Search query: arizona

The ATF and/or the US Attorney's office in Phoenix allowed at least 1,400 guns to be smuggled from the US to drug cartels in Mexico, ostensibly so they could track the guns up the food chain and then make big arrests. Instead, and tragically, Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was murdered. One of the weapons nearby was indeed one that US law enforcement had allowed to pass through to Mexico. Other weapons have apparently been linked to other crimes. The acting head of ATF, Kenneth Melson, was abr

It’s hard to tell whether Chandler, Arizona’s popular technology-driven classroom program is the wave-of-the-future, an expensive failure or something in between.  According to the New York Times: “The class, and the Kanye School District as a whole, offer what some see as a utopian vision of education’s future. Classrooms are decked out with laptops, big interactive screens and software that drills students on every basic subject.” Thus far, standardized tests show Chandler’s schools performi

Operation Fast and Furious almost seems like something out of the Keystone Cops, a massive bumbling government operation that even one of those involved described as "delusional." But instead of being comedy, it ended in horrible tragedy when two weapons the ATF allowed to be smuggled to drug cartels were recovered at the scene where Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed by a Mexican national on Arizona land. The plan seems almost incomprehensible now. Over 2,000 weapons, including AK-47s

Two factors are converging to create a farming crisis in Arizona: one has its origins in domestic policy – hard-line immigration laws which have been harped on endlessly by the press – while the other factor has its roots planted in foreign soil, growing in step with an economy that is outpacing our own. It's odd to hear the phrase “labor shortage” tossed around during a time of double-digit jobless rates, but a lack of a reliable work force is exactly what farmers across the Southwest are expe

Arizona possesses enough water in Pima, Pinal, and Maricopa counties to support 4.3 million people, says a report from the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at ASU. But to do so, all commercial farming would have to vanish. This could presage yet another chapter in the eternal water wars between city and rural interests. The Institute is not taking sides, but rather is suggesting that while the Sun Corridor won't run out of water, it does face serious challenges. Among them is the variabilit

For most of the last decade, California was first or second in new business creation. In 2009, it ranked first. In 2010, new business creation imploded. Actually, that's an understatement. California was almost dead last in 2010 with only Michigan behind them.  That's right, it went from #1 to #50 in just one year for business creation (The list includes the District of Columbia, so there are 51 entries.) In 2008, California created 32,829 businesses, in 2009, it created 12,529, but in 2010 it

A law in April upped California's renewable energy goals by 2020 to 33% from 20%, a far more ambitious goal than any other state is attempting. But, while a renewable energy economy is a laudable goal, it seems doubtful that California will actually be able to achieve it. Or if it does, it will be through smoke and mirrors gambits. PG&E is buying Renewable Energy Credits from wind farms in Canada to help them achieve their renewable goals in California even though that power will never be used

Five Arizona counties have been designated by federal agriculture officials as primary natural disaster areas due to damage caused by ongoing drought and related disasters that began in January. Contiguous counties in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah are also part of the declaration which went into effect last week. Apache, Cochise, Graham, Greenlee, and Santa Cruz counties were recognized by the USDA as natural disaster areas on August 16, making all qualified farm operators within those areas el

After weeks of heated rhetoric and accusations directed toward the Tea Party movement in the days leading up to the debt ceiling agreement and afterward, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) stirred up the war of words again in California this weekend by saying: "the Tea Party can go straight to hell." The Democratic Congresswoman-- who is still battling House ethics violation charges in an ongoing investigation-- was addressing a townhall audience in Inglewood, California this Satuday, and the crowd burs

In the wake of the debt ceiling crisis, there has been an astonishing wave of criticism directed at the two-party state and duopoly system of government.  For many Americans, the debt debacle appears to have been the straw that broke the camel's back.  But, will their anger translate into action? Sometimes it seems as if not a day goes by without a new survey or poll measuring the depth and breadth of the nation's frustration with its elected representatives, as well as underscoring the exodus