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

With more than a year left until the midterm election, three Democratic U.S. representatives from Arizona who are considered most likely to face strong GOP challenges have big leads in fundraising. But it's soon to tell whether that means an easy road for Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick, Gabrielle Giffords and Harry Mitchell, said Frederic Solop, a political science professor and department chair at Northern Arizona University.

Unveiled in 1998, the Ernest W. McFarland Memorial uses photographs etched in metal to guide visitors through iconic moments in a life that included service as U.S. Senate majority leader, Arizona governor and state Supreme Court chief justice.

Arizona outspent all but one state on police protection and corrections as a percentage of overall state and local expenditures while its education spending ranked 38th in U.S. Census Bureau data released Wednesday (Sept. 30).

The Arizona State Fair will still feature a petting zoo, livestock competitions, a pig race and a 1,000-pound swine named Harvey even though a few fairs elsewhere have cut back on contact with animals due to concerns about the H1N1 virus.

Aggressive, agile, smart. Arizona needs to be all of these to build on international business growth that has defied the economic downturn, Gov. Jan Brewer said Sept. 22. "Exports create jobs, and I encourage and applaud businesses that are ready to enter the global marketplace," Brewer said in her International State of the State Address to the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations.