Almost three years after the first COVID-19 cases were detected in Arizona, here’s what we know: It hits the elderly hardest, it spikes in summer and winter, it killed men in Arizona at sharply higher rates than women and new strains continue to evolve. Read more»

President Joe Biden approved a disaster declaration for Arizona's Havasupai Tribe and ordered federal aid to supplement the tribe’s response and recovery efforts in areas affected by October flooding within the community. Read more»

Newly compiled data reveals how severely the COVID-19 pandemic impacted Indigenous communities in Arizona at the onset of the pandemic, and it shows how the community’s response helped reverse the trends in 2021.  Read more»

According to a Bureau of Justice Statistics report, federal arrests declined by 35 percent from fiscal year 2020 to 2021, ending at the lowest number of arrests in two decades - but the number of people charged with a federal offense decreased less than 1 percent.  Read more»

Medicare’s COVID-19 testing costs reached over $2 billion in 2022 - and the growing costs concern some experts, who say financial incentives and a lack of regulation early in the pandemic led to fraud and overspending. Read more»

Vaccination rates among schoolchildren in Arizona have steadily declined since 2012, but the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the drop across the state - and the trend is unlikely to reverse any time soon, which could result in serious health consequences in the future. Read more»

The IDEA beat in 2022 reported on Southern Arizona, Pima County and Tucson during a time of shocking violence in the community, the end to COVID-19 measures and funding and an important midterm election. Read more»

In a split decision, the Supreme Court agreed to hear a fight over the conclusion of Title 42 - and while the Biden administration’s immigration policy hangs in the balance, the court agreed only to decide if the 19 states have a basis to intervene in the case.  Read more»

Para el año escolar 2021-22, los distritos de todo el país enfrentaban lo que muchos denominaron una crisis de ausentismo debido a que el cierre de escuelas relacionado con la pandemia causó estragos en la asistencia, y los educadores tuvieron que actuar. Read more»

Arizona Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs has picked Dr. Theresa Cullen, Pima County health director, to lead the state Department of Health Services. Cullen has spent 35 years working in public health and took the helm in Pima County in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more»

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Biden administration has to continue with an emergency health order the federal government has used for more than two years to quickly turn away migrants, including those seeking asylum, at the southwest border. Read more»

If you’re trying to evaluate a charity this year, you might have a hard time as the IRS is behind on releasing Form 990s, limiting access to key financial information the public uses to evaluate the nation’s tax-exempt companies. Read more»

Para aproximadamente 30,000 personas que viven en espacios cerrados en la red de instalaciones de inmigración del país, COVID sigue siendo una amenaza siempre presente. Read more»

Across the country, the chance of developing severe illness or dying from COVID has fallen - but for the roughly 30,000 people living in close quarters in the country’s network of immigration facilities, COVID remains an ever-present threat. Read more»

The U.S. Senate passed a massive $1.7 trillion funding package that carries emergency aid for natural disaster recovery and the Ukrainian war effort, pushing past disputes over immigration policy and barely meeting a Friday deadline when current funding runs out. Read more»