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

Researchers at Arizona State University have found that poor neighborhoods are less insulated from the heat that radiates through Phoenix every summer.

Young children and other specific populations will be identified as top priorities when Arizona starts distributing swine flu vaccine next month. But the state's health director said Sept. 15 it will be up to physicians and other front-line providers to make choices on who gets the shots and sprays first.

A federal appeals court ruled Sept. 14 that a proposed land exchange between the federal Bureau of Land Management and copper miner Asarco LLC violates environmental laws. The ruling in the lawsuit filed by three environmental groups in 2001 overturns a lower court decision backing the exchange long sought by Asarco.

Interstate 11 could someday be a major thoroughfare linking Phoenix and Las Vegas. I-11 would consist of 225 miles of improved U.S. 93 with about 150 miles of new freeway around the Phoenix area.

A newspaper says at least 10 Arizona organizations that receive tax-credit donations for private-school scholarships have failed so far to spend at least 90 percent of their revenues on the scholarships as required by law.

TUCSON - More convicted drunk drivers could soon have to pay for their own jail stays if Pima County officials get their way. Officials at the Pima County Adult Detention Center recently met with judges and top prosecutors to remind them that drunk drivers can be ordered to reimburse counties for the cost of locking them up.

FLAGSTAFF - A historic railroad that takes tourists from Williams north to the Grand Canyon can expand operations to three trips a day under a plan approved by the National Park Service. The Grand Canyon Railway now operates at least one, and occasionally two, daily trains to the canyon's popular South Rim.

TUCSON - The federal trial of the former Tanque Verde Unified School District superintendent has been pushed back to Dec. 1 at the request of his attorney. Albert Thomas "Tom" Rogers was indicted by a grand jury for allegedly attempting to travel to Mexico to engage in illicit sexual conduct with a minor.

Arizona's highway safety director says he's not ready to say whether the state should ban texting while driving. Meeting in Georgia, the Governors Highway Safety Association reversed itself and came out for a texting ban. The group cited a Virginia Tech Transportation Institute study that found drivers who are texting increase the risk of a crash or near-crash by 23 times.

FLAGSTAFF - There is an epidemic in an old gold mining town in western Arizona: The wild burros that roam the town's single street are overweight, with rolls of fat on their necks and big, full bellies. But don't blame them. They'll eat anything.