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The number of voters who refuse to affiliate with any political party continues to rise in Arizona. According to the most recent registration report from Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett, released late last month, Independents now account for 32.9% of the state's registered voters making the unaffiliated the second largest bloc of registered voters in the state, ahead of the Democrats and steadily gaining on Republicans. Only 30.5% of the state's voters are registered with the Democratic p

Politico February 9: On the campaign trail... Newt Gingrich (Republican): Yesterday, Newt Gingrich finished up his Ohio bus tour, with his next appearance tomorrow at the CPAC convention in Washington D.C. He has big plans for next week, as he already has eight fundraisers planned in California. Gingrich's strategy departs from his Republican rivals, in that he ignored the trio of states that voted on Tuesday and has been directing his focus to Super Tuesday. He has been keeping quiet and opte

Voters in Florida flocked to the polls yesterday to participate in the Florida primary election. With 29 electoral votes, 50 delegates up for grabs, and as host of the Republican National Convention in August, Florida's political significance is obvious. Despite its political significance, however, voter turnout yesterday was down 14% since 2008. Here are the final results of yesterday's primary election: Mitt Romney: 46.4%, Newt Gingrich: 31.9%, Rick Santorum: 13.4%, Ron Paul: 7%, Other: 1.3%

The Department of Energy (DOE) says California has the potential to generate enough power for 14 million homes if its wave and tidal power were fully developed. Even if it was only half of that, it would be a substantial new source of clean renewable energy, all produced a few miles off the California coast. The DOE studied ocean power nationwide and concluded that up to 15% of all US power could be generated from waves and tides if the west and east coasts, plus Hawaii and Alaska, were fully u

On January 17, the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) approved the final versions of its Congressional and legislative maps, which have now been sent to the Department of Justice for pre-clearance to ensure that they do not run afoul of the Voting Rights Act. The commission proved incapable of coming to a full consensus and adopted the final draft maps on a 3-2 vote, in which the Commission's Independent Chair, Colleen Mathis, sided with its two Democrats to move the process for

The Sierras have had practically no snow this year. Lake Tahoe, which relies on skiing for income, has no ski areas operating at full capacity. Some only have 30% of their lifts open. Last year, they had 50 feet of snow in some places. The Sierra Nevada is at a mere 14% of normal snowpack. The southern California Metropolitan Water District (MWD) says this could be the driest year on record. This isn’t just happening in California. It’s been exceptionally warm and dry across the nation. Flowers

Arizona Sen. Scott Bundgaard's alleged invocation of a state law, which gave him immunity to arrest last February when he was faced with misdemeanor domestic violence charges, has spawned legislation to amend a provision in the Arizona Constitution that grants partial immunity to lawmakers during and right before session. Bundgaard resigned last Friday as a result of an ethics complaint filed by state Sen. Steve Gallardo. The former republican state senator from Peoria denied that he claimed le

Several proposed big solar projects, including one in California, have switched from concentrated solar power (CSP) to the more familiar photovoltaic (PV). The trend now seems irreversible. Photovoltaic will now be the dominant technology used for big solar plants. CSP, with one notable exception, is losing out everywhere. CSP reflects the heat of the sun off parabolic mirrors to a central tower where it creates steam to power turbines and thus create electricity. Its big advantage is that exce

On December 29th, the Arizona Green and Libertarian parties filed a lawsuit in the US District Court of Arizona charging that the state's new voter registration forms violate their First Amendment right to freedom of association and their Fourteenth Amendment right of equal protection under the law. The state's former voter registration forms included a box prompting registrants to specify their party preference by writing that name in the space provided. In the most recent session of Arizona's

Despite the influence of small government advocates like those in the Tea Party movement, the size, role, and influence of government on a federal, state, and local level is set to grow significantly in 2012. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL), about 40,000 new laws will go into effect in 2012, and that doesn't include laws and provisions within laws that will also take effect this year on a federal level. Though in some ways, some of the new laws to take effect mi