Nicole Ludden

Tucson

Arizona Capitol Reporter at Arizona Agenda

Reporter @arizonaagenda | @Cronkite_ASU ‘20 | Words: @TucsonStar, @TucsonWeekly, @azcentral

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Articles

The meat and potatoes of taxes

1 week ago | arizonaagenda.com | Nicole Ludden

Congratulations! You made it through tax season. No one enjoys the annual exercise of figuring out how much you owe the government. And we’re not sure any lawmakers enjoy the annual exercise of figuring out where our tax dollars should go. Like most years, legislators don’t seem to be in a hurry to pass the state’s annual budget as funding for children with disabilities runs out and the future of a program that provides hundreds of millions of dollars to public schools remains undecided.
The Senate Democrats’ messenger

2 weeks ago | arizonaagenda.com | Nicole Ludden

Some of Calli Jones’ daily tasks involve handling press inquiries, working on talking points for lawmakers and running social media for the 13 members of the Senate Democratic caucus. She’s the director of communications for Arizona’s Senate Democrats, but she’s also mastered the art of left-wing messaging to her more than 14,000 TikTok followers. Jones posts on her TikTok account nearly every day.
Mayes Against the Machine

2 weeks ago | arizonaagenda.com | Nicole Ludden |Hank Stephenson

When she was campaigning to be the state’s top law enforcement officer, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes liked to play off the right-wing narrative against her: that she is a radical. One of her campaign ads, for example, includes audio of right-wingers calling her a member of the “deranged radical left” — juxtaposed against clips of her dropping her kid off at school, joining a Zoom call wearing pajama pants and buttering toast.
Poison pills

2 weeks ago | arizonaagenda.com | Nicole Ludden |Hank Stephenson

The biggest fight between Arizona’s Democratic governor and Republican lawmakers this year has nothing to do with the border or abortion. It's about whether to fund a program that helps parents take care of children with disabilities. Both sides have said the program is necessary. Yet a solution still seems miles away. The Parents as Paid Caregivers program, or PPCG, will run out of funding this month unless the Legislature approves a $122 million infusion. Gov.
Worms in the brain

2 weeks ago | arizonaagenda.com | Hank Stephenson |Nicole Ludden

You’ve probably heard about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.But have you ever really checked out all the crazy crap he’s done? Arizona lawmakers today will hear from the highest-profile vaccine skeptic in the country — and he’s the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Meanwhile, a measles outbreak took the life of a second unvaccinated child in Texas last week and local health authorities are kind of freaking out that it could happen in Arizona.
We’re back!

3 weeks ago | arizonaagenda.com | Hank Stephenson |Nicole Ludden

Well, folks, it has been a week. A week in which a lot happened — from Donald Trump liberating tariffs to tank the stock market, to candidates jumping into a special congressional election and nationwide protests. But not for us. We took a vacation, planned out our next quarter (more about that tomorrow) and generally lived our best lives. Nicole celebrated her birthday in Miami with friends while Hank snuck out of town to catch the final snowfall in northern Arizona. Sorry to rub it in.
First, do less harm

1 month ago | arizonaagenda.com | Nicole Ludden

Jaime Rose doesn’t have a conventional job. One of his many duties is finding people who use drugs in Douglas, Arizona, and giving them new needles. He is intimately familiar with the value of a clean syringe. Rose joined the Army at 18 and later the Army Reserves. He was discharged after a car accident that caused a severe back injury, and a doctor prescribed him Oxycodone for the pain. The pain medicine devolved into a debilitating addiction for Rose, as is the case for millions of Americans.
Hostile homeless bills

1 month ago | arizonaagenda.com | Nicole Ludden

Arizona’s Democratic and Republican lawmakers agree on at least one thing: Homelessness is a huge issue here. They don’t agree, however, on how the state should treat people without homes. For the most part, Democrats support a Housing First approach that gives people access to shelter without barriers like drug tests and pet restrictions. The Republican viewpoint prioritizes personal responsibility and limited government intervention through things like subsidized housing.
New lawmaker Q&A: Democratic Rep. Stephanie Simacek

1 month ago | arizonaagenda.com | Nicole Ludden

This was the year that Arizona Democrats thought they would take control of Arizona’s Legislature. Instead, Republicans ended up gaining an even wider majority. But freshman Democratic Rep. Stephanie Simacek, who represents the competitive Legislative District 2 in north-central Phoenix, was one of the rare Democratic success stories. Former Rep. Judy Schwiebert drafted Simacek to run for her position while Schwiebert vied for the district’s Senate seat.
Burgeoning ballot referrals

1 month ago | arizonaagenda.com | Nicole Ludden

Arizona’s Republican lawmakers want to execute death row inmates by a firing squad, eliminate taxes on cryptocurrency and implement a statewide DEI ban. Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs won’t be able to stop them. Last year, most counties issued two-sheet ballots overflowing with referrals from Republican lawmakers — ideas they knew Hobbs wouldn’t approve. This year, Republicans are advancing nearly 30 ballot measures for voters to decide in the 2026 election.