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.
KJZZ's Sun Up Transcript for May 25, 2026
PHIL LATZMAN: Hey, this is KJZZ's Sun Up. It is your daily news update from here in Phoenix on our state and region. I'm Phil Latzman, your host, and it's nice to have you here this morning. This podcast, a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. It is Memorial Day, May the 25th, 2026. All gave some, some gave all, and hope you enjoyed the weekend as we remember those we've lost on this Memorial Day. Let's catch up on what's happening in the news. The principal of Centennial High School in Peoria is stepping away from his role amid a teacher sex scandal there. As Bridget Dowd reports, two teachers at the school were accused of having inappropriate relationships with the same student.
BRIDGET DOWD: Centennial High School principal Scott Hollabaugh has come up in discussions at recent governing board meetings. Some families defended him against two board members who suggested mandatory reporting requirements may not have been met. In a letter to families, Hollabaugh said, "I recognize the pain and sadness our community continues to experience related to the actions of two former employees. The events of recent weeks have also prompted significant reflection about healing and what Centennial needs most moving forward." In an email to KJZZ, a district spokesperson said, "We are incredibly grateful for his service and dedication to our students." Bridget Dowd, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, Douglas McCain, the eldest son of late Arizona Senator John McCain, has died. The McCain Institute first reported his death on Saturday. Douglas was adopted by John McCain, one of three children from his first marriage with Carol Shepp. He followed his father into the Navy as a pilot, but not into politics, instead spending most of his career as a captain for American Airlines. In the announcement of his death, the McCain Institute called him a patriot and friend. Though sudden, the cause of death was not mentioned. Douglas McCain was 66. Well, Arizona-based Amkor Technology is adding 67 acres to its semiconductor packaging plant in Peoria. Two years ago, the city of Peoria acquired rights to develop over 7,000 acres of state land trust along the Loop 303 corridor. The city's director of economic development, Maria Laughner, says the primary goal of the Peoria Innovation Core is to work with developers that...
MARIA LAUGHNER: ...are trying to bring in users or they are themselves users that will create a minimum of 10 jobs per acre.
PHIL LATZMAN: Amkor says the facility's expansion will bring 3,000 high-paying jobs. The plant tests and packages chips made at TSMC's manufacturing complex located a few miles east in North Phoenix. Well, the federal government has released recommendations to improve military veterans' access to public lands and outdoor recreation. And on this Memorial Day, the Mountain West News Bureau's Rachel Cohen has more.
RACHEL COHEN: The Departments of Interior and Veterans Affairs were required by a 2020 law to identify how outdoor recreation on public lands could serve as therapeutic care for veterans. Ben Davis, a former Navy SEAL, served on the task force. He directs the nonprofit Veterans Outdoor Advocacy Group based in Denver. Davis says many veterans find value in getting outdoors, and research backs up that it can help their physical and mental health. But he says the health sector could get more involved.
BEN DAVIS: If the person said, "Well, I've been going on these fly fishing trips," the VA might cover that or at a minimum they could reimburse the provider. You know, like, the the organization that was doing it.
RACHEL COHEN: The report recommends National Parks start a wellness challenge for veterans and the VA offers providers training on how to promote outdoor experiences. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I'm Rachel Cohen.
PHIL LATZMAN: A new regulations on fireworks may change the way people celebrate the 4th of July and other holidays in the Valley. The city of Phoenix recently approved restricting fireworks within a mile of places like desert parks and preserve areas. Council member Kesha Hodge Washington from Phoenix says the change addresses concerns of residents.
KESHA HODGE WASHINGTON: We consistently hear these concerns, including the fire safety risk in some of our drier climates times of year, the impact on families, pets, veterans, and just a broader quality of life in residential communities.
PHIL LATZMAN: The city will also be expanding enforcement tools like seizing and disposing of illegal fireworks. Well, as schools across the state deal with an ongoing bus driver shortage, one Valley district says it's found a way to make the most out of the drivers it does have. Wayne Schutsky has more.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Last summer, the governing board at the Kyrene School District in Tempe approved a $750 quarterly stipend for bus drivers who are absent from their jobs no more than one day per quarter. The district reports that over the last school year, it averaged less than three bus driver absences per day, well below the eight daily absences it averaged the year before. The new policy comes as many districts struggle to provide reliable transportation for students. A 2025 survey of school administrators from across the country by the Associated Press and the University of Chicago found that over 40% said bus driver shortages had a major impact on their transportation operations. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, energy officials from Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado have united in an effort to speed up geothermal development in the region. Geothermal plants drill deep into the earth and siphon underground heat to spin turbines without burning fossil fuels. Michael O'Connor, the director of the new Mountain West Geothermal Consortium, says the states are looking for ways to support the industry.
MICHAEL O'CONNOR: We started the consortium because we could see now that the the barriers to this this industry were no longer technical, but they are policy-driven, they are financial, and they are regulatory.
PHIL LATZMAN: O'Connor says the costs of development have fallen about 80% in the last five years. He sees, quote, "effectively limitless potential" in geothermal power across the region. Well, we bring you news from throughout the state, the most important stories that impact everyday Arizonans. Behind the headlines are real people and we are sharing their stories as part of a segment we're calling Voices of Arizona. On this Memorial Day Monday, Jill Ryan has the story of a living veteran whose military career spans decades.
JILL RYAN: In a Flagstaff retirement community, one veteran sits with his wife and stepdaughter as the smell of barbecue wafts. It's his birthday and as the oldest resident at The Bluffs of Flagstaff, they threw him a party. The sign hanging over the DJ's tent reads, "104 never looked so good."
OLIVER COLE: My name is Oliver Cole, former US Air Force, US Army Air Force pilot during World War II.
JILL RYAN: Cole grew up on a ranch in northeastern Montana off the Missouri River.
OLIVER COLE: I would see these airplanes flying back fairly often. And I, I was five years old and that was when Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic. And I told my mother, there was one flying over, I told her that I was going to do that someday.
JILL RYAN: Since then, he's flown more than 50 missions. He also flew bombers during the Korean War and later worked for the government until retirement, where he met his wife at a Lake Havasu hiking club. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, reporting from Flagstaff.
PHIL LATZMAN: A tribe from the Four Corners region has inked an historic deal with Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, advancing the Trump administration's domestic energy agenda. KJZZ's Gabriel Pietrorazio has details.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: The Southern Ute Indian Tribe in southwest Colorado has entered the first ever TERA, or Tribal Energy Resource Agreement. This allows the nearly 1,500-member tribe to handle its own business without obtaining express permission from the Interior Department. Councilman Andrew Gallegos testified before Congress last month.
ANDREW GALLEGOS: Having the tribe regulate and be the the one that oversees all of our compliance is, it makes us more sovereign has as a tribe. And the economic value that it brings is the health and welfare of our membership.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: That will include the leasing of energy projects and issuing of rights-of-way on the 700,000-acre reservation near Durango. Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, baseball: Corbin Carroll hit a pair of run-scoring triples to increase his big league lead in that department. Ryne Nelson pitched eight effective innings, the D-backs routed the hapless Rockies 9 to 1 yesterday at Chase Field, take three of four in the series. Carroll extends his hit streak to 12 games with a run-scoring triple in the first, and he went 4-for-4, has eight triples this season, most in the majors by far. Ketel Marte added three hits of his own. D-backs have won seven of eight. They head to San Francisco to begin a holiday matinee, the first of three against the Giants today. Basketball: the Mercury have hit the skids, they gave up a late lead, they lost to the Dream in Atlanta yesterday, 82 to 80. A late 9-nothing run by the Dream sent Phoenix to its ninth—uh, third straight loss, and fifth in six games. Kahleah Copper and Alyssa Thomas 20 apiece for the Mercury in a losing cause. We'll continue their road trip in New York on Wednesday. And that'll do it for this edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast, this Monday, May 25th. I'm Phil Latzman, thanks so much for being here, enjoy the rest of the day, and we'll do it again tomorrow.
