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Howard Fischer, For the Independent

Stories by Howard

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The wording of a decision by the Arizona Supreme Court to let Kari Lake pursue one remaining election claim may make it difficult, if not impossible, for her to prove.

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The new head of the Department of Public Safety said there is “a disproportionate use of force against people of color’’ on a nationwide basis.

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A conservative advocacy group founded by the Koch brothers is asking a federal judge to quash a new voter-approved campaign finance laws aimed at exposing "dark money'' contributions for political purposes.

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Gov. Katie Hobbs on Friday forbade all state agencies under her control from discriminating against workers based on their hair texture and style.

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AZ Senate votes to clamp down on drag shows
Lawmaker calls performances 'gross, disgusting, perverse'

Over the objections of Democrats, all 16 Republican state senators approved two measures Thursday that proponents say are designed to outlaw "drag shows'' that can be seen by children -- even as neither measure actually uses those words.

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State senators gave preliminary approval Thursday to a measure directing the Department of Education to come up with a list of books to ban in public schools.

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Arizona won't be banning what has been called "critical race theory'' in public schools.

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House lawmakers voted Wednesday to let certain parents bring their loaded guns onto school campuses despite the fact they themselves are protected by rules and a metal detector that keep their armed constituents out.

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Calling his 2022 election challenge "groundless and not brought in good faith," a judge has ordered Mark Finchem and his attorney to pay the legal fees of successful secretary of state candidate Adrian Fontes

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Gov. Katie Hobbs is siding with doctors and against other medical providers in the latest round of an ongoing dispute over the process the latter group has to through to provide more services to the public.

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Gov. Katie Hobbs refused to say Tuesday whether she will approve Republican legislation to eliminate the ability of cities to tax groceries and save affected Arizonans more than $161 million a year.

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House Speaker Ben Toma blasted a Chandler Republican lawmaker for inviting someone "to present unsubstantiated and defamatory allegations'' at a legislative hearing last week on elections accusing the governor, state lawmakers, county supervisors and others of taking bribes from the Sinaloa carter.

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The 2020 election was conducted fairly despite claims last year by former Attorney General Mark Brnovich that there were "instances of fraud," his successor reported Wednesday.

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Merger of Kroger, Albertsons draws eye of AG
Locally could impact Fry’s, Safeway

Attorney General Kris Mayes is investigating whether to try to block the proposed merger of the state’s two largest grocery chains.

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The state Court of Appeals has rejected the latest bid by Kari Lake to overturn the results of the 2022 gubernatorial race.

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House Republicans finally rounded up the votes Monday for a “skinny’’ budget, essentially daring Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs to veto it.

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The group that convinced voters last year to outlaw "dark money'' is asking a judge to block a bid by two special interest groups to keep the law from taking effect.

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Arizona schools won't be shutting down before the end of the academic year, at least not because they can't pay their bills.

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State lawmakers are moving to strip cities and towns of their ability to tax residential rentals and grocery store food.

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Attorneys for five Arizona gun dealers are asking a federal judge to toss out a claim by the Mexican government that they are responsible for violence in that country.

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The Food and Drug Administration is urging a federal judge to quash a bid by a Scottsdale-based law firm to block public access to a popular method of terminating a pregnancy used in nearly half the cases of abortion in Arizona.

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Arizona still has far more job openings than people employers are able to hire.

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The way Rep. Rachel Jones sees it, once you’ve paid off your house you shouldn’t have to worry about property taxes.

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The Arizona Court of Appeals has agreed to expedite consideration of Kari Lake's claims that the 2022 election was flawed.

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Russell Pearce, the sponsor of Arizona’s 2010 comprehensive and controversial law about illegal immigration, died Thursday at his home at age 75.

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Gov. Katie Hobbs offered Thursday to work with Republicans even as she warned them that some ideas and items are off limits and essentially would be courting vetoes.

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Katie Hobbs is pulling the plug on her predecessor's taxpayer-funded fight with the Biden administration over who owns land along the international border.

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Famed attorney Alan Dershowitz wants to be excused from paying any sanctions in the failed lawsuit to require hand counts of votes, saying he really had nothing to do with the claims a judge rejected.

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The top two Republicans who lost their races for state office last month are making a new legal bid in their separate effort to outlaw the use of machines to tabulate votes in Arizona.

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Kari Lake may have lost her legal bid to set aside the results of the governor's race which she lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs by more than 17,000 votes.

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A judge on Saturday refused to overturn the results of the gubernatorial race, ruling that Katie Hobbs had won after rejecting claims by Kari Lake of misconduct in how the election was conducted.

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A judge refused Friday to overturn the results of the election for attorney general and declare Abe Hamadeh the winner.

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An expert witness hired by lawyers for Kari Lake testified Wednesday he found ballots for the general election printed with the wrong size image.

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Unsuccessful attorney general hopeful Abe Hamadeh will get a chance to try to have the election results set aside.

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Kari Lake gets her day in court this week -- well, actually two days -- to try to prove that she should be installed as the next governor despite election returns showing she lost to Katie Hobbs.

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A judge late Friday quashed a bid by Mark Finchem to overturn his loss to Adrian Fontes for secretary of state, saying he presented no evidence to support such a radical move.

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The attorney for Secretary of State Katie Hobbs asked judges Tuesday to throw out bids by Kari Lake and Mark Finchem to overturn the election results.

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Incoming Gov. Katie Hobbs appears ready to side with school districts in their legal fight with the state and legislative leaders over whether they were illegally denied money for years they need to maintain classrooms and build new schools.

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Incoming Gov. Katie Hobbs is going to halt any further work on building a wall of storage containers on the state's southern border.

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The head of the Arizona Republican Party wants Attorney General Mark Brnovich to investigate whether Democrat Katie Hobbs used her official position "to suppress free speech.''

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Lame duck Gov. Doug Ducey said Monday he won’t call a special legislative session to deal with problems with school funding before his term ends this month until he gets a promise that lawmakers will deal with some issues on his own agenda.

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A judge on Tuesday tossed out Abe Hamadeh's legal bid to have himself declared the winner in the race for attorney general.

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Lawyers for the federal government say a lawsuit by Gov. Doug Ducey seeking control of land along the border to place shipping containers is “flawed on so many fronts” that it should not be allowed to proceed.

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Cost of Thanksgiving dinner leaps 45%
Avian flu, war, supply-chain issues at core of problem

A war half way around the world is going to take a huge bite out the wallets of Arizonans this Thanksgiving.

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Democrat Kris Mayes will be the next attorney general of Arizona.

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Attorney General Mark Brnovich is demanding answers from Maricopa County about what he said appear to be violations of state election law.

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The last two statewide races appear headed for a recount. But one will be unnecessary.

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Katie Hobbs will be the next governor of Arizona.

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Republican Kari Lake closed the gap slightly on Sunday in the governor's race with Katie Hobbs.

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