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

Dr. Jack August, historian and biographer of many prominent Arizonans, died Friday at age 63.

The Governor’s Office for Youth, Faith and Family will release about $3.5 million in new funding for substance abuse prevention programs for high school youth — a key demographic to target when tackling Arizona’s opioid epidemic.

The state health department is asking the Arizona Legislature to pass a law allowing it to lease parts of the state mental hospital and its 93-acre grounds to private providers.

Arizona Corporation Commissioner Andy Tobin wants to increase internet access in rural schools and libraries by adding to a small fee paid by customers on their phone bills.

The Goldwater Institute wants to make it easier for Arizonans to challenge licensing requirements that the conservative organization views as unnecessary or unduly burdensome and protectionist.

As the mad scramble to craft the state’s spending plan begins, policymakers are quickly realizing that they have precious little money – an estimated $24 million – to spend, and not nearly enough even for their highest priorities.

Attorney General Mark Brnovich named Dominic Draye to the post on Wednesday.

More than 4,000 licensed veterinarians in Arizona don’t have to participate in the state’s Controlled Substances Prescription Monitoring Program.

State officials said federal funding has helped jump start awareness campaigns and drug monitoring efforts to combat the prescription drug epidemic in six of Arizona’s 15 counties.

The financial fallout from repealing Obamacare without replacing it will make everything else Arizona’s policymakers have so far worried about look like small potatoes.