Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

02/17/2025

NEW: More than 2,000 Arizona children have been waitlisted for state child care assistance, according to the Department of Economic Security, and that number is likely to climb as the agency reviews pending applications.

The waitlist counts, quietly added to the DES website after weeks of inquiries from AZCIR's Maria Polletta, quantify for the first time the impact of state lawmakers’ failure to fill a gaping budget hole left by expiring federal pandemic funds last year. DES had warned state leaders that declining to address the shortfall would likely force the agency to reinstate its waitlist, which had taken a decade to eliminate.

More than 2,000 Arizona children have been waitlisted for state child care assistance, according to the Department of Economic Security, and that number is likely to climb as the agency reviews pending applications.

01/27/2025

Dozens of Native American residents of sober living homes and addiction recovery facilities in Arizona died as state Medicaid officials struggled to respond to a massive fraud scheme that targeted Indigenous people. The agency has acknowledged that the scheme targeted Indigenous people with addictions, and that it has cost taxpayers as much as $2.5 billion.

But the state hasn’t accounted publicly for the number of deaths caused by the crisis. Our latest, a collaboration with ProPublica:

Arizona officials acknowledged that a fraud scheme targeting Indigenous people with addictions cost taxpayers $2.5 billion, but haven't accounted publicly for the deaths tied to the scheme.

12/20/2024

Despite a flurry of recommendations from maternal health advocates & policymakers, a lack of strategic oversight & coordination—exacerbated by budget & staffing constraints—has hindered comprehensive reforms aimed at combating Arizona’s maternal mortality crisis:

Despite a flurry of recommendations from maternal health advocates and policymakers, a lack of strategic oversight and coordination—exacerbated by budget and staffing constraints—has hindered comprehensive reforms aimed at combating Arizona’s maternal mortality crisis.

12/19/2024

NEW: Perinatal mental health conditions are among the leading causes of maternal deaths in Arizona. A lack of specialized training among maternal health care providers, compounded by pervasive barriers to care in rural areas, is preventing many women from getting help in time:

Perinatal mental health conditions are among the leading causes of maternal deaths in Arizona. Experts say a lack of specialized training among maternal health care providers, compounded by pervasive barriers to care in rural areas, is preventing many women from getting help in time.

11/01/2024

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10/22/2024

NEW: Dark money and charity orgs led by former intelligence officers and ex-feds have been spreading propaganda and laying the groundwork for presidential election challenges. A new Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting collaboration with Lighthouse Reports, Texas Observer, NAHJ: palabra. & News Collaborative:

Dark money and charity organizations led by former intelligence officers and ex-feds have been spreading propaganda and laying the groundwork for presidential election challenges.

10/16/2024

NEW: Arizona rejects thousands of mail ballots for mismatched signatures. But flaws in the process could disproportionately affect young, new and unaffiliated voters, an Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting collaboration with Votebeat found.

An investigation into Maricopa County’s process found young, new and unaffiliated voters are more likely to have the signature on their ballot envelope rejected.

09/10/2024

NEW: After a fraud scheme lured people into fake substance abuse treatment programs, Arizona health officials suspended hundreds of facilities while they investigated. It left Native American patients without treatment.

Arizona suspended scores of behavioral health providers as authorities investigated them for defrauding the American Indian Health Program. The state’s actions left patients homeless and without treatment.

09/05/2024

In Arizona and across the nation, crisis pregnancy centers have emerged as the latest frontier in the increasingly fraught battle over reproductive rights following the reversal of Roe v. Wade. Anti-abortion advocates have since promoted the centers as an alternative for women who may have otherwise sought abortions, and attorneys general throughout the nation have issued warnings about the centers’ alleged deceptive practices:

Arizona's crisis pregnancy centers have emerged as the latest frontier in the battle over reproductive rights following the reversal of Roe v. Wade.

08/01/2024

Arizona will reinstate a waitlist for families seeking state child care assistance, the Department of Economic Security announced Wednesday—less than 24 hours before implementing the measure. New applicants, with the exception of those the state cannot legally turn away, will be locked out of the subsidy program indefinitely:

Arizona families seeking state child care aid will once again face a waitlist, locking most new applicants out of the subsidy program.

06/26/2024

Arizona lawmakers gave the state’s child care system a temporary lifeline this month when they patched up a large part of the multimillion-dollar budget hole left by expiring federal pandemic funds. But the money isn’t enough to guarantee the state will avoid the return of a waitlist for families seeking child care assistance—meaning Arizona could give up ground it took nearly a decade to gain. Our latest:

Arizona’s child care system got some funding from state lawmakers, but it likely isn’t enough to avoid a return to a waitlist for families seeking assistance.

06/18/2024

The rate of Arizonans who died during and after pregnancy nearly tripled from 1999 to 2019, with the most dramatic increases among the state's minority populations: Native American mothers died at more than triple the rate of their white counterparts in 2019 while Black maternal deaths occurred at a rate almost five times that of white mothers.

Despite repeated inquiries from Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting reporter Natasha Yee, state health officials could not articulate who was responsible for carrying out several specific (maternal mortality) recommendations with substantial funding tied to them, and they did not seem to be keeping track of overall progress. Our latest:

In Arizona, pregnancy death rates nearly tripled from 1999 to 2019, with the most dramatic increases among women of color.

05/23/2024

All along the border, organized vigilante groups are filming themselves conducting patrols, taking photos of themselves alongside law enforcement, and sharing footage online to solicit donations, promote their work, and recruit new members. They’ve also forged relationships with local and federal law enforcement, particularly in several border counties in Arizona and Texas, raising questions about the extent to which vigilantes are illegally attempting to do the work of law enforcement or violating other laws. Our latest, a collaboration between Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting & the Texas Observer

Armed vigilantes in Arizona and Texas are collaborating with or courting lawmen and their agencies, with alarming results.

04/23/2024

NEW: Over the past 15 years, even with groundwater restrictions in effect that limit new irrigated land, at least several thousand acres of dormant farmland have again started siphoning groundwater to sustain new crops in Arizona’s Douglas basin, often under industrial-scale owners that consolidated the land—and the grandfathered water rights tied to it—into massive operations.

Industrial-scale farms in Arizona's Douglas basin are exploiting existing groundwater policies at the expense of their smaller neighbors.

03/14/2024

State leaders misled the public about the scope of a sweeping Medicaid fraud crisis, raising questions about the agency's transparency and its effectiveness in addressing the root causes of the scandal. Read our latest:

State leaders have admitted that fraudulent billing extended beyond a small portion of the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, contradicting previous assertions that fraud only impacted a small share of the agency.