Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

Jack Smith is the new state director of USDA Rural Development in Arizona.

The federal government is warning irrigation districts in Pinal County that using a $20 million state loan to drill new wells to replace Colorado River water they are losing as part of the drought contingency plan could cost them.

Arizona-based universities have increasingly focused on downtown Phoenix in the past decade, with all three state universities bringing satellite campuses to the area between Roosevelt and Van Buren streets.

The Arizona Industrial Commission met July 1 to hear public comment on proposed changes to this years fee schedule that are intended to prevent doctors from over prescribing opioids and prescribing more expensive medications for profit.

Stephanie Grisham, the former Arizona House GOP spokeswoman and current press secretary for First Lady Melania Trump, was named White House press secretary Tuesday, the First Lady tweeted.

Sen. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, knows how to get legislation passed. This year, he learned how to get it vetoed.

Throughout the 135 days of the 2019 legislative session, only eight lawmakers made it to every required work day and cast a vote for everything that made it to the floor, down from 19 lawmakers last session.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee certified a plan Tuesday that requires the Arizona Office of Tourism to spend $1.5 million a year for 30 years promoting ISM Raceway, Avondale’s one-mile NASCAR race track.

Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System Director Jami Snyder approved new treatment options for opioid patients using Medicaid Thursday, after the Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee recommended the changes last month.

In 2017, Republican lawmakers sneaked a provision into the state budget designed to strip Planned Parenthood of funding meant to serve low income patients.