Guns and Ammo Magazine didn’t name Arizona the best place to live for gun owners for nothing. Republican lawmakers have consistently deregulated gun ownership, making it possible to have more people carrying guns in more places with less training. That all adds up to some of the most relaxed gun laws in the country, which the magazine cited when putting out its 2013 analysis of state gun laws.

Common Core opponents took a beating this week when two bills were killed in the Senate followed by a sparsely attended press conference in which one of the Legislature’s most ardent foes of the learning standards was a no-show.

The Senate is poised to pass a $9.13 billion fiscal 2015 budget on Thursday, and the House may follow suit next week when it begins its own debate on a plan expected to mirror the one proposed by Senate President Andy Biggs. Yet a question remains, one that Sen. Steve Pierce asked in the Senate’s GOP caucus meeting on Wednesday afternoon: “Do we really expect this to be signed by the governor?”

Five Senate Republicans again helped Democrats kill two bills that would have undermined Common Core.

A trio of Arizona state senators urged Gov. Jan Brewer to veto a controversial “religious freedom” bill on Monday, just days after all three cast votes in favor of the proposal that opponents say will legalize discrimination.

Gov. Jan Brewer returns to work Tuesday to face a rising chorus of Republican and business voices urging her to quickly quash SB1062.

An Arizona Senate panel advanced a bill that would bar the Citizen Clean Elections Commission from enforcing the state’s campaign contribution limits. That would leave the task of investigating and enforcing complaints involving traditionally-funded candidates to the Secretary of State and Attorney General.

The attempt to repeal last year’s big election law has taken up much of the spotlight so far this session, but it’s far from the only election issue lawmakers are tackling before they hit the campaign trail this year.

Republican legislators who are facing a backlash from the conservative right for approving the expansion of Medicaid tapped into a vast network of supporters to easily outraise colleagues and opponents last year.

Republican legislators facing a backlash from the conservative right for approving the expansion of Medicaid tapped into a vast network of supporters to easily outraise colleagues and opponents last year.