Tucson Politics

  Companies are rushing to secure government contracts as the Trump administration ramps up its spending on ICE to reach its deportation goals and the House approved a spending bill that sets aside $175 billion for immigration enforcement – about 22 times ICE’s annual budget.

  Federal immigration officials continued targeting people at the Phoenix Immigration Courthouse, surveilling and detaining migrants whose cases were dismissed minutes earlier in ways that appear to be an attempt to minimize attention from both protestors and media.

  Retired math teacher Theresa Riel has dropped out of the race for the Midtown Ward 6 seat on the Tucson City Council.

  An Arizona judge is allowing Cochise County officials to throw out the results of a local tax election after challengers identified a requirement in state law that they said the county didn’t follow.

  Gila County is a conservative place — almost 70% of voters went for President Donald Trump in November - and as congressional Republicans consider plans to cut more than $700 billion from Medicaid, the debate over the program hits close to home for many Globe residents.

  New tariffs imposed on nearly all imports into the U.S. since April were struck down when three federal judges in the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled ruled in favor of Arizona and 11 other states in their suit, as well as several businesses who filed a tandem suit.

  Immigration agents have resumed arresting people who show up to immigration hearings, pulling over and detaining a mother and her children in Phoenix on Wednesday morning, a policy that speeds up deportations while at the same time sidestepping rights to a court hearing.

  The Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform Act, a bipartisan bill introduced in Congress that offers long-overdue updates to how oxygen therapy is provided and reimbursed, is more than a policy fix—it’s a public health necessity.

  If there's one thing the last 45 years of the "supply side" economic hypothesis have shown, it's that making the rich richer does nothing for the standard of living of hard-working taxpayers.

  In Northern Arizona, a growing number of locals say they’re being steamrolled by the people elected to represent them, particularly around LGBTQ+ issues - and their frustrations point squarely at U.S. Rep. Eli Crane.

  In a rare loss for religious rights at the Supreme Court, the justices refused to halt a massive copper mining project on Oak Flat, a sacred site for the Apache in Arizona.

  The College Board this month changed the criteria for its National Recognition Program awards in a move that could shift tens of thousands of scholarship dollars from Black and Latino students to white students, and could affect University of Arizona programs.

  The Cody Fire burning in the mountains north of Tucson is now 83 percent contained, fire officials announced Monday. The gains were "a testament to the continued hard work and coordination of firefighting resources across the incident," officials said.

  "Higher education in our country is under direct attack by those in Washington who seek to interfere in the way universities govern themselves." — ASU English Prof. Richard Newhauser

  Ward 3 Councilman Kevin Dahl’s reelection campaign qualified for matching funds last week and he’s now eligible to receive up to roughly $140,000 from the city of Tucson.

  U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani of Tucson voted in lockstep with his GOP colleagues, providing the deciding vote on on President Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill" package of tax cuts and program reductions.

  The TUSD Governing Board will consider an override to bag another $45 million; Amphi Public Schools faces a budget shortfall, CatFoot looks at graduation requirements, and more from local government meetings around Tucson this week:

  Thousands have lost loved ones to a national crisis of Indigenous people disproportionately dying of homicide or going missing, and infrequent updates from law enforcement have intensified the pain they’re already feeling.

  During a debate about a proposed bill that would strengthen consequences for people convicted of animal abuse, Rep. Walt Blackman engaged in a heated exchange with fellow Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin on the floor of the Arizona House of Representatives.

  President Trump and his Republican Congress ran on lowering the cost of living. Now, they need to keep that promise by letting the Inflation Reduction Act work in peace.

  Voters elect city council members and county supervisors to set policies. The staff's job is to carry out those policies and turn them into action. But when an elected leader comes up with an idea for action, things stop. People look around.

  The candidates in this year’s Tucson City Council races met in their first forum Thursday, discussing issues such as homelessness, the Police Department and how council offices could be more accessible to the public.

  Children 18 and younger can get free breakfast and lunch at a number of school locations and community sites this summer, provided by Tucson Unified School District.

  Immigrant rights activists kept watch over the Phoenix Immigration Court on Thursday, withstanding 100 degree weather and threats of arrests, ready to protest against a new round of ICE detainments.

  When Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap proposed sending mail ballots to a group of voters who hadn’t requested them, the suggestion shocked his fellow Republicans, but the plan is a way to avoid disenfranchising rural voters.