Buckmaster: Will Rio Nuevo probe reveal criminal wrongdoing?

Arizona Republican Party Chairwoman Kelli Ward and her team spent more than $530,000 on what one GOP consultant said were “vanity projects” designed to boost her ego instead of winning races on an election that ultimately ended in disaster for Republicans in Arizona. Read more»   

Descendants of the four surviving Hia-Ced O’odham families who fled their ancestral lands in the mid-1800s to escape yellow fever are researching the history of the Hia-Ced to prove their existence, and working to advocate for recognition with the federal government. Read more»   

Amid an unusually wet winter and after last summer's strong monsoon, Arizona may be better off than other Southwest states as it continues to battle a 23-year drought - but while the snowpack is high, the Southwest’s reservoirs remain lower than average. Read more»   

Homelessness disproportionately affects veterans, but the Department of Veterans Affairs announced that a variety of efforts to help veterans find housing has resulted in the rate dropping 11% in the past three years nationwide and more than 50% since 2010. Read more»   

A pair of bills proposed by Fountain Hills Republican John Kavanagh that would criminalize common activities for people experiencing homelessness had their first hearings in the Arizona Senate Wednesday, although their path to becoming law remains unclear. Read more»   

Hundreds gathered on the lawn in front of the Arizona House of Representatives Sunday to voice their discontent with the legislature’s Republican majority, which has overseen the passage of several anti-LGBTQ laws in recent years. Read more»   

A second group of Oath Keepers - including Arizonan Edward Vallejo - to be tried for seditious conspiracy and other charges for actions during the Jan. 6 insurrection could soon see their case handed over to a jury. Read more»   

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego is a former Marine Corps combat officer and it shows, as he guns the engine on his U.S. Senate campaign. He is reading the terrain well, surrounding himself with good commanders and has just seized the high ground. Read more»   

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs signed her sixth executive order Wednesday, establishing an independent prison oversight commission to improve the transparency and accountability of Arizona’s corrections system. Read more»