Phoenix Blog

Republican legislative leaders will bring a budget proposal to an Appropriations Committee in the state Senate today. The proposal includes privatizing three prisons, and cutting $220 million from K-12 funding. Not included in the proposal is the tax increase Governor Jan Brewer pushed for...After declining to make a ruling from the bench in the Phoenix Coyotes bankruptcy case yesterday, Judge Redfield Baum ordered the National Hockey League and Coyotes owners into mediation. The two sides must agree on who controls the hockey team before a hearing on June 19, when Baum will decide whether the Coyotes are required to stay in Glendale or can be relocated if sold...In a move that marks their, uh, newfound maturity, some high school students in Tuscon let the air out of the tires on 76 school buses and wrote "Class of '09" on several bus windows. The Pima County Sheriff's department is looking for suspects...A Chandler woman was kidnapped outside a Valley Wal-Mart Monday night. According to police reports, the suspect approached the woman while she was loading her purchases into her car, produced a knife, and demanded a ride. He let the woman flee on foot on a dirt farm road before driving off in her vehicle. Police are looking for the suspect...Three teenagers were injured in a drive-by shooting while they were walking along Aire Libre near 32nd street last night. Police are reporting that all three were shot, but are recovering at Valley hospitals, and they are investigating a motive for the shooting...The new Star Trek movie has been beamed to the International Space Station, where astronauts watched the film on laptops inside modules. One astronaut said he was "inspired" by the idea of people from all over uniting to explore space.

GOP budget plan sells prison, cuts millions