Author: Tayler Wancour

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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.

 

Thousands of unemployed Arizonans could be stripped of their benefits if three bills approaching passage in the legislature become law.

Critics say GOP legislators are attacking the unemployed on all sides with S.B. 1495, H.B. 2150 and H.B. 2519, which could yank benefits from applicants who fail or refuse to take a drug test, almost double the minimum yearly earnings required to collect benefits and widen the definition of unemployment-insurance-exempt workers.

Currently, unemployment insurance provides more than 99,000 Arizonans who have lost their job a weekly stipend. The minimum weekly payment is $60, and the maximum is $241.

Statistics show Arizona’s unemployment insurance system does suffer some major cost issues with 20 percent of all payments improperly paid, Arizona has given out over $424 million too much over the past three years, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

That’s the fourth highest rate of improper payment, only surpassed by Indiana, Louisiana and New Mexico.