Arizona has been criticized for years for its level of education funding. Efforts have been made to raise that in recent years, and Gov. Doug Ducey has provided leadership. Meanwhile, schools were hit hard by the pandemic, although one-time federal funding has flowed in. Now, however, an unu…

United Way of Pinal County is celebrating 40 years of helping residents help others in their communities. During that time, countless organizations and individuals have received assistance, and much of it has been needed severely. The organization has sought to target funding to places it wo…

Pinal County continues to grow rapidly, and not just in its cities. The best example of that is San Tan Valley, which would be Pinal’s largest city if incorporated. But other places are growing as well. One of those is Gold Canyon, where a study backed by the Pinal Board of Supervisors no do…

One image that many Arizonans and Americans have seen this week on television and online speaks volumes about what is wrong with today’s extremist politics. That is activists pursuing and recording Sen. Kyrsten Sinema at Arizona State University, including a view outside a restroom stall. An…

A daylong event at Lucid Motors in Casa Grande Tuesday meant major celebration for the city, Pinal County and Arizona. Guests got an up-close look at something many had anticipated for years, luxury electric vehicles being manufactured and scheduled to be delivered to the first buyers this month.

A private “audit” ordered by the Arizona Senate confirmed the official results of last year’s presidential election in Maricopa County — that former President Donald Trump lost. But no surprise, Trump still claims fraud. It’s time for closure.

Multiple vaccines for COVID-19 have given Americans and people around the world much freedom. At the same time, many people have resisted taking them, and most have that right. Meanwhile, countless people have had COVID and recovered, although some have had serious illness and many have died.

Salt River Project is a quasi-governmental entity that provides water and electricity to major parts of the Phoenix metropolitan area. It was founded more than a century ago out of necessity and has been a major player in the growth of the Valley. In recent decades SRP’s need to generate mor…

The Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission has released grid maps, its preliminary attempt at new congressional and legislative districts for the next 10 years. These are done with the idea of advancing the discussion on what changes are needed. But they also show the growing size and …

Conflict in American politics has grown deeper, continuing after last year’s election. That makes the U.S. Constitution even more important, but too many Americans seem to know little about their government and the political process.

Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission is busy drawing lines for legislative and congressional districts, in a time crunch aggravated by a pandemic-driven delay in getting census numbers. Meanwhile, some local entities in Arizona will have to do the same thing. Some cities have voter…

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors in a 3-2 vote last week turned down $3 million-plus from the federal government to “improve vaccine equity.” Without getting into the national debate over “equity” vs. “equality” and what that means, the vote points out the complexity of a world that con…

As Arizona and America celebrate Labor Day on Monday, the country continues to emerge from a devastating blow to the economy from COVID-19. Over a long period, especially last year, many people were unable to work or had to do so at home. The federal government provided much assistance, but …

September has arrived, and with it comes Labor Day weekend. After that, the month this year has more than the normal push to get down to business in Washington. Some extra-big decisions on spending tax dollars are before Congress.

Road-building takes a long time, as most people know from the planning to widen Interstate 10 between Casa Grande and Chandler. A brand new freeway takes even longer. However, the Arizona Department of Transportation last week finalized an environmental study for the “North-South Corridor,” …

Police departments are under more scrutiny these days, even as officers’ jobs get tougher amid violence, especially in urban areas. Phoenix, a major city and metropolitan area, is no exception and is facing an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department over allegations of excessive force a…

Casa Grande has grown not only in population, but its area has expanded greatly in recent decades. Now it takes longer to get some places, and walking often isn’t possible. With that comes a certain demand for public transportation, which always is a challenge for cities because of its cost …

Houses continue to rise rapidly in Pinal County, making some of the official U.S. Census numbers released days ago a surprise. Some cities and towns did not increase as fast as expected in population, and some actually fell below previous estimates. And that followed a shock to the state in …

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors has set property tax rates for the new fiscal year, as required on the third Monday in August. As always, some of them are up and some down.

Operating a landfill is more difficult than it used to be. Part of the reason is that environmental concerns are always front and center. And there is no such thing as closing up shop and walking away; federal law and regulations are very stringent on what is involved in closing a landfill.

Details finally have emerged on two top resignations in the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control. Although the underlying story is unfortunate, the result shows that state government ultimately did the right thing.

Much of Arizona’s customer base again may be considered for competition in electricity service, something that has come up before and was rejected. While competition usually is a good thing, Arizonans should beware when it involves an essential service that now is provided by regulated monopolies.

Central Arizona College has decided to use some of the federal pandemic funds it received to give free tuition to Pinal County residents for the coming school year. With enrollment lagging about 15% from the prepandemic time, which is typical nationally for community colleges, the decision i…

Although Pinal County was not on the first list for hearing sites by the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, it was added, and a meeting was held last week. The comments from Pinal residents were thoughtful and no doubt helpful to the commission, and they showed that at least some …

A historic reduction in the availability of Colorado River water while more people covet it has brought together an unusual coalition interested in the river. Traditionally competitive and sometimes directly opposed to each other, they met this month to discuss the threat of loss of water to…

School calendars in Pinal County continue to evolve, with more districts extending breaks and making summer shorter. Other Pinal districts have had short summer breaks for years. Some districts started classes recently, and others will start next week. That means COVID-19 is an important top…

Casa Grande and Pinal County residents have put much focus for years on widening of Interstate 10 south of Chandler. Anyone driving on the two lanes in each direction knows why. Progress is being made, and construction on widening is expected to start within two years. Meanwhile, slow progre…

In recent months some governmental entities have borrowed money through favorably priced bonds to pay off their debt to the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System. Not surprisingly, a recent report shows that the system is now on firmer ground.

Rain has been welcome this week in Pinal County, but apparently well coordinated with that was the groundbreaking ceremony for the first phase of a long-planned motor sports park just outside Casa Grande. Attesa was announced back in 2017 but, like many things, it was delayed for various reasons.

The Arizona Department of Water Resources recently announced it would not approve any new applications for groundwater use in the Pinal Active Management Area. However, there is no panic, because earlier approvals already will allow considerable growth, including doubling the size of Casa Gr…

The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Sun Corridor organization has been a major player in guiding area youths as they grow into responsible adults. That has come with support from many donors and partnerships with schools and government. It became even more important when kids needed a place to…

Much of the interest in the Arizona Legislature’s long session was on the budget and income tax (editorial June 26). However, legislators did much more than that, and there will be some strong benefits for Arizonans.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week upheld Arizona’s ban on ballot harvesting and voting in the wrong precinct, and with it likely protected similar laws in other states. While there is much criticism claiming infringement of voting rights, the actual effect is protecting the power of legitimat…

As the Legislature was negotiating the annual budget consensus and deciding on changes to the income tax structure, it also moved some bills dealing with the citizens’ right to make their own laws. As we’ve said before, while the initiative, referendum and recall have been points of pride fo…

Arizona’s legislators, near the end of an unusual session, have nearly finished the budget, just days before the end of the fiscal year. As usual, the process wasn’t pretty, but there is much to like in the budget.

Pinal County needs to find a new elections director, after Michele Forney resigned effective in November to take a state-level job in Nevada. She had run 13 elections successfully since 2015. The goal should be to continue having elections in the county absent of unusual circumstances and co…

Wildfires have been raging in Arizona, ahead of last year’s schedule, and Pinal County is having a rougher year than normal due to the Telegraph Fire near Superior. The Legislature has been in session longer than average, and Gov. Doug Ducey decided to add a concurrent special session to dea…

Arizona’s Independent Redistricting Commission is working on redrawing congressional and legislative districts as it does every 10 years, this time slowed by a pandemic-caused delay in census numbers. The current system began in 2000 after voters created it and is an attempt to make the proc…

State prisoners in Oklahoma have begun receiving special computer tablets to receive not only information that inmates need to have but also some other material for reading and entertainment. That is a good use of technology that was implemented at the Pinal County jail in Florence two years…

The Casa Grande City Council this week discussed borrowing to pay off its unfunded public safety retirement debt, as other Arizona cities and counties are doing. This has been a problem that never seems to go away, but the plan the city is discussing would put it to rest.

With today’s polarized politics, when concern often is expressed about the makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court, it is comforting to see that the court still can have a unanimous ruling. That was true this week in a case that has much relevance in Arizona, when the court said tribal police depar…

Arizona’s utility regulators have bounced the ball around on mandated carbon-free electricity over a period of years. Last week they reached a compromise to put rules back in place. The final deadline for no emissions would be nearly 50 years from now, an eternity in politics. Nevertheless, …

Monday is the day we once again recognize those who have sacrificed their lives in America’s armed forces throughout our nation’s history, dating back to our fight for independence in the 1700s. Communities across the nation will — and should — pause for that reason. This year is more normal…

The world was turned upside down more than a year ago but is quickly getting back closer to normal. Events of all kinds were affected severely, meaning cancellations in many cases. That included the sports world, although seasons resumed last year, and this year they have been mostly normal,…

Gov. Doug Ducey has had a longtime stance in favor of reducing taxes, years ago pledging to reduce the income tax to “as close to zero as possible.” While many residents of Pinal County and Arizona appreciate keeping more of their own money, Ducey’s attempt to put a flat-tax switch into this…

Thousands of Americans have been killed in wrong-way crashes in recent years, a phenomenon that has been rising. In Arizona alone, according to AAA, there were 72 wrong-way crashes recorded from 2010 to 2018. That may not sound like many, but they killed 107 people. These are very deadly and…

The issue of whether “Dreamers,” those who were brought to the United States illegally as children, can pay in-state tuition will be decided by Arizona voters in 2022. The matter was referred to the ballot by a narrow vote of the Legislature. That is appropriate because the Dreamers have bee…

In a very polarized time, Arizona legislators found something most could agree on: reining in the use of asset forfeiture by law enforcement agencies. The House bill passed the Senate 28-1 to send it to Gov. Doug Ducey, who has since signed it. Arizonans will be better off for it, although s…

The Florence Town Council this week ended a years-long battle with Florence Copper that has cost millions of dollars. Meanwhile, the company has continued toward full-scale mining of a valuable copper deposit and has been contributing to the community financially and otherwise as a solid cor…

Arizona’s sunny skies have contributed to decades-long arrangements to train military pilots here. But that has led to a long-term problem with water pollution from multiple chemicals, which is now getting more attention.