The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services dashed Arizona’s hopes that it may be eligible for increased Medicaid funding even if it doesn’t fully expand coverage under the Affordable Care Act.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Monday informed states they will not get enhanced funding for partial Medicaid expansion. States that expand coverage to include people earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty limit – which totals about $14,856 for an individual – will get a substantial increase in federal matching funds.

According to a report by Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business, 1,021 new single-family homes were sold in the Phoenix area during October, an 85 percent increase from the same month last year.

The Arizona Board of Regents approved a three-year contract worth more than $1 million for new board President Eileen Klein.

The store pictured here was constructed at Morenci in 1901 by the Detroit Copper Company and known as the DC Store. Its rear wall and basement were fashioned from limestone and the balance of the structure was built with red granite quarried from nearby Morenci Canyon.

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Tom Morrissey wants U.S. House Speaker John Boehner to reinstate Congressman David Schweikert to a prominent committee posting after the second-term Republican was ousted following the election.

On Tuesday, Morrissey used the bully pulpit afforded to state party chairs to defend Schweikert after the congressman was removed from the prized Financial Services Committee amid allegations that the move was retribution for his being “too conservative” for US House GOP leadership.

A system for holding U.S. Border Patrol agents accountable over shootings remains complicated and opaque, an Arizona Daily Star investigation has found.

The nature of the universities’ funding requests was not accurately described in the Nov. 30 Arizona Capitol Times article “Universities, agencies seek major spending hikes.” While the article accurately reports the total of the system’s fiscal year 2014 request, it is misleading to suggest that the universities are requesting a 29 percent budget increase.

Neither the governor’s veto, nor a ballot measure’s resounding defeat at the polls will stop Sen. Al Melvin from reviving a plan to convert federal land to state land.

As the year comes to a close and a new legislative session is on the horizon, lobbyists and lobbying groups across the state are firming up their agendas and trying to get lawmakers’ ears and votes.