State Capitol News

Phoenix, AZ – Tom Horne won the race for attorney general at least in part
because of his strong support for SB 1070. That measure, approved
last year, gives police more power to detain and arrest illegal
immigrants. It provoked several lawsuits, with then Attorney
General Terry Goddard expressing his disapproval. In the end,
Brewer hired her own legal counsel to defend the law. Horne said
the situation is now different.

Phoenix, AZ – In taking the oath of office, the governor noted that this time,
she was actually elected rather than inheriting the post after
Janet Napolitano quit two years ago to take a job in the Obama
administration. Brewer pronounced herself a fortunate woman.

(But there's an unfinished task ahead of me. When I took the oath
of office two years I took the helm of a marvelous state that had
been poorly commanded, badly navigated and was dead in the
water.)

Phoenix, AZ – It was just under two years ago that Brewer first took the oath
after inheriting the office when Janet Napolitano quit. Now
Brewer gets to be sworn in on for a full four-year term, and on
her own merits, having handily defeated her Democratic foe. But
the governor told Arizona Public Radio that doesn't mean she's
going to present some grand plan.

Phoenix, AZ – If you've traveled the highways, you've seen them -- those blue
and white signs near exit ramps advertising restaurants, gas
stations and hotels. But Laura Douglas of the Department of
Transportation said they're neither owned nor erected by the
state. While that means no state expense, it also means no
revenues for the use of the rights of way.

Phoenix, AZ – The state's jobless rate dropped a tenth of a point last month,
to 9.4 percent. Aruna Murthy of the state Department of Commerce
said that was led by retailers who brought on 87-hundred workers
in November. While many of these are temporary, that's still
better than the last two years when seasonal hiring was more
anemic. But Murthy said Arizona has a way to go to get Christmas
employment gains up to where they were before the economy went
south.