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Two prominent Latino leaders requested to be added as plaintiffs in a lawsuit aimed at stopping a ballot measure that would make a major change to Arizona's election process, claiming the change would lead to fewer minority candidates being elected in Arizona.

Sen. Robert Meza today filed a third complaint with the Arizona Secretary of State against his Legislative District 30 Democratic primary opponent, Raquel Téran.

This time, Meza claims Téran’s campaign illegally coordinated with an independent expenditure committee that produced campaign mailers promoting Téran.

A west Phoenix Democratic activist has filed a campaign finance complaint with the Secretary of State’s office, claiming Democratic Sen. Robert Meza appears to have used campaign money for personal use and collected illegal campaign contributions.

In the race to represent Arizona’s 1st Congressional District, former Democratic Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick and Republican Jonathan Paton boasted their best, and somewhat comparable, fundraising quarters.

The Arizona House of Representatives on Wednesday gave initial approval to a bill that some proponents say is aimed at stopping a United Nations conspiracy to take away the rights of American citizens. Critics say the bill is not only based on crackpot “one-world-order” theories, but that it would make valuable state programs illegal and take away the state’s authority to manage natural resources.

Sen. Steve Smith said he doesn’t care how Arizona lawmakers try to stop illegal immigration, and that he supports any action taken to stop it. “Any attention to securing our borders and fighting illegal immigration is good,” Smith said. “I’ve introduced bills to do both. I will continue to introduce bills that do both... I’m going to continue on both fronts as long as I’m here.”

Sen. Sylvia Allen says she’s sick and tired of excuses when it comes to solving the illegal immigration problem. “Everybody just wants to sit around and gripe about it, complain about it, blame the federal government for it,” Allen said. “But when it comes to saying, ‘What can we do as a state to really try to solve the problem?’ Now it’s all the reasons why we can’t solve this problem.”

After nearly 18 hours of marathon meetings over two days, the five volunteers tasked with redrawing Arizona’s political boundaries cast their votes on a new legislative map and marked the end of one of the most tumultuous political battles the state has ever seen.

The fight surrounding the Independent Redistricting Commission and its work included allegations of bid-rigging, conspiracy and back-room shenanigans, and ultimately led the governor and the Senate to take the unprecedented step of removing the commission’s chairwoman — only to see the Arizona Supreme Court reverse the move days later.

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission spent roughly nine hours Monday considering changes to proposed legislative maps, but will still have to wait for detailed analysis before adopting anything final. 

The long work session took place only days before the now-unlikely target deadline of Christmas for adopting both final legislative and congressional maps.

It’s been more than a year since Arizona voters narrowly approved a statewide medical marijuana program, but the legal struggle over implementing the new law is only now working its way through federal court. And it doesn’t look like the issue will be settled any time soon.