Arizona’s unemployment rate dropped slightly in January. It stood at 8.7 percent, which is down .3 from December, but almost .5 higher than the national rate. From Phoenix, KJZZ’s Mark Brodie reports.

Pianist Billy Childs is a triple threat of music -- an accomplished player who apprenticed with JJ Johnson and Freddie Hubbard, and a Grammy winning arranger and composer. He easily combines the lyrical beauty of jazz and classical music into a sound that critics say is impossible to tell where jazz ends and classical begins. Childs was awarded a 2006 Chamber Music America composer’s grant and received a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship.  In January 2010, The Detroit Symphony premiered Childs’ Concerto For Violin And Orchestra with Regina Carter as soloist. He's recently performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Sting, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Kronos Quartet, Wynton Marsalis, Jack DeJohnette, Ron Carter, the Ying String Quartet, the American Brass Quintet, and Chris Botti. Jazz awakes at 8 Monday through Friday on KJZZ.

Jim Nintzel of Tucson Weekly tells us about the candidates running in Southern Arizona’s congressional election.

One of the bills gaining momentum in the state legislature would give the governor and lawmakers more control over some of the decisions made by the Arizona Corporation Commission. Some argue the law is unconstitutional, but supporters say they’re merely trying to set up a system of checks and balances.