Search query: arizona

One of the enduring oddities of the American political landscape remains the electoral college, the antiquated system that makes selective states disproportionately important to the election process of our Commander-in-Chief. Do you live in one of the 12 swing states seen as integral to victory in this year's presidential election cycle? If so, expect a flood of political ads, battling voter registration drives, and campaign visits in the coming months. A new USA Today/Gallup poll out this week

PRESS RELEASE SACRAMENTO, CA – State Senator Tony Strickland (R-Moorpark) said Thursday now that there’s a documented case where a contaminated reusable bag has made people sick, it’s time to start raising public awareness about the potential health hazards. Strickland is the author of SB 1106, a measure that would have required the State of California to conduct a public awareness campaign and further tests of reusable bags.  The measure was defeated two weeks ago by the Senate Environmental Q

Attempts to tackle comprehensive immigration reform at the state level has wounded agriculture and exposed an unavoidable issue for farm-state lawmakers seeking election in 2012. Because U.S. citizens, by and large, will not work in farm fields and because partisan gridlock over amnesty has kept comprehensive immigration reform off Congress' to-do list, agricultural stakeholders are pleading with lawmakers to reform the country's immigration policy to accommodate an ag-centric guest worker progr

According to a new study from the Pew Research Center, Mexican immigration has slowed dramatically over the last decade, and net migration may have even gone negative. That’s right, Mitt Romney’s dream has come true and more Mexicans may be leaving America (both voluntarily and involuntarily) than entering. Whether this is happening because of stricter identification laws and immigration enforcement, as Romney would prefer, is still in question: the Pew Center cannot identify for sure why the l

There’s a virtual trade imbalance affecting California’s vaunted state university system that’s the result of both higher costs for public education in the Golden State and a diminution of quality in its college programs. Students are leaving California for out-of-state universities in droves, reported the Sacramento Bee on Sunday. And while the UC and CSU systems are working hard to attract out-of-state students (who pay higher tuitions), a greater number of in-state students are leaving for c

Arizona has declared its independence from two-party politics as a full third of the state's electorate is now “unaffiliated” with either Republican or Democratic parties. Independents now outnumber Democrats and are closing in on Republicans in the Grand Canyon state. While both major parties in Arizona have lost membership over the past 4 years, the Independent bloc grew by roughly a quarter million voters. Since President Obama's election, the number of Arizonans who've registered Independen

The current approval rate for Congress hovers at an all-time low and the political makeup of the Senate chamber is a critically important aspect to this year's election cycle. Dissatisfaction over the performance of incumbents currently serving will place significant attention on the independents vying for their seats. Here is a brief introduction to a handful of independent candidates running for Senate seats across the country in 2012. Jon Ross Barrie-“I am NOT a politician and I have never b

On Wednesday, April 25th, the Supreme Court will host hearings on Arizona's controversial immigration law in Arizona v. United States. SB 1070 was passed in Arizona in April 2010 and has caused controversy due to provisions require police to check the immigration status of a criminal suspect if they believe the person could be in the country illegally. In anticipation of the oral arguments tomorrow, the ACLU compiled the following infographic on the broader implications of SB 1070.

What, you ask, does Nevada and Las Vegas have to do with California water?  Well, water wars aren’t just fought within states. They are also fought between states. Southern Nevada gets almost 90% of its water from the Colorado River. Southern California also gets substantial water from the Colorado, most of which goes to agriculture in the Imperial Valley. The Colorado River has the unenviable status of being the most litigated river in the world. The problem for Nevada is that it agreed to a sm

Following the resignation of Tucson Rep. Daniel Patterson, the search is on for a replacement to fill his empty seat in the Arizona State House. The problem? Arizona independents are decrying actions made by the Pima County Board of Supervisors, claiming independent citizens are being excluded from the process. The Arizona Independent Candidate Coalition is leading the call for the appointment of an independent representative to the seat. The issue has stirred up drama in Arizona, where squabbl