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

Nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, based in Prescott, Ariz., were killed Sunday evening when a windblown wildfire overcame them north of Phoenix. It was the deadliest single day for U.S. firefighters since Sept. 11. Fourteen of the victims were in their 20s. This article from June 2012 highlights the training and dedication of the firemen on this elite crew.

Arizona gave up on running its own health-insurance exchange and turned the job over to the federal government instead because of uncertainty over how a state program would work, an Arizona official testified Thursday.

For Arizona lawmakers, President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address Tuesday was either an urgent national call to arms or a ruinous plan for big government, depending on which side of the aisle they sit on.