Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

2 months ago | azcir.org | Maria Polletta

More than 2,000 Arizona children have been waitlisted for state child care assistance, according to the Department of Economic Security, and that number is likely to climb as the agency reviews pending applications. The waitlist counts, quietly added to the DES website after weeks of inquiries from AZCIR, publicly quantify for the first time the impact of state lawmakers’ failure to fill a gaping budget hole left by expiring federal pandemic funds last year.

Jan 16, 2025 | azcir.org | Carmela Guaglianone

Fire trucks from Arizona did not have to undergo emissions testing prior to supporting crews fighting wildfires in Los Angeles. As a part of CAL FIRE protocol, these vehicles are subject to routine maintenance checks after long drives. Emissions tests are not a part of this inspection. Arizona has sent dozens of trucks and around 150 firefighters to help contain fires in Los Angeles since January 8.

Jan 14, 2025 | azcir.org | Francesca D'Annunzio |Melissa del Bosque |Monica Camacho

Editor’s note: This report is part of “Seeds of Distrust,” an investigative collaboration between reporters and editors at five nonprofit news organizations: the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, Lighthouse Reports, palabra, Puente News Collaborative, and the Texas Observer. Jaeson Jones is trained as a cop—not a journalist. Yet the 51-year-old holds a lucrative correspondent contract at one of the country’s most prominent MAGA-aligned television networks.

Jan 13, 2025 | azcir.org | Carmela Guaglianone

A stretch of border barrier constructed in 2022 under then-Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey was later removed following pushback from the federal government. The barrier, assembled using shipping containers and barbed wire, spanned unfenced sections of the state’s shared border with Mexico. The barrier ran through lands belonging to the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Reclamation, which are under the jurisdiction of the federal government.

Jan 10, 2025 | azcir.org | Carmela Guaglianone

While Texas was the first state to start building a barrier along its border with Mexico, it’s not the only one to have done so. In 2022, Arizona’s then-Gov. Doug Ducey had hundreds of defunct shipping containers repurposed into a makeshift border wall. The barrier was constructed partially on national forest land without federal authorization, and the Biden Administration ultimately succeeded in forcing the state to remove the crates.