Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

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.

A decade ago, Arizona leaders set an ambitious goal: Get 70% of high schoolers to continue their education after graduat...
07/01/2026

A decade ago, Arizona leaders set an ambitious goal: Get 70% of high schoolers to continue their education after graduation by 2030.

An AZCIR investigation found the state is moving farther from that goal—not closer.

Despite Arizona investing $166-plus million in programs aimed at boosting postsecondary enrollment since 2017, its enrollment rate has declined. And education leaders say the state lacks the sustained funding and centralized leadership to reverse the trend.

"There is growing concern that Arizona's systemic design is not built to hold somebody accountable for this, or to even provide a clear signal of who should be in charge of solving this problem," one local advocate told reporter Molly Bohannon.

Read our latest:

Arizona’s postsecondary enrollment rate has declined despite a decade of initiatives and millions of dollars invested.

A federal monitoring program was intended to protect those with schizophrenia from a rare blood disorder. Instead, patie...
06/08/2026

A federal monitoring program was intended to protect those with schizophrenia from a rare blood disorder. Instead, patients throughout the U.S. lost access to antipsychotic medication clozapine, sometimes with fatal consequences.

AZCIR investigates the human cost of that system, the advocates who fought to dismantle it, and why access to the drug remains a struggle over a year later.

Clozapine is widely considered the most effective treatment for patients with severe schizophrenia. But across the U.S., people were repeatedly denied access to it because of a federal monitoring system that could block prescriptions over missed or delayed blood tests.

Arizona’s three public universities altered DEI programs, renamed events and scrubbed websites over the past year follow...
04/09/2026

Arizona’s three public universities altered DEI programs, renamed events and scrubbed websites over the past year following threats from the Trump administration to cut federal dollars. But the changes were largely made behind closed doors, leaving students, faculty and the public unclear of the impact.

AZCIR spent months asking for answers, but officials at ASU, NAU and UA declined interviews, withheld records and didn't respond to detailed questions. Here's what we found — and what's still unknown.

Arizona's three public universities quietly dismantled diversity, equity and inclusion offerings over the past year, yet failed to communicate the changes publicly.

Border Patrol agents in Arizona are now ticketing legal immigrants for not carrying their immigration documents—using a ...
03/04/2026

Border Patrol agents in Arizona are now ticketing legal immigrants for not carrying their immigration documents—using a rarely enforced Cold War-era law.

More than 100 citations have been issued in CBP’s Yuma Sector in the past year, AZCIR found. Experts say the practice could have consequences far beyond those ticketed.

Border Patrol in southern Arizona cited more than 100 people for not carrying their immigration documents in 2025 as part of Trump administration efforts to revive decades-old immigration laws.

Arizona’s Medicaid agency says it has moved past the worst of a sweeping behavioral health fraud crisis that targeted Na...
02/26/2026

Arizona’s Medicaid agency says it has moved past the worst of a sweeping behavioral health fraud crisis that targeted Native Americans. But nearly three years after officials publicly acknowledged the scandal, questionable sober living homes continue to recruit Indigenous community members, AZCIR has found.

Though the number of behavioral health fraud investigations has dropped since the height of the scandal in 2023, AHCCCS is still seeing hundreds more fraud cases than it did before the crisis began.

“The system has not been fixed,” said Diné advocate Reva Stewart. “It has only adapted.”

Read more about where the fraud stands—and how the state Legislature is looking to address oversight gaps within the agency.

Though Arizona’s Medicaid agency says behavioral health fraud has stabilized since 2023, questionable sober living homes continue to recruit Native Americans.

Earlier this month, a Maricopa County judge struck down several Arizona abortion restrictions as unconstitutional under ...
02/19/2026

Earlier this month, a Maricopa County judge struck down several Arizona abortion restrictions as unconstitutional under Proposition 139.

But more than a dozen bills with implications for abortion access remain in play this legislative session, including proposals to expand fetal personhood language and impose new penalties related to abortion medication.

One GOP lawmaker told AZCIR that “the state has an obligation to protect life when it is created.”

Here’s a closer look at what the legislation would do—and how it could test the scope of the constitutional protections voters approved:

Republican lawmakers are advancing a new wave of legislation targeting abortion in Arizona, even after a judge struck down several existing restrictions and affirmed voters’ 2024 decision to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution.

Arizona voters sent a clear message in November 2024, with majorities in every legislative district backing the constitu...
01/12/2026

Arizona voters sent a clear message in November 2024, with majorities in every legislative district backing the constitutional right to abortion enshrined in Proposition 139.

Yet within months of the amendment’s passage, a bloc of Republican lawmakers advanced legislation aimed at restricting abortion access or narrowing how the new constitutional right could be applied, with more on the way this legislative session.

New from reporter Adriana Navarro:

Voters in 2024 passed Proposition 139, a constitutional amendment guaranteeing Arizonans the right to abortion, with nearly 62% support statewide. An AZCIR analysis shows Republican lawmakers responded by proposing bills and backing court actions that could narrow its reach.

Three years ago, Arizona voters approved Prop. 308, giving undocumented students access to in-state tuition. But with no...
01/07/2026

Three years ago, Arizona voters approved Prop. 308, giving undocumented students access to in-state tuition. But with no centralized oversight, colleges and universities across the state took different approaches to implementation, leaving an unknown number of students behind—and potentially limiting the impact of a law experts thought could inject $23 million a year into the state’s economy.

Read our latest from reporter Molly Bohannon:

After Arizona voters approved a 2022 ballot initiative granting in-state tuition to undocumented students, the state put no centralized system in place to track participation or ensure consistent implementation across colleges and universities. Three years later, it remains difficult to say how many...

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