U.S. House, District 2: Eli Crane limits public access, doesn’t live in district – but is Trump endorsed
GOP candidate Eli Crane doesn’t live in the district he wants to represent and has no public-facing contact information. The Trump-endorsed former “Shark Tank” contestant is a business owner in Oro Valley and first-time candidate.
Governor: Kari Lake, a Trump-endorsed election denier, touts lack of political experience
Former news anchor and Arizona governor hopeful Kari Lake has no political experience – and that’s exactly why she thinks she should do the job. Her campaign has been associated with proximity to extremists and election conspiracies.
Governor: Katie Hobbs touts her political competence – and ‘sanity’
Democratic candidate for Arizona governor, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, is running a high-stakes campaign against Trump-backed candidate Kari Lake in a race that has captured national attention.
Who’s on second? Prop 131 answers with new lieutenant governor’s office
WASHINGTON - Presidential candidates do it. Gubernatorial candidates in most states do it. Arizona would join them if voters approve Proposition 131, to create an office of lieutenant governor who would be from the same party and run on the same ticket as the governor.
Mesa High athletes memorialize former student with local cemetery cleanup
MESA – Mesa High students who participate in sports or clubs make a trip each fall to the City of Mesa Cemetery to clean up the grounds. It’s a way to give back to their community and honor the late Jackrabbit Zedo Ishikawa, who is buried there. Ishikawa’s dying words, “Carry on,” became the school’s motto, and today’s students aim to carry on the cemetery tradition.
Opponents file petitions to halt voucher expansion; now the fight begins
WASHINGTON - Opponents of the state's expanded Empowerment Scholarship Accounts filed more than 140,000 petition signatures Friday to temporarily halt the program that would have allowed any student in the state to use public dollars for private education.
Opponents confident of meeting deadline to block school voucher expansion
PHOENIX - Organizers of a petition drive to put the state's expanded empowerment scholarship accounts on the 2024 ballot are confident they can collect the needed signatures before this weekend, when the vast expansion of the school voucher program would take effect.
Downtown residents, business owners sue Phoenix over growing homeless encampment
PHOENIX – A group of residents and business owners just east of downtown Phoenix are seeking heavier law enforcement in an area where hundreds of unsheltered people have set up camp. The group has sued the city and wants the area declared a public nuisance.
Union membership in Arizona inches up, still trails most of the nation
WASHINGTON - After bottoming out at 4% in 2017, labor union membership in Arizona has been slowly rising, reaching 5.4% in 2021, but it is still well behind levels of previous years and only about half of the national average.
Arizona traffic fatalities fell sharply, as deaths nationally spiked
WASHINGTON - While the U.S. saw a record increase in traffic fatalities in the first quarter of 2022, Arizona highway deaths fell by nearly a third. A new report says 190 people died on Arizona roads in the first quarter of 2022, down from 277 in the first three months of 2021.
Final ISIS kidnapper sentenced to life for role in Kayla Mueller’s death
ALEXANDRIA, Va. - A second ISIS militant was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the kidnapping and killing of Prescott native Kayla Mueller, a relief to her parents who pledged to continue fighting for her memory.
A special routine: Schweikert a top user of House ‘special order’ speeches
WASHINGTON - Arizona GOP Rep. David Schweikert, a self-described "accountant on steroids," is one of the biggest users of "special order" speeches, the end-of-day time when lawmakers are free to address an empty chamber - and C-SPAN cameras - for pet issues or peeves.