As the number of data centers across the U.S. continues to increase, so does public opposition to them and that has some Arizona leaders looking for new standards for what acceptable data center development could look like. An election is underway on whether to form a union at Banner Health, which calls itself Arizona’s largest employer. The West Valley NAACP says it’s filing a complaint with the Peoria Unified School District. Plus the latest Fronteras Desk, business, and politics news.
Transcript
TIARA VIAN: KJZZ, your news and information station in Phoenix and across Arizona, I'm Tiara Vian. Here are this week's stories you don't want to miss.
This is the podcast that's designed to catch you up on some highlights from around the region. Thanks for listening. Here are a few of the stories for the week of Aug. 17, 2026.
As the number of data centers across the U.S. continues to increase, so does public opposition to them. As Greg Hahne reports, that has some Arizona leaders looking for new standards for what acceptable data center development could look like.
PROTESTERS: No rate hikes! No rate hikes! No rate hikes! No rate hikes!
GREG HAHNE: Protests against data centers like this one in Phoenix are becoming more common across the country. Naile Bunge is here today to tell the state's utility regulator it should not approve a 14% hike in electricity rates being requested by APS.
NAILE BUNGE: The public are the ones that are going to have to be at the brunt of making sure that these corporations and these shareholders are getting profits.
GREG HAHNE: The power company says it needs to increase prices because their costs have increased and they're investing to meet the unprecedented demand. The company says it's also asking to raise rates for large users, predominantly data centers, by 45%. In late July, it saw record demand 400 megawatts higher than last year's record. An analysis of early information shows data centers made up half of that growth. William Carter is among the dozens lobbying the utility regulator today.
WILLIAM CARTER: I definitely think that data centers and large users should bear their own cost for whatever they want to do.
GREG HAHNE: Pew Research report shows Arizona is one of the country's top data center hubs with over 180 either operating or in development. Now, cities here are reevaluating the standards they have to meet. For years, many city industrial development standards have been based on those established by a trade group called the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, or ASHRAE. Marcus Hassen, chair of the ASHRAE Data Center Committee, says their standard for data centers specifically are about 10 years old and need updating.
MARCUS HASSEN: It wasn't obsolete. It was still a go-to standard and it was applicable.
GREG HAHNE: But with data center development accelerating, ASHRAE published a new standard last year. And now, it's creating an addendum to address overall water and energy use.
MARCUS HASSEN: You could be consuming little water at the site, but the electricity you consume, that's being produced at a power plant somewhere, right? And the generation of electricity, depending on your geography, that can be very water intensive.
GREG HAHNE: While Phoenix incorporates some of ASHRAE's data center standards in its building codes, it uses recommendations from 2022. Mayor Kate Gallego says the recent boom in data center demand means the city needs to go further.
KATE GALLEGO: We want data centers to care about our local communities and invest in a way that creates benefits locally.
GREG HAHNE: Gallego recently signed on to a pact with about 40 other cities around the world encouraging more stringent data center standards. Those would make sure the buildings aren't built too close to residents, don't cause pollution, and that fossil fuels aren't used to power them.
KATE GALLEGO: We want sustainable, clean energy to power it, and we want data centers to consider and protect our water supplies.
GREG HAHNE: And beyond resource concerns, Gallego says lack of transparency has also led to community outrage.
KATE GALLEGO: I think it's now pretty widely acknowledged that the data center community needs to do better about being a good neighbor.
GREG HAHNE: And protesters like Naile Bunge want regulators to take action to protect the public as data center development continues.
NAILE BUNGE: Individuals are going to have higher electricity bills.
GREG HAHNE: Arizona's utility regulator is expected to decide on how much the state's biggest power company can raise rates by the end of the year. Meanwhile, in June, Arizona's lawmakers voted to pause tax incentives for new data centers for the next three years. But the state saw 113 new applications for developments in the weeks before the pause went into effect. An industry trade group, the Arizona Technology Council, says data centers are a big driver of the state's $35 billion tech industry. The council's president, Steve Zylstra, said in a statement that he doesn't want to see the state abandon data centers, but he acknowledged the moratorium could be a way for Arizona to figure out how to accommodate the tech buildings more responsibly. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: In politics and preservation news: On paper, the city of Phoenix has strong protections when it comes to its historic properties, but despite decades of ordinances and mayoral support, some preservationists find the city has what they call a "tear-down culture." Jill Ryan has details.
JILL RYAN: The city of Phoenix is home to many old and historic properties, some well-known like the Orpheum Theatre, which first opened in 1929, and others less so. Kimber Lanning is a longtime preservation advocate. She's also served on Phoenix's Development Advisory Board, and she says there are many economic benefits to keeping older buildings.
KIMBER LANNING: Including real estate performance, jobs per block, entrepreneurs, small business development, character, tourism.
JILL RYAN: Phoenix has many avenues to preserve historic properties, including its historic property register. It also has a program that retrofits old buildings for new businesses. Lanning says despite those efforts, many old structures are still torn down.
KIMBER LANNING: We lost an entire generation of professionals that left this place because they were looking for something with more culture and more soul.
JILL RYAN: Phoenix's historic preservation officer, Helena Ruter, says people move here from all over the country and they don't always have the same level of attachment to the city's history.
HELENA RUTER: They see it just as a really new city and like, why — why do these things necessarily need to be preserved? We just need more houses! Which I understand.
JILL RYAN: Ruter says the pressure for increased development is always challenging for preservation.
HELENA RUTER: I think we, you know, have a better job to do in terms of public engagement and trying to figure out how to really convey why these places are important and—and why they matter to our city.
JILL RYAN: For Lanning, she says larger projects and developers bring in compensation through fees for the city. She says historic preservation can cost more up front, but that could also save the city more in the long run.
KIMBER LANNING: Path of least resistance. If it's easier to tear it down than it is to save it, you're going to tear it down.
JILL RYAN: And another challenge: properties that are protected by the city face uncertainty when the state or federal government gets involved. Earlier this year, the Arizona Board of Regents, the state's governing body for the public university system, sued to claim eminent domain over the privately owned Louis Emerson House, which is on Phoenix's historic property register. The lawsuit was dropped following immense public scrutiny. The 89-year-old owner, Robert Young, says if the suit had not been dropped, he would have been forced to move the house or face its demolition for green space for Arizona State University's new medical campus.
ROBERT YOUNG: Everybody that sees the house, comes by the house, they love the house. The single exception being ASU and the city of Phoenix. It shouldn't — it's an embarrassment.
JILL RYAN: The city was not named in the state's lawsuit seeking eminent domain, but some who were in support of keeping the Louis Emerson House wanted the city to be more involved in fighting back against ASU and the state, especially since the house is on the register of historic properties. That list doesn't guarantee total safety from demolition, but it does promise owners zoning protections through a special permit review process. Ruter says the protections outlined by the city are actually greater than what federal lists offer.
HELENA RUTER: So most people, when they hear about the National Register of Historic Places, they're like, "Oh, that's the one with the big protection." And it's like, well, actually, that one's the more honorific designation.
JILL RYAN: But she says those city protections can be overwritten by the state or the federal government if they decide to get involved in a dispute like with the Louis Emerson House. A lawyer representing ASU and the state said since the city did not own the property, it was irrelevant to the lawsuit. A spokesperson for the city said in an email that it was up to the courts to decide whether ASU could use eminent domain, and quote, "the city does not have a role to play." Ruter says alternatives were discussed with the owner, Robert Young, at the time of the lawsuit, mainly to relocate the house. But Lanning says the process can be immense and challenging. She moved a historic property herself.
KIMBER LANNING: There's really not a well-worn path for you to follow and for the city staff to be able to jump into action to be helpful.
JILL RYAN: Lanning said she'd like to see the city do more to streamline the process and dedicate more resources and staffing to its planning and development office. Meanwhile, Ruter says her office is seeking additional tools for preservation, including alternative sources of funding. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: And this is the Stories You Don't Want to Miss podcast. Thanks for listening.
Every Wednesday, KJZZ offers up Hot Spots to spice up your weekend. It's delivered right to your phone. Try something new or step out of the routine. Just visit hotspots.kjzz.org to sign up.
In business news: In July, Valley Metro and Downtown Phoenix hosted a series of live musical performances on the light rail B-Line. The concerts were part of the "Ride the Rail" initiative to bring people downtown to shop at small businesses during the hot summer months. Enjoy this ride-along with Connor Greenwall.
CONNOR GREENWALL: On a train platform in the heart of downtown Phoenix, concertgoers are waiting for the concert to come to them. It's part of a concert series put on by Valley Metro and Downtown Phoenix on the light rail. And this concert is the final one in the series.
ANNOUNCER: On this train, you will be able to enjoy live musical performances by talented artists. We are excited. We're happy to transport you to your destination today, and we thank you for choosing Valley Metro.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Passengers shuffled in when the train doors opened. The train was off, and the first musician took over.
JULIAN DAVIS: My name is Julian Davis. Yeah, I play the harmonica, chromatic harmonica. If you guys want to clap your hands to any of these songs, feel free to. Um, if you feel like singing, too, you can do that. I think I'm playing on the way back, too.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Riders like John Allen loved the experience so much, he came back for an encore.
JOHN ALLEN: It's just so nice. We get two hours of wonderful music for $2. Try that someplace else.
CONNOR GREENWALL: To keep the show near downtown Phoenix, it requires multiple train transfers. It starts at the Downtown Hub before transferring southbound at Camelback Road. Each artist performs for one round trip.
JULIAN DAVIS: I can only be myself. There's a song called "I Can Only Be Me" and I can only be me. I can't be Stevie, but I'm just inspired by him. I'm inspired by a lot of music and a lot of artists. Oh, it was really fun. I've never done this event, so I'm hoping I can do it again.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Davis wrapped up his harmonica concert right as the light rail pulled into the Downtown Hub. A quick transfer later, and the second act is underway.
JAKE WILLIAMS: Hello, friends. My name is Jake Williams. I'm an instrumental guitar player, so, um, I utilize a lot of modern guitar techniques such as, um, open tunings and two-hand tapping and, uh, some other things that I usually do in my live shows. Yeah, I played mostly original songs, um, that I've written and released. So there's usually more going on in these songs than, uh, what you're hearing right now, but I'm doing my best with just going solo acoustic without an amplifier, but...
CONNOR GREENWALL: Williams was playing his guitar with as much force as possible, trying to increase the volume. Combined with the temperature, he had to tune his guitar half a dozen times during the show.
JAKE WILLIAMS: There's nothing wood and strings like more than Arizona dry heat. Can't say I've played on, uh, the Metro before. Thanks again to the Herberger Theater for sponsoring this event as well as Downtown Phoenix. Doing stuff like this is really awesome, especially in the age of AI. I feel like people are going to be clamoring for real-world, artistic experiences. So, this is awesome.
CONNOR GREENWALL: The light rail chugged along back towards downtown while Williams plucked "Kashmir" by Led Zeppelin. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: In healthcare news: An election is underway on whether to form a union at Banner Health, which calls itself Arizona's largest employer. Doctors, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants have about a week to return their ballots. Matthew Casey reports on why some clinicians say they need representation.
MATTHEW CASEY: Candice Napier has worked for nearly three decades at Banner Health. She says she was the first nurse practitioner hired back before it was even called Banner. Define the current culture at Banner Health.
CANDICE NAPIER: Depressing.
MATTHEW CASEY: Why?
CANDICE NAPIER: People live in fear. They're afraid. You know, when you, every moment, somebody tells you what to do, you feel like you're walking on eggshells.
MATTHEW CASEY: Napier is the site lead at a clinic in Sun City West. She supports the unionization effort, calling it all about justice.
CANDICE NAPIER: They're not fair, so we have to bring them to task. We have to say, "This is not right. This is—this is bad for medicine, it's bad for the patients, it's bad for everybody."
MATTHEW CASEY: Napier and like-minded colleagues allege they're being forced to work for free. For this reason and more, they're voting on whether to become members of the California-based Union of American Physicians and Dentists, which Dr. Justin Watkins contacted about 16 months ago. The vote happening now is in a right-to-work state where employees cannot be forced to join a union or pay dues.
JUSTIN WATKINS: It was a long list of small, little changes that happened. I would generalize them as being asked to do more with less.
MATTHEW CASEY: Banner did not reply to an interview request for this story, but said in an earlier statement that it has a strong and positive team culture with highly collaborative leaders. Banner has a website to educate employees about unions. A message from the president says Banner is committed to direct relationships between leaders and teams without union involvement.
JUSTIN WATKINS: They're very vocal about, you know, trying to say, "We don't want you to unionize."
MATTHEW CASEY: Banner operates 33 hospitals in six states. The roughly 250 providers voting on whether to unionize work at 31 clinics throughout Metro Phoenix. Their employer is a non-profit that took in almost $16 billion in revenue last year, a roughly $376 million increase from the year before. Watkins practices family medicine at a Gilbert clinic.
JUSTIN WATKINS: I certainly have felt overburdened and burnt out, um, with the amount of work that I'm doing. But the real problem is what this does to patients.
MATTHEW CASEY: Watkins says there is no cap on the number of primary care patients he takes on, and the result is a three or four-month wait to see him. Another issue, he says, is the breakdown of the work week. Clinicians get only four hours to do administrative tasks, which have increased since the pandemic due to patient portal messaging. This forces Watkins to take paperwork home.
JUSTIN WATKINS: We're not happy with the amount of unpaid work that we're being expected to do.
MATTHEW CASEY: Some primary care physicians at Banner end up putting in about 60 hours a week, says Dr. Diana Elizalde. She calls this unfair and says it's not sustainable.
DIANA ELIZALDE: The more overworked physicians are, the more exhausted they will become, the more likely that they will make clinical mistakes, and eventually patients are being hurt. And we don't want that.
MATTHEW CASEY: Elizalde practices internal medicine and is a geriatric specialist at a Phoenix clinic. She says providers have been told there isn't money to hire more medical assistants to help with administrative work. Though the organizing has gone on for about a year, she says it's still a touchy subject.
DIANA ELIZALDE: Some people don't even want to talk about it at work because there's this fear of, if you get on your employer's bad side, your life there is going to be miserable going forward.
MATTHEW CASEY: To get around this, nurse practitioner Candice Napier is sneaky. She also admits taking work home every weekend.
CANDICE NAPIER: And my intention is to have the union pass. I'm very supportive in all ways.
MATTHEW CASEY: For Napier, the drive is about doing right for patients and medicine.
CANDICE NAPIER: Banner is going to be Banner, but the patients — I mean, I've had patients for 25 years. You can't walk away from that.
MATTHEW CASEY: Ballots are scheduled to be counted on September 2nd. If successful, the next step would be to negotiate a labor contract. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: In Fronteras news: Construction has begun on the Trump administration's second border wall project inside Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The border-hugging monument is home to an ancient spring system and already has one steel wall. From the Fronteras desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick has more.
ALISA REZNICK: The National Park Service closed the road to Quitobaquito Springs in July. The millennia-old freshwater system drains into a pond about 200 feet from the border and hosts endangered species like the Quitobaquito pupfish. Russ McSpadden, with the Center for Biological Diversity, says he reached the site by foot this week.
RUSS MCSPADDEN: About 2 and a half miles east of Quitobaquito, I ran into a big, uh, swath of land that has been cleared by border wall contractors, um, and it's, you know, about 100 feet of land cleared north of the border.
ALISA REZNICK: McSpadden's photos show heavy machinery and two sites east of Quitobaquito that have been cleared of all vegetation. Customs and Border Protection says the second wall at the spring itself will be within a 60-foot stretch of land right along the border. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
TIARA VIAN: In education news: The West Valley NAACP says it's filing a complaint with the Peoria Unified School District. As Bridget Dowd reports, this comes after three books written by people of color were removed from the K-8 curriculum.
BRIDGET DOWD: "Summer of the Mariposas," "A Raisin in the Sun" and "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" were pulled from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades respectively. The district says the decision was made based on the maturity of the language, themes, and situations in each work relative to the developmental readiness of students in those grades. But at a recent governing board meeting, several community members raised concerns, including Kheri Cooper with the NAACP.
KHERI COOPER: We are deeply concerned about what has happened here, and we are going to continue to be a cooperative partner to press that we have dialogue regarding Policy 1-204.
BRIDGET DOWD: That policy, passed by the board last year, prohibits the adoption or promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks. Bridget Dowd, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
TIARA VIAN: And finally, from KJZZ's The Show: Not long after executive producer Amy Silverman's daughter was born, Amy began telling stories for KJZZ about what it's like to raise a child with Down syndrome. Now Sophie is 23. Later this month, she's moving to Denver to attend a small university with a program designed for students with intellectual disabilities. Something Amy never would have imagined when Sophie was young, and something she and Sophie are still trying to wrap their heads around.
AMY SILVERMAN: When Sophie was 5, we sent her to kindergarten. I was terrified. Sophie had attended a preschool for kids with developmental disabilities. The district insisted on a similar setting for kindergarten, but I insisted more. So Sophie went to our neighborhood school, just like her big sister. Not exactly like her big sister. Sophie wasn't tall enough to reach even the kindergarten toilets, so she had to pee in the nurse's office. She couldn't write her name. I was positive she'd go missing the first day. I spent my nights wondering if we should get her microchipped like a puppy or tattoo my contact information on her body. "If found, please call."
I spent my days worrying out loud on Facebook, where I'd found a small community of moms of kids with Down syndrome. Every single one of those moms said the same thing: "She'll be fine. Save your energy. Kindergarten is the easy part."
And now, 18 years later, I know exactly what they meant. Later this month, our family will fly to Denver to drop Sophie off at college. I feel like I'm about to leap out of a plane with a parachute that might work, and I'm jumping with my daughter in my arms. Still, it's time. Probably past time.
Sophie graduated from high school four years ago. Public school was never perfect, but it provided structure, a place to be each morning, and a legal requirement that Sophie be included. There is no such requirement in the real world. Despite that, Sophie's accomplished a lot. She attended community college and performed with the school's dance company. She took and passed kinesiology — I can still barely pronounce the word. She performed as Audrey in "Little Shop of Horrors" and Morticia in "The Addams Family." She voted in her first presidential election. On Mother's Day last year, she woke up and announced we were getting tattoos of hearts we drew for each other. Sophie didn't flinch.
She also spent a lot of time in bed these past four years: drinking cranberry juice, eating Goldfish crackers, watching YouTube, and scrolling her contacts, looking for friends to call or text. In a lot of ways, it's felt like Sophie's been waiting all this time to write her own story. And now she has her chance. She'll live in a dorm with a roommate who also has Down syndrome. She'll eat in the dining hall, take classes and go to parties.
I can't picture any of this. I want to throw up all the time. I'm pretty sure Sophie does, too. Instead, we talk about what color fairy lights she'll hang in her dorm room, how quickly she'll be home for fall break. I try to remember kindergarten, how Sophie was the only kid to pop off the floor that first day to say the Pledge of Allegiance, how she made a best friend, how she only escaped from school once that year.
It's been a summer filled with dramatic goodbyes, and even though I remind Sophie that she's not moving away forever, sometimes it really does feel that way. "Hey Mom, let's get tattoos before I leave," she said the other day. "Sure," I said. "What are you thinking of getting?" She paused for dramatic effect, choosing the title of one of her favorite Taylor Swift songs: "Never Grow Up."
TIARA VIAN: This has been the Stories You Don't Want to Miss podcast, made possible in part by the Katina Foundation, BASIS Charter Schools, Palo Verde Generating Station, SRP and the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust. Thank you for listening and for your generous support. I'm Tiara Vian. This is KJZZ. Listen more, learn more online and on the KJZZ mobile app.
