Tucson Politics

  After weeks of feuding between the Republicans who control the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has signed the $17.6 billion state budget that was passed with bipartisan majorities in both chambers.

  A recent string of wrong-way drivers and wrong-way crashes on Arizona freeways raises a key question: Has there been an uptick in these kinds of situations? In short, the answer is no.

  Just days ahead of a government shutdown, the Republicans who lead the Arizona House of Representatives and Senate and the Democratic governor finally came to agreement on a bipartisan budget.

  The Community Foundation of Southern Arizona, joined by six other Tucson-based nonprofits, said Wednesday the budget bill moving through Congress would have an "immediate and catastrophic impact" as it cut support for social service organizations.

  The Hemp Industry Trade Association of Arizona plans to appeal a denied petition that sought to enjoin the state attorney general from enforcing marijuana laws against sellers of chemically distinct hemp products.

  Arizona election officials would be instructed to provide more notice to voters who are at risk of being removed from the state’s early-voting list, under a conditional legal settlement with voting rights groups.

  An Arizona voter registration law upheld last year returned to the federal appeals court for an en banc rehearing, in which 11 judges reconsidered whether a voter outreach organization has standing to challenge a law requiring cancellation of some voter registrations.

  The ratio of people older than 65 to children younger than 18 grew in every state - including a ratio of 2-1 in Arizona’s Mohave and Yavapai counties - a trend that bodes poorly for the future number of young adults who can help care for older relatives.

  A federal judge said the Trump administration must reinstate billions in funding for the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program to 14 states, including Arizona, which allocated $5 billion to states to build EV charging networks across the country.

  U.S. Border Patrol agents raided a Tucson woman's Midtown home Tuesday night while searching for a man who fled from a traffic stop near Patagonia. After a pursuit of about 70 miles, three men were in custody but the man sought in the home search was not located.

  After intense criticism from conservation groups, political leaders, and the public, a legislative proposal to sell public lands in several Western states, including Arizona, to supposedly address a housing crisis in the U.S., is now being revised and restructured.

  Dos días después del solsticio de verano, el día más largo del año, dos docenas de voluntarios de No Más Muertes dejaron 364 galones de agua en un tramo del Valle de Altar, a unas 33 millas al suroeste de Tucson.

  A proposal to auction millions of acres of federal lands to pay for President Donald Trump's budget proposal has been ruled out of the reconciliation bill by the Senate parliamentarian, but the measure's sponsor has promised to return with a revision.

  As bird flu has spread across 10 states - including Arizona, where at least four commercial farms in Maricopa County have experienced an outbreak that has decimated their chicken flocks, quail breeders are seeing increased interest in alternatives.

  With a week left before an impending government shutdown, the spat between Republicans in the Arizona legislature shows no sign of ending, and a plan for the upcoming fiscal year remains uncertain.

  The Arizona hemp industry argued in state court that retailers selling low-THC hemp products like delta-8 and CBD are immune from the state’s marijuana laws and protected by the 2018 federal Farm Bill.

  The Trump administration is going after construction workers without legal status to meet its mass deportation goals — even as the country has a housing shortage and needs new homes built.

  U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the weekend briefed state governors regarding public safety measures following President Trump’s decision to bomb nuclear sites in Iran, and a retaliatory strikes toward a U.S. military base in Qatar.

  The proposed 2026 NASA budget calls for defunding seven University of Arizona-led space missions even though some, including the well-known OSIRIS project, have already been launched into operation.

  Uncertainty over President Trump's tariffs means Tucson business owners are being cautious, with a potential recession weighing on local retailers and restaurateurs. New shops and established eateries are dealing with increasing costs amid the usual summer slowdown.

  After a planned budget vote evaporated and the chamber unexpectedly adjourned for the weekend, Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives met behind closed doors for nearly three hours Friday to discuss how they should proceed to finalize a state spending plan.

  The Vail, Amphi and Catalina Foothills school districts are set to approve their budgets, while the state dithers over its own; plus more from government meetings around Tucson in the coming week.

  Arizona State School for the Deaf and Blind is committed to ensuring children and families get the help they need with state programs that provide early hearing detection and intervention, despite recent CDC cuts. — Superintendent Annette Reichman

  More than a dozen environmental organizations urged the Forest Service to reconsider an environmental analysis of South32's Hermosa Mine, arguing federal officials failed to consider how the mine would impact the "sensitive and ecologically rich" Patagonia Mountains of Southern Arizona.

  Arizona lawmakers are proposing to give millions of state dollars to Maricopa County’s recorder for election-related purposes, as he fights the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors for more money and control over elections.