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: This is KJZZ's Sun Up, your daily news update from here in Phoenix. On our state and region, I'm Phil Latzman, your host for this podcast, a daily digest of the news events here in Arizona as reported by our KJZZ news team. Welcome to Wednesday, dub to dub, on this May the 20th. We are at the crest and heading towards the weekend. Let's keep rolling and do the news. Well, Arizona has seen one of the sharpest drops in Obamacare enrollment since Congress let subsidies expire for the marketplace health plans at the end of last year. Katherine Davis-Young has more.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: About 357,000 Arizonans signed up for health coverage this year through the Affordable Care Act marketplace. That's a 16% drop from last year. Only three other states saw larger declines in enrollment, according to the health policy research organization, KFF. Most Arizonans using marketplace plans had been receiving enhanced premium tax credits, which significantly lowered costs. Now that those credits have expired, enrollees are paying about 60% more per month for coverage. KFF projects enrollment could decline further as the year goes on and people find they can't afford the higher costs. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, Representative Adelita Grijalva is calling on the Trump administration to release a Tucson woman who was detained by ICE on Monday. Security footage shows agents forcing their way into Carla Toledo's home before taking her into custody. Grijalva says those agents did not have a warrant and Toledo was protected by DACA, the Obama-era program that protects undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children from deportation.
ADELITA GRIJALVA: Carla has legal status in this country. She is a member of our community, has dedicated herself to education, advocacy —
PHIL LATZMAN: A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson did not provide a reason why Toledo was detained, in spite of her DACA status, but the agency has defended deporting DACA recipients in the past. Phoenix has launched a public survey to help rename a park and community center. The installments near 35th Avenue and Baseline Road are currently named for disgraced labor icon Cesar Chavez. Phoenix leaders moved to wipe his name from public spaces after the New York Times reported allegations that Chavez sexually assaulted underage girls and raped fellow organizer Dolores Huerta. The survey is open through June 14. The Republican Arizona Senate President says lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs are making progress in budget negotiations, and could finalize a deal by early June. From the politics desk, here is Wayne Schutsky.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Hobbs and Republican lawmakers have spent most of this year stuck in a budget stalemate that came to a head when she vetoed a GOP spending plan that passed out of the legislature without Democratic support. That came after Hobbs walked away from negotiations due to disagreements over education funding.
WARREN PETERSEN: But I will say, now that the governor's back at the table, we are making progress. We're meeting almost every single day.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Senate President Warren Petersen says both sides are now working through the finer points of the multibillion dollar budget plan.
WARREN PETERSEN: It is an incredible amount of work to put a budget together, cause you got to literally go every line. And you talk about the line, and you build the consensus on the line, then you grey out that line.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: He estimated they are 97% of the way to a budget agreement. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, in the U.S. Senate, they have given their final sign-off on President Trump's pick to oversee the country's Bureau of Land Management. We have more from the Mountain West News Bureau's Rachel Cohen.
RACHEL COHEN: Senators voted on party lines Monday 46-43 to confirm Steve Pearce as Bureau of Land Management head, and to approve more than 40 other Trump nominations simultaneously. Pearce is a former Republican congressman from New Mexico. Ranching and energy groups supported him. Darian Fernandez, a member of the town council in Taos, New Mexico, says he's concerned that Pearce could further Trump's oil and gas agenda.
DARIAN FERNANDEZ: Without any care to sensitive, critical habitats for wildlife or the needs of locals in communities.
RACHEL COHEN: Environmental groups raised concerns about Pearce's prior business with the oil industry and his past advocacy for selling public lands. In the confirmation process, Pearce said large scale sales wouldn't be allowed without congressional approval. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I'm Rachel Cohen.
PHIL LATZMAN: A federal judge is once again weighing whether to intervene on behalf of a former Phoenix police sergeant fired for his behavior at an anti-ICE student protest in January. Matthew Casey has the latest on that.
MATTHEW CASEY: Dustin Mullen was recently fired by the Phoenix police chief after spending weeks on paid leave during an internal investigation. Now Mullen is asking to be put back on paid leave and for the judge to consider whether he was retaliated against for exercising his right to free expression. Lawyers for the chief and city write that Mullen was fired for behavior unrelated to protected speech. They also write that his having gone masked and armed to a student protest in Chandler, intending to provoke crime, was antithetical to the police department's core values. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The state Senate has approved Gov. Katie Hobbs' pick to lead the Arizona National Guard, despite strong objections from one Republican accused him of not having enough military experience. Also from the politics team, here's Camryn Sanchez with that.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Lawmakers approved Adjutant General John Conley to lead the State Department of Emergency and Military Affairs. In that role, he'll oversee the Arizona National Guard. Conley has 40 years of experience in the field and was a Jag officer. But State Senator Wendy Rogers insisted he's unqualified because he never served in active combat. Rogers, a former Air Force pilot, argued that qualification is essential with the US currently at war in Iraq. For his part, Conley told lawmakers that the head of DEMA isn't the one leading literal battles when the National Guard is deployed, and Rogers didn't manage to get her Republican colleagues on board with rejecting Conley. He passed with bipartisan support. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: University of Arizona graduates voiced their disdain for artificial intelligence during their commencement address. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt spoke to graduates on Friday, and Taylor Griffith has more.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Boos could be heard the moment Schmidt took the stage. They grew once the topic turned to artificial intelligence and its growing influence in the workplace and daily life.
ERIC SCHMIDT: It will touch every profession, every classroom, every hospital, every laboratory, every person, and every relationship you have. I know what many of you are feeling about that, I can hear you. There is a fear —
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: A recent ZipRecruiter poll of 1,500 class of 2026 graduates found that half believed AI will reduce the number of entry-level roles. Gallup has also been tracking Gen Z's sentiments towards AI and found an 18-point drop in hopeful feelings about the technology over the last year. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, trails at Camelback Mountain are closed after several hikers were stung by a swarm of bees. The Phoenix Fire Department responded Tuesday morning to reports of a hiker stung by a bee at the base of Cholla Trail. Mike Johnson is a spokesperson for Phoenix Fire.
MIKE JOHNSON: On our way to the mountain, we're getting more calls that there were multiple hikers up Cholla Trail and towards the top of the mountain that were also being stung.
PHIL LATZMAN: Johnson says eight hikers suffered minor injuries from bee stings, one transported to the hospital for further evaluation. The Cholla and Echo Canyon trails will be closed until further notice. Well, Sonora, the Mexican state bordering Arizona, is leading the country for cases of dengue so far this year. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Nina Kravinsky has more.
NINA KRAVINSKY: Mexico is reporting 450 total cases of dengue so far this year in Sonora, about 100 more cases than the next highest state. That's far more than the total number of cases in Sonora this time last year, which was in the single digits. The state has so far not reported any deaths from the mosquito-borne illness, which includes symptoms like a high fever and joint pain. Last year, Sonora topped Mexico's states for a total numbers of dengue cases, at more than 2,500 for the whole year with five deaths. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, a big ninth-inning comeback win for the D-backs. Ketel Marte hit a game-winning three-run homered with two outs in the bottom of the ninth to give Arizona a 5-3 win over the Giants last night at Chase Field. D-backs rallied from 3-1 down going into the ninth inning, and capitalized by Marte's game winning shot off Giants reliever Matt Gage, and Arizona improves to 24 and 23. They're over .500 for the first time since May 1st, and they'll go for the sweep today, the D-backs, in a matinee at Chase Field. Basketball, Mercury lose though at home to one of the WNBA's newest teams, the Toronto Tempo, 98 to 93. Three-point shooting the difference in the game. Toronto made 15 of them, and the Merc just 4 of 23. The Tempo's Brittney Sykes had 31 to lead the way, and the Merc drops to 2 and 3 on the season. And that will do it for this edition on a Wednesday of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast, this May 20th. I'm Phil Latzman, thanks so much for being with us, and we will, of course, do it again tomorrow. We'll talk to you then.
