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

Arizona boasts of little-known gems and beautiful, hidden nooks that add just a touch of “wow” to a state prominent for its wide spaces and panoramic vistas. Here’s a selection of the best as chosen by the staff of the Arizona Capitol Times.

A new helicopter, more prison beds, money to pay utility bills – state agencies sent the Governor’s Office their annual budget requests detailing big and small priorities they hope the governor will include in his executive budget proposal to lawmakers in January.

Appellate judges will hear arguments Oct. 20 in an appeal by five former state child welfare employees who contend they were wrongly fired in 2014 amid an agency scandal.

The agency in charge of making sure the state has the resources to operate at “the speed of business,” as Gov. Doug Ducey wants it to, has only four auditors monitoring thousands of corporations, the agency’s former chief economist said today.

Despite a new report raising serious questions about the quality of care within the Phoenix VA Health Care System, a top official in the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs said Wednesday that significant progress has been made.

State Gaming Director Daniel Bergin said his state-assigned attorney did nothing wrong or illegal in destroying notes of his May 2015 meeting with officials of tribes trying to undermine the Tohono O’odham casino in Glendale.

Inadequate reports and failure to attend some hearings by the Department of Child Safety may be delaying some Arizona children getting permanent placement, according to a new report on the agency.

After years of research and lobbying at the Capitol, including stints working for the Senate, Maricopa County, the County Supervisors Association and the Arizona Board of Regents, Beth Lewallen branched out in late 2014 to start her own independent consulting firm.

The state agency responsible for basic funding for maintaining and constructing K-12 public school facilities in Arizona has a new director.

Gov. Doug Ducey said Tuesday he already is preparing a shopping list of state regulations and state agencies he wants to kill.