Ground will be broken Saturday on a project to extend metro Phoenix's light rail system by three miles.

Most of Arizona’s private prisons are comparable in cost and quality of service to state-run prisons, a biennial study issued Wednesday by the Arizona Department of Corrections found.

As the state prepares to turn 100 years old in 2012, reflection is inevitable.

Looking back on old photographs, such as a sturdy miner posing in front of a giant hole in the earth, recalls the glory of days when Arizona and its residents were sustained on what the state’s rugged, diverse terrain could provide.

A law that took effect this week will either defend the state process of awarding public contracts from abuse by unions or do nothing but make Republican legislators feel good. It all depends on who you ask.

A state economic projection for the next two years is favorable but tempered by continued weaknesses in construction, as Arizona makes a gradual pullout from the recession.

A Republican lawmaker wants to prohibit Arizona from accepting federal funds for construction projects requiring a preference for union labor, but a union leader says the measure would prohibit a practice that doesn’t exist.

A trade group says Arizona has lost 53 percent of its construction jobs since 2007, with the Phoenix area losing the most total jobs but Mohave County losing the highest percentage.

A former employee of the health care district in Maricopa County falsified more than a dozen public documents during the past three years by counterfeiting the signature of a notary public, compromising at least $8 million in government construction contracts, according to the findings of an Arizona Capitol Times investigation.

Family is the only thing that really pulls J. Doug Pruitt away from running a 120-year-old construction company. He freely admits his “vacations” are often off-time jaunts during business trips. His tireless demeanor has earned him much respect and even greater influence in and outside of the construction industry.

Stimulating Arizona’s economy through the creation of construction jobs in the housing industry is one of the chief priorities of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, but an industry insider says fixed costs and layoffs are making recovery quite difficult.