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

MESA - A union representing Mesa police officers is moving toward filing a lawsuit against the city and its police department, claiming SWAT officers are owed $225,000 in pay.

Cities in metro Phoenix are paying millions of dollars in retention bonuses as they lay off employees, cut pay or raise taxes amid the recession. Compensation experts question the wisdom of retention bonuses as the state's 9.3 percent unemployment rate has drastically reduced turnover. Cities defend the bonuses as an incentive to retain employees and make up for stagnant wages.

The state says it's on track to obtain new financing that Treasurer Dean Martin says Arizona needs to avoid having to issue IOUs for state paychecks and other payments in February.

A grand jury has indicted two Maricopa County supervisors on criminal charges in separate cases, a move that intensifies a nasty dispute between county officials and the county's two top law enforcement officials.

More than 20,000 traffic stops have been made since the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety established a DUI task force to look for impaired drivers. Agency Director Alberto Gutier said Dec. 7 that more than 2,000 officers and deputies have been involved in the effort since it began on Thanksgiving weekend.

Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard says he's suing three men for advertising at least 47 fictitious businesses in the Tucson Yellow Pages. David Sasson and David Peer, both of Clearwater, Fla., and Gilad Gill of the Bronx, N.Y., are accused of violating the Arizona Consumer Fraud Act.

Despite a $100 million deficit, the Arizona Department of Transportation vows to keep roads in northern Arizona plowed and safe during a winter storm that is expected to hit Arizona this week. ADOT road crews plan to be out in force plowing at the same pace as last year.

SUN CITY - His name is synonymous with the cutting edge medical research performed at the Banner Sun Health Research Institute.

FLAGSTAFF - An ongoing political battle pitting the president of the vast Navajo Nation against the majority of the tribal council has left ordinary Navajos concerned that the politicians have become too engrossed in petty fights to do the work they were elected to do.

State prosecutors meeting at a conference Dec. 2 said the illegal flow of guns from the United States to Mexican drug cartels poses one of the biggest challenges in trying to reduce violence along America's southern border.