Category: State News

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has vowed to bring accountability to a school voucher program that’s expected to top $900 million this year and update laws that allow for the nearly unfettered use of groundwater in rural areas of the drought-stricken state. The Democratic governor, making her second annual state of the state address Monday as the Legislature began its regular session, also leveled criticism at the federal government. She blamed it for closing a key port of entry along the Arizona-Mexico border for one month because of a surge of immigrants and touted her decision to send National…

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — The University of Arizona will not cut any sports as it tries to shore up financial difficulties prior to the school’s move from the Pac-12 to the Big 12. Arizona athletic director Dave Heeke posted a financial update on Thursday outlining the department’s plans to make up for a revenue shortfall following the COVID-19 pandemic. “All our work to bolster the position of Arizona athletics as a premier athletics department comes at a cost,” Heeke said. “Like many premier programs across the country, we are facing financial challenges, which we have already begun to address.” Under…

Led by new solar power, the world added renewable energy at breakneck speed in 2023, a trend that if amplified will help Earth turn away from fossil fuels and prevent severe warming and its effects. Clean energy is often now the least expensive, explaining some of the growth. Nations also adopted policies that support renewables, some citing energy security concerns, according to the International Energy Agency. These factors countered high interest rates and persistent challenges in getting materials and components in many places. The IEA projected that more than 440 gigawatts of renewable energy would be added in 2023, more…

PHOENIX (AP) – Some voted for Donald Trump, others for Joe Biden. A few had never wanted anything to do with politics before they heard Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on a podcast or YouTube video. Lined up outside a Phoenix wedding hall tucked between a freeway, a railroad track and a U-Haul rental center, the hundreds of people who turned out Wednesday, Dec. 27, 2023, to hear Kennedy speak shared little in common ideologically. What united them was a deep-seated distrust – of the media, of corporations and especially of the government – and a belief that Kennedy is the…

The state agency at the center of Arizona’s ongoing behavioral health crisis knew its proposed billing reforms could trigger a surge in homelessness nearly a year before implementing the changes, yet still failed to adequately prepare for the fallout—or adjust its response to the crisis that emerged as a result. Emails obtained by AZCIR show Arizona’s top housing official alerted an administrator with the state’s Medicaid program to concerns raised in August 2022, as the program worked to revamp how it reimbursed behavioral health providers. “We know that there are providers out there who are substandard and agree that needs to be addressed,” a…

The state agency at the center of Arizona’s ongoing behavioral health crisis knew its proposed billing reforms could trigger a surge in homelessness nearly a year before implementing the changes, yet still failed to adequately prepare for the fallout—or adjust its response to the crisis that emerged as a result. Emails obtained by AZCIR show Arizona’s top housing official alerted an administrator with the state’s Medicaid program to concerns raised in August 2022, as the program worked to revamp how it reimbursed behavioral health providers. “We know that there are providers out there who are substandard and agree that needs to be addressed,” a…