Goldwater Institute

The folks at the Goldwater Institute were fielding calls all Tuesday morning from news reporters wondering how the all-powerful institute will rule on the state of professional hockey in Arizona.

The Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute gets a big gold star for pointing out a vexing problem with the state's funding formula for public schools:

It's bad enough when your town has to worry about high mountain forest fires. It's even worse when the scorched earth left behind gives way to monsoon rains that drive mud and boulders smashing into your municipal water pipeline system. And it's much, much worse still when President Obama's Forest Service won't let you repair the damage, ostensibly because that might disturb the wilderness.

A handful of elected officials in the Arizona Legislature have repeatedly tried to intimidate and silence Goldwater Institute analysts out of giving testimony in support of or in opposition to legislation this year.

There's a popular saying in the American West: Whiskey's for drinking, but water's for fighting over. This dusty little city, made famous by the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, has a dilly of a water fight on its hands. Tombstone, population 1,400, is suing the federal government -- and it is likely to be a landmark legal battle.