State News

PHOENIX - Environmental groups are heaping criticism on a final federal management plan for a wide swath of rugged land called the Arizona Strip.

A panel of the state Board of Nursing is recommending that nurse practitioners be allowed to perform first-trimester abortions in Arizona.

Two sex offenders were sentenced to several years in prison Monday for possession of child pornography.

SALT LAKE CITY - A federal prosecutor has been assigned to look for ways to help tackle problems associated with polygamy in Western states, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said.

SIERRA VISTA - A Sierra Vista man is accused of lacing a drink he purchased for his ex-girlfriend at a movie theater snack bar with bleach.

TUCSON - Three new measles cases have been reported in Pima County, bringing the count in an outbreak that began in mid-February to 20.

SIERRA VISTA - Six prisoners were airlifted for medical treatment after being injured in fights at the state prison in Douglas.

ASH FORK - Sheriff's deputies in Ash Fork say a 51-year-old man married a teenage girl and then invited other men to have sex with her while he took photographs.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors voted Wednesday to give the sheriff’s office nearly $1 million to capture illegal immigrants, despite strong objections from small-business owners.

Gov. Janet Napolitano is defending plans to raise the state sales tax by a penny to fund transit improvements rather than tax those who will most directly benefit.

A metropolitan region is emerging that stretches from the Mexican border at Nogales, through Tucson and Phoenix, to the Prescott area — a region that will double in population to 10 million in the next 30 years.

SIERRA VISTA - A 36-year-old man from the southern Arizona town of McNeal has been charged with shooting his own brother to death after an argument.

SEDONA - Authorities in Yavapai County are looking for additional victims of a nude hiker who allegedly told women he encountered that he was "getting close to nature."

Joe Arpaio’s latest round of high-profile crackdowns on illegal immigrants is drawing accusations from one prominent county leader that the sheriff is guilty of racial profiling.

Business and community groups took the first steps Tuesday to persuading Arizonans to raise the taxes on virtually everything they buy to build, widen and repair roads and fund a series of mass-transit projects — including a rail line from Tucson to Phoenix and perhaps beyond.

Two former lawmakers scrapped plans Tuesday to ask voters to revamp how the state’s congressional and legislative districts are crafted. Ken Clark and Roberta Voss stopped gathering signatures for their initiative drive, which would have forced the creation of more politically “competitive” districts.

TUCSON - U.S. Border Patrol agents have been busy rescuing illegal border crossers after they've become severely dehydrated while trying to cross the harsh Arizona desert.

TUCSON - Pima County officials are warning dog owners to beware of parvovirus after 20 dogs at the Pima Animal Care Center had to be euthanized.

The owner of a north Phoenix gun store has been charged with knowingly selling AK-47 style rifles and other weapons to front men who were supplying a major arms smuggling ring that ferried the weapons into Mexico, Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard said Tuesday.

State lawmakers are weighing whether to let teens perform jobs now considered too hazardous for them as one answer to complaints by some businesses of a labor shortage.