Peoria parents sue the State of Arizona and Walmart for an incident that caused Child Protective Services to take their children.  Lisa and Anthony “A.J.” Demaree’s three young children were taken from them because a Walmart employee saw several photos taken of the nude 5, 4 and 1 year old girls at bath time.  Walmart gave the photos to police.  It took a month for the Demarees to get their girls back.

Neither parent was charged with sexual abuse and they regained custody of their children, but the Demarees say the incident inflicted lasting harm.  In two separate lawsuits, the Demarees say the “slanderous claims” state officials made during the investigation caused them serious economic losses.  They also claim to have since suffered “emotional stress, headaches, nightmares, a general feeling of malaise, shock to their nervous system, grief and depression.”

Arizona Republic:  The Arizona Charter Schools Association, pro charter-school group, filed two lawsuits to force Arizona to equalize funds spent by the state on public schools, charter and district.

In both suits families claim the state’s funding system violates the Arizona Constitution, particularly in its mandate to provide all students with a uniform public-school education. Instead, an outdated formula leads to unequal funding of schools.