Phoenix replacing more diesel-fueled garbage trucks with environmentally friendlier natural gas vehicles
PHOENIX – To reduce emissions by city vehicles, Phoenix will use a $1 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to purchase more garbage trucks fueled by compressed natural gas.
Biggs, Schweikert cross aisle as House trims president’s war powers
WASHINGTON - Arizona Reps. Andy Biggs and David Schweikert were among just 11 Republicans who crossed party lines Thursday as the House voted to limit the president's ability to pursue military action without approval from Congress.
Bill would expand anti-discrimination protections to LGBTQ community statewide
PHOENIX – Phoenix and other cities protect residents and visitors based on race, disability and ”gender identity or expression,” but several lawmakers and community leaders say it’s time for a statewide law. SB 1321 would ban discrimination in housing, jobs and other areas based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
Jury duty: After week of sitting, senators take active impeachment role
WASHINGTON - Senators are supposed to be jurors in the impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, but while there are some similarities these "jurors," who wander off during testimony, occasionally nod off and almost certainly began the trial with their minds already made up.
Court voids state ‘ballot harvesting’ ban, out-of-precinct voting rule
WASHINGTON - A divided federal appeals court Monday overturned Arizona's ban on ballot-harvesting and its policy of rejecting ballots accidentally cast in the wrong precinct, calling both reflections of the state's "long and unhappy history of official discrimination" in elections.
Arizonans join thousands – and, in a first, a president – at March for Life
WASHINGTON - Tempe resident Katie Forbes was at the 47th March for Life because she finds the national event's "magnitude and scale" encouraging for anti-abortion groups at the event, which this year drew a first-ever personal appearance by a sitting president.
Gallego discusses challenge of affordable housing in booming Phoenix
WASHINGTON - Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told an audience of elected officials in Washington Thursday that while cities across the country are forced to be creative in the fight to provide affordable housing, it's a particular challenge in her city.
Despite distracted-driving law, Arizona still ranks low on highway safety
WASHINGTON - Arizona enacted a ban on texting while driving last year, after 10 years of trying, but it still wasn't enough to pull the state from the bottom of a national report card on traffic safety laws.
Mesa’s Giles leads panel of mayors grappling with immigration policy
WASHINGTON - They were Democratic and Republican mayors from cities large and small across the country, but officials on the panel Wednesday on immigration agreed - it's an issue they all grapple with, said Mesa Mayor John Giles who led the U.S. Conference of Mayors event.
DNC sees Maricopa County voters as key to making Arizona a 2020 battleground
WASHINGTON - Democratic National Committee officials said they plan to focus aggressively on Maricopa County voters as part of their efforts to swing Arizona, one of six battleground states where the party plans to invest millions in 2020 - a move Republicans call too little, too late.
As impeachment trial begins, Arizonans play official, unofficial roles
WASHINGTON - Testimony in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump began Tuesday, with at least two Arizonans looking on in unofficial capacities as senators engaged in an all-day debate of procedure.
New rules on school prayer, religious groups, hailed and assailed
WASHINGTON - Arizona religious groups said the Trump administration's release this week of regulations aimed at protecting religious expression "rights a serious wrong," but others expect the moves will have little practical impact.
