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Serious crime down in Nogales; officials hope folks elsewhere notice
The Nogales Police Department's data for 2010 shows an 11 percent drop from the previous year in serious crimes like homicides, rapes, robberies and assaults. Now, city leaders, residents and businesspeople say it’s unfair that Nogales is often portrayed as rife with conflict and bloodshed from drug cartels.
Building, buying & selling: Contractors, sellers, regulators and unions vie (hope) for positives in 2011
From homebuilders to Realtors, representatives of the recession-ravaged construction and real estate industries are doggedly pursuing dual legislative goals.
They’re determined to block legislation that they say would further sink their struggling businesses while supporting measures that might give them a financial boost. Several bills are under consideration that would make it easie[...]
Illegal immigrant inmates drops in Maricopa County
The number of inmates suspected of being illegal immigrants in Arizona's most populous county has dropped by nearly 40 percent, despite an increase in deportations across the country over the same two-year time frame.
Birdman lands in Bisbee
In November 1911, R.L. “Birdman” Fowler made a stop at the Bisbee Country Club on a cross-country air trip and became the first man to fly into the copper mining camp (Didier Masson whose plane appears in this photo was the first to fly out of Bisbee in February 1911, but his biplane was shipped into Bisbee by railroad.)
Arizona hospitality industry fears more immigration backlash in 2011
According to data released by Smith Travel Research, an independent firm serving the hospitality industry, hotels all across Arizona lost significant business while news coverage and commentary about SB1070 roared across the country.
Now industry insiders fear the latest slate of immigration bills will trigger another jolt of negative nationwide publicity, and lead to a second big decline[...]
Union’s view: Voice of middle-class workers won’t be still
Fixing billion dollar budet deficits is difficult enough. It’s a whole lot harder when public officials are working on the political math of their re-election instead of on their duties to the electorate.
The superminority quandary
House Democrats have introduced 178 bills in the 2011 legislative session, and at the 52-day mark only 19 of those bills remained alive.
In filing bills, they have a choice: Make a statement and lose, or move to the center and (maybe) survive.
Judicial emergency officially extended for 1 year
A court emergency declared for Arizona's federal courts because of a shortage of judges has been formally extended for a full year.
Justice Department to look into anti-gun efforts on U.S.-Mexico border
Attorney General Eric Holder has asked the Justice Department inspector general to take another look at the efforts of U.S. agents who hunt gun traffickers along the U.S. border with Mexico.
A U.S.-Arizona dustup: ‘Freedom to breathe’ bill may backfire, force EPA takeover of state’s pollution controls
Henry Darwin, who is no fan of the Environmental Protection Agency, doesn’t want the Legislature to shove the federal agency out of Arizona.
Darwin, who heads the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, worries that a final shove aimed at freeing the state from federal intrusion will have the opposite effect.
Congress introduces wide variety of labor and employment bills
Bills are being introduced at a brisk pace at both the federal and state levels. While Congress focuses on President Obama’s recently enacted health care laws, many new labor and employment reform bills are being considered, including one sponsored by Congressman Jeff Flake, an Arizona Republican.
State nullification bill is back — barely
Proving once again that no legislation is ever dead until lawmakers have wrapped up the year’s session, supporters of a proposal creating a state mechanism to nullify to a federal law managed to revive it on Thursday.
