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

PRESCOTT - The state Department of Water Resources has affirmed a judge's ruling that Prescott is entitled to pump more than 8,000 acre-feet of water a year from its Paulden-area ranch.

Before Gov. Jan Brewer and legislative leadership can settle their most recent legal dispute with the League of Arizona Cities and Towns, the sides may have to agree on exactly what they're fighting about.

Mexican gray wolves no longer will be subject to the "three strikes and you're out" rule, thanks to a settlement reached between environmental groups and the federal government. The informal rule went by the bureaucratic sounding name of standard operating procedure 13 (SOP 13), which allowed wolves to be removed from the wild for attacking and killing livestock three times within a year.

The Arizona Attorney General's Office announced on Nov. 19 that a former director of the Arizona Department of Veterans' Services has been indicted on eight felony charges, including counts of conflict of interest, fraud and misuse of public money.

Two municipalities are challenging the authority of one of the state's largest utilities and are now asking a Maricopa County court to order Salt River Project (SRP) to turn over records under the state's public records law.

WINDOW ROCK - An investigation into whether the leader of the country's largest American Indian reservation and others broke any laws in connection with two companies that operated on the Navajo Nation is moving forward.

Ten state employees have filed a federal lawsuit against Gov. Jan Brewer in an effort to reverse a state policy that bans state benefits to the domestic partners of state employees.

A trio of environmental groups has followed through on a threat to sue the Bureau of Land Management for giving a green light to a uranium-mine north of the Grand Canyon.

Draft versions of the bills lawmakers are expected to consider this week in a special legislative session show about $300 million in spending cuts to education and social services, as well as the restoration of funding for high-tech economic development.

Arizona's 49th Legislature has been tasked with keeping the state financially afloat during the most troubling economic times in state history. But the choices lawmakers made this year in an effort to balance the budget have led to six lawsuits challenging the state's use of fund sweeps to fill in deficits.