US Airways and American Airlines said they expect to complete their long-planned merger by Dec. 9, after a federal bankruptcy judge on Wednesday removed the final hurdle to the deal. Read more»

Erika Andiola came to Washington expecting it would be the place to make a difference in the immigration reform fight – until the immigration fight hit closer to home. Andiola on Wednesday said she quit her job in the office of Rep. Kyrsten Sinema to go home and focus on fighting the deportation of her mother. Read more»

Arizona universities ranked among the top schools for the number of international students they had enrolled in the 2012-2013 academic year, a new report said. Read more»

The Justice Department said Tuesday it has settled its lawsuit to block the merger of American Airlines and Tempe-based US Airways, after the carriers agreed to concessions aimed at preserving competition in the industry. Read more»

The House will meet just 113 days next year, 25 days fewer than this year and the least since 2006, according to the 2014 calendar released last week by House leaders. Read more»

The federal government shutdown last month could shave 0.3 percent off the expected growth of Arizona’s gross state product in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a recent report. Read more»

A federal appeals court Thursday slashed the damages that mining company ASARCO had been ordered to pay a former employee who successfully sued the company for sexual harassment at an Arizona mine. Read more»

Tucked inside the bill that reopened the federal government late Wednesday night was language guaranteeing that border-security measures, specifically radar surveillance blimps, would continue to be funded into 2014. Read more»

Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew warned Thursday of a “potentially catastrophic” hit to the economy if the nation reaches the debt limit next week and defaults on its obligations. Read more»

A government shutdown could not keep 77 Southern Arizona veterans from seeing “their” World War II Memorial on Monday. Just in case park rangers did not come through, U.S. Reps. Ron Ron Barber, Trent Franks, and Matt Salmon turned out to greet the veterans. Read more» 2

The budget was not the only significant legislation that died Monday between a deadlocked House and Senate – the farm bill also expired at midnight, leaving farm programs, crop supports and food stamps up in the air. Read more»

State law requires that Arizona businesses check the citizenship of new employees against the federal E-Verify database, but the service went dark Tuesday as part of the federal government shutdown. Many employers were surprised - and not sure what to do next. Read more»

With Congress at an apparent budget impasse, a looming government shutdown could send thousands of federal workers in Arizona home next week and pull millions of dollars from the state’s economy in the process. It’s not clear how many of the more than 40,000 federal workers in the state would be affected – or even if there will be a shutdown at all before the Tuesday deadline for a budget deal. Read more»

Joe Garcia looks at the latest Hispanic population estimates for Arizona and comes to a simple conclusion. “It’s safe to say the face of Arizona is changing,” said Garcia, the director of the Latino Public Policy Center at Arizona State University. Read more»

Shenanigans first got Sen. Jeff Flake in trouble, but it was malfeasance that finally got the Arizona Republican booted. Read more»