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.

An estimated 100 opponents of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio are expected to rally in downtown Phoenix on Friday to protest the treatment of an inmate in one of Arpaio’s jails and racial profiling allegations against the sheriff’s office.

Compounds used to make so-called bath salts, synthetic stimulants currently sold by some smoke shops and convenience stores, would be illegal under legislation endorsed Wednesday by a state Senate committee.

Democratic lawmakers in Arizona plan to propose a repeal of the state’s 2010 immigration enforcement law but concede that the bill won’t go far at the Legislature.

A polygraph examiner from the Phoenix Police Department told a committee investigating an ethics complaint against Sen. Scott Bundgaard that a polygraph test the senator took could not conclusively show whether he was the telling the truth.

What’s problematic is the test itself, the expert said.

Victor Bell, who supervises the police department’s polygraph unit, said he wouldn’t have posed one of the questions to Bundgaard because it dealt with intent and not his actions.

Sen. Scott Bundgaard is scheduled to take the witness stand today in what has become the biggest fight of his political life.

Arguing that Sen. Scott Bundgaard exercised poor judgment and put the lives of several people in harm’s way, one of the lawyers hired by the Senate Ethics Committee is seeking the gravest penalty for breaching ethical rules — expulsion from the Legislature.

In his opening statement in the Jan. 5 ethics hearing, Attorney Michael Liburdi said Bundgaard assaulted his then-girlfriend, Aubry Ballard, and then pulled over on the wrong side of the freeway.

Arizona’s prison population is shrinking, but inmates are more violent, according to a study commissioned by the state’s prosecutors.

After initially resisting a federal civil-rights investigation, Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio is now asking the feds for a little cooperation or he’s ready to go to court.

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose office has been accused of a wide range of civil rights violations, faces a Wednesday deadline to say whether his agency will hold discussions with federal officials about ways to correct the alleged violations.