On this edition of The Breakdown, our reporters discuss Mark Brnovich, Criminal Justice Reform, and Gov. Doug Ducey's latest court appointment.

Lawmakers and advocates who’ve sought for years to overhaul Arizona’s criminal justice system are cautiously optimistic that longtime Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery’s ascension to the state Supreme Court will clear the way for substantive change next legislative session.

The highs and lows of the 2019 legislative session can be measured by how well legislators worked together with the smallest of margins.

Even after settling on a multi-billion spending plan for the next year, there was plenty left unsettled when lawmakers went home for the summer.

The first major hurdle every piece of legislation faces in the House or Senate is a committee leader with the ability to unilaterally kill bills, and some chairs are more willing to do it than others.

Arizona lawmakers stymied this year in their quests to revamp the criminal justice system are re-evaluating how to work with prosecutors next year after what some described as an 11th-hour betrayal.

Arizonans who are 18, 19 and 20 will continue to be able to smoke and vape, at least for the time being.

The preliminary approval of SB 1147 on a voice vote came after Rep. John Allen, R-Scottsdale, who is working with the vaping industry, agreed to some last-minute changes designed to blunt opposition.

A bill seeking to repeal a 2017 law requiring life-saving measures for fetuses delivered alive failed to pass out of the House Judiciary Committee today, an outcome predicted by the bill’s sponsor long before two hours of debate that she sought to avoid.

Saying magistrates can be squeezed politically, a House panel voted Wednesday to all but strip city councils of their ability to fire them.