Tongues wagging over House staff departures
The Capitol rumor mill has been working overtime this week (July 6 - July 10) after news of the departures of House policy advisers Pele Peacock and Brooke White began trickling out. The official word from the Gowan administration is that both women resigned, but railbirds aren’t buying it.
DPS declines to examine Stump’s ACC cell phone, request now with Phoenix police
State police will not examine the cell phone of Bob Stump to determine if it contains deleted text messages that can be retrieved.
Looming end of federal subsidy poses challenge for solar industry
Facing the end of a major federal subsidy and utilities pushing policy changes to limit savings homeowners with solar panels will receive through net metering, solar companies nevertheless say they will be able to survive – without subsidies.
Performance-based funding for K-12 headed for another test
One of Gov. Doug Ducey’s proposals for fixing the state’s K-12 public school funding system is an old idea that keeps falling by the wayside.
Ducey to sell three state planes, consolidate state air fleet
Gov. Doug Ducey plans to sell three state planes, consolidate the state’s air fleet and cancel the planned purchase of expensive aerial camera equipment, which the Governor’s Office estimates will save the state nearly $2.5 million.
Page, Arizona
In contrast to the typical image of a little red schoolhouse, this one-room school in Page, Arizona, in 1957 was a war surplus troop carrier. (The troop carriers were called “cattle cars” and were pulled by trailer trucks during World War II.) The older woman standing in the doorway is Mary Howe.
2 Corporation commissioners tell utilities: stay out of 2016 campaign
Incessant allegations that Arizona Public Service, the state’s largest utility and one of its largest employers, spent heavily to influence the elections of its regulators last year are weighing heavily on the minds of some of those same regulators.
Montgomery side-steps opposition to same-sex marriage, outsources all adoption cases
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office has outsourced adoption services to private law firms, which may be providing help to married same-sex couples that County Attorney Bill Montgomery had previously denied.
Firefighters seek pension reform, but compromise elusive
Faced with the prospect of an insolvent retirement system, the Arizona firefighters union has largely embraced a pension reform proposal offered by the Legislature four years ago and have hunkered down to put their own version of that plan into motion.
Capitol community mourns longtime education advocate Sam Polito
Sam Polito loved to cook for his friends, and his dinners for legislators and lobbyists were his calling card during his more than 30 years as a lobbyist at the Capitol. Attendees had only to abide by a single rule: no politics.
All 5 Supreme Court justices recuse themselves, appoint others to hear pension case
The Arizona Supreme Court has taken the unprecedented step of disqualifying itself from ruling on a case and appointing five lower-court judges to take it over.
Like it or not, here comes Donald!
Some Republican strategists are worried that the swirling controversy over Donald Trump’s incendiary comments against Mexican immigrants is only serving to distract from the GOP’s efforts to broaden its outreach to minorities, particularly Hispanics.