KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.
Transcript
PHIL LATZMAN: Hi there, welcome to KJZZ’s Sun Up. It’s your daily news update from here in Phoenix on our state and region. I’m Phil Latzman. We bring you this podcast, this daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. Welcome to Wednesday, the 6th day of May as we roll over this week's hump. Plenty of news, so let’s get right into it. Well, Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed a Republican budget proposal. She did that late yesterday and from the politics desk, Camryn Sanchez has the latest.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Hobbs walked away from budget negotiations several weeks ago regarding a dispute over education funding, then asked Republicans to send her their plan. GOP lawmakers introduced that plan over a week ago, which the legislature passed along party lines without Democratic support. Republicans urged Hobbs to sign their proposal earlier in the day. House Speaker Steve Montenegro.
STEVE MONTENEGRO: We’ve been here, we never left the table. We’ve been here working hundreds of hours. Our members, our staff. Many of our members have dedicated, if not all of them, hours and hundreds of hours to this budget. Where has the Governor been?
Camryn Sanchez: Hobbs spokesperson and Montenegro both confirmed that the Governor recently invited the House and Senate to set up a budget meeting. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN:: Well now that both chambers have handed up the budget to the Governor who then vetoed it last night as we just heard, some Republicans want to take a month-long break as the state’s primary election season heats up. The State House voted yesterday to adjourn until June 1st. The break comes less than three months before Arizona’s July primary elections that include many sitting lawmakers who are seeking re-election or running for higher office. Senate Republicans are taking a shorter break. They’re scheduled to return to the legislature next week. Republican Congressman Juan Ciscomani said Monday he believes the war in Iran is almost over. Asked at a veterans roundtable event if the war had been worth it, Ciscomani expressed support for the Trump administration and Israel’s killing of Iranian officials.
JUAN CISCOMANI: The world is a safer place without the Iranian regime that was there and this, this process is becoming to, is coming to an end very close here. We’re going to see the, the benefits in the long run.
PHIL LATZMAN: Ciscomani though did not specify why he believes the war, which has now spanned more than two months, is almost over. Ciscomani’s locked in a tight battle for his Southern Arizona congressional seat with Democrat Johanna Mendoza who’s criticized the war, but said she opposes withdrawing American troops. Well, Phoenix could soon put tighter restrictions on services for homeless individuals in city parks. Katherine Davis-Young has more.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: During its meeting Wednesday, Phoenix City Council will consider amendments to a controversial ordinance first approved in December. Under the new proposed changes, only two events for humanitarian food distribution or medical care would be permitted per month in each park. The City Parks Department says these types of events strain resources and pose safety risks, but homeless service organizations fear the new restrictions would ban essential care for unhoused people, pushing them instead to emergency rooms. The ordinance would take effect in June. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Mesa Gateway Airport’s executive director wants answers following media reports of overcrowding in an ICE facility that’s located there. Kathy Ritchie has more on that and the city of Mesa’s response.
KATHY RITCHIE: On April 28, Mesa Gateway Airport Authority’s executive director J. Brian O’Neil sent an email to the company leasing the building. He said the reports of overcrowding were quote, “very concerning”. The building being used to house detainees has a maximum capacity of 203 people. Reporting from the Arizona Mirror found that the facility housed upwards of 700 people in a single day. The city of Mesa told KJZZ that it’s aware of the concern. However, its ability to enforce local building and occupancy requirements is limited because immigration enforcement and detention operations are federal responsibility. Kathy Ritchie, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Phoenix Zoo says two different border wall projects will restrict the movement of animals and threaten the habitat of certain species that don’t exist anywhere else. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Nina Kravinsky has more.
NINA KRAVINSKY: The zoo says species in and around Quitobaquito Springs could disappear from the wild if construction moves forward on a secondary border wall parallel to the existing one planned in the Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument area. That includes a tiny spring snail species that the zoo’s conservation director Tara Harris says doesn’t exist in the wild anywhere else.
TARA HARRIS: We stand to really lose these really important endangered species and a really culturally important place.
NINA KRAVINSKY: The Trump administration waived many environmental requirements for border wall construction along the Arizona-Mexico border last year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not confirm if a secondary barrier is currently under construction there, but said that construction would not impact the springs. The Phoenix Zoo says another project to lengthen the existing wall threatens animal movement in the Pajarito Mountains west of Nogales.
KINLEY RAGAN: Um, we’re very concerned about what this will mean for wildlife populations.
NINA KRAVINSKY: Kinley Ragan researches mammal species like mountain lions and black bears in that area and says being able to move freely is critical for their survival. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
PHIL LATZMAN: Maricopa County officials are investigating 42 possible heat-related deaths so far this year. The majority of those cases are from March when the Valley had record-shattering nine days in the triple-digit heat. Here’s Katherine Davis Young once again with that.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: One heat-caused death is confirmed in connection to the unprecedented March heatwave and 27 others are under investigation. The dozens of possible fatalities would be unheard of. Over the last six years, Maricopa County has reported only one other heat-related death in March. In spite of the heatwave, Dr. Nick Staab with Maricopa County Public Health points out temperatures this March still cooled off at night.
DR. NICK STAAB: What we like to always focus on is, is the overnight lows as well. It’s kind of that sustained heat with high overnight lows that we see as the biggest risk.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: He says this summer will inevitably bring much more dangerous conditions and says everyone in the Valley should take precautions. Katherine Davis Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Spirit Airlines has ceased all of its operations. That left behind over 40 leased planes at a maintenance facility in Goodyear. Jackie Carlon is with AerSale, the company that owns the facility. She says what’s next for the aircraft is unclear.
JACKIE CARLON: They were probably trying to find some ways to control their overhead and their expenses. So, um, it’s hard to say where they would have ended up ultimately had Spirit gotten any sort of bailout from the government.
PHIL LATZMAN: Carlon says the fate of those planes now up to their owners following Spirit’s plans for liquidation. She says planes are often stored in Goodyear due to its ideal weather conditions. Well, the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors wants a judge to press pause on a ruling that ordered them to give IT systems and certain election-related duties back to the county recorder. But not all supervisors agree on how long that pause should last. Back to our politics team and here is Wayne Schutsky.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Last month, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Scott Blaney found the supervisors illegally moved Recorder Justin Heap’s IT team under the board’s supervision. The judge also ruled on which election responsibilities belong to each office under Arizona law. But far from providing clarity over election duties, the board’s attorney argued Blaney further muddied the water, making it impossible to administer fast-approaching local and primary elections. The board asked the judge to issue a stay as it prepares to appeal the ruling to a higher court. Only Supervisor Mark Stewart disagreed. He asked Blaney to pause the ruling so the judge can force the board and recorder to meet in mediation to resolve their issues. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, there’s been a string of bobcat attacks in neighborhoods near and around the Prescott National Forest in the Williamson Valley. Officials say an attacking bobcat was killed in one of the four incidents, later tested positive for rabies and it’s likely to be the sole responsible attacking animal. Jesse Baker is with the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
JESSE BAKER: In my 12 years in, um, Yavapai County, we’ve only had a small handful of bobcat attacks and, in it’s been very much like lone incidents. Um, so this is definitely out of the ordinary.
PHIL LATZMAN: Three people were hurt and are seeking treatment. Three dogs were also hurt but vaccinated against rabies. In sports, baseball: Eduardo Rodriguez gave up just two hits over seven innings, Geraldo Perdomo added a two-run double as the Diamondbacks shut out the Pirates last night, 9-0 at Chase Field to snap a four-game losing streak. D-backs used a five-run sixth inning to take a 7-0 lead, left the rest to Rodriguez who didn’t give up a hit until the fifth inning and got the win to improve to 3-0. Now back at the .500 mark, Arizona plays the second of four against the Pirates this evening in Phoenix.
And that’ll do it for this edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast on this Wednesday, May 6. I’m Phil Latzman, thanks so much for being here and we will do it again tomorrow. Talk to then.
