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.

Some numbers are out from the U.S. Census Bureau’s massive project that happens every 10 years, and Arizonans are shocked. Despite the fact that the state added three-quarters of a million people, or 11.6%, to reach more than 7 million, we will not be adding a 10th member of the U.S. House o…

Casa Grande voters have received mailed ballots with a single question on whether they approve of the city’s new General Plan. The issue is fairly routine in Arizona, as plan updates are required each 10 years. However, that does not minimize the importance.

Tens of thousands of people are flooding over the southern border of the United States, many of them into Arizona. Much effort is made to spin the numbers in one way or the other, including seasonal averages and effects of the pandemic. But it is obvious that words and actions of President J…

America’s form of government is based on fair elections, but there is too much scary rhetoric about what that means. Some Arizona legislators are pushing bills that would help to protect the integrity of votes cast in Pinal County and around the state, but such actions these days always brin…

A major expansion of gambling is coming to Arizona, following approval by the Legislature this week and a signature from Gov. Doug Ducey Thursday. Negotiations had been going on for a while with the big players involved, mainly Native American tribes and professional sports owners. Everyone …

Pinal County’s cities are surrounded with miles of open desert, although growth is changing that somewhat. The increased population is raising the likelihood that some residents will dump their trash out in those beautiful desert areas, although this is by no means a new problem. And being l…

Arizona is again preparing to execute some criminals in Florence. The two men, as usual, long ago were convicted of heinous crimes. One of the murder victims was an 8-year-old child in Tucson and the other an Arizona State University student. As always, the length of time that has elapsed ha…

“It is not only a bad idea, it upsets the constitutional design and it disservices the country” — 2005 speech by then-Sen. Joe Biden about ending the Senate filibuster rule.

A long trend of diversifying and growing Pinal County’s economy has been boosted by electric vehicle plants built or announced in recent years. But a new level of achievement is signified by the opening of the Drive48 regional workforce training center Wednesday at Central Arizona College’s …

The COVID-19 pandemic may be on the decline, but the aftermath will live on for a long time. Part of that is an attempt to find liability and place blame. Arizona’s Republican legislative majority has attempted to keep that from doing too much damage. Meanwhile, trial lawyers aren’t happy.

Arizona, a growing state with only three state universities, relies heavily on its network of community colleges in the various counties. Students there have an affordable way to get a good start on a bachelor’s degree, and the Legislature has considered allowing the colleges to offer four-y…

Arizona is a leader in the school choice movement, and that generally is a good thing, especially in seeing the record of traditional schools in some states while dealing with the pandemic. But Arizona’s charter schools could use more regulation, although most are well run and popular in att…

Wildfires have been an annual problem in the West, and hotter and drier weather lately has contributed. Other factors are a lack of logging and clearing the forests, with government regulations contributing to that, along with the fact that more people live closer to forests now and natural …

Prison reform has been an important topic in recent years, including in Arizona, where many people in government and out want to find alternatives to some of the time served. However, in some parts of the country, authorities have gone way too far against incarceration in general, letting ma…

Many people doing time behind bars claim they are innocent or shouldn’t be where they are. History has proven that in a very small number of cases, they are right. Since the 1980s, DNA evidence has been used in court, and some inmates have been able to use it to prove their innocence, in som…

Images of Texans shivering without heat, electricity and sometimes water and food last month were heartbreaking. The weather event was very unusual, but such things happen occasionally around the country. Arizona’s weather is pretty predictable, even if that is unfortunate during the summer …

Pinal County, Arizona and America are carefully edging closer to normal. COVID-19 vaccinations still are hard to come by for many, but many others have had them now. Infection rates have been falling for a while.

With a hotly contested election conducted during a pandemic, some states changed the rules to make voting easier and safer. Many critics say that also introduced opportunity for fraud. After 2020, reasonable people want fewer questions about voting, and that includes not only on the opportun…

A rollback on immigration rules set by the Trump administration is coming quickly under President Joe Biden, who has been in office little more than a month. This should not be a surprise to Americans, and many are happy about it. There are some valid questions, however, and some of those ar…

The good idea of allowing Arizona’s community colleges to offer four-year degrees is making some progress in the Legislature, which is encouraging. As we said last year when a similar bill died, it should happen.

The right to peacefully assemble and protest is fundamental to being an American. However, there has been a trend toward the other type of protest. Those have dragged on for months in cities like Seattle and Portland, and unfortunately, there seems to be a tolerance among authorities in thos…

State law places limits on use of water in Arizona, which is important to the state’s future. At times, however, the complexity of individual situations causes problems. However, some good work by elected officials and water leaders has resulted in a helpful bill already passed by the Legisl…

2020’s election was painful to Americans, and the aftermath is playing out still with the Senate impeachment trial of the former president. The trauma is related to the closeness of the presidential vote and the refusal of many to accept the outcome. Now, calls have been made from both sides…

The Arizona Corporation Commission performs an important role in state government. Keeping control of it in the hands of the voters sounds democratic. However, when a majority of the five-member panel can change in one election, there is potential for some bad outcomes. That said, on the who…

Arizona has a mandatory incarceration law dating to 1978, and it generally has worked well. However, prison and criminal justice reform is a big topic these days for various reasons. The Legislature is considering some changes as part of a package that was proposed previously but revamped so…

It’s a new year with new officeholders in Washington, and the effects will be felt in Pinal County soon enough. President Joe Biden has signed executive orders reversing some actions of his predecessor on immigration. Biden’s leniency already is attracting caravans of people hoping to find a…

Americans too often discard things along the road thoughtlessly. This is certainly true in Pinal County, and visitors frequently comment about it. Either the situation is worse here than at their home places, or some of us just don’t notice things that become too common.

Arizona’s Republican Party leaders gathered Saturday and struggled on what should be a path to the future. President Donald Trump’s close loss to Joe Biden was fresh in their minds, obviously, but a majority of those gathered seemed not to realize that elections, win or lose, should point a …

David Snider came to Casa Grande in 1977 and spent the rest of his life in service to his city, Pinal County and Arizona. He left all too soon on Friday because of an unexpected circulatory ailment.

Excitement in recent weeks about the availability of multiple vaccines for COVID-19 has turned to frustration about how to get it to more people. The situation may seem chaotic, but progress is being made, and experts had said several months would be required to receive an acceptable level o…

The new Arizona Legislature has started its first session and with that comes the usual flood of legislation. One of the bills, which also was sponsored last year by Sen. David Gowan, R-Sierra Vista, would give drivers basically a grace range of 10 mph over the speed limit before being cited…

Some people in Pinal County, like those across the country, volunteer their time, and often their dollars, to support community organizations. This is something they enjoy doing, especially during retirement but not just then. Those efforts provide a good deal of what is available to the pub…

Gov. Doug Ducey delivered his annual State of the State address Monday, and of course COVID-19 was a major theme. He in part talked about its effect on education, which is on the minds of many.

The water supply in central Arizona is spread increasingly thin, especially when seen on a long-term basis as a drought continues. Decades ago, Valley cities began buying farmland to secure alternate sources, although some of the land later was sold off. Now there is talk of a long-term leas…

Some people remember floods that devastated Pinal County in 1983 and 1993, especially the earlier one, which covered the then-small community of Maricopa with mud and destruction. In the early 2000s, Maricopa began developing into one of the county’s largest cities, and planning resulted in …

It’s 2021 and with the change in calendar comes full implementation of Arizona’s ban against texting while driving. Actually, the law started nearly two years ago without teeth to enforce it, and hopefully it has had some effect already. Even at that, it was long overdue because of oppositio…

A 3-2 majority of the Arizona Corporation Commission last week approved the sale of Johnson Utilities, shortly before two new members are seated on the ACC at the beginning of the year. The decision was somewhat controversial, but it brings a tough problem to closure. And the decision was ap…

Florence long has welcomed the presence and employment of state prisons and at one time was the state’s main prison location. The town got a shock early this year with Gov. Doug Ducey’s announcement that the old Florence Complex would close. Now, however, there is a bright side.

As the world nears the end of 2020, a year of pandemic that was hard for many people, signs of recovery are seen. It is a time when many Americans think of generosity, as well they should.

As we’ve said before, Gov. Doug Ducey has caught it from both ways as he has sought to lead Arizona through the pandemic of 2020. Now a state legislator, Sen. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, is pushing a resolution that would strip away Ducey’s March 11 emergency order for dealing with C…

News about COVID-19 mostly has turned to distribution of the first vaccines, when they will be administered and priority of who gets them. That certainly is bringing hope for an end to the global pandemic. However, distribution to the general population is a few months away, with caution and…

The fact that COVID-19 greatly affected 2020 is a constant topic of conversation. Now multiple vaccines are being rolled out and promise to get the world pretty much back to normal within months. Meanwhile, there has been an increase in cases in many areas, probably pushed by cold weather an…

2020 has taken a toll on just about everything, and businesses have had to adapt to survive. That includes even the edgy newer ones like Uber and other ride-hailing companies. In fact, Uber already was working for future success by thinking about the possibility of self-driving vehicles and …

News about pending approval for multiple vaccines for COVID-19 is exciting the world. The scientists associated with drug companies apparently have done something that many thought impossible, and done it years earlier, with the help of the federal government. Now Americans and people around…

Certification of election results has been occurring around the country, including in Arizona. Despite the protests of President Trump and many supporters, the outcome is not in doubt, and the Electoral College soon will make Joe Biden the official president-elect.

Arizona’s attorney general took a hard run against rising university tuition, but the Arizona Supreme Court said that was outside his area of responsibility. Yet it was worth a try, and his efforts may yet shed more light on a problem area.

The pandemic of 2020 has affected all aspects of society. The economy in Pinal County and across the nation has been hit hard, but it is recovering because of help from the federal government and the resourcefulness of our market-driven system. Calls are being heard for a new stimulus from C…