I’m a 22-year-old woman who has never touched a gun in her life, but obtaining a concealed weapons permit in Arizona took me little more than a lunch break and $100.

That’s contrary to what many legislators and officials have said about the CCW process this season, as they’ve debated several pieces of legislation attempting to allow guns into more and more public buildings.

Now I’ll be able to carry that concealed weapon into restaurants that serve alcohol, most national and city parks, near schools—and 36 other states that recognize my permit.

In 2010, legislators voted to water down the CCW permitting process and adopted a campaign for “constitutional carry.”

In Arizona, hip slingers needn’t worry themselves over a permit; if the gun’s visible you’re in the clear—even carrying concealed is allowed permit-free in most places. But to carry a concealed weapon in privileged places—like national parks, restaurants serving alcohol, near schools, and to have your right to carry concealed recognized in 36 other states, you’ve got to get a permit.

There are some requirements: citizenship, being 21 years old, not suffering from mental illness (this isn’t ever evaluated though), never have been convicted of a felony, and having “satisfactorily completed a training program or demonstrated competence with a firearm,” according to state law.

Tequila lovers listen up! The process of getting you your favored spirit is much more complex than it may seem.

Arizona tequila companies such as the Phoenix-based Roger Clyne’s Mexican Moonshine and Luna Malvada Tequila share a passion and commitment to the sometimes-arduous task of producing the one-of-a-kind liquor.

University of Arizona Junior Nick Small sits in his Marketing 361 class at Eller College of Management’s McClelland Hall listening to his professor lecture about marketing concepts for the upcoming exam.

Small, like many other university students in Arizona, is used to this traditional classroom experience: face-to-face instruction from a professor lecture, the raising of hands to ask questions and occasional in-class group work with peers.

“I guess I’m just old school, in the sense that I think there’s something to be gained by having a class full of people who come there for a reason,” said Jim McLean a marketing professor at UA. “They interact with one another and interact with me, I can read a frown of ‘I don’t understand’ or of disagreement that might be a source for discussion.”

Small and his classmates are also a part of a student population that is more involved with online education and Internet classes to either fulfill general education degree requirements or entirely complete a degree.

Paul Babeu was accustomed to threats that would out him as a gay man from the time he was in the military to his campaign for Pinal County Sheriff.

"This is 20 plus years that I've had numerous people that would threaten this to me. To expose me, go to my chain of command even in the military and report this and have done so," he said at the press conference where he publicly confirmed he was gay amidst allegations that he threatened to deport an ex-lover.

"It's almost as if there is a relief today to be able to not be threatened. Because not only is that not fair and to define people along those personal, those very private parts of who they are that's how I've lived my life and defined myself.”

But is it fair? Does the public have a right to know about a public figure’s private life?

Bart Wojdynski, an assistant professor of communication at Virginia Tech who has a Ph.D. in Mass Communication, recently co-authored an article in the Journal of Mass Media Ethics that explored what the public expectations were of the press when covering politician’s private lives.

When it comes to expansion of gun rights, Arizona’s legislators are shooting blanks.

A number of gun bills cleared the legislature in the past two years but repeatedly met Gov. Jan Brewer’s veto, leading many at the state capitol, even some conservatives, to believe that the gun lobby has milked Arizona dry.

This year, legislators tried to push guns into college campuses and gut local government authority from regulating the use or restriction of firearms. The measures either died in the legislature or were vetoed.

Some hunting measures passed, such as a bill allowing hunters to use high capacity magazines to kill wildlife. Also, hunters can now bring Uzis on hunting trips, as long as they don’t use them on animals.

But the most wide-reaching (and failed) piece of legislation, H.B. 2729, would have nullified any ordinance from local governments imposing stricter regulations on guns than state law, and prohibit further restrictions unless gun lockers were present at every entrance to a public building.

When it comes to expansion of gun rights, Arizona’s legislators are shooting blanks.

A number of gun bills cleared the legislature in the past two years but repeatedly met Gov. Jan Brewer’s veto, leading many at the state capitol, even some conservatives, to believe that the gun lobby has milked Arizona dry.

Part One: Gun bills in the Arizona Legislature

This year, legislators tried to push guns into college campuses and gut local government authority from regulating the use or restriction of firearms. The measures either died in the legislature or were vetoed.

Part Two: A reporter obtains an Arizona concealed weapons permit with $100 and some free time.

I’m a 22-year-old woman who has never touched a gun in her life, but obtaining a concealed weapons permit in Arizona took me little more than a lunch break and $100.

T-shirts, free meals, and your photograph on the restaurants wall of fame are just some of the enticing rewards for completing crazy and obnoxiously large food challenges. Arizona Sonoran New Services dives into some of Arizona’s very own food challenges to get a taste of what contests are available across the state.

Telemedicine Changing Rural Healthcare in Arizona

Patients in rural Arizona are facing the challenge of limited healthcare options and lack of specialists in the rural areas. However, Jill Bullock of the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, said that telemedicine and critical access hospitals are two examples of how urban healthcare providers are reaching out to the rural communities.

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AZ Healthcare Center Stands Up to Rural Challenges

With a population of 17,000, the small border town of Douglas is home to one of eight Rural Healthcare Centers in Arizona. Many of these rural communities are considered medically undeserved, facing larger strains on medical services. Margaret Morales, clinic manager, describes the struggles the center has faced and future plans to improve healthcare in her community.

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Arizona will soon be able to check another renewable energy off its list.

This summer Pinal Power, a utility company in Scottsdale, will began the construction of a bio mass plant that will generate electricity for 20,000 homes annually by 2014.

This is according to Hal Mitchell, the C.E.O. of Arbutus Bio Energy, and the manager of Pinal Power. The plant will cost $100 million to build of which Pinal Power will cover $40 million and the remaining $60 million will be financed.

Mitchell said that building a biomass power plant was a smart business move. “There is a need for this kind of power in this part of the country and it is a clean power,” Mitchell said.

Amidst skyrocketing gas prices and the search for a new biodiesel, algaculture—or the use of algae as an alternative to fossil fuel—has seeped to the forefront of an emerging energy market.

Arizona’s legislature wants to make sure there are algae-friendly laws on the books. Rep. Matt Heinz, D-Tucson sponsored two bills to encourage algae growth in the state.