part i — sovereign citizens
‘Sovereign citizen’ filings flood Pima County, parallel national resurgence of controversial movement
Adherents of the sovereign citizen ideology have garnered a reputation for conflict with government officials and members of the public—conflicts that, in some cases, have turned violent. More commonly, they engage in so-called paper terrorism tactics, threatening and harassing people by inundating them with lawsuits and liens.
part ii — radicalization pipeline
part III — “paper terrorism”
RECENT
Corporate marijuana dispensaries flex financial muscle, overtake Arizona’s social equity program
Arizona’s social equity program created a path to entrepreneurship for individuals harmed by previous marijuana laws when the state legalized adult-use cannabis in 2021. But nearly two years since 26 social equity applicants were drawn from a lottery, existing corporate dispensaries have wielded their power to get a stake in at least half of the…
AZCIR awarded fees and access, settles lawsuit with Cochise County Sheriff’s Office
The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting has agreed to dismiss a lawsuit against the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office after securing records the agency repeatedly failed to disclose, as well as an $8,000 settlement to defray costs associated with the public records fight.
Proposed bill to ban suspensions for attendance violations falls short
Rep. Laura Terech, a Democrat, crafted a bill in response to an investigation by AZCIR and The Hechinger Report, which revealed for the first time the scope of the controversial disciplinary practice of suspending Arizona students for tardiness and truancy.
IN THE SHERIFF WE TRUST
This project, In the Sheriff We Trust, was produced by the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism, in collaboration with the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting. The Howard Center is based at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication and is an initiative of the Scripps Howard Fund in honor of the late news industry executive and pioneer Roy W. Howard.
EDUCATION SUSPENDED: BLOCKED FROM CLASS FROM MISSING CLASS
Suspending students for absences, tardies compounds learning loss
Suspending students for missing class, whether it’s because they showed up late, cut midday or were absent from school entirely, is a controversial tactic. At least 17 states forbid schools from suspending students for attendance problems at some level—if kids aren’t in class, they aren’t learning. Yet the practice is pervasive in Arizona, a first-of-its-kind AZCIR/Hechinger analysis has found, with students missing tens of thousands of additional school days as a result.
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The Uncounted
The uncounted: People of color are dying at much higher rates than what COVID data suggests
Unspecific, unknown deaths rose 10 times more among Black, Hispanic and Indigenous people than among white Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to new analysis.
Community response helped reverse COVID’s devastating toll on Indigenous communities in Arizona
When COVID-19 first hit the U.S. in early 2020, urban centers like New York City became a focus of national attention. But as the disease spread throughout the U.S. later that spring, the Navajo Nation emerged as a disease hotspot, with case rates rising higher than anywhere else in the country. Newly compiled data reveals…
an azcir series about ‘constitutional sheriffs’
Arizona ‘ground zero’ for extremist, anti-government sheriff movement
More than half of Arizona’s county sheriffs are at least partially aligned with a growing movement of so-called “constitutional sheriffs,” with an ideology that threatens to radicalize law enforcement by indoctrinating them with false legal theories about a sheriff’s authority over state and federal government, and a duty to nullify laws they interpret as unconstitutional. A shift toward amplifying misinformation about widespread voter fraud has experts sounding the alarm.
Health
Pandemic accelerated Arizona’s years-long decline in childhood vaccination rates
The impact of missed preventative medical care during the pandemic is beginning to emerge in the form of drastic declines in childhood vaccination rates among Arizona youth, now at lower levels than at any point in the past decade. The plummeting rates follow a years-long decline in immunizations among Arizona students overall—one that has put residents of all ages at heightened risk of infection from largely preventable communicable diseases.
EDUCATION
Report: Child care woes cost Arizona economy $1.8 billion a year
Arizona parents representing various geographic areas, income levels, and racial and ethnic backgrounds reported changing jobs, turning down jobs, decreasing their hours, forgoing promotions or leaving the workforce entirely as a result of inconsistent or unaffordable care.
Elections
State, county policies impact rejected ballot rates in November election
Election officials didn’t count 27,327 ballots cast by Arizona voters in the November election, rejecting more than twice the 10,457 votes that flipped the state for President-elect Joe Biden in what was the closest raw vote margin of any state in the nation. The uncounted votes, which are legally rejected by officials for reasons such…
Coronavirus
Arizona doctors wary of controversial ivermectin treatment for COVID-19
Experts say absent credible studies, ivermectin is an unproven treatment for COVID-19 and can cause dangerous side effects. The drug is approved by the FDA as an antiparasitic for humans and animals. Now one group is urging Gov. Doug Ducey to make ivermectin immediately available to populations at high risk for COVID-19.
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Law enforcement
Few Joe Arpaio immigrant victims claim unlawful detention compensation
Former Sheriff Joe Arpaio defied a federal court order by allowing his deputies to nab scores of immigrants. President Donald Trump pardoned him. Now the immigrant victims are eligible for compensation. But where are they?
