The American Civil Liberties Union challenged Arizona’s “racist and sexist abortion law” in federal appeals court this week, arguing that it is a gross violation of the U.S. Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. The law, officially the “Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2011,” is supposed to…
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey says he wants state agencies to make everything they do more efficient and that his office will issue scorecards next year to measure their efforts. Ducey began ramping up the state’s Government Transformation Office after taking office in January, calling the project his “Lean Transformation Initiative.”…
Surprised to hear that when CBS News put together a list of the 30 most heavily armed states in the country Arizona didn’t make the cut? So were many gun advocates, some of whom are now calling out the network for releasing what they say is an inaccurate and misleading…
“Just when you think [Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump] can stoop no lower, he does,” Arizona Senator Jeff Flake tweeted out after news of Trump’s call to block all Muslims from entering the U.S. made headlines. “Foolish,” is all Arizona Senator John McCain had to say about the statement. In…
After the recent mass shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado once again thrust the controversial debate about abortion politics into the national media spotlight, local resident Shamus Burns decided to take a stand against the anti-Planned Parenthood vitriol he saw around him by organizing a pro-Planned Parenthood rally…
About one-third of the top positions for Arizona state agencies received a boost in pay for 2015, with many of Governor Doug Ducey’s new hires now getting paid substantially more than their predecessors. Arizona state employees received no general base-pay increase for 2015, and nationally, Americans saw wages increase by…
State Senator Martin Quezada plans to introduce legislation early next year targeting fraudsters who deceive undocumented immigrants by falsely claiming they’re authorized to provide legal advice or services concerning immigration. Quezada said he’s taking action because he’s tired of seeing immigrants getting scammed by “notarios” who pose as attorneys. Typically,…
The leader of Arizona’s grassroots anti-Islamist movement, Jon Ritzheimer, can’t seem to escape the attention of local and national law enforcement. He left Arizona about a week and a half ago to drive across the country with Tyler Zarr, a friend who was moving to New Hampshire, and having decided…
A Democratic “dark-money” group finally registered with the state as a political committee to avoid getting slapped with a contempt charge, the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office announced today. Problems for the group, the Committee for Justice and Fairness, began when it ran TV ads in 2010 attacking then-Attorney General…
Leaders of a Tempe mosque have decided that if congregant Sumayyah Dawud wants to continue attending prayers and other community functions at the Islamic Community Center, she must either dress and pray as a man or provide medical documentation proving she is anatomically female. Though Dawud was born male, she…
How’s this for irony? One month before Governor Doug Ducey issued a statement calling for a halt to the placement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees in Arizona, the Arizona State Transportation Board voted in favor of spending about $367,000 in public funds to honor a Syrian Muslim immigrant. The mostly-federal…
Two Arizona Congress members, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and Republican Matt Salmon have introduced federal legislation aimed at cracking down on what they say are security gaps in the U.S. Visa Waiver Program — the federal program that allows citizens from 38 countries “to travel to the United States without a…
Surrounded by Republican bigwigs, including John McCain and Jeff Flake, Democratic state Senator Carlyle Begay, whose district covers the Navajo Nation, announced that he is joining the Republican Party. “With an open mind and heart, I clearly see the Republican Party is a party of progress, a party of hope,…
Arguing that current efforts to stop Mexican drug cartels from packing heroin over Arizona’s border have “fallen short,” Governor Doug Ducey today appealed to federal officials for financial and technical support for a controversial new border security force made up of state police. Since September, when Ducey quietly assembled the…
In a public letter to Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, the American Civil Liberties Union calls the governor’s new plan for an anti-drug-trafficking border Strike Force “seriously concerning” and potentially “devastating.” Ducey, who campaigned on a promise of mitigating cross-border human and drug trafficking, says he’s making good on this promise…
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson recently promised Arizonans during a tele-town hall that, if elected, he could get a double-fenced, 2,000 mile wall built on the U.S.-Mexico border within a year. One of his rivals for the GOP nomination, billionaire Donald Trump, would like a wall, too, and he also…
Arizona Congressman Trent Franks got a little frustrated with Attorney General Loretta Lynch during this week’s House Judiciary Committee meeting. During their exchange, Franks asked her about Planned Parenthood, the Southern Poverty Law Center, and, of course, “born-alive abortion survivors.” Franks has made a name for himself as a tireless…
Despite Governor Doug Ducey’s intended ban on Syrian refugees, Arizona’s actually been one of the friendliest states to refugees in the United States for the last 40 years. Since 1975, 74,453 refugees arrived in Arizona, according to the Arizona Refugee Resettlement Program. A 2010 article in the New York Times…
In a shocking, hateful rant, an extremist Tempe pastor attacked the victims of the Paris attack, blaming them for their own senseless murders because they were “devil worshipers.” Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe also denounced France as a “sinful nation” in a Sunday sermon and…
A crowd of Phoenicians chanting “We reject racism!” descended on Governor Doug Ducey’s office today after he pledged to resist President Barack Obama’s plans to resettle thousands of refugees in Arizona over the next year. “We can not sit idly in our offices safe and sound while xenophobia and racism…
Following attacks in Paris that left at least 129 people dead, Arizona U.S. Senator John McCain is calling for an international coalition — which includes at least 10,000 American troops — to fight the Islamic State on the ground in the Middle East. “We can win, we should win, and…
Congressman Ruben Gallego is Arizona’s latest elected official to throw his weight behind a presidential candidate — he announced this morning that he officially endorses former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president. Citing “a sea change in how Americans view progressive issues,” and a desire to continue the…
