The number of Arizonans signing up for health insurance on the federal marketplace has surpassed last year's total by nearly 55,000 people.

I can’t help but be optimistic about Arizona’s 52nd legislature. This may seem strange considering some are saying Center for Arizona Policy is “not hot” right now. This very paper recently wrote that CAP had a “terrible year” in 2014, which is news to me.

As one of his first acts as Speaker-elect, David Gowan is making some renovations to the “People’s Chamber.” Gowan has spent and accepted bids totaling more than $335,000 for a variety of renovations in the House, including a new coat of paint throughout the building, testing for asbestos and installing new carpet on the House floor and members’ lounge.

Determining the most influential people of 2014 becomes far more difficult when so many of them are anonymous. Such was the case in Arizona, where a predominant feature of the election cycle was “dark money,” the anonymous campaign spending that has proliferated in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Citizens United ruling in 2010.

David Garcia worked for a year at the Arizona Capitol last decade, but that didn’t motivate him to dive much deeper into politics, beyond voting.

Diane Douglas had always been heavily involved in her only child’s education, grilling teachers and administrators about what and how they were doing things and about her daughter’s progress, whether it was good or bad.

Thursday marks the first day for voters to go to voting centers and cast ballots for statewide, legislative and local races and ballot measures. And county registrars of voters are mailing early ballots starting today.

State Sen. Michele Reagan and former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard are set to debate as they vie for votes in the secretary of state's race.

State budget analysts say Arizona's current fiscal year is getting off to a weak start.

Arizonans have less than a week to register to vote in the state's Aug. 26 primary election.