Category: State News

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…

PHOENIX (AP) – State Rep. Athena Salman will resign her seat in the Arizona Legislature at the end of the month to take up a top position at an abortion rights group, she announced Wednesday on social media. Salman will become the director of Arizona campaigns for the state chapter of Reproductive Freedom For All, a nonprofit political action and advocacy organization formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America. “When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, I committed to do everything in my power to restore abortion rights in the United States of America,” Salman said in a statement. “The…

PHOENIX (AP) – State Rep. Athena Salman will resign her seat in the Arizona Legislature at the end of the month to take up a top position at an abortion rights group, she announced Wednesday on social media. Salman will become the director of Arizona campaigns for the state chapter of Reproductive Freedom For All, a nonprofit political action and advocacy organization formerly known as NARAL Pro-Choice America. “When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, I committed to do everything in my power to restore abortion rights in the United States of America,” Salman said in a statement. “The…