Coyotes CEO Xavier Gutierrez ‘still committed to the East Valley’ in ongoing arena search

SCOTTSDALE – Arizona Coyotes CEO Xavier Gutierrez provided an update Tuesday on the Coyotes’ search for a permanent location for their arena. Gutierrez said the team is narrowing its search to multiple East Valley locations and expects a decision by midseason.

Coyotes president Xavier Gutierrez on a panel

Glass half-full or half-empty? In partisan Washington, it’s usually both

WASHINGTON - Two committees held two hearings on the same topic - immigration and the workforce -but the hearings in the Democrat-controlled Senate and the GOP-led House came to two very different conclusions. Washington observers were not surprised.


Kris Mayes, other attorneys general, recommend crackdown on vaping products targeting youth

PHOENIX — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and 32 other attorneys general from around the country are asking the Food and Drug Administration to ban flavored e-cigarettes and crack down on marketing that targets youth.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and 32 other attorneys general from around the country are asking the Food and Drug Administration to ban flavored e-cigarettes and crack down on marketing that targets youth. Photo taken at Stogies Smoke & Vape in downtown Phoenix on Sept. 7, 2023. (Photo by Kevinjonah Paguio/Cronkite News)

GAO: Rush to build border wall caused harm, damages continued after pause

WASHINGTON - A new Government Accountability Office report confirms what critics have long said, that the Trump administration's rush to build a border wall caused significant environmental damage, depleted water sources and devastated sacred tribal sites.


ESA program added almost 50,000 students in the past year, state reports

WASHINGTON – The state added nearly 12,000 students to the Empowerment Scholarship Account program in the last quarter, bringing total enrollment to 61,689 at the end of June and renewing debates about the costs and benefits of the program.


Christian lawmakers push battle over church and state after Roe

A group of Christian lawmakers has been busy reshaping America’s relationship with abortion, LGBTQ issues and religion. But their ultimate goal – bridging the separation between church and state – is far more ambitious.


Independents, with a lowercase i, are now Arizona’s biggest voter group

WASHINGTON - The largest political party in Arizona is no longer a party. The latest numbers from the Arizona Secretary of State's office show that independent voters edged out Republicans in July to become the largest single group of voters in the state.


Amid shortage of 911 dispatchers, new law extends trauma therapy to them

PHOENIX – Arizona 911 dispatchers will now have trauma therapy costs covered by their employer amid recruitment issues in Phoenix and statewide. Gov. Katie Hobbs celebrated the new law Wednesday with first responders and Rep. Melody Hernandez, D-Tempe, who introduced the bill.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs celebrates a bill ofafering trauma therapy to 911 dispatchers on Aug.23, 2023, at the Phoenix Fire Department’s 911 regional dispatch center. (Photo by Cameron Arcand/Cronkite News)

‘This is a long game’: A year after Roe, abortion access fight moves to blue states like New Mexico

CLOVIS, N.M. – As more states pass abortion bans, providers and patients have flocked to New Mexico, a sanctuary for abortion rights. The anti-abortion movement has followed.


State Supreme Court to hear abortion case; providers vow business as usual

WASHINGTON - Arizona abortion providers said Thursday they will conduct business as usual while the state Supreme Court considers a challenge to state law that could lead to the restoration of a 19th-century ban on abortion.


Video: In the Sheriff We Trust

A national group of sheriffs that claims their authority supersedes that of state and federal government has spread its doctrine to dozens of states in recent years, in part by gaining state accreditation for its taxpayer-funded law enforcement training. Some states and localities are pushing back, including in Texas, Washington and Nevada.


Our methods: The nationwide spread of the ‘constitutional sheriff’

AZCIR and the Howard Center spent months investigating the national spread of the constitutional sheriffs movement led by Richard Mack.

Richard Mack shares his interpretation of the Supreme Court decision Printz v. United States during a presentation of his training in Gilbert, Ariz., on Aug. 1, 2023. (Photo by Brendon Derr/AZCIR)