Arizona had the nation’s steepest per-student cuts in state aid to higher education and the highest rates of tuition increase from pre-recession funding levels until today, according to a new report. Read more»

Three students at Metropolitan Arts Institute turned concerns about treatment of mental health in the U.S. - an issue that affected some friends - into a short documentary on the topic. That work has been recognized as one of five national winners in a C-SPAN contest. Read more»

Supporters of the proposed Interstate 11 met Wednesday in Washington where they expressed optimism about the future of the long-discussed highway that could link Phoenix and Las Vegas – and possibly beyond. Read more» 1

A previous rallying cry of “not one more” deportation became a chant of “2 million is too many." Arizonans were among several dozen people who rallied at the White House, renewing a call on the president to halt deportations as long as immigration reform is stalled. Read more»

Arizona saw some of the sharpest increases in average annual temperatures in the Southwest over the 20th century. The drier, hotter conditions not only affect water supplies but have led to conditions that make it more likely the region will experience more wildfires, according to a panel of climate experts. Read more»

Conservation groups are worried that a proposed expansion of coal-mining at the Four Corners Power Plant could reverse recent environmental gains at the plant that last year was on a list of dirtiest in the country. Read more»

The bill would swap 80 acres of federally owned land in California's Riverside County for 40 acres of private farmland abutting the Cibola National Wildlife Refuge in La Paz County that is important habitat and wintering grounds for migratory birds and other wildlife." Read more»

Backlash against get-tough immigration laws like SB 1070 led to a climate that makes it possible to push for alternative immigration reforms, activists said, including in-state tuition and driver's licenses. Those plans were attacked by critics as "practically amnesty." Read more»

A federal appeals court Monday upheld convictions and death sentences for two brothers in the 1991 slayings of a pair of store owners in Grasshopper Junction near Kingman. Read more»

A year after the Republican Party unveiled plans to attract women and minority voters, a national Democratic leader insisted the GOP is still “out of touch,” citing the party’s actions in Arizona as examples. Read more» 1

The one-month drop in spending was the second-largest in the nation, trailing only California, the National Park Service said. Most of the decline came from the Grand Canyon, which saw spending fall $17 million in October compared to the same month in previous years. Read more» 1

The rewrite of the Voting Rights Act currently being debated in Congress would free Arizona from nearly 50 years of strict federal oversight to changes in its voting laws. While Arizona and other states will be out from under the federal microscope for now, the proposed change to the law would let them be drawn back in. Read more»

Herminia Gallego and Gerardo Torres have seen so many friends and family arrested on immigration charges that the Arizona residents decided it was time to take action – by getting arrested themselves. They were among the 32 protesters arrested Monday outside the White House at a rally urging President Barack Obama to use his executive power to halt deportations of all immigrants. Read more»

Arizona posted the second-highest number of solar-industry jobs in the nation for the second year in a row in 2013, despite losing1,242 jobs from a year earlier, according to a new report. Read more»

The Justice Department was ordered Monday to start treating legal same-sex marriages the same as any other marriage, regardless of whether the couple lives in a state – such as Arizona – that does not recognize such unions. Read more»