Maricopa County officials will get briefed Tuesday on a federal civil rights case against Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s office and hundreds of sex-crimes cases that the sheriff’s office didn’t inadequately investigate.

Democrats looking into Operation Fast and Furious say a yearlong investigation has turned up no evidence that the flawed gun smuggling probe was conceived or directed by high-level political appointees at Justice Department headquarters.

An employee appeals hearing is scheduled to continue Monday for a top aide to Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio who was fired for allegedly lying about his involvement in a group that gave money for an advertisement attacking the sheriff’s 2008 opponent.

A police union is pushing for a new law that would overturn years of legal precedent by allowing cops to sue people who caused them injuries on duty.

The proposed provision, found in SB1186, would end the state’s use of the “fireman’s rule,” a long held legal doctrine built on the premise that first responders such as police, firefighters and medics can’t sue the people who caused their injuries because they entered their risky professions voluntarily and are compensated by some public benefit like workers’ compensation.

Investigators with the Arizona Attorney General’s Office today raided the office of lobbyist Gary Husk, who has been implicated in the Fiesta Bowl scandal.

Though it has practically no chance of passing, a bill to repeal SB1070 exposed deep political divisions at the state Capitol about how to confront illegal immigration, a complex and often emotional issue.

Those divisions were again on display on the Senate lawn, when dueling protesters hailed and criticized the immigration law — all within an earshot of each other.

While the Monday press conference to announce a bill to repeal SB1070 set up the potential for a fierce confrontation on the Capitol lawn, protestors mostly kept to their respective sides of the courtyard, with only the occasional comment volleyed between the groups.

But that doesn’t mean they didn’t have their opposing views on full display.

Federal inaction on comprehensive immigration reform has forced the issue on state and local leaders, but Arizona-style approaches are not the solution, a group of mayors was told Wednesday.

Federal officials say they’re willing to negotiate and discuss ways to reform the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office, which has been accused of a wide range of civil rights violations.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that prohibited his deputies from detaining people under Arizona’s immigrant smuggling law based solely on the suspicion that they’re in the country illegally.