The State at 1 a.m.

The supervisor is Bob Christie. We can be reached at (602) 258-8934 or toll-free at (800) 352-4093. AP stories, along with the photos that accompany them, can also be obtained from http://www.apexchange.com.

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GRUPO MEXICO-ASARCO

PHOENIX — A top executive with the company set to take over copper-miner Asarco LLC says the company will emerge from a grueling four-year bankruptcy court battle modern, competitive, profitable and environmentally sound. Jorge Lazalde, general counsel for Grupo Mexico subsidiary Asarco Inc., told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the company's Arizona and Texas mining and refining operations will finally be free from environmental liabilities that drove the company into bankruptcy in 2005, with a labor contract in place that ensures workers are among the best-paid in the industry and a bright future. By Amanda Lee Myers and Bob Christie.

IMMIGRATION-CITIES

PHOENIX — Gov. Jan Brewer and top Republican legislators blasted Arizona municipalities Tuesday for going to court to challenge the constitutionality of parts of a budget law, including provisions that deny government services and benefits to illegal immigrants. The lawsuit filed by the League of Arizona Cites and Towns amounts to siding "with lawbreakers over lawkeepers," said Sen. Russell Pearce, a Mesa Republican who championed the provisions targeting illegal immigration. By Paul Davenport.

With:

— POLL-GOVERNOR

(Brief)

US AIRWAYS-JETS

TEMPE — US Airways said Tuesday it will delay delivery of 54 Airbus jets until at least 2013 as it tries to bolster its financial strength. The company said delaying the deliveries will reduce its aircraft capital expenditures over the next three years by $2.5 billion.

AP Photo NYBZ108.

URBAN INDIAN CASINOS

RICHMOND, Calif. — An Indian tribe wants to build a grand, $1.5 billion, Las Vegas-style casino resort on a swath of land overlooking San Francisco Bay — a spot more than 100 miles from its tribal lands. By Sudhin Thanawala.

LEGAL IMMIGRANTS

PHOENIX — The number of legal immigrants applying for citizenship in Arizona rose 11 percent this fiscal year, according to new U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services data.

Also note:

— GUN CHARGES-SENTENCES — The U.S. Attorney's office in Phoenix says seven men from Mexico have been sentenced to prison for carrying guns during a violent crime.

— CAR BOMB DEATH-AWARD — A judge has awarded three children of a man killed in a 1996 pipe-bomb slaying $10 million in damages Tuesday.

— DRUG DEALER SLAYING — A 24-year-old Tucson man faces up to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in the 2006 slaying of a drug dealer.

— CHILD DEATHS — Arizona has seen a decline in the number of child deaths for the second year in a row.

TOPIC: SCHOOL DRUG DOG

KINGMAN, Ariz. — Kingman High School's newest employee spends the better part of his day lounging in a cage. He doesn't speak any English — or any other language for that matter — and he only earns about $750 a year, mostly in the form of rubber, rawhide and Ralston Purina. But all the same, the school's happy to have him on board. Raidin, a Belgian Malanois, is the school's first full-time K-9 drug enforcement dog. By James Chilton. Kingman Daily Miner. AP Photo of Nov. 24: AZKIN101.