KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the stories you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.
Transcript
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, greeting, 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, happy to have you with us this morning. And we bring you this as a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our amazing KJZZ news team. Tuesday, May the 26th. Hope you had a nice long weekend, and thanks for being here today. Let's catch up on the news.
Along with APS's proposed 14% rate increase, the utility is also seeking a formula rate that has some customers worried their bills will automatically go up. But as Greg Hahne reports, APS says it's not quite that simple.
GREG HAHNE: APS says the Arizona Corporation Commission would still need to approve any proposed rate hikes that would come from the formula. There is also something called a dead band where the utility can only ask for a rate increase if the cost of providing electricity exceeds a certain year-over-year threshold. APS says the formula is meant to simplify the rate process in the coming years, but critics say that would also mean the public gets less input. APS customer Vanessa Perez spoke against the formula rate at a public hearing last week.
VANESSA PEREZ: Because now, after repeated increases, APS wants the ability to raise rates with less public oversight and fewer opportunities for community input.
GREG HAHNE: At a recent debate, Commissioners Nick Myers and Kevin Thompson supported the formula, arguing it would prevent large rate spikes year-to-year. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Portions of the state saw light showers over Memorial Day weekend, perhaps a preview of what forecasters anticipate will be a wetter-than-average monsoon season this year. Taylor Griffith has more on how monsoons could impact heightened wildfire conditions across the state.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Phoenix recorded 2.76 inches of rainfall in 2025. That's slightly above average for a typical year. Higher rainfall means more vegetation, and when followed by what was a very hot and dry winter-spring season, the risk of wildfire increases. Currently, about 70% of the state is under some form of fire restrictions. So, a projected Super El Niño event later this year is potentially good news for Arizona. Gabriel Lojero is with the National Weather Service in Phoenix.
GABRIEL LOJERO: A lot of that moisture from those tropical cyclones that develop off the Eastern Tropical Pacific may move into our neck of the woods, especially as we head towards the latter end of the monsoon season.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Lojero says dry lightning risk is higher through June and July, but by August, more rainfall and moisture could help put an end to the fire season. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The North Rim of the Grand Canyon's back open, and officials are keeping an eye out for big floods this summer. As Alex Hager reports, they're setting up a warning system to keep people safe when monsoon rains hit the burn scar from last year's Dragon Bravo Fire.
ALEX HAGER: Studies of the burn found there's no new risk to permanent structures or overnight campgrounds, but some sections of hiking trails could get hit by floods, and when rain starts falling, things can get dangerous fast, sending mud and debris rushing downhill. Joelle Baird is a spokeswoman for the national park.
JOELLE BAIRD: It is still safe. However, with a post-fire landscape, it is susceptible to change.
ALEX HAGER: Because of that, park officials have a warning system in place. They'll study forecasts and water sensors to issue evacuations for hikers and campers in the canyon and send text alerts to get people out of harm's way. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A Tucson woman detained last week by federal immigration officers despite her legal status has been released on bond. Democratic Rep. Adelita Grijalva called for Carla Toledo's release, noting she's protected by a federal program for undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children. Grijalva told TV station KVOA in Tucson that questions remain about why Toledo was arrested in the first place.
ADELITA GRIJALVA: What happened, why did they enter her home without a warrant? All of those are, are things that we need to understand because I don't want people that are here legally in this country to be afraid to go out of their homes.
PHIL LATZMAN: In a statement, Grijalva noted Toledo was brought to the U.S. as a 1-year-old and has no criminal history.
Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed legislation that supporters said would protect Second Amendment rights by limiting the kind of information that credit card companies can collect. Matthew Casey explains.
MATTHEW CASEY: The proposal by Republican Sen. Wendy Rogers dealt with merchant codes used by companies that process credit and debit card transactions. Rogers said they're a problem when companies create and use a special code to ID firearms retailer transactions.
WENDY ROGERS: So if you're on a list, say for example for having purchased a firearm because your credit card company put you on a list, how does that then augur for, say, a bank who might want to debank you because the bank finds out that you're a purchaser of a firearm?
MATTHETH CASEY: In her veto letter, Gov. Hobbs said the bill would impair legitimate police work, and she noted that it's not the first time she's nixed the idea. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona farmers sold about $1.8 billion worth of cattle last year, according to the latest numbers from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Greg Hahne has more.
GREG HAHNE: That's an increase of about $300 million compared to 2024. The price of beef rose nationally to about $9.65 per pound on average in April, which is up 13% from a year ago. That's partially driven by high demand coupled with the smallest number of cattle in the U.S. in the last 75 years. Beef production is expected to keep falling nationally for the rest of this year and into 2027. Despite that production drop, the American Farm Bureau projects that demand will continue to go up for beef and that cattle will get heavier, meaning beef will be fattier. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The city of Phoenix is looking for every opportunity to conserve water as it faces record cuts to its Colorado River supply. The city recently installed toilet leak detectors at Fillmore Gardens, an affordable housing community for seniors. When the detectors were installed at another senior community in 2023, water use at the site decreased by 20%. Max Wilson advises the city on water management.
MAX WILSON: Luckily, Phoenix and its partners have a plan. And what we're talking about here today is part of that plan, developing new and innovative conservation measures to ensure that even the smallest water wastes do not occur in our community.
PHIL LATZMAN: City officials hope the program will encourage the public to invest in detectors of their own for their homes.
The Heard Museum hosted a Memorial Day tribute Monday to remember all of the fallen Indigenous service members, including Hopi Lori Piestewa, the first female U.S. soldier killed during the Iraq War. Part of the holiday observance involved Kenneth Cozad Sr., who is Kiowa and Comanche, performing a series of honor songs.
KENNETH COZAD SR.: We want to share it, you know, share this music here like that, so it don't just be stored away in memory like that. Utilize it through our, our, our drum here that I'm using here today.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Heard Museum in downtown Phoenix is home to the first national monument honoring the service and sacrifice of tribal members. It's called the American Indian Veterans National Memorial.
Speaking of remembering, Goodyear Police identified the 77-year-old victim of a fatal collision earlier this month as Penny Orloff. She was an actor, dancer, singer, and author with a career that spanned more than 50 years. As Jill Ryan reports, she had deep ties with the Arizona arts community.
JILL RYAN: Penny and her longtime companion, Charles Long, were bicycling to the park on May 12, when he says a vehicle hit Penny as they crossed an intersection. The driver stayed at the scene. Police are looking for independent witnesses.
CHARLES LONG: I just, just can't believe it. It's just a nightmare.
JILL RYAN: The couple met as opera singers in New York City, created an arts foundation in 1991, and lived together for nearly five decades, most recently in Goodyear.
CHARLES LONG: Everybody loved Penny. She was a gardener. I've got to keep her garden going, which was huge. Cactus garden out here, and I, I've never been a gardener but, you know, some of the neighbors are helping me.
JILL RYAN: In Arizona, Penny worked with the WAM Art Association and the Arizona Authors Association. A recent project was her one-woman show, "Songs and Stories from a Not-Quite-Kosher Life." Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, baseball, Ketel Marte had four hits, including a tying double in the fifth inning and a two-run single in the sixth. Merrill Kelly pitched seven strong innings to win his fourth straight start. The surging Diamondbacks beat the Giants 6-2 yesterday in San Francisco. Arizona's third straight win and eighth in nine games. They'll play again by the Bay this evening, the second of three against the Giants. D-backs are five games over .500 and they're four and a half behind the division-leading Dodgers in third place in the NL West, but they've been climbing.
And that'll do it for this edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast, this Tuesday, May the 26th. I'm Phil Latzman, enjoy the rest of your day, and we'll be back at you to do this again tomorrow. Talk to you then.
