Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

Without sustained funding or coordination, Arizona’s push to boost postsecondary enrollment falls short

Arizona’s postsecondary enrollment rate has declined despite a decade of initiatives and millions of dollars invested.
Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

Arizona county set to use new ballot paper born of longstanding election mistrust

Mohave County will debut new ballot paper with added security measures in July primary. Leaders in the county are betting the new paper will perform well, despite mixed test results—and that other ...
AZCIR

Tribal water settlement aims to repair generations of exclusion

Guiding a Toyota pickup along a narrow dirt road south of Second Mesa, rancher Robinson Honani gestures toward a patchwork of farm plots tucked into the dusty terrain of the Hopi Reservation, perched ...
AZCIR

State leaders misled public about scope of Medicaid fraud crisis

Carmen Heredia resigned this week as director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System ahead of a state Senate confirmation hearing. Republican lawmakers had criticized her response to a ...
AZCIR

Director of Arizona Medicaid agency resigns following fraud scheme response

Carmen Heredia resigned this week as director of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System ahead of a state Senate confirmation hearing. Republican lawmakers had criticized her response to a ...
AZCIR

Corporate marijuana dispensaries flex financial muscle, overtake Arizona’s social equity program

Denzel Mason was halfway through his Friday shift as an assistant manager at Phoenix Relief Center, a marijuana dispensary in southwest Phoenix, when his phone rang with the news. He had spent much of ...
AZCIR

Groundwater regulation weaknesses exploited by industrial-scale agriculture

ELFRIDA, Ariz. — Elaine Bailey stood at the microphone at the Sunsites Community Center in southeastern Arizona, voice shaking as she described the massive scale of new agricultural development next ...
AZCIR

Dozens of people died in Arizona sober living homes as state officials fumbled Medicaid fraud response

This story about Arizona’s response to Medicaid fraud was produced by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, an independent nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide investigative reporting, ...
AZCIR

Arizona gave families public money for private schools. Then private schools raised tuition.

Last year, Arizona became the first state in the nation to offer universal school choice for all families. State leaders promised families roughly $7,000 a year to spend on private schools and other ...
AZCIR

Does Arizona have federal-only ballots for residents who ‘can’t prove’ citizenship at the time of registration?

As the only state that requires residents to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote, Arizona must offer federal-only ballots to residents who cannot do so. Federal law explicitly bars ...
AZCIR

Arizona has recovered just 5% of taxpayer dollars lost in $2.5 billion Medicaid fraud scheme

This story about Arizona’s response to Medicaid fraud was produced by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, an independent nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide investigative reporting, ...
AZCIR

Were nearly half a million registered California voters disqualified from jury duty in one year because they were not citizens?

Though around 450,000 residents have been disqualified from jury duty because of their citizenship status over prior one-year periods, according to California officials, there is no evidence that the ...