Lillie Boudreaux expects to graduate in May 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a minor in global studies. She was a social justice reporter at the Cronkite News Washington, D.C., bureau and a 2023 White House Correspondents’ Association scholarship recipient. She has interned at Al Arabiya News and the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations. She also worked as a reporter for ASU News and on the Arizona PBS digital team.
TUCSON - Shelters like Casas Alitas in Tucson prevent what one official said could be "homelessness on steroids," by caring for hundreds of asylum seekers who arrive daily with little more than the clothes on their backs. But funding for such programs almost ran out this year.
TUCSON - Vice President Kamala Harris blasted former President Donald Trump Friday as "the architect" of new abortion restrictions sweeping the country, including the near-total ban that was resurrected this week in Arizona.
PHOENIX - A divided Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated a 19th-century, near-total ban on abortion, saying it overrides a 2022 law that allowed abortions up to 15 weeks of pregnancy.
PHOENIX - The $1.2 trillion budget that Congress was working to pass Friday included protection for gas stoves to restrictions on payments to the Chinese government. What it didn't include was renewal of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act for "downwinders."
CHANDLER - President Joe Biden announced the award of $8.5 billion to chipmaker Intel on Wednesday, along with $11 billion in loans that will help the semiconductor manufacturer expand operations in Arizona and three other states.
PHOENIX - President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump cruised to victory in Arizona's presidential preference election Tuesday, easily outdistancing challengers despite an organized protest vote and former challengers who were still on the ballot.
PHOENIX - Arizona Schools Superintendent Tom Horne told lawmakers Tuesday that the state faces a crisis in teacher retention, with low salaries and a lack of support leading to a loss of thousands of teachers every year.
PHOENIX – Abortion opponents packed the plaza outside the Arizona Capitol on Friday in an impassioned display of anti-abortion advocacy at what one advocate called "a crucial time in Arizona" for the abortion fight.
PHOENIX - Arizona will expand income eligibility for the state's KidsCare program, potentially adding10,000 children to the low-cost health care program, and will make permanent a pandemic-era program to pay parents who act as caregivers for their disabled children.
PHOENIX - State lawmakers pushed through a bipartisan, last-minute plan to give election officials more time to cope with expected mandatory recounts this year by pushing the primary up to July 30 - but it also gives voters and candidates less time in the process.
PHOENIX - GOP senators want to rewrite state law to define sex as only male and female and not a "subjective sense of self," a move they said will protect women and girls from "unwanted intrusions" by transgender women. Opponents call it another "LGBTQ+ Erasure Act."
PHOENIX - Legislators approved an additional $8 million for a Department of Emergency and Military Affairs program that buses migrants away from border communities. More than 81,000 people have been transported since the program launched in 2022.
PHOENIX - In the 51 years since the Supreme Court recognized - then reversed - federal abortion protections, advocates and opponents have fought over the boundaries of that right. That fight continues today, with Arizona now at the forefront of the national battle.
PHOENIX - Chanting "bans off our bodies" and "my body, my choice," protesters marched on the Arizona Capitol Saturday as the National Women's March was held in Phoenix to highlight the state's role as the next battleground over abortion.
PHOENIX - Gov. Katie Hobbs unveiled a $16.3 billion fiscal 2025 budget proposal that would close a projected $889 million revenue shortfall by cutting transportation projects and reining in the Empowerment Scholarship Accounts to make room fir $488 million in new initiatives.
WASHINGTON - Maternal death rates more than doubled over the past 20 years in the U.S., with Black and Indigenous women continuing to see mortality rates that far exceeded other groups - a pattern that was repeated in Arizona, according to a recent study.
WASHINGTON - Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego told President Joe Biden Thursday that even in a town that knows who to cope with hot weather, this summer's record-breaking heat is posing a challenge.
WASHINGTON - Reaction to Rep. Eli Crane's use of the term "colored people" during a House floor debate included "utter shock" and calling it a "dog whistle to white nationalists." What it did not include was much defense for the Oro Valley GOP freshman, who said he misspoke.
WASHINGTON - Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren asked senators Wednesday for more funding, and time, for a pipeline project that would create a reliable water supply for 250,000 people across Arizona and New Mexico.
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Friday struck down a Biden administration student-debt relief plan that would have aided more than 40 million people, 916,000 of whom live in Arizona and currently hold a total of $32.6 billion in loans.
WASHNGTON - A divided Supreme Court said that race-based college admissions policies are unconstitutional violations of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause. Arizona universities do not believe it will affect them, but advocates called it "a shameful day."
WASHINGTON Clinics are open, the law is clear and Arizona abortion numbers are climbing to levels of last year, before the Supreme Court overturned the right to an abortion. It may feel like a return to normal, but Arizona abortion providers say there is "an environment of fear."
WASHINGTON – A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the federal government is not required to take "affirmative steps" to guarantee water for the Navajo Nation beyond the water rights that were granted in an 1868 treaty.
WASHINGTON - When lawmakers faced off for the annual Congressional Baseball Game, it wasn't to show off their athleticism. It was to raise money for charity and have fun, but mostly it was to relax and relate to each other in a friendlier atmosphere, if only for a night.
WASHINGTON - Arizona lawmakers' reacted swiftly to the historic indictment of former President Donald Trump for allegedly hoarding classified intelligence documents. Democrats said the legal process needs to play out, while Republicans called the indictment politically motivated.
WASHINGTON - For more than 160 years, the San Juan Southern Paiute Tribe has lived on Navajo Nation land, and for 23 years it has had a pending treaty that would give the tribe its own lands. It's long past time for Congress to ratify the treaty, the tribe's president testified.
WASHINGTON - The Senate gave final approval late Thursday to a bill to suspend the debt ceiling, just days before Monday's "X-date" when Treasury officials said the government would run out of money and default on its debts.
WASHINGTON - Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema joined two Democrats and all Senate Republicans Thursday to narrowly approve a bill overturning a federal program that would provide student debt relief to 16 million people, including more than 300,000 in Arizona.
WASHINGTON - Ranchers and GOP lawmakers say a Supreme Court ruling that narrows which waters are subject to federal regulation is a win for private property rights, But environmentalist call the ruling in Sackett v. EPA "disastrous for Arizona, where water is rare."
ARLINGTON, Va. - In the predawn chill at Arlington National Cemetery, more than 1,000 service members hoisted backpacks and headed into the rows of headstones. Their mission: Plant thousands of small American flags at the graves of the country's fallen heroes.
WASHINGTON - An Arizona veteran who started a string of Prescott businesses after his military service ended told lawmakers Wednesday that reducing barriers and streamlining federal loan applications are essential to helping other vets become business owners.
