Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

Arizona community colleges lower expectations for Workforce Pell as state approves first programs

More than 60 Arizona workforce programs initially appeared poised to benefit from expanded Pell grants this year. Just three are advancing for federal consideration.
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Sovereign citizens use “paper terrorism” to intimidate, harass Sedona public officials

SEDONA—Sedona Police Officer Steven Willadsen dragged a salt-and-pepper-haired man in his thirties out of a blue SUV, forcing him to the pavement of an Arizona roadway flanked by strips of the area’s ...
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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, ...
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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 ...
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Without sustained funding or coordination, Arizona’s push to boost postsecondary enrollment falls short

In 2016, Arizona leaders set an ambitious goal: By 2030, 70% of high school graduates would continue their education after graduation, whether at a university, community college or trade school.
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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 ...
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Hundreds of thousands of Arizonans could be removed from the mail voting list in 2027

Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Arizona’s free newsletter here. Arizona could remove hundreds of ...
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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, ...
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Arizona’s Hualapai Valley now a ‘de facto transfer basin’ for out-of-state investors and corporate farms

When controversial Las Vegas developer Jim Rhodes abandoned plans for a sprawling community near the northwestern Arizona city of Kingman nearly two decades ago, the vast swaths of land he’d purchased ...
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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 ...
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Medicaid fraud targeting Indigenous communities continues despite AHCCCS reforms

Nearly three years after Arizona uncovered an unprecedented $2.5 billion Medicaid fraud scandal that targeted Indigenous communities, sober living program operators are still recruiting vulnerable ...
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Did the Biden Administration redirect Social Security funds to support unauthorized immigrants?

The federal government distributes $1.6 trillion to social security beneficiaries each year, which includes around 60 million retired or disabled workers as well as spouses and children of those ...