A federal appeals court Monday upheld a Tucson man’s sentence for possession of 24 homemade bombs that were found in his house in 2011. Todd Fries had argued that the sentencing judge should not have considered his previous convictions on chemical weapons use and making false statements to the FBI. Read more»

As bureaucrats in Washington were complaining about growing costs of wildfires Wednesday, forest officials in Arizona were lighting a forest fire – but the two groups are working toward the same goal. The “prescribed burn” that was set in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest was put out Wednesday evening after burning 73 acres of scrub. Read more»

Single, widowed and divorced drivers in Phoenix are likely to pay higher insurance rates than married drivers with identical driving records, according to a recent report from the Consumer Federation of America. Read more»

Arizona tied Alaska for the lowest college completion rate in the country in 2013, with just 29 percent of students able to earn a four-year degree in six years or less. The state also posted the highest student loan default rate, at 18 percent, compared to a national average of 11 percent. Both figures were skewed by the poor data from for-profit colleges. Read more»

The governor of the Gila River Indian Community told a House panel that Indian Country is the nation’s “least served” area for broadband access, despite the “astounding” opportunity that it presents. Read more»

Federal officials approved a multi-year deal last week to allow expanded mining of coal on Navajo lands and continued burning of it at the nearby Four Corners Power Plant, along with other measures. Read more» 6

A federal appeals court Thursday ordered a new hearing for two people who claim Arizona prosecutors unconstitutionally seized money transfers from them as part of an investigation into human smuggling. Read more»

The Navajo Nation cannot support a plan to divide more than 20,000 acres of the former Fort Wingate with the Zuni tribe, a Navajo official told a House committee Wednesday. Read more»

Fewer than 2,000 of the 51,000 unaccompanied immigrant children who showed up at the Southwest border last year have been repatriated, a Senate panel was told Tuesday, a pace that critics said may have “incentivized” more migration. Read more» 1

The federal government moved the Arizona toad closer to endangered status this week while dimming hopes for the gray wolf, which moved a step closer to losing endangered species protection altogether. Read more»

Use of the drug midazolam in lethal injections does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment, despite its use in botched executions in Arizona and Oklahoma, the Supreme Court ruled this week. Read more»

The rate of suicides among Native American youth is 2.5 times the national average. Read more»

People in Arizona work out longer than those in almost any other state, according to an analysis of data from millions of users of a popular fitness app. Arizona ranked fifth among states, with an average weekly workout of 79 minutes. California was first, at 87.4 minutes per week on average, followed by Colorado, Washington and Oregon. Read more»

Granting deportation deferral to an estimated 137,000 Arizona residents would add hundreds of jobs annually and billions of dollars over a decade to the state economy, according to a new state-by-state analysis from liberal think-tank Center for American Progress. Read more» 2

The Bureau of Indian Affairs is encouraging tribes to apply for NCLB waivers so that Native schools can include more of their history and culture in their curricula. Read more»