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Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
VIDEO: In The Sheriff We Trust
A national group of sheriffs that claims its authority supersedes that of the state and federal government has spread its ideology to dozens of states in recent years, in part by gaining state accreditation for its taxpayer-funded law enforcement training. Reporters from the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication gained exclusive access to this controversial law enforcement training, hosted by former Arizona sheriff and CSPOA founder Richard Mack. They spoke to sheriffs, constitutional law experts, state officials and community residents across the nation to assess the group’s expansion and what that means for democracy.
Corporate marijuana dispensaries flex financial muscle, overtake Arizona’s social equity program
Denzel Mason was halfway through his Friday shift as an assistant manager at Phoenix Relief Center, a marijuana dispensary in southwest Phoenix, when his phone rang with the news. He had spent much of the day in April 2022 hustling between the retail floor and his office in the adjacent...
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. After refusing to accept the incomplete records...
Proposed bill to ban suspensions for attendance violations falls short
This story about attendance-violation discipline was produced by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting, and The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the AZCIR newsletter and the Hechinger newsletter.
Despite warnings, safeguard to prevent extremist training for law enforcement removed
Warnings issued by high-profile civil rights and advocacy groups to Arizona’s governor and attorney general failed to stop a rule change that effectively lowers the bar for extremist organizations attempting to radicalize law enforcement officers through government-funded training. Letters sent in March by the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and...
Arizona-based sheriff group promotes members with ties to white nationalism
The Arizona-based Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association, a group described as anti-democratic by domestic extremism researchers, is elevating some of its most controversial members—including those with direct ties to other anti-government and white nationalism movements—into formal leadership positions. The CSPOA promoted long-time staffer and self-described “constitutional scholar”...
The uncounted: People of color are dying at much higher rates than what COVID data suggests
This story was published in partnership with the Documenting COVID-19 project, which is supported by Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation and MuckRock. The project collects and shares government documents related to the COVID-19 pandemic and works on investigative journalism projects with partner newsrooms. By Betsy Ladyzhets (MuckRock’s...
Community response helped reverse COVID’s devastating toll on Indigenous communities in Arizona
This story was published in partnership with the Documenting COVID-19 project, which is supported by Columbia University’s Brown Institute for Media Innovation and MuckRock. The project collects and shares government documents related to the COVID-19 pandemic and works on investigative journalism projects with partner newsrooms. When COVID-19 first hit...
In the wake of the pandemic, some districts take a less-punitive approach to absenteeism
This story about absenteeism in schools was produced by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting, and The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the AZCIR newsletter and the Hechinger newsletter.
Overrepresentation of Black, Hispanic students among those suspended for missing school could violate civil rights law
This story about racial bias in school discipline was produced by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting, and The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the AZCIR newsletter and the Hechinger newsletter.
Suspending students for absences, tardies compounds learning loss
This story about suspensions for truancy was produced by the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting, an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit newsroom dedicated to statewide, data-driven investigative reporting, and The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education. Sign up for the AZCIR newsletter and the Hechinger newsletter.
Inside our analysis of Arizona’s attendance-related suspensions
“Education Suspended,” a collaboration between the Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting and The Hechinger Report, represents an ambitious, nearly yearlong effort to better understand the impact of school absences on Arizona students. When kids aren’t in class, they often aren’t learning, a reality underscored by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rule change opens new path for ‘constitutional sheriff’ group to train Arizona law enforcement
In 2021, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association submitted a proposal to Arizona’s top law enforcement-certifying agency to train officers in “American ideals and the principles of Liberty upon which the USA was founded.”. But the seemingly innocuous curriculum objective obscured the anti-government views of the so-called...
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...
Experts warn of extremist push to expand sheriffs’ role in elections
Prominent Arizona Oath Keeper Jim Arroyo turned on his hands-free microphone and stepped in front of the bright yellow banner of the Yavapai County Preparedness Team to explain “Operation: Drop Box.”. “We’ve already coordinated with Sheriff (David) Rhodes,” Arroyo said during a July meeting of the Yavapai County Preparedness...
Arizona ‘ground zero’ for extremist, anti-government sheriff movement
Susan Wortman, 79, recognized the voice of the man approaching her from behind as she attempted to slip out of the Pinal County Board of Supervisors meeting on Aug. 3. Wearing a badge on his belt and gun on his hip, Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb’s tone was different from the warm greeting he’d given Wortman before the meeting. He was “acting like a bully,” she said. He didn’t seem happy about her public comments, and he certainly didn’t appreciate her attire.
How AZCIR identified Arizona’s ‘constitutional sheriffs’
The Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) and Protect America Now are the most prominent, public-facing “constitutional sheriff” organizations in the nation. Domestic extremism research groups have identified them as anti-government, anti-democratic or far-right organizations. Whether or not a sheriff adopts the core ideologies of the movement...
Youth access to mental health care improved under Jake’s Law, but persistent barriers hamper its reach
In March 2020, Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law a sweeping set of measures designed to help curb rising rates of suicide and expand access to mental health treatment for Arizona residents with and without insurance. Commonly known as Jake’s Law, the legislation was named after Jake Machovsky, a 15-year-old...
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The Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting is an independent, nonprofit media organization dedicated to statewide accountability journalism in Arizona. AZCIR’s mission is to produce, foster and promote investigative journalism through original and collaborative reporting, public events and trainings, for the betterment of our communities.
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