A plan to revamp the state's recall laws for all future elections fell apart Thursday as some Republican senators broke party ranks.

The share of tax dollars that actually wind up in Arizona classrooms slid again last year, to the lowest level in the 12 years the state has been monitoring.

Hoping to avoid another ouster of one of their own, Republican legislators on Thursday voted to change the rules for recall elections.

The Independent Redistricting Commission is going to get the cash it needs, at least enough to get it through a trial set to begin next month.

Not everything that lawmakers are expected to deal with this session revolves around the big issues of the budget and gun control.

Members of the Independent Redistricting Commission want a federal court to block them from being questioned about the legislative maps they drew.

Thanks to the Independent Redistricting Commission, we might see something done in Congress this year.

Thanks to the Independent Redistricting Commission, we might see something done in Congress this year.

A federal court is going to give Republicans a chance to argue that the state's 30 legislative districts should be redrawn for the 2014 election.

The Arizona Legislature will see a lot of fresh faces when its regular session begins in January.

Arizona has conducted its first general election using new congressional and legislative district maps, resulting in several excruciatingly tight congressional races as well as a handful of legislative contests that went undecided for more than a week after Election Day.

She’s not out printing up bumper stickers and buttons — at least not yet.

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama won re-election Tuesday night despite a fierce challenge from Republican Mitt Romney, prevailing in the face of a weak economy and high unemployment that encumbered his first term and crimped the middle class dreams of millions.

For the first time in at least three tries, Arizona voters rejected a change to the electoral process billed as a reform.

Arizona Republicans are trying to keep control over both chambers of the Legislature in Tuesday's general election as the state uses districts newly redrawn under criteria that included fostering competition between the two major parties.

Editor's Note: These letters to the editor have been sorted by topic by the Tribune editorial staff in an effort to allow readers to read varied opinions on the issues, candidates, and other circumstances surrounding the 2012 general election. These submissions are the opinions of the author, not the Tribune, and have not been edited for grammar or content.

Editor's Note: These letters to the editor have been sorted by topic by the Tribune editorial staff in an effort to allow readers to read varied opinions on the issues, candidates, and other circumstances surrounding the 2012 general election. These submissions are the opinions of the author, not the Tribune, and have not been edited for grammar or content.

An attorney for Republican interests argued Wednesday that maps drawn just last year for the state's 30 legislative districts are illegal and should be scrapped.

Arizona Republicans hold two-thirds of the seats in both chambers of the Legislature after padding their majorities in 2010 as the party's wave swept across the nation. But those "supermajorities" that allowed them to vigorously pursue conservative courses on gun rights and other social issues appear to be on the line Nov. 6.

A judge on Tuesday threw out a bid by some Republicans to void the congressional lines drawn by the Independent Redistricting Commission, at least for the time being.

Proposition 115 has been clearly identified as a very bad ballot effort by the politicians to give the governor nearly complete control of judicial selection, effectively destroying the current “Merit Selection” system of selecting our appellate judges that is widely respected and copied. However, there has been less attention to what is perhaps a more ominous feature of Proposition 115: a new, broad power granted to the Legislature to hold formal investigations of any judge that is up for retention.

Many parents were unhappy Tuesday night as they learned more about their school district’s proposal to close Gilbert Junior High as a neighborhood school and move Gilbert Classical Academy into its space.