The popular 4FRI forest maintenance program is back on track after a two-month pause to sort out challenges with a more focused, “more realistic approach” that appears to have government, industry and environmental officials in rare agreement. Read more»

Arizona’s unemployment rate continued its steady decline in October, falling to 5.2%, down a full percentage point from just two months earlier and almost one-third of the state’s pandemic high, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data. Read more»

Health officials said this week that it should be OK for families to gather over the holidays, as long as people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 and take other precautions against the spread of the disease. Read more»

Tribal leaders said the just-ended White House summit on tribal affairs “shows promise” for the federal commitment to solving problems in Indian Country and to giving Native Americans a voice in the process. Read more»

Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Prescott, refused to back down Tuesday from his weekend tweet of a violent cartoon that appeared to show him and other House conservatives attacking President Joe Biden and a liberal House Democrat. Read more»

Democratic leaders announced Thursday that they reached agreement on a $1.75 trillion “framework” for the Build Back Better plan, but few were rushing to embrace it, with many progressives pointing instead to what was left out and conservatives complaining about costs. Read more»

It’s been almost a year since the 2020 elections, but Arizona Secretary of State Katie Hobbs told a Senate panel Tuesday that it’s not over for her staff, who have been subject to “near constant harassment” from election deniers. Read more»

Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods was remembered Monday as an “incredibly active public servant” whose sudden death over the weekend had the potential to deal “a pretty big blow” to moderates in the state. Read more»

Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls told a Washington forum this week that the rise in illegal immigration is stressing health care and the nonprofits that help migrants in his town, and he’s worried the situation will only get worse. Read more»

Two Arizona lawmakers, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Rep. Tom O’Halleran, were among the House and Senate moderates who met with President Joe Biden this week, as negotiations on the administration’s Build Back Better plan heated up. Read more»

Arizona politicians from both sides of the aisle praised former Secretary of State Colin Powell as a dedicated public servant who will inspire “generations of Americans,” but who also leaves behind a mixed legacy. Read more»

Arizona projects got $110 million last year and will get another $159 million in the fiscal year that started this month, or more than 9% of all funding nationally under the Great American Outdoors Act for those two years. Read more»

COVID-19 vaccinations have saved an estimated 1,000 lives in Arizona and have prevented as many as 2,800 hospitalizations for the disease, according to recent estimates from the Department of Health and Human Services. Read more»

An abortion rights case that is a top issue in the U.S. Supreme Court term that began Monday has already drawn scores of legal filings – including from dozens of Arizona lawmakers, activists and advocates on both sides of the issue. Read more»

A planned hunt of bison on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon this week appears to be moving forward, despite last-minute pleas by lawmakers in Colorado to move the animals there instead. Read more»