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

State lawmakers are moving to financially penalize cities that have a minimum wage higher than the rest of the state. And they are doing it in a way designed to get around restrictions that voters put on legislators in 2016 when they said cities can have their own base wages.

Six Western states that rely on water from the Colorado River have agreed on a model to dramatically cut water use in the basin, months after the federal government called for action and an initial deadline passed.

Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is seeking an investigation of failed Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake after the she published signatures of some people from the voter registration records.

The Maricopa County Attorney's Office announced Monday that no criminal charges will be filed against two Phoenix officers accused of using excessive force during an arrest last year.

The West has been slammed by wet weather this winter: An “atmospheric river” has pummeled California with weeks of heavy rain and the Rocky Mountains are getting buried with snow. That’s good news for the Colorado River, but climate scientists say the 40 million people who use the river’s water should take the good news with a grain of salt.

Attorneys for five Arizona gun dealers are asking a federal judge to toss out a claim by the Mexican government that they are responsible for violence in that country. In a new court filing, the team of lawyers says nothing in the complaint alleges any evidence that the weapons sold by the five companies -- three in Tucson, one in Yuma and one in Phoenix -- actually were used by Mexican cartels in commission of a crime.

Democrat Ruben Gallego held the first public events of his U.S. Senate campaign Saturday, taking aim at independent incumbent Kyrsten Sinema and casting his candidacy in a patriotic appeal to the American dream.

Arizona officials refer to a notoriously congested stretch of desert highway through tribal land as the Wild Horse Pass Corridor, a label that's less about horses than the bustling casino by the same name located just north of where the interstate constricts to four lanes.

Hefty snowfalls that fed the Colorado River in recent weeks may slow the water level decline of Lake Mead on the Nevada-Arizona border, according to some experts.

Exposed to the beating sun and hot dry air, more than 10% of the water carried by the Colorado River evaporates, leaks or spills as the 1,450-mile (2,334-kilometer) powerhouse of the West flows through the region's dams, reservoirs and open-air canals.