(Illustration via Getty Images)
Audit finds Arizona’s universal school voucher oversight is ‘haphazard,’ riddled with gaps
The Arizona Department of Education prioritized appeasing voucher school parents angry about payment backlogs over implementing a new oversight law, a report from the Arizona Auditor General shows.
In response to the report, the Education Department defended its practices, saying its lack of action to claw back money paid for unallowable purchases didn’t equal a failure ...
A Chiricahua leopard frog sits in a pond at the Phoenix Zoo as part of their conservation efforts to breed the amphibian that is listed as threatened in the Endangered Species Act. (Photo by Jerod MacDonald-Evoy/Arizona Mirror)
The tiny frog that could: How Arizona is pulling a threatened species back from the edge
At first glance, you’d think a meteor had impacted the dusty volcanic terrain in the White Mountains of northeastern Arizona. But the big hole in the ground serves an critical purpose: It’s a future pond for a threatened species of frog native to the southwest that the Arizona Game and Fish Department and a non-profit organization are aiming to help thrive.
The Chiricahua leopard frog can be found in Arizona, New Mexico and parts of...
A banner showing President Donald Trump hangs on the Robert F. Kennedy Building of the U.S. Department of Justice on Feb. 20, 2026. (Photo by Shauneen Miranda/States Newsroom)
Trump sued his own government. His DOJ settled. Now there’s a $1.7B ‘slush fund’ for his allies.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday a new “anti-weaponization” settlement fund as a condition of President Donald Trump voluntarily dropping his multi-billion-dollar lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service for the leak of his tax returns several years ago.
Trump, his sons Don Jr. and Eric, and the Trump Organization moved to drop the $10 billion suit...
East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana, voters stand in line at an early voting location in 2022. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry has suspended Louisiana’s May 16, 2026, party primary elections for six U.S. House districts — after early voting had begun — following the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to throw out the state’s existing congressional map. (Photo by Wes Muller/Louisiana Illuminator)
Supreme Court has become a ‘chaos agent in elections’ by allowing last-minute GOP gerrymanders
When the U.S. Supreme Court allowed Texas’ gerrymandered congressional map to take effect in December, its conservative majority wrote that a lower court had “improperly inserted itself into an active primary campaign” when it blocked the map more than three months before the election.
Now, the Supreme Court is the one upending elections...
A teacher observes students playing at a Chicago school playground. Many states are grappling over who should be required to report incidents of child neglect and abuse. (Photo by Robbie Sequeira/Stateline)
From clergy to coaches, states debate who should report child abuse and neglect
Conversations with survivors of sexual abuse left Missouri state Sen. Tracy McCreery wondering what could have prevented the harm, leading her to sponsor a bill that would require clergy and religious workers to report suspected child abuse or neglect.
Her bill would have forced ministers to report even if they learned of abuse during confession or...
ICYMI
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