The Arizona Capitol Times took home 16 awards in the 2013 Arizona Press Club contest, and one of its reporters was a finalist for the organization’s top honor.

WASHINGTON – Arizona posted the second-highest number of solar-industry jobs in the nation for the second year in a row in 2013, despite losing 1,242 jobs from a year earlier, according to a new report.

The U.S. attorney's office for the District of Arizona has claimed more than $7.7 million from civil and criminal actions in fiscal year 2013.

U.S. Attorney John S. Leonardo announced the amount in a news release Thursday.

The U.S. Department of Education says Arizona is a high-risk state for failing to meet various Elementary and Secondary Education Act flexibility requirements.

Gov. Jan Brewer met this afternoon with members of her cabinet to discuss preparations for a possible shutdown of the federal government, which would affect a wide array of Arizona agencies and services, and even the Grand Canyon State's namesake.

Showdown looms over electrical deregulation
For a century, public utilities have produced and delivered electricity to homes and industries in a system that guarantees their profit and ensures steady service to residents.

Now, the Arizona Corporation Commission is considering whether to shake up the monopolies and bring competition to the state.

The end of the expansion debate at the Capitol – and therefore of the 2013 session – might have finally arrived. Multiple sources told our reporter today that Tobin has given up on his efforts to amend the Medicaid expansion language by inserting transparency and accountability provisions and instead, will let it go to the floor and vote no. “He told the governor: ‘You win’,” a source said, adding that the speaker is “not happy about it.”

Just when it looked like the Legislature couldn’t get any slower, Gov. Jan Brewer told legislative leaders to stop sending her bills altogether and if they do, the implied threat is that she will veto them.

Conservative lawmakers rallied against Medicaid expansion at a press conference on the Capitol lawn last month. But some expansion opponents warned that publicly staking out their position and standing up against Gov. Jan Brewer can come with political repercussions.

Gov. Jan Brewer has vetoed a bill that would have created a new state certification for music therapists.