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Recently, a new Arizona law permitted the state to raise money from private and public sources to build a border fence. Republican state senator Steve Smith sponsored the bill, which he hopes will raise the $50 million needed to add new fences and bolster existing ones at www.BuildTheBorderFence.com. This is a first. No other state has attempted to build a fence using donated money. This effort came after the federal government stopped building the fence, citing cost overruns and technological

California ranked dead last in a poll of 556 CEOs asking which state is the best place to do business. While CEOs are certainly not an unbiased lot, they also have considerable say in where to open new facilities. And it appears they would rather be hung upside down than do business in California. This should be of concern to all Californians, especially in the current nasty recession. The survey asked CEOs to grade states based on three criteria: taxes and regulation, workforce quality, and li

As well-intentioned as they may be, new regulations attempting to enforce rules about energy efficient lighting have set off charges of life-altering interference almost as intense as that other “choice” issue sparked by the Supreme Court back in 1973. Although the bulb debate is unlikely to burn with the intensity of the abortion issue or result in threats against light bulb engineers, it has brought out some startlingly strong wording by average citizens, environmental activists, legislators

A multi-partisan group of former elected officials is seeking to place a constitutional amendment on the 2012 ballot that would replace Arizona’s current semi-closed primary with a top-two open primary system similar to that which was passed by California voters last year. The Open Government Committee, as the newly-formed organization is called, began to take shape earlier this year.  In anop-ed for The Arizona Republic in April, Paul Johnson argued that partisan politics is wrecking our count

In a state where Independents now outnumber registered voters from each of the two major parties, an Arizona State University professor suggests that it may be time for the Grand Canyon State to adopt some form of an open primary system. "Under this arrangement, voters are given the opportunity to choose from all candidates regardless of the voters' or politicians' party affiliation. Candidates are free to indicate their party preferences after their names, but the choice of nominees would no l

As a homeowner, it made my heart sing (or at least hum softly) to notice four neighborhood homes not just with for sale signs on them, but with "sale pending" dangles added to the usual "must see" and " just reduced" enticements.  Was this the beginning of the end of the housing slump?  Or had homeowners finally come to their senses, clothes-pinned their noses and re-priced their homes to a sell-able low level? Hard to say for sure.  But several stories in national and regional media led me to

The Navajo Generating Station near Page, AZ uses about 8 million tons of coal a year to provide 2.25 GW of power and nearly 95% of the electricity for the huge pumps on the Central Arizona Project canal that bring water from the Colorado River. The US Environmental Protection Agency is releasing new regulations controlling nitrogen oxides. This directly impacts the generating station and could force it to spend as much as $1.2 billion to install a new control system, as well as millions of doll

Tucson's mayoral election is shaping up to be a two-party race, but due to a series of petition signature challenges, it’s not the two parties you would expect.  This November, voters in Tucson will head to the polls to cast their ballots for mayor and city council.  In the mayoral election, the names of only two candidates will appear on the ballot: Democrat Jonathan Rothschild and one of two Green Party hopefuls, Mary DeCamp or Dave Croteau.  The Green Party’s candidate will be nominated in a

In two separate cases Monday, the Supreme Court struck down laws in California and Arizona as violations of the First Amendment: a California ban on violent video games and an Arizona campaign finance law that publicly finances "matching funds" for political candidates whose opponents outspend them beyond a certain threshold. On the basis of the First Amendment, the Roberts Court has ruled in favor of every challenge to campaign finance laws that it has heard so far, with a bloc of five Justice

In two separate cases Monday, the Supreme Court struck down laws in California and Arizona as violations of the First Amendment: a California ban on violent video games and an Arizona campaign finance law that publicly finances "matching funds" for political candidates whose opponents outspend them beyond a certain threshold. On the basis of the First Amendment, the Roberts Court has ruled in favor of every challenge to campaign finance laws that it has heard so far, with a bloc of five Justice