More states are trying to assess the racial impact of new laws, as the consciousness of many legislators has been raised by the murder of George Floyd, the Black Lives Matter movement and the pandemic’s disproportionate effect on minorities. ... Read more»
Both Republican Rob Portman and Democrat Kyrsten Sinema, the senators who negotiated a bipartisan infrastructure bill, have claimed the legislation is “paid for” - but a budget watchdog group says the bill only pays for about half of the $548 billion in new spending.... Read more»
President Joe Biden’s decision to raise this year’s cap on refugee admissions from a historic low of 15,000 to as many as 62,500 will not happen, as "we are working quickly to undo the damage of the last four years,” according to a White House statement.... Read more»
President Biden’s massive pandemic stimulus law pumps a welcome infusion of federal aid into state and local government coffers — but one brief section is raising questions about whether states are barred from cutting their own taxes if they accept the federal help.... Read more»
The number of migrants apprehended at the southern border fell sharply in fiscal 2020, a drop analysts attribute in large part fears of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic havoc left in its wake.... Read more»
Thousands of dollars started arriving in Arizonans’ bank accounts this week as the first payments from the massive coronavirus relief package began to be distributed in the form of expanded unemployment benefits and direct stimulus payments. ... Read more»
The U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling in 2010 did not, as some warned, unleash a flood of corporate money directly into elections.
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Conservative groups are highlighting the case of an Arizona man with leukemia whose insurance plan was canceled because it didn’t comply with the Affordable Care Act. A news report quoted the man as saying he would need to pay $26,000 to keep the same doctor. It turns out, he was able to get a new plan, which has his doctor in its network, for a lower premium and a lower out-of-pocket maximum than his old plan.... Read more»
Media reports about the Affordable Care Act have been dominated by two themes lately: The ongoing glitches with Healthcare.gov and the “rate shock” that some consumers now face after insurance companies canceled their policies. But come January, a second rate shock may hit and could produce more bad news for Obamacare.
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The mainstream media’s greatest failure has been its members’ inability to acknowledge the problem of false equivalence and an outdated commitment to objectivity.... Read more»
More than 93 percent of Hispanic immigrants who are in this country illegally say they want to apply for citizenship, but fewer than half of whose who can apply do so, according to research by the Pew Hispanic Center.... Read more»
Passing an immigration reform plan that provides for a pathway to citizenship could create up to 123,680 jobs and boost the gross domestic product by $10.32 billion by 2014, according to a new study.... Read more»
Kansas’ “Second Amendment Protection Act” backs up its states’ rights claims with a penalty aimed at federal agents: when dealing with “Made in Kansas” guns, any attempt to enforce federal law is now a felony. Bills similar to Kansas’ law have been introduced in at least 37 other states — including Arizona.... Read more»
Mainstream economists have thoroughly debunked the general stereotype of immigrants as takers, finding that immigrants are a net positive for the economy and pay more into the system than they take out. ... Read more»1
Arizona had the second-highest income inequality in the nation between 2008 and 2010, trailing only New Mexico for the gap between its richest and poorest residents, a new report says.... Read more»
You may be alone when you step into the voting booth on Election Day, but there will still be thousands of people watching over your shoulder. Attorneys for the government, political parties and other groups will be monitoring the voting process closely this year to protect against voter fraud, voter intimidation and possibly to ready challenges in close races.... Read more»
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