Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting

Two years after Arizona officials uncovered a $2.5 billion Medicaid fraud scheme that targeted Native Americans seeking treatment for addictions, the state has recouped just a fraction of the taxpayer funds lost to fraud. With @propublica.org.

Our investigation with @propublica.org found that Arizona’s response to a massive Medicaid fraud scheme left patients without access to the drug and alcohol treatment they needed. This week, the director of the state’s Medicaid agency resigned.

After decades of drought, contamination & legal battles, Hopi, Navajo & San Juan Southern Paiute tribes are closer to securing long-promised water rights. A $5B federal settlement could deliver Colorado River water after generations of exclusion, via @clomahqu.bsky.social azcir.org/news/2025/07...

ICYMI: AZ’s three public universities quietly dismantled DEI programs over the past year, following threats from the federal government to cut funds. When AZCIR asked what changed and how, officials declined interviews, records requests and ignored detailed questions. azcir.org/news/2026/04...

ICYMI: Arizona universities haven't been transparent about what they've changed to comply with federal guidance about DEI. To one professor at UA, decisions being made behind closed doors sends the message that "this isn’t your university anymore. This isn’t a community."

Arizona’s three public universities quietly dismantled DEI programs over the past year, following threats from the federal government to cut funding. When AZCIR asked what changed and how, officials declined interviews, denied records requests and ignored detailed questions. tinyurl.com/55yn7ku2

ICYMI: “The idea that we are a place where everybody has to carry their papers is not American,” said Annie Lai, immigrant rights attorney. “That’s not the kind of country that I think a lot of people think we should be.” Our latest, via @allymarkovich.bsky.social azcir.org/news/2026/03...

“This is a move to turn the clock back to a narrower version of who belongs in America” Our latest, via @allymarkovich.bsky.social azcir.org/news/2026/03...

Federal agents in southwest Arizona are now ticketing legal immigrants for not carrying their documents under a 1952 law that’s been rarely enforced for decades. Among those cited are a Canadian green card holder walking to breakfast and an international student at a truck stop.

ICYMI: Nearly three years after AZ Medicaid officials publicly acknowledged a massive fraud scandal targeting Native Americans, the fraud continues and Indigenous residents are still getting exploited by bad actors: azcir.org/news/2026/02...

NEW: Arizona says the worst of its Medicaid behavioral health fraud crisis is over. But nearly 3 years later, questionable sober living homes are still recruiting Indigenous community members, AZCIR's @jasminedemers.bsky.social has found. azcir.org/news/2026/02...

ICYMI: 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. azcir.org/news/2026/02...

NEW: A Maricopa County judge recently struck down several AZ abortion restrictions as unconstitutional. But more than a dozen new bills with implications for abortion access remain in play at the Capitol. From medication abortion to fetal personhood, here’s a closer look: azcir.org/news/2026/02...