Brooke Newman is a master’s journalism student at Arizona State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in justice studies in 2021. She has worked in the Cronkite News D.C. bureau as a social justice and politics reporter and has written for The Arizona Republic, AZBigMedia and The State Press.
SALT LAKE CITY – About a dozen states provide what’s commonly known as “integrity bulletins,” which contain information about complaints against law enforcement and investigation outcomes, but typically don't include identifying information – such as the officer’s name.
WASHINGTON - Arizona's congressional incumbents have the advantage of name recognition and massive fundraising leads - but analysts say they might need both as congressional redistricting has "put us all in a state of limbo" for the 2022 House races.
WASHINGTON - More than half of Arizona's House delegation cast votes by proxy this year, including two who were among the top remote voters in Congress and another who once called proxy voting "shameful and unconstitutional" but did it anyway.
WASHINGTON - When Congress restored budget earmarks this year, 332 House members rushed in with $7.1 billion in special requests to fund local projects. Arizona lawmakers were part of that rush, but with requests that were relatively modest compared to the rest of the House.
WASHINGTON - The major political parties in Arizona have continued to lose voters since the November election, according to the latest state data, with analysts saying strident partisanship is "turning off" voters and driving them to register as independents.
WASHINGTON - The federal government's COVID-19 moratorium on renter evictions ends Saturday, leaving thousands of Arizona renters vulnerable while state and local officials have distributed just a fraction of the funding aimed at keeping people in their homes.
WASHINGTON - The private firm hired to audit Maricopa County's 2020 elections said this week that its work was funded by $5.7 million in donations from conservative groups, a revelation that raised as many questions as it answered for critics.
WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court Thursday refused to reinstate former Arizona Rep. Don Shooter's challenge of his 2018 expulsion from the Legislature for violating its policies against sexual harassment and creating a hostile workplace.
WASHINGTON - Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly has a huge fundraising lead over potential challengers to his 2022 re-election bid, but analysts say that's still no guarantee in a campaign where both parties are fighting to take control of an evenly divided Senate.
WASHINGTON - Arizona Democrats on Friday urged Attorney General Mark Brnovich to investigate the state Senate audit of Maricopa County's election, which they called a politically motivated sham, just one day after a congressional panel launched its own probe of Cyber Ninjas.
WASHINGTON - The private firms auditing Maricopa County elections said they have reviewed the more than 2 million ballots but will be unable to deliver a complete report without cooperation from county officials, during what critics called a sham hearing on a sham audit.
WASHINGTON - Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego joined other mayors and governors at the White House Wednesday to push for the administration's $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan, a measure she has said is needed to reverse decades of "massive underinvestment."
WASHINGTON - Thousands of Arizona families will start getting direct payments from the federal government this week under the expanded child tax credit program, part of the American Rescue Plan that could mean up to $300 per child per month for the next year.
WASHINGTON - The state's plan to execute two death-row inmates as early as this fall were derailed Monday when the Arizona Supreme Court ordered the state to first determine the viability of its execution drugs before pressing ahead.
WASHINGTON - Federal officials have awarded $45.3 million in COVID-19 relief funds to 68 Arizona concert venues, a vast improvement over the single grant awarded a month ago but still far short of the need, advocates say.
WASHINGTON - Federal officials want to greatly expand habitats for black-footed ferrets in Arizona and possibly into neighboring states, but the endangered animal, once thought extinct, still faces several hurdles, experts say.
WASHINGTON - The COVID-19 pandemic led to sharp drops in commuting last year, with cities in Arizona and across the U.S. seeing drops of 50% or more in the number of hours and dollars they wasted, and the gallons of gas burned, while stuck in traffic, a new report shows.
WASHINGTON - Arizona had 28,770 registered electric vehicles in June, government data shows, the seventh-highest number among states. When ownership is measured per 1,000 residents, Arizona inches up a notch to sixth place, with just over four EVs per 1,000 people.
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden said he wanted to see 70% of adults get at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine by the Fourth of July, but it doesn't look like that will happen. Arizona and 30 other states are falling short, as is the U.S. as a whole, at 66.8% of adults vaccinated.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court Thursday rejected claims that Arizona's ballot-harvesting and out-of-precinct election rules discriminate against minority voters, a ruling that one critic said "takes a sledgehammer" to equal voting protections.
WASHINGTON - Both sides in the election law debate agree on at least one thing: The Supreme Court's expected ruling Thursday in an Arizona election law case will be felt well beyond the state's borders.
WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court Monday ordered a new hearing for an Arizona death-row inmate, saying his attorney did not fully investigate the history of abuse and mental health issues that could have been used in his defense for two Bullhead City murders.
WASHINGTON - Presidents typically pick ambassadors for technical skills or their political connections, but in the case of President Joe Biden tapping Cindy McCain to a United Nations post, it is probably a little bit of both, experts say.
WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden and a bipartisan group of senators announced agreement Thursday on a "historic" $1.2 trillion infrastructure plan that is heavy on construction but does not include the "human infrastructure" the White House originally wanted.
WASHINGTON - Border officials said they were "devastated" this week to find that the federal government has extended a COVID-19 ban on nonessential border crossings for another month, potentially crippling businesses there.
WASHINGTON - Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., repeated her refusal to end the filibuster Tuesday, the same day that Republicans used the maneuver to block debate on sweeping voting rights legislation that has already passed the House.
WASHINGTON - Arizona advocates are breathing "a sigh of relief" this week after the Supreme Court again refused to invalidate the Affordable Care Act, a decision that should preserve the health care program for at least several years.
WASHINGTON - The federal Juneteenth holiday may be brand new, but you might not know it from the number of celebrations already planned to mark the day in Arizona, with celebrations across the state scheduled to start Friday night and continue through Saturday evening.
WASHINGTON - To the Tohono O'odham, it's schools and health care. To the Hopi, it's a badly needed jail improvements. Those were among the laundry list of needs outlined at a hearing on federal facilities in Indian Country, a situation that one lawmaker called a "travesty."
WASHINGTON - Patrick and Teri Caserta hope no one has to go through what they did in 2018 when their son died by suicide while in the Navy. That's why the Peoria parents were on hand to support a bill to give service members confidential access to mental health care.
WASHINGTON - Tempe Mayor Corey Woods told a Senate panel that cities like his need federal funding for affordable housing and public transit, saying local investment alone cannot do the job. His testimony came as Washington wrangles over massive infrastructure proposals.
WASHINGTON - After hitting a 40-year low in the pandemic year of 2020, national park visitors - and their dollars - are steadily returning, but they are still below pre-pandemic levels, according to new National Park Service data.
WASHINGTON - Arizona business owners said a federal program aimed at helping theaters and concert venues shuttered by COVID-19 "has been a disaster," taking until this month to deliver the first grants from a fund that was approved last year.
WASHINGTON - A half-dozen wildfires were burning close to 140,000 acres across Arizona Tuesday and growing, as heat, wind and drought conditions complicated firefighting efforts, officials said.
WASHINGTON - Reports that Arizona is preparing to execute death row inmates with gas similar to what was used in the Holocaust have brought responses ranging from "concerned" to "horrified," but the most common reaction was disbelief.
WASHINGTON - COVID-19 vaccination rates have fallen sharply in Arizona, but health officials are still hopeful the state can reach a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention goal of vaccinating 70% of Arizonans by July 4.
WASHINGTON - Tribal police have the authority to detain non-Natives traveling through reservation land if the officer has a reasonable belief that the suspect violated state or federal law, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
WASHINGTON - With vaccinations rising and new COVID-19 cases falling, Memorial Day ceremonies around the state and the nation that were forced to go virtual last are scheduled to be held in person again this year - a welcome change for those who observe the day.
WASHINGTON - Arizona residents should feel comfortable celebrating Memorial Day this year, but health experts said they still need to be careful to keep from repeating last year's mistakes, when unguarded partying led to a "lethal July."
WASHINGTON - Travel experts say that with more people getting vaccinated and the grip of the COVID-19 pandemic easing, they expect the number of Memorial Day travelers to bounce back to almost pre-pandemic levels this holiday weekend.
WASHINGTON - House members stuck largely to talking points at a hearing on the effect that voter ID laws have on election access, with Republicans dismissing suggestions that they hit minority voters harder and Democrats citing a string of studies that say they do.
WASHINGTON - Maricopa County's chief information security officer said the county handled cyberthreats to the 2020 elections, but handling public perception of the results in the face of rampant social media misinformation has been more of a challenge.
WASHINGTON - The House voted Wednesday to create a bipartisan 9/11-style commission to investigate the deadly Jan. 6 insurrection at the Capitol, despite the opposition of 175 Republicans, including all four from Arizona.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court said it will consider whether two Arizona death-row inmates should get new hearings on claims that attorneys who represented them decades ago failed to present evidence that could have spared them.