WASHINGTON – Shipbuilding may not seem like a vital issue for arid, landlocked Arizona, but Rep. Trent Franks, R-Glendale, joined the Congressional Shipbuilding Caucus – along with 23 other caucuses and working groups.

Members of a panel tasked with studying Arizona’s personal income tax system said that while flattening or doing away with the income tax may be a popular talking point, the state’s current system is reasonably fair and may not need a major overhaul.

The iArizona Committee is headed by Mesa Mayor Scott Smith and backed by a broad coalition of local politicians, construction contractors and business interests. Their ultimate goal is to boost Arizona’s economy and status as a transportation hub connecting Los Angeles, Dallas and Mexico, as well as linking Arizona’s manufacturing and economic hubs to one another.

This month’s federal government shutdown caused a backup in seasonal farmworkers’ visa applications that some groups say could lead to a labor shortage during the coming winter vegetable harvest.

More than 240 furloughed workers at the Arizona Department of Economic Security are back on the job now that the federal government is back up and running.

Relatively few private attorneys want to become judges in Arizona

Stagnant salaries and diminished retirement benefits keep private attorneys from joining Arizona’s bench, which is becoming unbalanced by increasing numbers of former government lawyers, said a lobbyist for Arizona judges.

Federal contract spending in Arizona grew more than three times faster than the national rate over the past 20 years, according to a Cronkite News Service analysis of government data.

Location matters when it comes to the chances that a child born into poverty in Arizona will move up the economic ladder during his lifetime, a recent study shows.

The old adage — “If it doesn’t kill you, it will make you stronger” — generally applies to biological organisms. But it could also apply to the financial system in Arizona, which has had 14 bank failures since 2009.

Arizona got a B on a recent national report card that graded states for their efforts to improve financial literacy in high schools.