State Glance
Cities concerned about funding for bus service amid shutdown
PHOENIX — Many cities and towns in Arizona are concerned about funding for public bus service as the federal government shutdown continues.
The Arizona Republic reports the shutdown has cut off cash that some cities and towns use to pay for bus transportation.
With the Federal Transit Administration not operating, cities like Cottonwood and Flagstaff have to pay the full cost of bus service that usually gets significant federal government funding. Brittany Hoffman, the spokeswoman for Valley Metro, which serves the Phoenix metropolitan area, says there are no talks of curtailing service for the agency despite awaiting more than $7 million in reimbursements from the federal government.
Arizona Transit Association Executive Director Becky Miller says agencies around the state teleconferenced Wednesday to discuss contingency plans should the shutdown linger and services need to be cut.
Phoenix police: Officers shoot armed robbery suspect
PHOENIX — Phoenix police say officers shot and wounded an armed man during an encounter when police stopped a vehicle following the armed robbery of an Avondale restaurant.
Sgt. Tommy Thompson says police had four people in the vehicle under surveillance in connection with several previous armed robberies before the one in Avondale.
According to Thompson, the suspect was in serious condition and that he was shot after he got out of the vehicle, didn’t obey a command by police and pointed a weapon at police.
Thompson says no officers were injured.
The three other people in the vehicle were described as a man, a woman and a juvenile. The shooting occurred near North 91st Avenue and West Camelback Road.
Expert’s appointment appealed in suit over care for inmates
PHOENIX — Arizona Corrections Director Charles Ryan is appealing the appointment of expert to examine the method for determining whether the state is making the changes it promised to make to health care in state prisons when it settled a lawsuit over inmate care.
U.S. District Judge Roslyn Silver appointed Dr. Marc Stern last month amid complaints about irregularities and errors in monitoring compliance with the settlement.
Stern has served as an expert in similar inmate-care lawsuits across the country.
A lawyer for Ryan had objected to Stern’s appointment, saying the expert in past cases appears to have a bias in favor of prisoners.
Silver has raised the possibility of throwing out the 2014 settlement because of the state’s pervasive noncompliance with the settlement.
Arrest leads to discovery of meth, heroin in Cottonwood home
COTTONWOOD — Authorities say a couple is facing multiple drug and child abuse charges after large amounts of heroin and meth were found in their Cottonwood home.
The Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office said Thursday that 39-year-old Jairo Chavez-Rodriguez and 40-year-old Johanora Gonzalez were arrested last month as part of a drug task force investigation.
Deputies say Chavez-Rodriguez’s Dec. 19 arrest led to a search warrant on his home. Investigators found a pound of heroin and half a pound of meth.
They also found scales, two firearms and pieces of foil with heroin residue.
Two 6-year-olds and a 9-year-old were present and are with the Department of Child Safety.
Arizona court rules against challenge to rules on midwives
PHOENIX — An Arizona appellate court has upheld a trial judge’s ruling against a challenge to the state’s regulation of midwives.
The Court of Appeals ruling Thursday says the Department of Health Services had authority to issue revised rules regulating midwives, who by law must be licensed to deliver babies or provide related care.
The rules were first issued in 1994 and then revised in response to a 2012 law.
Midwife Wendi Cleckner sued to challenge the rules, contending they exceeded the department’s authority by narrowing the scope of what midwives could do. Cleckner was a member of an advisory committee created to consider possible revisions.
The Court of Appeals said the 2012 law ordered the department to consider changing the rules but didn’t require it to increase midwives’ scope of practice.