednesday, issuing the devices to about a dozen officers in the Cactus Park Precinct in north Phoenix. The department’s goal of providing body cams to 2,000 first responders by Aug. 12 now is almost halfway completed, authorities said. At the rollout, Sgt. Kevin Johnson.

PHOENIX – The virtual technology that’s changing industries from manufacturing to medicine is being incorporated into virtual field trips in a collaboration between Arizona State University and Kamehameha Schools in Hawaii. “The intention of virtual field trips is to be able to get knowledge out and done in a very respectful and culturally appropriate way,”.

PHOENIX – The State of Arizona Acupuncture Board of Examiners has entered the fight against opioid abuse, approving chemical dependency programs for a form of acupuncture that involves the outer ear. Supporters say auricular acupuncture helps people break free of addiction, but a skeptic says there’s zero evidence acupuncture relieves any condition. “I don’t think.

PHOENIX – Marijuana-laced massage oils, vaping products and brownies and other edibles likely will emerge as the future of the multimillion-dollar medical marijuana industry in Arizona, thanks to a court decision last month, industry representatives say. Concentrates, or extracts of the active ingredients in marijuana, such as THC and CBD, are considered legal under an.

PHOENIX – Arizona scrapes along the bottom of the nation in children’s well-being, ranking 46th in 2019 Kids Count data released Monday. Lack of affordable housing emerged as a pressure point. Arizona dropped one place from last year in the annual report on states. But child advocates often have called out Arizona for low rankings.

TEMPE – If the power goes out in your home, it’s frustrating. But if a business loses power, it can have major consequences. For the past five years, the Salt River Project trained businesses to prepare for power outages, especially during Arizona’s monsoon season, which officially kicked off June 15. The utility held some of.

WASHINGTON – Gov. Doug Ducey touted Arizona’s first-in-the-nation universal licensing recognition law at the White House Thursday to a receptive audience of governors and the president, who were there to talk about workforce mobility. Ducey, sitting to President Donald Trump’s immediate left at a large table in the Cabinet Room, said the state’s universal licensing.

Arizona lawmakers, business officials and experts Friday blasted President Donald Trump’s threat to impose a tariff on Mexican goods in hopes of cutting immigration, calling his plan everything from “terribly damaging” to “unhinged.” Trump announced the tariffs Thursday – one day after Border Patrol agents apprehended a group of 1,036 immigrants crossing the border near.

WADDELL – On a brisk March morning, the engine of Selwyn Justice’s truck roared to life as he turned out of his driveway onto Peoria Avenue in Waddell, heading toward Surprise. On a dirt road 15 minutes later, a cloud of dust was billowing behind him as a citrus orchard came into view. It was.

WASHINGTON – The initial public offering of Uber shares this month fell short of expectations, but there’s at least one audience where the ride-sharing service dominates – members of Congress. Federal Election Commission reports for the 2017-2018 election cycle show that congressional campaigns spent $2,171,381.99 on rides and on services like UberEats. Expenses on ride-sharing.

WASHINGTON – Students will soon be flocking to summer internships, but those headed to Capitol Hill could see something interns there haven’t seen in decades – a little pay for the long hours and high costs of living in Washington. A budget bill funding fiscal 2019 operations for a number of agencies, including Congress, set.

HERMOSILLO, Mexico – Mexico has long been Arizona’s top trade partner. Now, for the first time, our southern neighbor is also the No. 1 trade partner with the United States. In January and February of this year, trade between Mexico and the U.S. accounted for $97.4 billion in imports and exports. That’s about 15 percent.

PHOENIX – Dairy farmers in Arizona are dealing with challenges brought by tariffs and competition from alternative milk products, such as almond and soy milk, as well as persistent drought across the Southwest. But they’re forming new partnerships and adjusting their agricultural practices to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving world market. One such farmer.

MEXICO CITY – You’ve probably seen, or used, these two-wheeled vehicles for rent. They’re electric shared scooters, an exciting device for many, but a dangerous one for others. Like in metro Phoenix, electric shared scooters arrived in Mexico City with disruptive technologies and concerns. While some see in them innovation and an opportunity to fight.

WASHINGTON – Maricopa County again saw the largest population increase of any county in the nation last year, adding 81,244 residents to make eight straight years of gains, according to figures released Thursday by the Census Bureau. The county was the driving force behind a 122,770-person increase in Arizona’s population, which hit 7.17 million last.

PHOENIX – Arizona small business owners are fighting for sales tax equality with online retailers, similar to 39 other states trying to collect taxes on goods that consumers buy online. But experts said Arizona’s tax system complicates the situation. A bill in the Legislature would require online retailers who do not have a physical facility.

TEMPE – Officials and experts are exploring a vexing question about the revolving bars of the criminal justice system: How can we stop people from ending back in prison? Arizona has the fourth highest incarceration rate in the country, according to speakers at an Arizona Town Hall earlier this month. The Arizona Department of Corrections.

PHOENIX – Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday signed House Bill 2569, making Arizona the first state to recognize out-of-state occupational licenses across the board. Ducey, who was driven to the signing ceremony at the Capitol in a U-Haul truck, said the law will remove barriers to employment for about 100,000 people who are expected to.

PHOENIX – Suspending operations just two weeks before the end of its inaugural 10-week season, attempts to continue the upstart Alliance of American Football will be difficult, Don Gibson, a professor at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, said. The AAF is the latest of several expansion football leagues to run into.

WASHINGTON – Customs and Border Protection said it is stopping Sunday inspection of commercial trucks at Nogales in order to shift officers elsewhere on the border, sparking an outcry from produce companies who fear damage to the time-sensitive industry. The cut comes as the Trump administration has ordered CBP to redeploy 750 officers from ports.

PHOENIX – Arizona lawmakers could allow employers to slash the minimum wage for young part-time workers to as low as $7.25 an hour, a measure that drew a contentious crowd of supporters and opponents to a Senate committee hearing Thursday. The Commerce Committee approved House Bill 2523, sending the measure to the full Senate and.

PHOENIX – Virtual doctors visits connecting patients and physicians who are miles apart are increasing, but insurance coverage hasn’t caught up with the move toward telemedicine, Arizona doctors and lawmakers say. A proposed law would expand insurance beyond the sliver of conditions that are covered now. Private insurers are required to cover telemedicine care in.

WASHINGTON – Maricopa resident Akeala Edwards was a student and a parent when she took out an online payday loan to help her get by, electronically signing the accompanying documents with little thought. It wasn’t until after the lender renewed her loan without her knowledge that Edwards learned that the paperwork she signed included a.

PHOENIX – When Gov. Doug Ducey released his multimillion dollar budget proposal last week, he included $56 million in subsidies for day care, saying it would make such care more affordable for low-income families and expand its reach to about 29,000 children. “We’re going to move from the back of the pack to right in.

WASHINGTON – The top agriculture officials from Canada, Mexico and the U.S. reiterated the importance of North American trade and cooperation Thursday in their first joint meeting since a replacement deal for NAFTA was announced. The meeting of U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, Canadian Minister of Agriculture Lawrence MacAulay and Mexican Agriculture Secretary Víctor Villalobos.

TUCSON – A transgender University of Arizona professor has sued the state over financial access to surgery his doctor said is medically necessary. Russell Toomey last month filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tucson on behalf of state employees and their dependents. The suit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

PHOENIX – Becky Caudle wanted just the right match. The relationship with her employer was about to change under new ownership, so the physician’s assistant wanted to make sure she was treated well. She called the State Bar of Arizona, one of 30,000 calls the bar gets every year seeking help finding legal representation. For.

PHOENIX – Demand for Valentine’s Day roses at the flower wholesaler where José Durazo works has spiked in recent years, and he and his co-workers are scrambling to get the fragrant blooms to florists across the city. “Over the past three years, I know that the flower shops are expecting more customers,” said Durazo, who.

WASHINGTON – The five-week government shutdown that ended Friday shaved as much as $11 billion off the real gross domestic product, according to a report released Monday by the Congressional Budget Office. Much of that lost activity will come back when federal workers are repaid and those numbers, while large, will not create a major.

WASHINGTON – For the past five weeks, the government shutdown has presented an uncomfortable choice to Arizona businesses that are required to use the shuttered federal E-Verify system to check the citizenship status of new hires. Don’t hire the workers they need and wait for the government to reopen. Or roll the dice and make.

NOGALES – Billions of pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables cross the border from Mexico into the United States every year. Now, legislators in Florida are proposing a bill they say would protect U.S. produce growers from unfair Mexican trade practices. But opponents of the legislation say it would be bad for consumers. The bill.

WASHINGTON – The Mexican ambassador to the U.S. said Tuesday he is confident final details can be worked out a new trade deal between the two countries and Canada, despite President Donald Trump’s sometimes disruptive border rhetoric. Ambassador Gerónimo Gutiérrez Fernández said that Trump’s ability to drive the narrative made these negotiations on the proposed.

MIAMI – The Arizona Department of Transportation is working with education and business leaders to change a dismal statistic – more than 90 percent of workers in the construction industry are men, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. ADOT is working with community college leaders and contractors to integrate more women and minorities into.

PHOENIX – Rosa Gonzales was crying as she waited in the long line, waiting to eat her last meal at a Chinese restaurant closing its doors after nearly a century in business. She was grieving Sing High Chop Suey House, the downtown Phoenix fixture where she and her husband stopped for a meal every week..

WASHINGTON – Health care premiums are expected to drop about 10 percent in Arizona next year, more than double the decline predicted just a month ago, federal officials reported Thursday. The report from the Centers on Medicare and Medicaid Services said Arizona is one of 17 states expected to see premiums in the Affordable Care.

MESA – Two representatives of Arizona dairy farmers said a recent U.S. trade agreement benefits dairy producers exporting to Canada, but they worry retaliatory tariffs from Mexico will continue to hamper their industry. In a deal reached Sept. 30, Canada agreed to eliminate a controversial pricing system and open up more of its market to.

WASHINGTON – Gambling revenues dipped slightly at Arizona’s tribal casinos in 2016, but those losses were more than offset by a strong jump in non-gaming revenues that helped boost total income to $2.23 billion for the year, a new report says. Casino City’s Indian Gaming Industry Report said Arizona was one of eight states, among.

PHOENIX – Canada on Sunday agreed to join the United States and Mexico in the trade deal that will replace the North American Free Trade Agreement. Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry, said on Twitter that the treaty will enhance Arizona’s “competitive standing nationally and globally.” “As a.

PHOENIX – As a pan sizzles, grins and laughter fill the room. Young chefs chop carrots and thinly slice onions. Besides a meal, the students in this cooking class are preparing for job potential. The teacher, Kris Mill, owner of Wok This Way, operates food trucks for a cause. Besides running a vegetarian and environmentally.

PHOENIX – The city is making strides toward a more pedestrian-friendly downtown in a move to build community and boost business. Phoenix this summer opened a “more walkable” area along First Street just south of Roosevelt Street, where workers widened sidewalks, planted 125 shade trees and narrowed First Street from two lanes each way to.

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that Arizona bars and restaurants cannot pay tipped employees less than minimum wage for doing work that does not directly generate tips, a decision that one attorney called “a game changer.” The ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a district court ruling and.

WASHINGTON – New income data released this week by the Census Bureau showed that poverty in the U.S. continues to fall and median household incomes are rising. To Annie Lowrey, that only tells part of the story. “Even given, in a lot of ways, poverty now is a lot better than it was 50 years.

WASHINGTON – An estimated 88,529 Arizonans rose out of the ranks of poverty last year, but that still left about 1 million – or one state resident in seven – living below the poverty level, new data show. The latest Census Bureau figures also show that Arizona’s poverty rate fell faster, but remained higher, than.

GLENDALE – Like a good neighbor, State Farm will be there – for the next 18 years. In front of a small crowd Tuesday, Arizona Cardinals President Michael Bidwill announced that the insurance giant will be the new sponsor of the stadium the NFL team calls home. State Farm, the 36th-largest company in the United.

WASHINGTON – Construction workers have something to celebrate this Labor Day. Construction companies and their clients? Not so much. A report last week by the Associated General Contractors of America showed that 80 percent of construction firms nationwide reported having trouble filling skilled craft positions this year – 82 percent of firms in Arizona said.

Colorado is called “the mother of rivers” for a reason: It has thousands of miles of waterways. That makes Colorado one of the most popular states for river rafting in the country. But like most of the West, a changing climate, drought and wildfires are taking their toll on this multimillion-dollar industry. Jordan Poythress is.

WASHINGTON – Few details were released, but one Arizona business leader said the mere fact that the U.S. and Mexico unveiled a trade agreement Monday should “calm concerns” over the future of NAFTA. President Donald Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto announced that the two countries have a deal to reform the 24-year-old North.

PHOENIX – The SunZia power project faces a new objection, this time from an environmental group that fears the high-voltage transmission lines from New Mexico to Arizona will inflict irreparable damage to wetlands and bird populations. The $2 billion project, proposed in 2008, calls for building two 1,500-megawatt lines running 520 miles from central New.

WASHINGTON – More than 10 years after it was first approved, a federal loan program for tribal energy development projects will accept its first applications next month. The Department of Energy in July said it was accepting applications for projects under the $2 billion Tribal Energy Loan Guarantee Program, which will provide “partial loan guarantees.

WASHINGTON – A proposal for a massive open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains will be back in court this month as opponents challenge permits for the project, the latest twist in an 11-year battle over the Rosemont Mine. The fight pits supporters – who say the mine has been studied to death and.

WASHINGTON – Arizona’s gross domestic product grew by 2.5 percent in the first quarter of 2018, driven by increases in real estate and retail trade, according to a report from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The BEA report, released last month, said finance and insurance, health care, and durable goods manufacturing in Arizona all performed.

PHOENIX – Garrett Broshuis was nervous when he picked up his fiancee from the airport. It was her first time visiting since he had moved to Connecticut to play Double-A baseball. His fears, however, had nothing to do with their relationship or with baseball. “I was already worried about her seeing my (apartment) because the.

PHOENIX – Parents pay boys a weekly allowance twice as high as they give girls, according to a study from a Phoenix-area company that sells an app to track children’s chores, allowances and finances. Boys averaged nearly $14 a week, while girls averaged almost $7, according to a data analysis of BusyKid’s app’s 10,000 users..

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court said Tuesday that the former owners of an Arizona broadcasting company owe $15 million in taxes on the 2001 sale of their business. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said that deals between Slone Broadcasting Co. and another company that assumed Slone’s tax liability,.

SCOTTSDALE – Saager Buch made his way to groups sitting on the lawns of Cactus League ballparks. One by one, he rattled off about 20 questions to capture information about how much they spent on their hotel, where they came from and the length of their stay. The junior research economist at the L. William.

WASHINGTON – Andrew Medway wasn’t sure how his Mesa business was picked to represent Arizona at the White House’s “Made in America Showcase,” but he was still excited to be there Monday among companies that made everything from spacecraft to MoonPies. “We’re thrilled to be here obviously, but it came completely out of the blue,”.

PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Wednesday touted what he called Arizona’s booming tech sector and announced the expansion of an IT company to Phoenix. Milestone Technologies Inc., a managed service provider, is based in the San Francisco area and employs more than 2,000 people, according to its website. Ducey said the company would.

YUMA – An E. coli outbreak that sickened people in 35 states and led to a recall of romaine lettuce farmed in Yuma clipped a billion-dollar industry that reaches to Europe, with farmers now working to rebuild consumers’ trust. “After it was announced that Yuma was the source of the lettuce causing the outbreak, it.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration may have pulled off the unlikely trick this month of uniting liberals and conservatives, energy industry executives and environmentalists. All those groups have come out against a White House plan to keep failing coal and nuclear power plants from closing by forcing electrical grid operators to buy a certain amount.

PHOENIX – About 300 Native American coal miners, power plant workers and families rallied outside the state Capitol Wednesday morning to ask for 90 more days to figure out how to keep the Navajo Generating Station near Page operating. Community leaders said they needed the time to “slow this process down, answer important questions and.

PHOENIX — Deandre Ayton’s presence in Talking Stick Resort Arena illustrated more than just the opportunity to draft a basketball player. It revealed an opportunity to change the fortunes of a franchise. The Phoenix Suns held a private workout Wednesday with the former University of Arizona center, one of a small handful of players in.

PHOENIX – Arizona’s unemployment rate remains at 4.9 percent, while the national average is 3.8 percent, its lowest since 2000. State officials say our population growth could be behind the stagnation. Employers added 223,000 jobs in May, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retail, health care, transportation and construction in particular have seen.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration said it will let tariffs on steel and aluminum imports take effect Friday, a move that critics warned could spark a “tit-for-tat trade war” with Mexico, Canada and the European Union. Within hours of the announcement Thursday, Mexico’s Ministry of Economy vowed it “will adopt equivalent measures on a variety.

PHOENIX – It took mere seconds for the 130-foot-tall race-control tower to come down at the ISM Raceway, where a nearly two-year renovation of the facility is in full swing. “When this tower comes down,” said Bryan Sperber, president of ISM Raceway, “it really is the last vestige of the old Phoenix International Raceway,” which.

SCOTTSDALE – Managers of dockless bike-share services say they’ve seen exponential growth since two companies arrived in the city late last year, and they’re addressing the main complaint: Bikes ditched where they shouldn’t be. Dockless bikes do not require a docking station like those used by the Grid bike-share program, which allows customers to leave.

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Although the historical Hilton hotel Pablo Torres manages won’t reopen this season, tourism activity in the area slowly has been coming back to life after Hurricane Maria. Of the 146 hotels certified by Puerto Rico Tourism Co., the government-owned corporation in charge of the country’s tourism, 130 were open and.

TUCSON – Michael Dixon has been interested in music for as long as he can remember. First, it was listening to his parents’ Creedence Clearwater Revival albums. Then, it was performing in bands that “weren’t very good.” Today, the Tucson entrepreneur owns five music-related businesses. Dixon has worked with such popular artists as Justin Timberlake,.

WASHINGTON – Malinda Andrews sees the problems caused by high rates of joblessness on the Hopi reservation. “Having a high unemployment rate I can see all the detrimental effects that it’s having,” said Andrews, executive adviser to the chairman of the Hopi Tribe. “Not only to children, but to families, to the grandparents, aunts, uncles..

PHOENIX – It’s not easy to conserve energy use when typical summer days in Phoenix top 100 degrees. But the International Living Future Institute, a nonprofit that challenges communities to build sustainable environments, has certified DPR Construction’s Phoenix headquarters as a net zero energy building, the first building in Arizona to earn the distinction from.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Revenue is reminding businesses to renew their Transaction Privilege Tax license, as about 98,000 businesses have yet to renew as of April 25. The tax serves as Arizona’s alternative to sales tax: Instead of taxing the consumer, the state taxes businesses on their sales. However, most businesses pass this.

WASHINGTON – The high season is beginning in the national parks, but union officials say some seasonal employees who would normally be brought on to help are instead being turned away under a seldom-enforced rule. The 1040 rule says seasonal workers who put in more than 1,040 hours a year can’t be rehired without going.

PEACH SPRINGS – As downstream rapids roar, multicolored rafts line Diamondhead Beach at the base of the Grand Canyon. Patricia Cesspooch stands out in this scene, surrounded by men and machinery, hand-rigging her two inflatable yellow rafts before guests arrive. Cesspooch, a member of the Hualapai Tribe, has long loved her ancestral land and dreamed.

The 2017 Kauffman Index of Growth Entrepreneurship report found that young companies create an average of 3 million new jobs every year and have been responsible for almost all new net job creation in the United States over the past 40 years. And although such areas as Silicon Valley, New York City and Boston are.

ORANGE COUNTY, California – A company that manufactures workbenches and lab furniture is relocating to Goodyear to save money, while creating 30 new jobs in Arizona. Matt McConnell, director of sales and marketing for IAC Industries, said the move will increase the stability and longevity of his business. IAC is located in Brea, California. “The.

SCOTTSDALE – IVs commonly are associated with illness and hospitals. But in recent years, businesses across the country – including here in metro Phoenix – have begun using them to deliver health and wellness treatments. The Drip Room in Old Town Scottsdale provides a range of intravenous drips, from detox and anti-aging to hydrogen peroxide..

WASHINGTON – Witnesses and lawmakers called for action Thursday to head off the 2019 closure of the Navajo Generating Station, a move that could mean the loss of thousands of jobs at the plant and the coal mine that fuels it. But while seven of the eight panelists who testified to a House Natural Resources.

PHOENIX – The technology behind bitcoin and other cryptocurrency could change lifestyles and livelihoods, leading to cheaper, more efficient ways to ship packages, buy homes, access medical records and even build a secure vault of personal information. The little-understood and often misunderstood system of virtual money, known as cryptocurrency, is based on something called blockchain,.

WASHINGTON – The number of solar jobs in the U.S. fell last year for the first time since 2010, but Arizona bucked the trend and remained one of the biggest states in the country for solar jobs, a new report says. The Solar Foundation’s annual Solar Census, released Wednesday, said jobs in Arizona grew 15.

WENDEN – Hundreds of boaters and anglers pass through this small rural farming community every year, headed to the Alamo Lake, 3,500 acres of crystal clear water touted as one of the best fishing spots in Arizona. The desert oasis, with a population of about 1,000, thrives on tourism this time of year because of.

MESA – Brenton Simmons has found his place in the burgeoning fitness industry. The founder and face of LFTD.Lifestyle – a fitness supplement and lifestyle brand – said his desire to get into the profession was driven by reasons much deeper than financial gain. Simmons was born with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, a congenital disorder of the.

GLENDALE – Sandra and Dylan McKee looked around and saw a vegan wasteland in metro Phoenix. The longtime vegan couple capitalized on the trend toward a more healthful, plant-based diet to open Veggie Rebellion, the first vegan-only grocer in Arizona. They hope the tiny store in downtown Glendale will attract customers from across the Valley..

PHOENIX – Pop-up shops have become increasingly common on the American shopping scene over the past decade, with such big name retailers as Amazon and Spirit Halloween setting up the temporary shops. But more recently, smaller businesses and nonprofit organizations have been trying to take advantage of this trend. One example was the Global Market,.

NIPTON, Calif. – A Phoenix company is using trash from the 2015 Super Bowl hosted in Phoenix to make durable, energy-absorbing concrete to rebuild a small township in the Mojave Desert. American Green Corp., which builds vending machines for marijuana products, purchased the small township last summer for $5 million. The company is investing in.

SCOTTSDALE – The uncertainty surrounding DACA’s future is wreaking havoc beyond the nearly 800,000 young immigrants whom the program shields from deportation. The restaurant industry, in particular, would take a tremendous economic loss if the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program ends. Louis Basile, founder and CEO of the Wildflower Bread Co., hopes that his.

CHANDLER – Bonded Logic Inc. is in the business of turning blue things green. The south Chandler textile recycling company collects thousands of pounds of denim jeans, shorts and jackets each year and gives them new life as insulation for homes and office buildings and fiber for bedding. Clients of Bonded Logic, which has about.

AVONDALE — The Ingenuity Sun Media Raceway is a construction zone. Thirty years have passed since the track made its debut as a stop on NASCAR’s premier league schedule, making it due for a $178 million pitstop. Since late last year, the newly renamed ISM Raceway has been undergoing major renovations that include changes to.

WASHINGTON – The tips Jonathan Teslevich earns are “crucial to my life,” which is why the Phoenix bartender worries that a new Labor Department rule on tip pooling could cost him the majority of his income. The proposed rule change would reverse decades of departmental policy by letting employers pool tips received by any workers.

PHOENIX – David LaRue, owner of Legendary Guns Inc., wondered Friday how his central Phoenix store might be affected by the recent decision by several major retailers to end the sale of firearms and ammunition to anyone younger than 21. “I don’t know if it’s the right thing to do, but I can understand why.

TEMPE – Kroger Co., the nation’s largest grocery chain, on Thursday announced its Fred Meyer stores will discontinue the sale of guns and ammunition to customers younger than 21 years old. It’s the third major U.S. retailer in two days to also raise the purchase age. Kroger sells firearms at 43 Fred Meyer locations in.

PHOENIX – Members of a nonprofit environmental advocacy group on Thursday urged the public to pay closer attention to “regressive” governmental policies they say could damage the solar power industry in Arizona, and they warned against proposed budget cuts that could cripple the Environmental Protection Agency. Tempe-based Defend Our Future, a student engagement group, held.

PHOENIX – Dozens of states in the U.S. regulate the tattoo industry. They often require the businesses to have licenses and the customers to remain sober. Yet Arizona is one of the few states that has minimal restrictions. The state requires tattoo artists to use sterilized needles and prohibits minors from getting tattoos without an.

PHOENIX – Tom Messier turned his Mesa home into a winery. Four-foot-tall metal buckets line his living room. A humidifier and two wooden barrels, covered by a plastic sheet, occupy a corner of his kitchen. Stacks of red, white and fruit wines in glass jugs decorate his spare room. Messier belongs to AZ WineMakers, a.

WASHINGTON – Some Arizona Democrats were labeling the Trump administration’s proposed $4.4 trillion fiscal 2019 budget “disastrous” Tuesday and a “slap in the face to Americans across the country.” The budget released Monday cuts spending in 10 of 13 executive departments, and calls for reductions to Medicaid and repeal of the Affordable Care Act, while.

PHOENIX – Arizonans could be the first in the country to pay their state taxes in Bitcoin if a bill introduced in the Legislature becomes law. Proponents say this would put Arizona on the forefront of the innovative cryptocurrency technology. Critics say the bill is a solution in search of a problem that doesn’t exist,.

PHOENIX – Arizona ranked 36 out of the 50 states and the District of Columbia for its residents’ “ability to save and build wealth,” according to Prosperity Now’s 2018 scorecard released earlier this week. This is the state’s best ranking in the study, which became an annual occurrence in 2012. Prosperity Now – formerly the.

PHOENIX – Nirvana Center, a medical-marijuana dispensary in Phoenix, sells products with such names as ice cream, bubble gum and vanilla bean – shying away from using harsher-sounding traditional names. “People definitely are becoming more accepting of cannabis and its uses,” said Max Schell, who helps run the center’s marketing team. “And I feel like.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump bragged this week that African-American joblessness is at the lowest rate ever, but advocates and experts say there is still a long way to go from what one called “depression-type” black unemployment in Arizona. Despite an improving employment picture, African-Americans still lag other populations in the state on a number.

TEMPE – Four virtual reality arcades have popped up in metro Phoenix as players who can’t afford the emerging technology at home are willing to pay for a few immersive minutes of horror or military-style firefights. The steep cost of headsets, space limitations and inexperience with the technology have created a VR arcade industry that.

PHOENIX – Nikola Motor Co. plans to build a 1 million-square-foot manufacturing plant for its hydrogen-electric semi-trucks in Buckeye, Gov. Doug Ducey announced Tuesday, and the company will move its headquarters to the West Valley from Salt Lake City later this year. Nikola chose Arizona after a 12-month search among nine states and 30 locations,.

WASHINGTON – Ports of entry at Nogales are as many as 300 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers shy of their approved staffing levels, according to the officers’ union, leading to long lines that threaten the region’s economy. Customs and Border Protection officials refused to discuss specific numbers of officers at Nogales, citing security reasons..

MESA – Rolando Palacios is just a few weeks away from becoming a first-time business owner. After working for 15 years as a landscaper and plumber, Palacios and his wife began investing in their American dream: a restaurant to call their own. “The United States gave me the opportunities that El Salvador did not,” Palacios.

PHOENIX – The year was 1997, and Tiger Woods, fresh out of Stanford, was brand new to the PGA Tour. Woods stepped up to the raucous 16th tee wearing a navy blue Nike hat and oversize polo shirt that probably would be considered drab by today’s fashion standards. What he did next became a legendary.

SCOTTSDALE – Just as the ’56 Chevy Bel Air was about to rumble up the ramp, someone on the detail team noticed a dull spot on an otherwise gleaming tire. Time for more polish. Done and ready for auction. The 47th annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Auction offered more than 1,700 vehicles for sale in Scottsdale..

GLENDALE – The first thing that hits you when you walk into Escuela de Electricidad Automotriz is the scent of auto parts and coffee. A large white truck is mounted on a lift in the middle of a spacious, echoey room along with tires, engines and other parts spread all over. This shop looks, at.

Business reporters tells stories of huge West Valley developments, plans to renovate Park Central and Mayor Stanton’s diversity employment day.

PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey has pushed for several new programs to try to reduce recidivism among convicted felons. In November, he announced a pilot program to help get former inmates to their jobs after they’re released. He also has implement a “ban the box” policy for state agencies. And he has led efforts.

PHOENIX – Elyse Guidas wants to increase access to healthy foods in low-income areas. She works as the executive director of Fresh Express, a nonprofit that sells fruits and vegetables from a retired Valley Metro bus fitted as a mini grocery store. The truck sells the foods at cost, below market price. It makes 20.

GLENDALE – On a warm Saturday night in October, comic book fans traveled to Drawn to Comics in Glendale where local comic book artists promoted their work at the shop’s annual Halloween Comicfest. Young children in costumes darted around the adults. Young women waited in line to buy their comic books. It’s a scene some.

PHOENIX – The number of Latino-owned businesses in Arizona doubled from 2007 to 2015, according to recent data released by the Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. And the group has more purchasing power than ever. Chamber spokesman James Garcia credited increases in entrepreneurism and economic impact to the population’s rise in size and education levels..

NOGALES, AZ —The road turns from a dusty brown to a deep, red clay along the road to Buena Vista Ranch, where cattle rancher Dean Fish raises commercial cattle. Green vegetation dots the desert for miles from Fish’s ranch headquarters to the ranch’s edge on the Arizona-Mexico border. Black Angus cattle dip their heads to.

AVONDALE — Big changes are in the works at Phoenix Raceway. On top of its massive renovation, the track unveiled its announcement of a title shift on Sept. 26. The track has signed ISM Connect as its naming rights partner. The transition to becoming ISM Raceway, effective 2018, is the first time in the track’s.

QUERETARO, Mexico – Mexico is facing something it never thought would happen: the possibility that NAFTA, the trade agreement that shaped the country’s economic policies over the last two decades, might disappear. But just as some Mexican officials try to convince President Donald Trump that the North American Free Trade Agreement has been beneficial for.

COLON, Queretaro, Mexico – From a stretch of highway in the heart of Mexico, rows of white rectangular structures appear against a backdrop of hills and low brush. A few minutes’ drive farther reveals an entry checkpoint resembling that of a military base. This formidable entrance opens to what could be the prototype for Mexico’s.

QUERÉTARO — Aurelio Martínez Moran stands on the land he’s worked for nearly 22 years. He leans against his red pickup truck and looks out at the fields where workers tend to rows of corn, chili, zucchini and tomatillo. At 18, he was like them, a field worker. Now he rents and farms 30 acres.

SCOTTSDALE – They have names like Kale and Clover, Flower Child and Grabbagreen. If you’re searching for a vegan or vegetarian restaurant in Scottsdale, you likely don’t have to look far. HappyCow, which provides a dining guide for vegans and vegetarians, lists dozens of eateries in Scottsdale. The area has so many offerings, Wallethub recently.

WASHINGTON – When the Great Recession began 10 years ago this month, experts say Latino workers in Arizona were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Heavily represented in construction and agriculture, two industries that were particularly hard hit, and generally younger than the overall state population, unemployment among Hispanics in Arizona soared from.

PHOENIX – It costs less to die in Arizona and in other nearby states compared to elsewhere in the nation – at least when it comes to funeral costs. Local experts say that’s because so many people here choose cremation over traditional burial. The national median cost of a funeral, which includes viewing and burial.

WASHINGTON – Unemployment rates in Arizona inched down to 4.5 percent in October, falling to the lowest rate since the start of the Great Recession and capping one of the longest recoveries on record in the state. Some experts said there may yet be improvements in the overall jobless rate, but all agreed that employment.

PHOENIX – Melissa de la Rosa has been boxing at Jabz Boxing in Arcadia for just under a year. The women-only facility fulfills more than de la Rosa’s desire to amp up her cardio and relieve stress. “I’m an Orthodox Jew, and I can’t work out uncovered around men,” she said. “So, I come here.

WASHINGTON – The global scale of the so-called Great Recession that began 10 years ago in the U.S. may have been illustrated best by the steep drop in remittances, or money that immigrants send to family back home. “For the first time in recorded history, remittances to developing countries actually declined,” during the recession, said.

PHOENIX – Arizona already faces a shortage of skilled cyber security workers. And one local cyber security expert said those who do hold these jobs might need to brush up on their skills. “We have a huge cybersecurity skills gap,” said Brett Scott, who has worked in the IT industry for 30 years. “And most.

WASHINGTON – It was what one expert called “the mother of all booms.” Just over a decade ago, Arizona’s construction industry was leading the country in residential and commercial building. People were waiting up to a year for a house, even as builders were throwing new homes up on spec for the residents who were.

PHOENIX – Averie Brookes was hanging out with friends late one evening last year when their sweet cravings kicked in. “We were all hanging out, and we realized that there are no places open past midnight that serve desserts, and we took it a step further and decided, ‘Well, we’re up late. We want it.

PHOENIX – A number of telephone history museums – which celebrate everything from telegraphs and telephone booths to rotary and flip phones – have closed in the past few years. Museums in Houston, Oregon and Tucson couldn’t keep their doors open, according to media reports. In Phoenix, Joe Hersey worried the collection he had curated.

SCOTTSDALE – Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to serving the poor, was exorcised on her deathbed in late 1996, according to published reports, because the Archbishop of Calcutta feared she was “being attacked by the devil.” Exorcisms, the religious practice of driving the evil spirit or demon out of someone.

BISBEE – The students digging beneath the stands at Bisbee’s Warren Ballpark have unearthed a few artifacts that provide a glimpse into what life was like for fans of the century-old ballpark: firearm cartridges, broken glass bottles, bus tokens. Robert Schon, an associate professor of archaeology at the University of Arizona, leads the archeological dig,.

WASHINGTON – Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake ended his holdout Friday and agreed to vote for the GOP tax-cut plan, joining fellow Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and helping Republican leaders get the margin they needed to pass the bill. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would cut taxes by $1.4 trillion over 10 years, but.

BISBEE – Longtime Bisbee resident Renee Reed remembers how the dilapidated home across the street used to look. “It was really cute and quaint, but over the years I’ve had to sit here and watch it just disintegrate,” Reed said. Nearly three decades ago, the home was so beautiful an artist asked Reed if he.

PHOENIX – Americans are dealing out more cash this year for the holidays, but experts say that’s not necessarily a good thing for those looking for work in Arizona. Between Black Friday and Cyber Monday – the busiest shopping time of the year – 174 million U.S. consumers hurried through stores and navigated websites to.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was on Capitol Hill Monday to lobby senators for a GOP tax cut plan – and so was Tucson resident Cindy Winston, who was there to lobby against the measure. The Tucson schoolteacher was one of a handful of state residents at the Capitol hoping to influence Arizona Sens. John.

SCOTTSDALE – Competitors working together? That’s not a typical business practice, but representatives from five Scottsdale furniture consignment stores said their collaboration has helped boost the local industry. Darlene Richert, president and founder of Avery Lane, spearheaded the effort to brand the high-end resale shops located within a five-mile radius of each other and market.

PHOENIX – Companies interested in providing a safe work environment must do more than just run training sessions, say human resources experts as high-profile allegations of sexual harassment and assault surface almost daily. “A lot of companies give out a handbook on the first day and never talk about it again, or you really only.

WASHINGTON – Arizona lawmakers fell in line with their respective parties Thursday as the House voted 227-205 for a $1.5 trillion tax-cut plan, making good on Speaker Paul Ryan’s promise to get a bill passed before the Thanksgiving recess. Thirteen Republicans joined all 192 voting Democrats to oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but.

PHOENIX – When Park Central Mall opened in 1957, the cars packed into the parking lot had fins, Elvis Presley’s “Jailhouse Rock” was on the radio and shoppers were riding the escalators at a gleaming, two-story Goldwater’s department store, founded by the family of the man who would run for president seven years later. The.

SCOTTSDALE – Robots can drive our cars, pick our tomatoes and change our thermostats for us. But would you want a robot to pour your next beer or wine? The restaurant and bartending industry has embraced the latest automation trend: robotic bartenders. The technology has cropped up at several Valley establishments, including Sorso Wine Room.

PHOENIX – Consumers seeking last-minute loans will soon have new protections. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an independent federal agency established in 2011 after the Great Recession, issued a ruling last month to curb so-called “predatory” lending practices, a move some experts say will make a positive impact on Arizona consumers. The rules would require.

WASHINGTON – A GOP tax-reform plan to eliminate deductions for state and local income and sales tax payments would affect one in five Arizona taxpayers, who used it to deduct more than $3.5 billion from their 2015 income. But Arizona filers will not see nearly the hit of higher-tax states like California and Maryland, which.

WASHINGTON – The House began work Monday on the largest tax reform push in over three decades, with most Arizona lawmakers tentatively embracing the concept even as they expressed reservations about details in the 429-page bill. GOP leaders who unveiled the plan Thursday said it will spur the economy by cutting corporate and individual tax.

TEMPE – When Patricia St. Vincent bought a 1910 colonial revival house in Tempe more than 30 years ago, the seller congratulated her and said, “You bought yourself a haunted house.” That didn’t bother St. Vincent when she closed the deal on the Ash Street property. She transformed the house into Casey Moore’s Oyster House..

A local surgeon likes to play the odds, just not in the emergency room. Bryan Pimlott wants to be clear: He’s not a gambler. He’s a poker player. His parents never gambled, his kids don’t gamble. Yet he has managed to be accomplished at both his career — a Phoenix orthopedic surgeon specializing in the.

PHOENIX – Thousands of people converged in central Phoenix this past weekend as part of the inaugural Lost Lake Festival, a three-day music, arts and food event. Despite earlier concerns about security issues and potential traffic snarls, attendees and Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton said the event “exceeded expectations.” “Steele Indian School Park has never looked.

PHOENIX – Maryvale residents said they were concerned about the recent announcement their nearest hospital would close, leaving some to question where they will go in an emergency. Abrazo Community Health Network on Wednesday announced it will close its Maryvale campus on Dec. 18. Leslie Jones, 64, said as a longtime resident of the West.

PHOENIX – Tiny meows echo through the room as volunteers in yellow smocks feed, weigh and record every kitten in the Arizona Humane Society‘s Bottle Baby Intensive Care Unit. When a rescue worker showed up at the nonprofit’s Phoenix facility with a cardboard crate in her hands on a recent Friday afternoon, a spokeswoman looked.

PHOENIX – Like many community members who live in or around Maryvale, Lupe Ybarra needs a job. On Tuesday afternoon, she cruised from booth to booth, speaking with potential employers as part of a hiring event at the Legends Event Center in the west Phoenix neighborhood. It was her second time at the center that.

MESA — In his first at-bat of the Game Day USA Junior All-American Games, Sam Love faced an 0-2 count with the bases loaded. Love fouled off a few before finding his money pitch. He roped a line drive down the left field line for a bases-clearing double. The fight he showed at the place defines.

PHOENIX – Eastern cultures have practiced the art of meditation for centuries. But its popularity has spread to the West in recent decades. The CEO of Phoenix-based Current Meditation wants to capitalize on that trend by taking his business and making it into a national franchise. Current Meditation plans to open as many as 175.

WASHINGTON – Arizona utilities and regulators said they plan to continue working toward the lower carbon emission goals that had been set in the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, even though federal officials said this week that they are scrapping the program. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Tuesday that he will revoke the Obama-era.

PHOENIX – Arizona ranks among the top states for financial complaints by older consumers, a consumer group said in a report released Thursday. Seniors are more likely to be financial prey than members of other age groups, whether the target of advertising that glosses over the downsides of reverse mortgages with soothing celebrity testimonials, dealing.

PHOENIX – Tiny housing has been a hot topic the past few years, with shows such as “Tiny House Hunters” and others appearing on HGTV and tiny house communities popping up across the country. The trend has flourished in densely populated cities such as New York and Seattle. Some smaller communities – such as Spur,.

PHOENIX — Mike Tyson. Allen Iverson. Diego Maradona. Terrell Owens. Four major athletes, four major sports. And an estimated $600 million of earnings lost. Eight years after an eye-opening Sports Illustrated study suggested 60 percent of NBA players go broke within five years of retiring from the game, concerns remain about professional athletes’ finances as.

NOGALES, Mexico – Sixty truck drivers scribbled notes in a Mexican warehouse last month as they listened to a United States border inspection officer describe the types of things officers examine during border inspections. Flat tires. Broken headlights. Cargo that’s not secured. The group gathered as part of a new program the Arizona Department of.

PHOENIX – In the past decade, nail art has become one of the hottest trends in the nail care industry. In fact, more than 85 percent of the salons surveyed nationwide offered nail art, which includes everything from hand painted art and Swarovski crystals to chrome nails, according to NAILS Magazine 2016-2017 statistics. Nail art.

WASHINGTON – A Senate committee Wednesday chastised the former head of Equifax for a data breach that exposed financial data of as many as 143 million Americans to hackers – a number that one Arizona expert said could be even higher. Jamie Winterton, director of strategy at the Global Security Initiative at Arizona State University,.

MESA – Spencer Thomason’s startup beat out 63 others at this year’s Venture Madness competition. His pitch: “The internet has two big problems: Porn and cat videos. You might be asking, ‘But what’s wrong with cat videos?’ Well, nothing per se, but cat videos represent the 44.5 hours per week on average that kids spend.

WASHINGTON – Navajo leaders expressed hope Monday that the Navajo Generating Station will be able to continue operations past 2019, after Peabody Energy said it had come up with a list of potential investors in the plant. Peabody, which mines the coal to power the plant, did not identify the prospective buyers it presented to.

PHOENIX – Local economist Elliott Pollack said he’s optimistic about the future of both the regional and national economy, pointing to positive indicators such as employment, population and housing growth. However, Pollack also expressed plenty of caution when he spoke to a crowd of about 750 people gathered in downtown Phoenix for the Greater Phoenix.

PHOENIX – Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has spent hundreds of millions of dollars making improvements to the airport in the past few years. And airport officials say the work is paying off. Last year, Sky Harbor ranked 14th among mega airports on the J.D. Power and Associates‘ airport satisfaction survey. This year, it tied.

WASHINGTON – Florence Copper officials could break ground on a $24 million “in-situ” copper mining facility by December, after an administrative appeals board last week turned down objections to the project from the Town of Florence and another opponent. The ruling by the Environmental Protection Agency’s EPA Environmental Appeals Board rejected challenges that the in-situ.

GILBERT – The co-owner of a Gilbert deli shop said he doesn’t base his success on the number of customers who walk through his doors – he’s more interested in the number of jobs he can provide. Not Your Typical Deli hires employees diagnosed with autism and other developmental issues. Cashier Cordell Sherwood, who was.

TEMPE – The typical college dorm doesn’t have 3-D printers, laser cutters and Bluetooth-enabled washers and dryers on-site. But the new Tooker House on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus touts the kind of technology and innovation the students living there hope to one day create. The $120 million residential community houses 1,600 ASU students, largely.

WASHINGTON – Despite posting a sharp decrease in its poverty rate over the last two years, Arizona continued to have some of the highest poverty in the nation in 2016, the latest Census numbers show. Arizona’s poverty rate of 16.4 percent was well above the national rate of 14 percent that year, and ranged from.

WASHINGTON – Former Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano thinks there is a deal to be had in the current renegotiation of NAFTA, if the deterioration of relations between the United States and Mexico doesn’t get in the way of finding common goals. Her comments came at a daylong forum at the Washington center for the University.