Category: State News

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…

PHOENIX (AP) – With his gap-tooth smile, hip-hop routines and volunteer work for a food charity, Roosevelt White III was well known in the downtown Phoenix tent city known as “The Zone.” But like many homeless people, White suffered from diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He died unexpectedly one sweltering September day at age 36. Thousands of people like White who died this year without a permanent home are being memorialized on Thursday in communities from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to Riverside, California. Established in 1990, the increasingly popular Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day is observed with prayers, candles,…

PHOENIX (AP) – With his gap-tooth smile, hip-hop routines and volunteer work for a food charity, Roosevelt White III was well known in the downtown Phoenix tent city known as “The Zone.” But like many homeless people, White suffered from diabetes and cardiovascular disease. He died unexpectedly one sweltering September day at age 36. Thousands of people like White who died this year without a permanent home are being memorialized on Thursday in communities from Cape Cod, Massachusetts to La Crosse, Wisconsin, to Riverside, California. Established in 1990, the increasingly popular Homeless Persons’ Memorial Day is observed with prayers, candles,…

Arizona State Parks and Trails invites visitors to the parks on New Year’s Day for its annual First Day Hikes. The events are part of a national collaboration in all 50 state park systems that began three decades ago to kick off the new year in a healthy and exciting way. Several Arizona state parks will host First Day Hikes on Monday, January 1, 2024. During the hike, park rangers, naturalists, and volunteer guides will share information about Arizona’s plants, wildlife, natural resources, regional history, and recreational opportunities. The distance and rigor of the hikes vary from park to park,…