Bob Christie
The Associated Press
Phoenix, AZ, United States
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Past articles by Bob:
Voters to decide if state should levy new fine to help victims’ families
Arizona voters will get to decide next year whether the state should levy a new $20 fine on each criminal conviction in order to pay an extra $250,000 to the families of police officers, firefighters, EMTs and corrections officers killed on the job because of a criminal act. → Read More
Majority Republicans pass measures targeting drag performances
Majority Republicans passed a pair of measures targeting drag performances they say amount to sexual grooming, arguing that the proposals are needed to shield children from "confusing'' sexual content. → Read More
Senate approves measure to shield lawmakers’ addresses and other personal information
Every single member of the Arizona Senate voted Tuesday for a measure that will shield their addresses and other personal information from the public as elected officials are increasingly subjected to threats and protests at their homes. → Read More
Bills would fund research of psilocybin mushrooms to treat PTSD, depression
Arizona lawmakers are giving a big thumbs up to the party drug known as Ecstasy and turning on to hallucinogenic magic mushrooms, too. But don’t take this wrong – they’re not pushing the drugs for the usual recreational uses. Instead, bills that would fund a $30 million research program to study psilocybin mushrooms in treating post-traumatic stress syndrome and depression, and another to… → Read More
Freshman lawmaker who worked for Ducey pushes teacher pay raise
A freshman Republican lawmaker who helped shepherd former Gov. Doug Ducey's effort to raise teacher pay to end a 2018 statewide teacher strike is working to boost educator salaries by another $10,000 a year. → Read More
GOP-supported measure would ask voters to remove more of their law-writing authority
Republican lawmakers on Feb. 14 approved a measure that would ask voters to take away even more of their own power to write their own laws after persuading them last year to significantly limit their power of the initiative. → Read More
Republican lawmakers show no signs of appeasing Hobbs
One month into a Legislative session that sees the Republican-controlled Arizona House and Senate trying to come to terms with a Democrat as governor for the first time in 14 years, GOP leaders are showing no sign that they will make Gov. Katie Hobbs' first year in office a smooth one. → Read More
Senate Republicans target ‘drag story hour,’ other drag performances
Republicans in the Arizona Senate are targeting "drag story hour'' and other drag performances that have drawn the ire of conservatives, with the sponsor of a proposal banning certain shows before children or in government buildings calling it a case of "good versus evil.'' → Read More
Republicans advance bill that would boost penalties for fentanyl suppliers
Republicans in the state Senate are working to greatly boost the penalties for people who supply the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl, advancing a bill on Thursday that would subject someone who makes, transports or sells the drug to life in prison or the death penalty if someone dies after taking the drug. → Read More
Farnsworth’s story of homelessness prompts Senate committee chair to pull Kavanagh’s proposal
A Republican state senator from Mesa's personal experience with mental illness and homelessness derailed a bid by another GOP lawmaker, this one a former cop, to make sleeping on a sidewalk a state crime. Sen. David Farnsworth's extended comments about his struggles led the chairman of a Senate committee to pull Republican Fountain Hills Sen. John Kavanagh's proposal from consideration during a… → Read More
2nd Arizona county delays certifying election, for now
A second Republican-controlled Arizona county on Monday delayed certifying the results of this month's election as a protest against voting issues in Maricopa County that some GOP officials have blamed for their losses in top races including the contest for governor. → Read More
County in northwestern Arizona delays certifying election, for now
The northwestern Arizona county is temporarily delaying certification of results from the midterm election until Nov. 28, in a move regarded as a protest against voting issues in Maricopa County that some GOP officials have blamed for their losses in top races including the contest for governor. → Read More
Cochise County leaders end hand-count lawsuit, cite recount
Two Republicans who control the board in Cochise County on Wednesday told a judge they want to withdraw a lawsuit they had filed just two days prior that sought to force their own elections director to hand-count all the ballots cast in-person on Election Day. → Read More
Arizona voters reject effort to enact stricter voter ID law
Arizona voters who overwhelmingly cast their ballots by mail have rejected a measure that would have required them to add more information to the simple signature and date they now put on the back of the return envelope. → Read More
Cochise County leaders end hand-count lawsuit, cite recount
A recount will come after that official canvass and could take until the end of the year. → Read More
Arizona executes man for 1980 killings of 2 people
FLORENCE, Ariz. (AP) — An Arizona man convicted of murdering two people in 1980 was put to death Wednesday in the state’s third execution since officials started carrying out the death penalty in M… → Read More
Fight over election tally threatens Arizona certification
PHOENIX (AP) — The two Republicans who control the elected board in a rural Arizona county have sued their own elections director to force her to conduct a greatly expanded hand-count of ballots cast... → Read More
Arizona county’s plan to hand-count ballots blocked by judge
PHOENIX (AP) — A judge on Monday blocked a rural Arizona county’s plan to conduct a full hand-count of ballots from the current election — a measure requested by Republican officials who expr… → Read More
Cochise County’s ballot hand-count plan challenged in court
Cochise County’s plan to hand count all ballots cast in next week's election has triggered a court challenge, marking the latest twist to the effort by the rural entity to mollify skeptics distrustful of its vote-counting equipment. → Read More
Arizona agrees not to enforce total abortion ban until 2023
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s attorney general has agreed not to enforce a near total ban on abortions at least until next year, a move that Planned Parenthood Arizona credited Thursday with allow… → Read More