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Based on the latest report from the office of the Arizona Secretary of State, both major parties continue to lose support as the growth rate of Arizona's Independent voter base further intensifies. "Registered Republicans dropped by more than 3,000 voters since April, while Democrats hemorrhaged nearly 8,000 voters in the same period, the report showed. However, the number of independents, those registering without a party or with an unrecognized party, jumped by more than 13,000." The Green V

EnviroMission, an Australian company, plans to build the world's largest solar tower energy plant in the world in Arizona by 2015. When completed, the central tower will be 2,625 feet tall, twice that of the Empire State Building, and one of the tallest structures on the planet. It will output a substantial 200 MW which - depending on how you measure it - is enough to power 100,000-150,000 homes. Further, it requires no fuel but the sun, has zero emissions, and can produce power even when the s

Farmworker movement leader Richard Chavez passed away Wednesday at Bakersfield hospital. Richard helped found the United Farmworkers of America with his brother Cesar. According to union spokeswoman Maria Machuca, he died due to complications from surgery. Chavez was 81. President Barack Obama issued a statement in which he praised the deceased's diligence and commitment to his ideals. "Richard understood that the struggle for a more perfect union and a better life for all America's workers di

With registered voters abandoning the Democratic and Republican parties statewide, the Green Party’s candidates for mayor of Tucson see an opening ahead of their primary election showdown late next month. In June, Democratic party activists successfully purged all Republican party and Independent hopefuls from the ballot in this year’s mayoral election in Tucson, ensuring a two-party race between the Democrats and Greens, as reported here at AZIVNlate last month.  Following the Green Party’s fi

More than 80 applications have been filed in Arizona for wind and power plants. If even some of them are approved, it would mean thousands of new jobs, increased tax revenues, and other economic benefits, as well as being a major step towards the state-mandated goal of 15% renewable energy by 2025. As of 2010, Arizona generated a tiny 0.3% of its energy from renewables so it clearly has a long ways to go.  A number of hurdles stand in the way of renewable energy in Arizona. Power grid: Transmi

The haboob that hit Phoenix on July 5 was indeed a monster, the largest in decades. It was at least 100 miles long, lasted for two hours, and was several thousand feet high. A second, less powerful haboob hit on July 18.  Such dust storms are relatively common in Arizona. The good news is that their frequency has been steadily decliningthe past few decades, down to about 2 per year at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix from 8 per year in the 1940'-50's. This is partly due to urbanization and less fa

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