E-fighting fraud: With fewer auditors, ADRE is tracking firms with technology
If necessity is the mother of invention, a slumping economy fathered a state agency's need to implement electronic audits of property management companies amid growing concerns of fraud.
States rush to catch up with campaign finance ruling
Arizona is moving quickly to rewrite its laws in the wake of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and labor unions to spend money directly on political campaigns, but a handful of states might be in legal limbo until after the 2010 elections.
Taxes on smokes, Cokes and booze might save AHCCCS
Alcohol, tobacco and soft drinks have been targeted for tax increases as a group representing hospitals and health care providers searches for a revenue source that will pass muster with voters while generating enough money to maintain Arizona's Medicaid program.
GOP budget plan includes more than $1B in cuts
Details of the Republican budget plan given to majority party lawmakers this week show they and Gov. Jan Brewer aim to close a nearly $2.7 billion budget gap with more than $1.1 billion in cuts and wholesale elimination of a number of state programs.
Budget plan includes dramatic reduction in AHCCCS enrollment
Republican leaders say they hope to get approval by the end of the week for a proposal to fill in yawning deficits in both this fiscal year and the next, though the spending plan has yet to be made public.
Tucson set to require new commercial developments to harvest rainwater
TUCSON - Rain falling on the roof of this new QuikTrip gas station trickles into pipes that water willow acacia trees and native shrubs. The parking lot slopes, directing water into deep gravel that keeps it around for the desert landscaping rather than having it run down East Speedway Boulevard.
Lesko pulls solar-industry regulation bill
A bill that critics said would threaten the future of Arizona's fledgling solar-energy industry has died after its sponsor announced Feb. 25 that she was withdrawing it.
Bennett backs campaign reporting requirements, stiff penalties
Arizona's elections chief says the state needs to overhaul a portion of its campaign finance laws to maintain an informed electorate after the nation's top court gave corporations the ability to pay for political advertisements.
Demonstrators: Health care funding cuts would hurt business
A plan to cut $800 million next fiscal year from state programs providing health care would cost tens of thousands of jobs, and the losses would extend far beyond those in the health care field, business leaders said Feb. 24.
Closing Homolovi Ruins has residents, archaeologists, Hopi worried about security
WINSLOW - Wandering across her parents' cattle ranch in the 1950s, Georgia Nagel often found pottery shards, petroglyphs and other remnants of an ancient Anasazi village along the Little Colorado River. Unfortunately for Homolovi Ruins and its treasures, so did a lot of people with less honorable intentions.
Bill would restrict political activity of government employees
Teachers who gathered at the Arizona Capitol last year to protest budget cuts wouldn’t be able to do so again unless they took a vacation day under a bill approved by a House committee Feb. 23.
Securing shuttered Arizona state parks a problem
State parks officials are struggling to figure out how they're going to keep closed state parks free of vandals and looters.