The Phoenix metro area is one of the most ozone-polluted cities in the U.S., according to the most recent State of the Air report from the American Lung Association - and the report emphasized people of color are especially affected by air pollution and the health issues it can cause. Read more»

Americans are moving to the South and Southwest and from cities to the suburbs in search of more space and homes they can afford - but immigration, which is starting to bounce back from pandemic lows, has helped mitigate population loss in major cities. Read more»

Gov. Katie Hobbs and Secretary of State Adrian Fontes want the Arizona Supreme Court to sanction Kari Lake for peddling “frivolous conspiracy theories” in Arizona courts, while Lake keeps asking the court to reconsider her arguments that it has already dismissed. Read more»

Many of Maricopa County’s ballot printers were not able to handle the thickness and length of the county’s ballots, causing the printers’ failure across the county on Election Day, according to the results of an independent review released Monday. Read more»

A Maricopa County judge may soon allow Kari Lake to attempt to prove one of the claims challenging her loss to Gov. Katie Hobbs: That bad actors forged signatures on tens of thousands of mail-in ballot envelopes, and the county failed to follow state law when approving them. Read more»

Maricopa County added 56,831 residents between July 2021 and June 2022, the largest population growth for a county in the nation, with an estimated 4.5 million residents last year - the second straight year the county led the nation in population growth. Read more»

It was an alarming claim that didn’t take long to go viral: Maricopa County had incorrectly rejected a ballot from an Arizona veteran in the November election, disenfranchising him - but was a registered voter in Navajo County, and was not registered to vote in Maricopa County. Read more»

The Arizona Supreme Court rejected six of the seven claims that failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake made in her bid to have the court overturn her election loss and remanded the signature verification claim back to the trial court for reconsideration. Read more»

Kari Lake, the failed Republican candidate for governor, has asked the Arizona Supreme Court to review the decisions in her election contest case after the case was shot down by both the Maricopa County Superior Court and Arizona Court of Appeals. Read more»

Only a week after Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes confirmed its legality, an intergovernmental agreement that could give much-needed water to Rio Verde Foothills sits in the hands of Maricopa County. Read more»

Former AG Brnovich hid findings from the election fraud unit that debunked claims of widespread fraud in Arizona’s 2020 election, and Kris Mayes announced she will use the unit to combat voter suppression - leading to questions about whether the unit should exist at all. Read more»

A Republican bill supported by Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes that would make ballot images a public record cleared its first hurdle Wednesday, despite concerns from Democrats about privacy issues. Read more»

Democrat Secretary of State Adrian Fontes and Republican Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer discussed how to reform Arizona’s election system, amid rising backlash over its speed and accuracy — much of which has been spread by losing candidates. Read more»

Abe Hamadeh’s third attempt to challenge the election he lost should be thrown out of court for ignoring state law and failing — yet again — to provide any proof of his claims, attorneys for his Democratic opponent, Kris Mayes, said. Read more»

The Ninth Circuit seems likely to reverse a federal judge’s denial of a restraining order that would eradicate part of Maricopa County’s journalist-vetting criteria - used to bar Jordan Conradson a press pass granting access to voting centers during the November 2022 election. Read more»