Ken Starr, a former Baylor University president who was best known for his role in the investigation that led to the impeachment of President Bill Clinton, died at the age of 76 in Houston of complications related to surgery. Read more»

Recently released photographs could be the first visual documentation of Donald Trump’s already-reported habit of flushing paperwork - but national archivists already have their work cut out trying to plug potential gaps in the 45th president’s historical record. Read more»

Justice Stephen Breyer will be retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of the term, according to Wednesday morning reporting from NBC. Read more»

In the 25 years since President Bill Clinton took Ronald Reagan's notions to their apotheosis in his 1996 welfare reform law - which Clinton said would “end welfare as we know it” - federal welfare funding, frozen by law at 1996 levels, has been decimated. Read more»

For more than 70 years, consumer advocates, government experts, members of Congress and several presidents have called for a single food safety agency - but the idea has stalled again and again, easy to propose but all but impossible to enact. Read more»

For weeks, President Joe Biden has been saying the Build Back Better plan would be “fully paid for” and would not increase the deficit - but the official congressional scorekeeper in its long-awaited final analysis contradicted the president’s claims. Read more»

The Biden administration will restore environmental protections to three national monuments, including two in Utah and the only marine monument in the Atlantic Ocean, that were diminished dramatically by his predecessor Donald Trump. Read more»

Women who apply for welfare often have to identify who fathered their children and when they got pregnant, among other deeply personal details, then state governments use that information to pursue child support from the dads — and pocket the money. Read more»

Bodies of 227 undocumented border crossers were found in the Arizona desert in 2020, and absent meaningful efforts to address the factors that drive people to risk their lives crossing miles of unforgiving desert, the number will continue to grow. Read more»

Five transgender veterans in Arizona speak on what it meant to serve in the military and witness the shifts in how their identities are viewed by the commander in chief, with the effects ranging from loss of status and benefits to traumatic experiences while in service, including sexual assault. Read more»

Oro Valley Republican state legislator and secretary of state candidate Mark Finchem, a leading proponent of the baseless allegations and conspiracy claims behind Arizona’s #StopTheSteal movement, is scheduled to appear on a popular far-right QAnon talk show in May. Read more»

President Joe Biden nominated Native American law expert Robert Anderson, an enrolled member of the Bois Forte Band of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, to be solicitor of the Interior Department Wednesday. The move underscored how the administration is putting a priority on placing Native Americans in charge of the agenda at Interior. Last month, Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, an enrolled member of the Laguna Pueblo, was confirmed by the Senate as the first Native American person to lead a federal department. Read more»

Native American policy experts and Arizona lawmakers welcomed President Joe Biden’s order calling for stronger relations with tribal governments, with one saying it “goes right along with what Indian country has been asking for.” Read more»

Every election cycle since Bill Clinton carried Arizona in 1996, the narrative has gone like this: The state will change politically as newcomers bring their (more liberal) values. And thanks to Hispanics Arizona is on the cusp (always!) of becoming a purple or even deep blue electorate. Read more»

Arizona’s senators fell in line with their respective parties Wednesday as the Senate voted to acquit President Trump on two articles of impeachment that could have forced his removal from office. Read more»