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On Monday, Secretary of State Debra Bowen officially certified Americans Elect to appear on California's ballots for the 2012 elections.  The addition brings the number of qualified political parties in the state to seven, including the American Independent, Democrat, Green, Libertarian, Peace and Freedom and Republican parties.  It is the first time a new political entity has been certified by the state since 1995. There are two ways in which a political body can achieve ballot access in the G

Last week, more than 1,800 people with outstanding warrants lined up outside a command post at a north central Phoenix church, surrendering themselves to police. On-site judges, prosecutors and fine-payment counselors housed in tents facilitated what one Phoenix police spokesman called “a very interesting experiment”: a concerted push by municipal courts and policy enforcers to resolve some of the city's110,000 outstanding misdemeanor-arrest warrants, without actually having to make arrests. Mo

One would think that if a sheriff had botched investigations of sex crimes against children and that this became public, that he might make a genuine apology. Instead Sheriff Joe Arpaio responded to the growing criticism of his department ignoring 400 sex-crimes (mostly against immigrants) with a callous "If there were any victims, I apologize to those victims." Well of course there were victims. How could there not have been? Retired El Mirage Assistant Police Chief Bill Louis says in a devast

There is no winter break for western farmers who cultivate land in mild-winter areas.  While other states' farm fields are staving off hard frosts or simply collecting snow this time of year, those in California and Arizona are churning  out produce. The following is a snapshot of current crop and livestock conditions for the two states. Data has been gleaned from National Agricultural Statistics Service field office crop weather reports for the week ending Dec. 11. In the way of field crops, A

In yet another showdown between the Obama Administration and the states, which are already challenging President Obama's signature health care legislation in the nation's highest court, the Supreme Court announced Monday that it would also be taking on Arizona's controversial and tough immigration law, passed in 2010. Passed amid fierce controversy, the Arizona immigration law made it a state misdemeanor for an alien not to carry required legal documentation, and empowered state police to inqui

Stored energy is the ability to take generated electricity and store in a form where it can be used later, on-demand, as needed. This is especially important for renewable energy. Wind and solar plants need to be able to store power for use when the wind has stopped blowing or when the sun isn't out. The variability of renewable energy production is one of its biggest challenges now. The ability to store that power is essential for renewable energy to become a reality, with grid-scale storage ev

The Bureau of Reclamation has requested input from the public to resolve water supply and demand imbalances for the seven states, including California, using Colorado River water. The problem can be easily stated, the solutions not so easily. Using ten year running averages, the bureau shows that demand for Colorado River water has already outstripped supply and that this trend will continue and worsen. They emphasize multiple approaches and solutions will be needed to solve the problem of too

Arizona's Independent Redistricting Commission resumed work yesterday, a month after the Commission was thrown into disarray when Gov. Jan Brewer and State Senate Republicans launched a full frontal assault against the commission, temporarily removing its Chairwoman, Colleen Mathis, the lone Independent on the Commission. Mathis was ordered removed from her position as Chairwoman of the Independent Redistricting Commission (IRC) in early November, after Republican Governor Jan Brewer accused he

Zócalo Public Square, a project of the Center for Social Cohesion from Arizona State University, in partnership with the New America Foundation, recently hosted a discussion about Arizona politics. Chief among the topics was: is Arizona politics unique to the state or an early indicator of what's coming for the country in general? Only 35% of Arizona voters are registered Republicans, even as the Right controls the legislature.  SB 1070, the stringent anti-illegal immigration law, got nationwid

A long-awaited trio of Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) were passed by both congressional chambers last week in a bipartisan effort to open up duty-free export channels to Colombia, Panama and South Korea. The trade deals are being hailed as a boon to the meat and fresh produce industries, both of which have benefited from a weaker dollar. Ag officials are expecting the FTAs to generate nearly $2.5 billion in new agricultural exports nationwide. The International Trade Commission estimates that the