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After the Hacienda Healthcare rape, Arizona built a group home watchdog. Now it’s being defunded.
An independent oversight program created in response to a horrific rape, meant to protect some of Arizona’s most vulnerable people, will cease at the end of this year unless it finds a new funding source, a casualty of Arizona’s newest bipartisan state budget.
In 2018, a 29-year-old woman who had developmental disabilities and could not walk or talk gave birth in her bed at Hacienda Healthcare, a residential care facility in Phoenix. Her caregivers had no idea she was pregnant.
The woman was raped by...
Voters wait in line at the Memorial Presbyterian Church after the polls closed to vote in the 2024 Election in Maricopa County on Nov. 5, 2024, in Phoenix, Ariz. (Photo by Courtney Pedroza for Votebeat)
Maricopa County’s election dispute is finally over — at least on paper
Officials in one of the nation’s biggest swing counties huddled in separate, windowless jury chambers at a courthouse Monday.
Outside, a summer monsoon storm unleashed dust, wind, rain, and lightning over Phoenix. Inside, long after business hours, a local judge hurried back and forth, carrying proposed terms from one room to the other...
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche appears at his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill July 15, 2026 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)
US senators grill Todd Blanche over ‘slush fund’ deal and Epstein files at Senate confirmation hearing
WASHINGTON — Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche vowed Wednesday to lawmakers on Capitol Hill that if he is confirmed for the top post, the Justice Department would not oppose an effort in Congress to permanently ban a controversial “anti-weaponization” fund.
Blanche also said he would consider any new information brought forward to the government about deceased sex offender Jeffrey Epstein and his ring of...
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer’s badge and weapon are seen during a vehicle checkpoint on Georgia Ave. in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 30, 2025. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Trump presses ICE to continue traffic stops despite fatal shootings
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump directed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers to resume traffic stops Wednesday, reversing a one-day pause on the policy after officers killed two immigrants who were in their vehicles in Texas and Maine.
In a post to social media, Trump called...
Erica Schwartz testifies during her confirmation hearing to become director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on July 15, 2026. (Photo by Finn Gomez/Getty Images)
CDC nominee on shaky ground following US Senate confirmation hearing
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention didn’t appear to secure the support needed to take over the public health agency during a lengthy and often tense confirmation hearing Wednesday.
While Dr. Erica Schwartz told lawmakers on the U.S. Senate Committee that oversees health policy she would “never betray the science,” she didn’t seem to win the trust of Democrats or key Republicans...
Friends and family members hold posters of missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls in Duluth, Minn., in February. A new report found American Indian and Alaska Native survivors of violence say reductions in federal funding have led to over 1,000 unmet requests for help. (Photo by Frank Zufall/Wisconsin Examiner)
Indigenous violence survivors see fewer services after federal cuts
Organizations serving American Indian and Alaska Native survivors of violence say reductions in federal funding have led to over 1,000 unmet requests for help, according to a new report.
The Urban Indian Health Institute, an Indigenous health research group, surveyed 201 tribes, tribal organizations and urban Indian organizations and nonprofits about how...
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