In 2009, an Arizona appellate court ruled against a woman seeking equal-time visitation rights for the child that she and her same-sex partner had raised from birth. But for gay couples - or any other people who feel they have a parent-child relationship, regardless of legal definitions - the ruling is not all bad news, and may help to clarify the requirements for visitation when same-sex couples break up.

Arizona voters approved, by the slimmest of margins, the legal use of marijuana to treat serious and life threatening injuries and diseases.

On Thanksgiving Day 2010, Customs & Border Protection (CBP) agents pulled a pickup truck over at the Wellton Station, a CBP station located on Interstate 8, about 40 miles east of the California border. The pickup had been flagged by the CBP's canine team, and it proved to be correct - agents found marijuana with an estimated street value of $90,880 hidden in the door panels, the back seat, and the truck's ceiling.

Two Arizona cities received failing grades in a 2010 Men's Health article titled, "America's Drunkest Cities." Tucson came in at number 9, with an F, and Phoenix fared only marginally better at number 18, with a D-. The self-proclaimed statistical sobriety checkpoint took into consideration data on from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS), the FBI, and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

Four days after a Missouri judge signed an order granting divorce, the mother of a young boy, with the assistance of her new husband, kidnapped her son from her ex-husband's house at gunpoint. They intend to flee Missouri and cross the border into Mexico with the boy in a stolen vehicle. Because the mother and her husband did not have permission to take the boy from his father's home, this was considered kidnapping.

Arizona's controversial immigration bill, SB-1070, has had far reaching consequences for many Arizona residents. That includes undocumented victims of domestic violence who are living in Arizona. These domestic violence victims face a legal limbo: while many may qualify for an adjustment of legal status, they fear contacting police to begin the process, as contacting police may actually trigger their deportation.

In June 2010, the Arizona Judicial Council tentatively approved the Child Outcome Based Support (COBS) model, which addresses this concern by roughly equalizing the incomes of both households. The Arizona Supreme Court has not yet given the guidelines final approval.

In 2008, Arizona began using photo enforcement cameras to catch people speeding on highways across the state. A new governor, a variety of legal challenges, and a lack of revenue generated from their use, all factored into the decision to shut them down less than two years later.

In Arizona, a conviction for Super Extreme DUI, while still a misdemeanor, will carry penalties that are more severe than some felonies.

Parents have concerns about leaving teens home alone while on vacation. But what about divorced parents with joint custody whose careers take them out of town?

Divorce attorneys have taken to reviewing social networking sites as a best practice to glean whatever information they can, looking to see if what a spouse says in court is different from what he or she is saying online.

Arizona authorities charged Allen Elfman with fraud, criminal impersonation, forgery, tampering with a public record and theft. He had admitted to receiving fees from $250 to $650 to marry couples, and that he had married four or five couples since 2004.

Arizona Senate Law SB 1070 authorizes police officers to detain, when practicable, persons they reasonably suspect are illegally present in this country and to verify their status with federal officials. Law enforcement officials must have made the initial contact with the individual lawfully, such as stopping a motorist for a traffic law violation.

The recent economic hard times have been difficult for many people. But according to a study conducted by Dr. Rachel P. Berger, the recession has been particularly hard on infants. Berger, who revealed the results of her study on May 8 at the annual meeting of the Pediatric Academic Societies, said there is a "marked increase in the rate of abusive head trauma among children during the recession compared to beforehand."

This summer, Arizona will become the first state with a large urban population where people are allowed to carry concealed weapons without a permit. Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill in April, and it will take effect in July or August, 90 days after the current legislative session ends.

With all the news coverage of Arizona's new immigration law, much less attention has been paid to other new laws coming out of the recently ended legislative session. One such law, SB 1314, may affect custody decisions regarding minor children in contested divorces and other child custody proceedings.

Even before Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed SB 1070 into law, protests against the contentious immigration bill already had begun at the state's capitol with more than 100 people gathering to urge the governor to veto it. On April 20, Arizona police arrested nine college students who had chained themselves to the Capitol Building's doors, declaring that they would not unchain themselves until the Governor vetoed the bill.

As in several other states, the medical marijuana debate has taken hold in Arizona, but the legalization of medical marijuana in Arizona will probably not make it on a ballot before the public this year. Even if such an initiative were to pass in the future, medical marijuana will presumably still be highly restricted and may be taxed as a luxury item.

Under many laws, including those in Arizona, transmitting naked pictures of teens can be a felony. Teens could be charged with possession of child pornography, as well as sexual exploitation of a minor, both of which would require offenders to register as sex offenders, often for life.

The medical marijuana debate in Arizona and nationwide is hotly contested. Arizonans may vote again on the issue, and patients may be legally allowed to relieve pain with doctor-prescribed marijuana.

Phoenix, Arizona, has been dubbed the "kidnapping capital" of the United States. The state ranks second only to Mexico City in the number of annual kidnappings in the world.