Category: The West

Navajo County Confirms Five Men Behind Alleged Arizona Train Robbery Are Illegal Immigrants

Tom Pappert

The Navajo County Sheriff’s Department (NCSO) confirmed on Monday that five men who allegedly robbed a train in Joseph City are illegal immigrants and are being held on a federal immigration hold.

Law enforcement confirmed in a news release that five men were arrested in Joseph City for robbing a BNSF Railway train as it was parked, explaining police received a call reporting suspicious activity and found the suspects in a vehicle containing tools that could be used to break into a train car.

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Past Support by Ruben Gallego for Illegal Immigrants in Military Highlighted by Kari Lake as Bill Would Trade Service for Citizenship

Tom Pappert
Ruben Gallego

Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake highlighted the previous support by Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) for legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants who entered the United States as children to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Lake noted Gallego’s previous support for the legislation after Tucker Carlson posted a discussion of a bill currently in the U.S. House that would allow illegal immigrants to serve in the military in exchange for an expedited path to citizenship.

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Hobbs Announces Up to $30 Million in Taxpayer Dollars Aimed at Tackling Medical Debt

The Center Square
Katie Hobbs

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs launched a program on Monday aimed at “buying back” medical debt with taxpayer dollars distributed by the federal government.

The program is called “Affordable Arizona: Tackling Medical Debt for Working Families” and it is a public-private partnership between the state of Arizona and RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit.

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Arizona Legislature and Runbeck Election Services Reach Election Integrity Agreement, Including 2022 Election Footage

Tom Pappert
Runbeck Ballot Production

A memorandum of understanding (MAU) between the Arizona Legislature and Runbeck Election Services on Monday, with Representative Alex Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) and Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) declaring it will significantly strengthen election integrity.

The legislature and Runbeck, which processes the mail-in ballots for Maricopa County, reached four key areas of agreement that include the release of some 2022 election video, and the lawmakers explained in a press release that the MAU marks “the culmination of an extensive examination of the company’s election processes.”

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Greater Phoenix Area Receives $46.5 Million in Federal Funds for Homeless as Arizona Spending Reportedly Nears $1 Billion

Tom Pappert
homelessness in Arizona

The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) announced last week the federal government awarded over $40 million to supplement programs supporting the homeless. The federal money was announced as state spending on homelessness reportedly nears $1 billion per year.

MAG announced in a press release that “more than $46.5 million in federal funding” will be provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to “help fund dozens of local homelessness programs.” The figure is also $10 million higher than the previous year’s federal commitment, MAG explained.

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Federal Court Upholds Most of Arizona’s Two New Election Integrity Laws Regarding Proof of Citizenship, Found No ‘Discriminatory Purpose’

Rachel Alexander
Register to Vote

Both sides are calling a federal district court’s ruling a win, which upheld most of two new Arizona election integrity laws. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton struck down parts of HB 2492, which requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote, and HB 2243, which requires quarterly reporting of the number of Arizona voters who did not list their citizenship status.

State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), the primary sponsor of both bills, expressed his disappointment to The Arizona Sun Times. “Bolton’s ruling is potentially the most intellectually dishonest, schizophrenic legal determination in the last half century. Bolton has shown a clear disdain for legislative authority, while simultaneously weaponizing the court against common sense. The idea that a person wouldn’t need to produce documentary proof of citizenship to vote in U.S. elections is lunacy. I can only hope that this case ultimately works its way to the U.S. Supreme Court where there still remains a semblance of sanity thanks to President Trump’s justices and the great Clarence Thomas.”

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Arizona Representative Bill Aims to Help Protect Synagogues

The Center Square
David Schweikert

Arizona Congressman David Schweikert is introducing legislation on Friday that would loosen regulations on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program to allow for places of worship to get more protection.

The House bill dubbed the “Warranting of Religious Spaces to Handle Increased Protection (WORSHIP) Act” would allow an increase from 50% to 75% to use the grant funds for personnel-related expenses and allow the hiring of “public safety personnel” to be permitted under the grant as part of “covered expenses.” 

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Report: Arizona Homelessness Spending near $1 Billion, Mostly on Housing

The Center Square

A new report from the Common Sense Institute of Arizona determines that spending on homelessness in the Grand Canyon State is roughly $1 billion.

The think tank analyzed data from both the public and private sectors to see how much was going toward the issue, and the vast majority of the spending, $678-807 million, was directed toward Maricopa County in recent years.

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Gallego Submits Signatures for Arizona Democratic Primary Ballot

The Center Square
Ruben Gallego

Arizona Democratic Senate candidate Ruben Gallego submitted his petition to get on the Democratic primary ballot on Monday morning.

Gallego, who’s a congressman representing Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, touted that his campaign did not use paid canvassers, and only “grassroots” efforts to get 14,186 signatures, which is more than double the 6,556 minimum.

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Bill to Protect Arizonans from Border Invasion Approved by State Legislature Awaits Governor Hobbs’ Signature

Debra McClure
Illegal Immigrants

The Arizona State Legislature has approved SB 1231, known as the Arizona Border Invasion Act.

Senate Republicans celebrated the Legislature’s passage of the bill meant to “protect Arizona citizens and communities from the crime and security threats associated with the current border invasion caused by the Biden Administration’s refusal to enforce immigration laws.”

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State Representative Justin Heap Enters Race for Maricopa County Recorder, Cites 300,000 Disenfranchised Republican Voters in 2022

Rachel Alexander
Justin Heap

State Representative Justin Heap (R-Mesa) announced at the State Capitol during a press conference on Wednesday that he will enter the Republican primary race for Maricopa County Recorder, challenging incumbent Stephen Richer.

Richer has come under extensive criticism for maintaining that there were only minor problems during the 2022 election, fighting back through the courts against attempts to obtain public records about the election and other related election integrity lawsuits.

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Arizona GOP Raises Nearly $250,000 in 30 Days Following Election of Chair Gina Swoboda

Tom Pappert
Gina Swoboda

The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) on Tuesday reported that it raised nearly $250,000 in the 30 days after Gina Swoboda’s election as the party’s new chair.

A post by the AZGOP to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, attributed the fundraising haul to Swoboda, writing that the party chair raised nearly a quarter of a million “in her first 30 days on the job.”

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Arizona Could Have Six Presidential Candidates in November After RFK Jr. Gains Ballot Access

Tom Pappert
Arizona RFK JR

Arizona could have six presidential candidates on the ballot in November after a super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims to have obtained enough signatures for the independent presidential candidate to qualify.

The American Values 24 super PAC confirmed on Tuesday it “met the signature requirements” for Kennedy to get “on the ballot in Arizona and Georgia.”

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Cochise County Supervisors Fight AG Kris Mayes’ Prosecution Over Delaying Vote Certification; File Motions to Dismiss, Request New Grand Jury

Rachel Alexander
Cochise County Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd

Cochise County Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd are fighting back against Attorney General Kris Mayes’ prosecution of them for voting to delay certification of the 2022 election by three days. The pair filed motions last week requesting that the case be dismissed and challenging the grand jury’s finding of probable cause against them. 

In Crosby’s Motion to Dismiss, which Judd joined later, Crosby’s attorney Dennis Wilenchik said, “The criminal statute involved is vague and ambiguous and overbroad, and unconstitutional as applied here to a member of a Board of Supervisors of a County voting in his official capacity. The case was brought purely for political purposes by the Attorney General and is an egregious abuse of her powers.”

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Phoenix Approves Over $1 Million for Homeless Shelter amid Concern ‘The Zone’ Could Reemerge

Tom Pappert

The City of Phoenix last Wednesday approved just over $1 million to Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), which operates the city’s largest homeless shelter.

Phoenix made the payment using leftover federal funds originally earmarked for COVID-19 recovery, but CASS warned the organization still has a shortfall of around $500,000 that could threaten its ability to provide shelter services, explaining that it filed three state grant requests that were denied by Arizona.

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Bill to Ban Sale of Lab-Grown Meat Passes Arizona State House

Tom Pappert
medical science laboratory

A bill to ban the sale of lab-grown meat to consumers, even for consumption by animals, narrowly passed the Arizona State House on Thursday.

HB 2121 by Representative David Marshall (R-Snowflake) passed the Arizona House with 31 votes in favor and 28 votes against, with one lawmaker absent. If passed by the Arizona Senate and signed into law by Governor Katie Hobbs, the legislation would ban any “cell-cultured animal product” from being sold to Arizona consumers for “human or animal consumption.”

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Maricopa County Judge Recuses Himself from Election-Related Case Due to Activist Brother’s Social Media Posts Denigrating Republican Election Lawsuits

Rachel Alexander
Judge

Opposition is increasing to the judges assigned to handle election related lawsuits in Arizona, as their biases are being revealed. After Arizona Senate Majority leader Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) and House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) requested that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Tim Ryan recuse himself from their lawsuit challenging the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM) because of his progressive activist older brother’s posts on X, Ryan voluntarily recused himself. 

The Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus issued an announcement praising the recusal. “His brother, Tom Ryan, is a liberal attorney who plagues social media with his contempt for the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature with an incessant number of juvenile posts,” the statement said. “There is no way anyone who has witnessed the antics of Judge Ryan’s brother, which included case-specific criticisms and commentary, can credibly believe that Judge Ryan could give the Legislature a fair trial.”

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Opposition Increasing to Eliminating Road Lanes in Scottsdale

Rachel Alexander
Bike Riders

The Scottsdale City Council (SCC) has been approving plans to eliminate lanes on roads in the city and replace them with bicycle lanes, known as “road diets.” This is causing a wave of concern from Scottsdale residents over the increasing traffic congestion. A road diet that was approved last March particularly angered residents since it was located in the city’s popular Old Town entertainment district. Mason Gates, one of the candidates running for the SCC this year, has made opposition to them a priority.

Gates spoke at an SCC meeting on February 20 against road diets. He said he had a discussion with a business owner located near the Old Town road diet, who said he was not consulted in preliminary talks before the SCC decided to construct a road diet there. Protect Scottsdale reported that 23 business owners in the vicinity signed a petition opposing the road diet, but their concerns were dismissed. According to Gates, Rich Bonura, the owner of BEG Bakery, told him “he often sees buses, semi-trucks, and other vehicles parked in the bike lane that is intended for cyclists. This can pose a grave danger for cyclists who need to avoid parked vehicles by swerving into traffic lanes where drivers may not expect to see them.”

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Lake Holds 33-Point Lead in Arizona GOP Senate Primary, Statistically Tied with Gallego Among All Voters If Race Includes Sinema

Tom Pappert
Kari Lake Senate Candidate

Kari Lake holds a commanding, 33-point lead in the race to secure the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) nomination to run for U.S. Senate, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Pollsters additionally found Lake statistically tied with Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), who is poised to secure the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, when Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) was included in the survey.

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Catholic Charity Aiding Illegal Immigrants in Arizona Fires Staff After Republicans Rebuke Border Bill

Tom Pappert
Illegal Immigrants

An Arizona affiliate of Catholic Charities USA has reportedly notified 30 of its employees that they will be terminated on March 30 after Republicans in the U.S. Senate successfully blocked a controversial border bill.

News that Catholic Community Services (CCS) of Southern Arizona now plans to reduce its apparent “temporary sheltering and transportation assistance” of illegal immigrants who were released into the United States by government officials surfaced through a memorandum written by Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher to the Board of Supervisors on February 16.

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Arizona House Speaker Wants Voters to Approve Plan to Cut Welfare Benefits for Illegal Immigrants, Strengthen E-Verify

Tom Pappert
Ben Toma

Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) announced on Monday an effort to hold a public referendum for Arizona voters to decide whether to eliminate the possibility for illegal immigrants to receive welfare benefits from the state and to strength the E-Verify system used to prevent companies from employing those in the country unlawfully.

In a speech outside the Arizona State Capitol on Monday, Toma called his Protecting Arizona Against Illegal Immigration Act “one of the toughest anti-immigration laws ever written” and declared, “Our message to illegal immigrants is simple: If you want to take advantage of Americans, go somewhere else.”

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Goldwater Institute Sues Department of Education over ‘Unprecedented’ $37 Million Fine Assessed Against Arizona’s Christian Grand Canyon University

Rachel Alexander
Grand Canyon University

The Goldwater Institute (GI) sued the U.S. Department of Education last week over fining Grand Canyon University (GCU) almost $40 million.

The fine was purportedly for “insufficiently inform[ing] PhD students that they may have to take continuing courses while completing their doctoral dissertations,” GI said in a press release. GI noted that the $37 million fine against the Christian university “is 10 times bigger than penalties the Education Department assessed against Penn State and Michigan State for covering up the sexual crimes of Jerry Sandusky and Larry Nassar.”

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Deer Valley Unified School District Board Member Paul Carver Offers Insights for Parents Concerned with K-12 Issues Today

Rachel Alexander

A couple of Arizona’s largest school districts have been rocked with scandals lately, mainly over administrations trying to implement woke agendas.

However, the Deer Valley Unified School District (DVUSD), located in northwest Phoenix and surrounding cities, has escaped much of the controversy. Paul Carver, who sits on the governing board, said he believes it is because his district stresses transparency and teamwork. He said the superintendent has regular interfaith meetings, which have been transferred to Zoom since COVID-19, and the superintendent and many board members try to include everyone regardless of demographics.

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Almost 200 Voter Registrations in Pima County Canceled for Lacking U.S. Citizenship, New Data Shows

Kaitlin Housler
Vote Sign

A new summary by the Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) found that 186 voter registrants have been “involuntarily purged” for citizenship issues in Pima County, Arizona, since 2021.

The PILF summary, citing records released by Pima County election officials, found that seven individuals within the group of 186 canceled voter registrations had a history of casting ballots across two federal and local elections.

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Arizona Senate Advances Bill to Void Low Turnout Elections, Reschedule Votes to Coincide with Statewide or Federal Races

Tom Pappert

An Arizona bill that would void the results of low turnout elections and reschedule them to coincide with statewide or federal races advanced past the Senate Committee on Elections and will now go to a full vote in the Arizona Senate, so long as the legislation is deemed constitutional by the Rules Committee.

The bill, SB 1131, would nullify the results of a local election that does not coincide with a statewide or federal election if less than 25 percent of possible voters turn out to vote.

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Lawmakers Consider Bill to Prevent Arizona Cities from Defunding Local Police Departments

The Center Square
Police Officer

The Arizona House Rules Committee is scheduled to discuss legislation on Monday that would prevent cities from decreasing funding to their local police departments.

Rep. David Marshall, R-Snowflake, is the sponsor of House Bill 2120, and it has already passed the House Military Affairs & Public Safety committee in an 8-7 party-line vote this past Monday.

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Abe Hamadeh Files Response to Arizona Election Officials’ Motions to Dismiss His Quo Warranto Action to Remove Kris Mayes from Office

Rachel Alexander
Abe Hamadeh

Abe Hamadeh continues his election litigation challenging his 280-vote loss to Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, including filing a Petition for Writ of Quo Warranto to remove Mayes from office. This past week, he filed a response to the Arizona officials’ Motions to Dismiss that lawsuit.

Represented by Ryan Heath of Heath Law, Hamadeh laid out the status of the case in the opening of his 43-page Response. “Respondent Kris Mays, Defendant Fontes, and the Maricopa County Defendants seek to deny Petitioner and many other voters their fundamental rights guaranteed by the Arizona Constitution for the sake of expediency,” he said. “The Maricopa County Defendants also seek to avoid accountability for their failures, which plausibly resulted in thousands (and likely hundreds of thousands) of illegal votes affecting the results of the 2022 General Election for the office of Attorney General (the ‘Contested Race’). Due to Maricopa County officials’ lack of candor, the circumstances permitting Petitioner to bring this action were not known — and could not have been known — until more than half a year after the official canvass was taken for the Contested Race.’

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Retiring Rep. Debbie Lesko Now Seeks Election to Maricopa County Board of Supervisors

Tom Pappert
Debbi Lesko

Representative Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08), who recently announced she will retire from the U.S. Congress at the end of her term, is now reportedly seeking election to the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

Multiple reports reveal Lesko announced her candidacy for the District 4 seat on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors within hours of the Thursday announcement when Supervisor Clint Hickman confirmed he will not seek another term in office.

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Arizona Free Enterprise Club Files Lawsuit Against Adrian Fontes over ‘Illegal’ and ‘Most Radical’ Elections Procedures Manual in Arizona’s History

Rachel Alexander

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) filed a lawsuit last week against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, accusing him of making illegal changes to the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM). Represented by the America First Policy Institute, Davillier Law Group, and Grand Canyon Legal Center, AFEC said the revisions improperly place protected political speech at risk of criminal prosecution and have an unconstitutional chilling effect on protected political speech.

“Secretary Fontes has produced one of the most radical elections procedures manuals in our state’s history,” said Scot Mussi, AFEC’s president. “If the illegal provisions of this manual are allowed to stand, the integrity and transparency of state elections would continue to dissipate at the hands of leftwing ideologues. We hope the court agrees with our arguments and forces the Secretary to adhere to state law.”

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Arizona Attorney General Launches Investigation into Yuma County Broadband Project After Letter from Republican House Members

Tom Pappert
Kris Mayes

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes began an official investigation into the Yuma County Board of Supervisors on Thursday in response to a request to investigate by Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives.

A letter sent on Tuesday, led by State Representative Laurin Hendrix (R-Gilbert), warned about the decision by Yuma County to give a $30 billion contract to Allo Communications (AC), a Nebraska-based company, which did not have a contractor’s license in Arizona.

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Katie Hobbs Used State Resources for Censorship ‘Volunteers’ Who Monitored Twitter for ‘Misinformation’ in 2022 Arizona Elections: Email

Tom Pappert
Gov. Katie Hobbs

An email surfaced by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) on Tuesday revealed Governor Katie Hobbs used government resources to facilitate a volunteer force that flagged “misinformation” ahead of the 2022 election, including on Election Day.

The legal organization explained that it revealed the email through an Arizona Public Records Law request to the Arizona Secretary of State which requested communications between Hobbs’ office and social media platforms Twitter, Facebook and Instagram between January 7, 2019 and January 1, 2023.

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We the People AZ Alliance Introduces AVII Ballot Hand Count Method to Senate Elections Committee, Already Adopted by Maricopa County Republicans

Rachel Alexander
Shelby Busch

The Senate Elections Committee heard a presentation from We the People AZ Alliance (WPAA) co-founder Shelby Busch on Monday regarding its plan for restoring trust in elections by including hand counts of ballots.

Both the Arizona Republican Party, the Maricopa County Republican Committee (MCRC), and Arkansas Republicans have already implemented the AVII method, which is known as the Arkansas Voter Integrity Initiative, in its party elections. Republicans in Arkansas want to make the AVII method law by putting the question to voters as a constitutional amendment.

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Gina Godbehere Jumps into Maricopa County Attorney Primary Race Against Incumbent Rachel Mitchell

Rachel Alexander
Gina Godbehere

Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell will face the same challenger in the Republican primary this year as she did in the 2022 special election Gina Godbehere.

Godbehere announced her campaign last week. The Maricopa County Supervisors chose Mitchell in early 2022 to replace the previous county attorney, Alistar Adel, who resigned from office due to health issues. Adel passed away in 2022. Mitchell has accumulated considerable criticism from Republicans for actions such as representing the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (MCBOS) twice, asking for sanctions against Kari Lake’s election attorneys.

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Arizona House Requests Investigation to Determine if Yuma County Broke Law by Giving Federal COVID-19 Funds to Unlicensed Contractor

Tom Pappert

Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives have invoked their legal right on Monday to request an investigation by Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) over their concerns regarding how federal COVID-19 money was spent by Yuma County officials.

In a letter, lawmakers asked Mayes to launch an investigation to determine if the appointment of Nebraska-based Allo Communications by Yuma County to build rural Internet infrastructure violated both “state law and the Gift Clause of the Arizona Constitution,” in addition to “favoritism and abuse through a fundamentally flawed and potentially illegal procurement process.”

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AG Kris Mayes Backs Federal Rule Prohibiting Controversial ‘Junk Fees’ Brought to Light by Artist Taylor Swift

The Center Square
Kris Mayes

Attorney General Kris Mayes is in support of a crackdown on “junk fees.”

Junk fees are added charges that are typically not shown until a purchase is right about to be made, and it may not serve a clear purpose. The Federal Trade Commission is pushing for a Trade Regulation Rule on Unfair or Deceptive Fees in order to prevent companies employing the controversial practice.

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Lawmakers Consider Bill to Classify Some Fatal Fentanyl Poisonings as First Degree Murder

The Center Square
Fentanyl pills

An Arizona bill would increase the criminal penalties for those convicted in a fentanyl-related death.

Senate Bill 1344, introduced by state Sen. Anthony Kern, would make certain fentanyl drug deaths classified as first-degree murder. This means someone could face life behind bars or the death penalty if they are found guilty, according to a state law. 

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America First Legal Lawsuit Against Maricopa County Over Election Illegalities Raises Issues Other Judges Previously Found Had Merit in 2020 Election Cases

Rachel Alexander

America First Legal (AFL) filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Maricopa County, alleging numerous violations of election law since 2020. Some of the issues raised in the complaint were brought up in similar lawsuits brought around the country challenging irregularities in the 2020 election, where judges found they had merit.

The AFL listed eight issues in its complaint, and mainly asked for declaratory judgment to stop the county from repeating the wrongdoing and comply with law. The first was lack of chain of custody for tens of thousands of ballots, a class 2 misdemeanor. The second was failure to conduct reconciliation as required by law, which refers to comparing the number of votes cast at polling centers to the number of voters who checked in. The third was the failure of the voting center printers, disenfranchising voters. The fourth was the racially discriminatory location of vote centers, disadvantaging Native Americans and whites who lived farther from the locations than others. 

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Bill to Ban Satanic Displays in Government Advances in Arizona as Sen. Jake Hoffman Calls Satanism ‘Antithesis of Religion’

Tom Pappert

A bill advanced on Thursday in the Arizona Senate that would prohibit the display of Satanic displays on public property in the state. The bill’s sponsor, Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), warns that satanism should not have a place on public property as the “antithesis of religion.”

Hoffman celebrated after SB 1279 passed a committee vote in a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

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