State Glance

Ducey backing school voucher expansion measure

PHOENIX — Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is apparently willing to risk further angering the state’s teachers by forcefully backing a measure that would massively expand the state’s private school voucher system.

The Republican governor, comfortable with a solid lead in his re-election bid, has come out strongly this month in support of the school voucher plan, which is on the ballot as Proposition 305. A yes vote allows the vouchers system to expand, while a no vote rejects it.

The referendum was forced onto the ballot after teachers and public school supporters gathered enough signatures to block a Ducey-backed law passed by the GOPcontrolled Legislature in 2017. Arizona teachers this spring incensed at low pay and years of school budget cuts revolted, with tens of thousands of instructors staging a six-day strike that shuttered public schools serving more than 1 million children.

Prosecutor to defend ruling on Arpaio’s pardon

PHOENIX — A Los Angeles attorney has been appointed to defend a ruling by a lower court judge who refused to erase the criminal record of former metro Phoenix Sheriff Joe Arpaio after he was pardoned by President Trump.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday picked Christopher G. Caldwell to argue in support of the ruling that dismissed the lawman’s case but refused to expunge his record.