Arizona's part-time legislators are on the job in midsummer after their inability to work out an on-time solution to the state's budget trouble led them to crack a barrier they hoped to avoid. The annual regular session starts in January and has adjourned in May or June in recent years. This year, it ran 71/2 hours into July 1 before lawmakers approved a new budget and finished action on other bills.

A House panel has given its approval to the main component of the budget agreement that GOP leaders negotiated with Gov. Jan Brewer, though the day's work is far from over.

Everything about the Legislature’s resident practicing doctor seems to go a mile a minute. He has a jam-packed schedule, a penchant for problem-solving and a sharp and sarcastic sense of humor. A conversation with him jumps from one topic to another, then back again.

“Thousands of patients across Arizona are already using medical marijuana with their doctor’s recommendation. These patients shouldn’t have to risk arrest and jail just for following their doctor’s advice.” — Andrew Myers, a campaign manager for the Arizona Medical Marijuana ...

Lawmakers on a House panel generally agreed an emergency measure intended to repair the fiscal 2009 budget amounts to bad policy, but the bill still managed to gain approval along a party-line vote. One by one, legislators explained their objection to using accounting gimmicks and raiding funding in schools' bank accounts.