Southern Arizona continues to see major busts of illicit drugs.
Two separate incidents in Yuma and Tucson on June 6 resulted in 138 pounds of drugs including fentanyl and methamphetamine by Arizona Department of Public Safety troopers, according to a news release.
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Arizona has avoided potential abortion law confusion with the conclusion of the legislative session.
Since the session concluded on Saturday night, all normal legislation without an emergency clause signed by Gov. Katie Hobbs will go into effect on Sept. 14. This also includes the May repeal of the abortion law that was created in 1864 and re-codified in 1977 that banned abortion in nearly all circumstances.
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An Arizona Court of Appeals panel of three judges issued a 23-page unpublished decision last week, affirming a trial court’s dismissal of Kari Lake’s Rule 60(b) second election lawsuit. The court claimed that Lake’s Rule 60(b)(3) motion, which means requesting a second trial based on newly found evidence, constituted merely relitigating her first election lawsuit.
The court said that instead, “The focus must rather be on the fraud or misconduct that prevents a litigant from trying otherwise meritorious claims.” However, the court ignored Lake’s evidence of misconduct and affirmed the high standard the trial court judge set for election contests, which is not found in Arizona case law.
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Arizona U.S. Representatives Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), Paul Gosar (R-AZ-09), and Eli Crane (R-AZ-02) sponsored a resolution introduced on Tuesday that would rescind subpoenas that the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack sent to multiple aides of former President Donald Trump.
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The Arizona Senate failed to pass a ballot initiative that would designate drug cartels as terrorist organizations.
House Concurrent Resolution 2038 passed the House with a vote of 31-28 in February but failed in the Senate 15-14 with all Democrats voting against the HCR and Sen. Jake Hoffman, R-Queen Creek, being absent on Saturday.
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Maricopa County is taking a victory lap for taking steps toward wiping out some pension debt in this year’s budget.
The Public Safety Personnel Retirement System and Corrections Officer Retirement Plan, which is used for law enforcement when they retire, will have $500 million sent its way for “unfunded pension liabilities.” This came after a vote in which every member of the Board of Supervisors agreed to tackle the debt.
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Another member of Congress has warned a terrorist attack is imminent. This latest warning comes after a former CIA director argued that similar warning signs exist today that did before the 9/11 terror attack occurred.
U.S. House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, told CBS News’ Face the Nation Sunday, “We are at the highest level of a possible terrorist threat” resulting from Biden administration policies.
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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes slammed the state’s budget that passed the state legislature late Saturday night.
The Democrat specifically expressed concern with opioid settlement funds being heavily allocated toward the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry and even took aim at fellow Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.
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Late Saturday night, lawmakers signed a controversial budget deal, which is now on its way to Governor Katie Hobbs where she is anticipated to sign it. Hobbs, House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Glendale), and Senate President Warren Peterson (R-LD12) negotiated this bipartisan agreement, excluding both Democratic leadership and Freedom Caucus members from the negotiation table.
Republican leadership praised the Arizona Fiscal Year 2025 state budget for its conservative fiscal discipline, addressing a $1.4 billion shortfall without raising taxes, and prioritizing public safety and school choice.
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Seventy-five million dollars from the federal opioid settlement is expected to head toward the state’s Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry in the latest budget proposal, but Attorney General Kris Mayes and some lawmakers are unhappy about it.
Mayes might sue over the proposed use of the money, saying it would act as a “sweep” to help with the budget deficit in an illegal fashion, according to Capitol Media Services. The budget is far from finalized as of Friday morning, but lawmakers could pass a budget on Friday night or Saturday morning. The proposed budget is the result of months of negotiations between Gov. Katie Hobbs’ office and Republican legislative leadership.
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Judicial retention elections in Arizona could soon be a thing of the past.
Arizona voters can decide whether or not a judge should be retained or removed. Supreme Court justices and intermediate appellate court judges are up for retention every six years, compared with four years for Superior Court judges in Maricopa, Pinal, Pima, and Coconino counties, according to the Arizona Judicial Branch. This is because these judges are appointed by the governor.
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Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego is leading his opponent, Republican Kari Lake, by three points in the race to represent Arizona in the U.S. Senate as of Thursday, according to a new poll.
The poll, which was published by AARP, found 48% of respondents favored Gallego versus 45% that preferred Lake. Six percent were still undecided. Although Gallego is leading in the survey, the margin of error is four points, which makes the responses a statistical tie.
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Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell has no plans to stand down after Attorney General Kris Mayes requested that there only be one investigation into the Hobbs administration’s “pay to play” scheme allegations.
Sunshine Residential Homes gave nearly $400,000 to Hobbs and the state Democratic Party, and it was one of the group home operators with contracts with the state that received a substantial increase in its daily per child pay rate, roughly 60%, by the Department of Child Safety, the Arizona Republic reported. Mayes has already opened an investigation following a request by Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope, but Mitchell is also planning to assist the Auditor General’s office after they reached out to Mitchell.
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Arizona will be getting millions more in federal taxpayer dollars for water infrastructure projects.
The $12.445 million in investment will be going to Glen Canyon Dam outlet works, Bypass Drain O&M Access Road Repairs and Deer Island Backwater Infrastructure Replacement. Nearly $9 million of those funds is going to Glen Canyon for “recoating” steel pipes, valves, and gates, according to a news release. The Glen Canyon Dam reportedly has major issues involving the infrastructure that is being funded for repair, as it could impact how it functions, according to the Associated Press in April.
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The State Bar of Arizona’s (SBA) disciplinary panel, led by Democratic Judge Margaret Downie, suspended the law license of Kari Lake’s attorney Bryan Blehm for 60 days over his efforts to combat election corruption. The order was issued last Friday and the suspension goes into effect on July 7.
“What they’re going to do is they’re going to sanction the f*** out of me with costs and fees to try to prevent me from practicing law again.” Blehm said in a video posted on X. “That’s what the end result is going to be.” Blehm was disciplined for stating in a pleading that 35,563 ballots were inserted into the 2022 election. The Arizona Supreme Court sanctioned him $2,000 for the statement.
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More Republican state officials are calling on Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to investigate the “pay to play” allegations involving the Hobbs administration and Sunshine Residential Homes.
Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, has already opened an investigation triggered by a letter from Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope after the Arizona Republic story broke with the allegations that the group home company got better daily pay rates per child after donating around $400,000 to Hobbs’ campaign, inaugural fund, and the state Democratic Party. Mitchell, a Republican, also said she may open an investigation after the Auditor General’s office reached out to her.
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Attorney General Kris Mayes is asking Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell to take a step back from possibly investigating an alleged “pay for play” scheme involving Gov. Katie Hobbs and Sunshine Residential Homes.
Mayes’ criminal division has an investigation open, but the Auditor General’s Office and Mitchell are also coordinating a possible investigation after the auditor general reached out to Mitchell’s office.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents continue to seize record amounts of fentanyl, methamphetamine, weapons and ammunition at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, Arizona.
Seizures in the month of May continued the trend of agents catching alleged smugglers attempting to bring drugs into the U.S. and weapons to Mexico. Cartel and gang operatives have a pattern of smuggling people and drugs into the U.S. and weapons, ammunition, cash and other contraband using stolen cars, to Mexico, law enforcement officials told The Center Square.
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Arizona’s top law enforcement official has opened a criminal probe into corruption allegations involving Democrat Gov. Katie Hobbs and donations from a group home business.
Attorney General Kris Mayes notified the Legislature that she had received a criminal referral from a GOP lawmaker involving allegations with Sunshine Residential Homes and had agreed to open a probe.
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Arizona’s two largest cities allocated tens of millions of dollars to fight homelessness in the past several years, but little has changed, according to a Goldwater Institute investigative report released Thursday.
“We’ve seen Phoenix and Tucson spend, combined, almost half a billion dollars on this issue with very minimal improvements in the area of homelessness,” Austin VanDerHeyden, municipal affairs liaison for the Goldwater Institute, told The Daily Signal.
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Former President Donald Trump is in the lead in a new Arizona poll published Thursday, which found that more than half of the respondents favored Trump over President Joe Biden in a rematch.
The poll, conducted by Fox News, found that 51% of respondents preferred Trump over Biden, while 46% of respondents preferred Biden. The five-point margin is higher than March’s survey, which found that 49% preferred Trump, and 45% preferred Biden.
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Thousands of people turned out for a town hall put on by Turning Point USA with former President Donald Trump Thursday afternoon at Dream City Church in north Phoenix. Trump and Turning Point CEO Charlie Kirk were the sole speakers at the “Chase the Vote” event, urging patriots to make the 2024 election “too big to rig.” The rest of the event focused heavily on illegal immigration, highly critical of the Biden administration’s record.
Trump’s last visit to the state was 18 months ago. According to one attendee who arrived at 8 a.m., there were over 4,000 people in line at that time. The temperature got up to 108 degrees, and there were vendors with water and drinks sprinkled throughout the church property. The event officially began at 2 p.m., but Kirk came out a little after noon and spoke in advance of Trump’s 2 p.m. speech. The crowd held up signs with Trump’s mugshot on them.
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In the wake of years-long friction between independent Right-of-center activists and Republican Party veterans, some Arizonans are forming stand-alone political groups. One recent clash in May gained national attention when a video recording surfaced of a Legislative District 2 (LD2) meeting that devolved into a physical altercation.
Interviews by The Arizona Sun Times of several of the individuals at that meeting revealed that the conflict was more about the discord between hundreds of newly-recruited, pro-Trump precinct committeemen (PCs) and the establishment PCs that have participated in and run the Republican party in the area for years.
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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, who has “Executive Deputy Directors” running state agencies, lost in court on Wednesday. Hobbs has used the tactic to avoid more nominees being rejected by the Republican-led Senate Committee on Director Nominations.
The Superior Court of Arizona in Maricopa County said the current leaders of these agencies are “de facto” and “in violation of Arizona law.” Thirteen agency leaders are considered EDDs; however, Hobbs is not obligated to give nominations for directors to the committee just yet as arguments on that will be in late July or early August, according to Capitol Media Services.
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Republican U.S. Senate Candidate Kari Lake held a rally at Sonny’s Boxing Gym in Goodyear, near the Avondale border in the heart of the Latino community there. Conservative UFC Hall of Famer Tito Ortiz joined her at the event, which was hosted by Latinos for Lake.
The gym was packed with mostly Hispanic supporters from the West Valley, many of whom told The Sun Times they support Lake because they believe she will fight for them.
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Arizona Democratic Reps. Analise Ortiz and Oscar De Los Santos were found in violation of the House’s “standards of order and decorum.”
The Center Square reported in April that protests among Democratic lawmakers broke out on the House floor after one of the efforts to vote on the 1864 abortion law repeal was shot down.
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President Joe Biden’s proclamation limiting the number of asylum seekers each day at the southern border sparked a range of reactions from politicians and groups in Arizona.
Biden said the United States will not allow people to claim asylum if the average daily number of those seeking asylum passes 2,500 average in a week, according to the White House. According to the Department of Homeland Security, some exceptions include those with “exceptionally compelling circumstances” such as a “victim of a severe form of trafficking,” those facing extreme medical or safety threats and “unaccompanied children.” DHS also says that those who use the CBP One app will also be considered exempt from the limit.
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Arizona lawmakers passed the “Secure the Border Act” on Tuesday, and it will now head to the ballot. It passed with 31 Republicans and 29 Democrats voting along party lines.
The resolution will be on the ballot for voters to have the final say on the act, which includes proposals ranging from making illegally crossing the border a state crime to stronger laws related to illicit fentanyl and e-verify. The Tucson sector is considered a hotbed for migrant encounters, according to federal government data.
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A poll published on Tuesday claims voters in the Grand Canyon State are evenly split on how to vote for a potential referendum that would enshrine the right to abortion into the Arizona Constitution.
Pollsters at Noble Predictive Insights (NPI) asked 1,003 registered Arizona voters to determine how public opinion on abortion, and specifically the possible abortion referendum, has changed since the Arizona Supreme Court allowed an 1864 abortion law to become active.
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In a 31-29 vote Tuesday afternoon, Arizona lawmakers approved House Concurrent Resolution 2060 (HCR 2060), known as the “Secure the Border Act.” The resolution aims to give local law enforcement the authority to verify the immigration status of individuals during lawful stops, detentions, or arrests if there was probable cause that they were in the country illegally.
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A lithium company celebrated the opening of a new research center in Tempe last week.
Arizona Lithium, which is hoping to further the “The Big Sandy” lithium mining project in northwestern Arizona, opened the center intending to research “extraction of lithium” methods for the local deposit as well as the Prairie Project in Canada, according to a news release from the Arizona Commerce Authority.
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Five Republican committee members on a special House panel initiated impeachment proceedings against Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes on Friday. The lawmakers accused her of abuse of power, neglect of duties, and malfeasance in office.
State Representative Jacqueline Parker (R-Mesa), who chairs the panel, announced the release of a 102-page report detailing these allegations, which has stirred significant political controversy.
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Southern Arizona could be getting a new military project soon.
The United States Air Force is planning to add its third Special Operations Command “power projection wing” at the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson.
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The Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed in a legal filing the Arizona State Legislature is powerless to prevent the designation of nearly 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon as a national monument.
Federal prosecutor Michael Sawyer claimed to U.S. District Court Judge Stephen McNamee that a lawsuit launched by Arizona lawmakers, led by Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert), does not have standing because only the U.S. Congress could override President Joe Biden’s decision to create the monument, according to a report by Capitol Media Services.
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Arizona State University continues to ask potential job candidates questions regarding their commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion despite a board policy prohibiting the use of diversity statements in hiring, according to a document obtained by The College Fix.
In August 2023, the Arizona Board of Regents decided public universities in the state can no longer require applicants to submit diversity statements.
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The likely vote on a proposed state constitutional amendment that would make it a right to have an abortion in Arizona has garnered national attention, including from a top congressional Democrat.
House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, who visited Arizona on Thursday and held a brief roundtable with Congressman Greg Stanton, The Center Square reported.
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Democrats continue to make abortion a top issue of their campaign in the 2024 election in Arizona.
Congressman Greg Stanton was joined by United States House of Representative Democratic Minority Whip Katherine Clark and abortion access advocates for a roundtable on the issue on Thursday.
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The City of Phoenix on Wednesday approved an ordinance that will ban the homeless from camping within 500 feet schools, businesses that provide child care, shelters or parks.
Effective on September 1, the ordinance was approved unanimously by the Phoenix City Council according to KTAR News, which reported violators “will face a $100 fine for the class 3 misdemeanor.”
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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes claimed this week that she is “fighting so hard” to preserve abortion access to prevent Arizona from following Texas’ path of banning the practice after the child’s heartbeat is detected, according to an article published Wednesday.
Mayes made the remarks to the Austin American-Statesman while in Texas for a Democratic Attorneys General Association meeting the outlet reported was designed to allow the legal officials “to strategize on abortion access” throughout the country.
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Governor Katie Hobbs claimed last week the “Secure the Border Act” proposed by Republicans in the Arizona State Legislature would drive businesses to neighboring California and Texas, though she did not acknowledge the similar law signed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott in December 2023.
Hobbs claimed the effort by Republicans, which would allow Arizona voters to decide whether to pass legislation that would make it a state crime to enter Arizona illegally, increase penalties for submitting false information to E-Verify and help prevent illegal immigrants from receiving Arizona welfare programs, would “demonize communities” and send businesses to Texas during a media appearance reported by KTAR News.
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Citizens of Mexico who live outside of the country have been invited by the country to participate in its presidential elections by voting at one of 20 locations throughout the United States.
In Arizona, Mexican nationals can cast their vote for one of the candidates in the Mexico presidential election on June 2 at the Consulate General of Mexico in Phoenix.
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The annual point-in-time count of homeless conducted by the Maricopa Association of Governments presented stabilized news for the county.
The count that took place in January 2024 determined that there are 9,435 people who are experiencing homelessness in the county, 57% of which are sheltered and 43% are unsheltered. This figure was a 2% decline from 2023, which marked 9,642 people as homeless. When broken down, there was a 17% decline from 2023 in unsheltered and a 13% increase in those who were sheltered.
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Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes on Sunday joined a number of his counterparts from other states for a Meet the Press panel discussion, and the top state election official claimed that artificial intelligence (AI) will pose new “mis- and disinformation” threats during the 2024 elections.
Fontes told Meet the Press host Kristen Walker, “AI is not a new weapon. It’s an amplifier and a magnifier of mis- and disinformation,” and revealed that his office held a “tabletop exercise” that apparently involved both election officials and members of the media.
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When Albuquerque announced plans to acquire a new fire engine, New Mexico’s governor lauded the “zero emissions” technology while a fire department spokesman called it “all electric” and KRQE 13 gushed about the “fully electric” fire truck.
San Diego’s NBC 7 reported on what it called that city’s first “all electric fire apparatus.” When the electric fire engine debuted in Portland, NBC’s KGW 8 quoted a fire department spokesman lauding the “monumental” “zero emissions” vehicle.
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Arizonans’ pension funds have repeatedly been leveraged to forward racial and climate-related resolutions at publicly traded companies, according to a report from conservative watchdog group American Accountability Foundation (AAF).
Arizona State Retirement System (ASRS) used Arizonans’ pension funds to back environmental, social and governance (ESG) shareholder resolutions on issues including race, gender, climate and politics, according to documents AAF obtained through a public records request. ASRS utilizes proxy advisory firms Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS) and Glass Lewis, who have each expressed support for ESG initiatives.
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New polling numbers show that Republican Kari Lake is still well on her way to win the party’s nomination for Senate.
In a Noble Predictive Insights poll of 364 registered Republican voters, Lake leads with 46% compared with Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb’s 21%. Still, 25% of voters are unsure and 9% are backing “someone else.” The poll has a 5.14% margin of error and it was conducted from May 7-14. The pollster noted that this is a decrease from 54% in February, but more 8% more Republican voters are now in the undecided column.
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The Arizona civic organization Davos in the Desert hosted a “Get Trump” virtual conference on lawfare Tuesday featuring various experts. Some speakers, such as Arizona attorney Mark Sonnenklar and Louisiana attorney Daniel R. Street, focused heavily on election fraud and other illegalities in the 2020 election.
Sonnenklar, who worked as a roving attorney during the 2022 election, began his presentation by going over a precinct analysis from Army intelligence veteran and analytics guru Seth Keshel. Keshel contrasted the numbers of votes for the Republican versus Democratic candidates for president in numerous small precincts from the 2012, 2016 and 2020 elections. Each of the precincts he examined showed similar differences in numbers between the Republican and Democrat candidates in 2012 and 2016.
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The Arizona civic organization Davos in the Desert hosted a “Get Trump” virtual conference on lawfare Tuesday, featuring some of the country’s top lawfare experts.
Linda Denno, an associate dean and associate professor at the University of Arizona who hosts a podcast with Berkeley constitutional law professor John Yoo, spoke about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution of former President Donald Trump for taking home documents from the White House to his Mar-a-Lago residence. Brian Lupo, an investigative journalist who runs a podcast focusing on election corruption and lawfare, spoke about the unfair prosecutions of the January 6 protesters.
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Sheriff Mark Lamb, dubbed the “American Sheriff,” to a short break recently from his campaign for U.S. Senate to grant an exclusive interview to The Arizona Sun Times to discuss his vision, legislative objectives, and strategies for transitioning from law enforcement to federal governance. Lamb and former gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake are the key contenders in the 2024 Republican primary, aiming to succeed Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), who will not seek re-election.
Lamb began by expressing his gratitude for the support and encouragement he has experienced on the campaign trail. “When people see that you are protecting their families, they, in turn, become protective of you.”
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Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego announced her reelection campaign on Wednesday, confirming she will seek another six-year term at the city’s helm.
In a video posted to the social media platform X, the mayor listed recent investments in Phoenix by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the new campus being established at Arizona State University, as well as investments into “cool pavements” and homeless solutions as achievements before she confirmed her candidacy.
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