Hope Hooton holds photos of her children, Alec and Lydia, who were killed two years ago by their father. She hopes new legislation, named the Alec and Lydia Act, will be the first step to reforming the family court system to prevent tragedies from striking other families. (Photo by Rebecca Gloria Gomez/Arizona Mirror)
Arizona leads nation in child deaths by parents in custody cases. A new bill aims to change that.
Alec Agape Mater and Lydia Alyssa Mater weren’t at school on Monday, May 20, 2024.
Lydia had turned six the week prior. She had excelled in kindergarten and teachers said she was already at first-grade level. Alec was about to finish second grade. At the upcoming graduation ceremony, he was to be recognized for reading a hundred books over the past year; he would also share a poem he’d written and memorized.
Mother’s Day had recently passed. Hope Hooton and Brock Mater were two months away from finalizing their divorce ...
(Leroy McGill)
‘I’m going home’: Leroy McGill executed for 2002 napalm attack that killed one, burned another
He already looked like a corpse when they opened the curtains. Pale, shaved head, eyes closed, a white sheet up to his neck
Leroy McGill, 63, a convicted murderer, lay on a gurney in the death house at the old Florence Prison.
At exactly 10 a.m., he had climbed onto the gurney, visible on a closed-circuit TV screen, and flashed a quick smile at...
(Photo by iStock / Getty Images Plus)
Arizona nurses say Prop. 139 should give them the right to perform abortions
Nearly twenty years ago, Republicans in Arizona passed laws barring nurses from providing abortions. That could change under the state’s newly adopted right to abortion, but it will be almost a year before a judge will get a chance to render a verdict.
In February, the Arizona branch of the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit in Maricopa County Superior Court on behalf of two nurses and two midwives claiming that...
President Donald Trump, seen on April 1, 2026, wants lawmakers to attach the SAVE America Act to unrelated housing and surveillance legislation after it stalled in the U.S. Senate. (Photo by Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
Trump won’t rule out troops at the polls as fight over election control intensifies before midterms
President Donald Trump is again demanding Congress pass a sweeping set of voting restrictions and refuses to rule out sending troops to the polls, as Democrats and voting rights groups assemble a sprawling effort to guard against federal election interference.
The fight over election security is intensifying in Washington, D.C., as the White House and its allies seek to rewrite rules around voter registration and mail-in ballots...
A protester listened to U.S. Rep. Analilia Mejia, D-N.J., at a rally on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, May 20, 2026, as the representative spoke against the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to strike down part of the Voting Rights Act. (Photo by Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)
‘No more business as usual’: Protesters demand accountability after SCOTUS guts Voting Rights Act
WASHINGTON — About 100 rallygoers gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday to hear from activists and members of Congress protesting the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down federal protections for the voting power of minorities...
A Fairfax County, Virginia, voter receives a sticker on Election Day, Nov. 4, 2025. (Photo by Nathaniel Cline/Virginia Mercury)
Republicans target blue-state districts after US Supreme Court voting rights decision
Republicans on a U.S. Senate panel suggested Tuesday a recent Supreme Court decision weakening the federal Voting Rights Act invalidated U.S. House districts in Democratic states where most residents belong to a racial minority group.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, a Missouri Republican who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, signaled that Republicans will target majority-minority districts in blue states as they seek to maximize...
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