3 Follow the money.

• Position: Stateline - Brief article

Arizona lawmakers did nothing wrong by taking $50 million from the settlement with mortgage lenders to help balance the budget, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge ruled in October. The state's share of a $26 billion nationwide lawsuit settlement with five mortgage lenders was $1.6 billion. Homeowner advocacy groups argued that the state had agreed to spend the money on preventing foreclosures. The lion's share--all but $97 million--is earmarked to do that. But the state argued that it, too, was a victim of the housing crisis...