Raising doubts from skeptics, Department of Corrections Director Charles Ryan told a legislative committee Wednesday the department has no solitary confinement, despite keeping the maximum-security inmates in their cells alone for 22 hours a day.

Gov. Jan Brewer named former Rep. Ted Vogt as the next director of the Arizona Department of Veterans’ Services. Brewer said Vogt’s military background makes him “uniquely qualified” for the position. Vogt is a former U.S. Air Force intelligence officer and commander of an anti-terrorism unit.

A compromise between House and Senate lawmakers could allow time-sensitive reforms to Child Protective Services to clear the Legislature this session, but other CPS-related measures may still face the governor’s veto stamp.

A Paradise Valley Democrat introduced a floor amendment Tuesday that would eradicate an anti-abortion bill. The House postponed action on SB1069 after Rep. Eric Meyer introduced a proposal to create a study committee that would examine whether abortion clinics are in compliance with state regulations

The bipartisan coalition forming around Medicaid expansion flexed their political muscle on Monday, shooting down a pair of amendments and approving another amendment to a Medicaid expansion supporter’s bill involving school bonding.

A legislative panel today killed the Medicaid expansion portion of the state budget, leaving supporters with options that include using a strike everything amendment on a new health bill to bring the measure to a vote from the full House or suspending the House rules altogether.

The House Appropriations Committee on Monday approved a pro-life measure that would allow unannounced inspections of abortion clinics and prohibit them from providing abortions to Medicaid patients.

A Center for Arizona Policy proposal intended to prevent Gov. Jan Brewer’s Medicaid expansion plan from benefitting abortion providers merited little debate as it passed the House Appropriations Committee as part of a larger pro-life bill.

Yuma’s unemployment hit 30.3 percent in April, rising to become the highest in the nation at a time when unemployment rates in more than 90 percent of U.S. metro areas were falling.

More than two months after police reported that Sen. Don Shooter burst past the front desk at a charter school and confronted a teacher in her classroom, no charges have been filed against the Yuma Republican and no measures have been taken by his fellow senators to probe his actions.