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. It is 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 here, and we bring it to you as a daily digest of the Arizona news as reported by our amazing KJZZ news team. Welcome to Wednesday. It is May the 27th, 2026. Let's slip over the hump and start heading towards the weekend with a check of the news.
Arizona's Gov. Katie Hobbs says the Hoover Dam should provide inspiration for the states that have yet to agree on the future of the Colorado River and its allocations to the West. Hobbs visited the dam on Memorial Day to participate in a lighting ceremony as part of a touring celebration of America's 250th anniversary. During her visit, she compared today's fight over the river's water supply to the dealmaking that resulted in the Colorado River Compact a century ago.
KATIE HOBBS: Today's leaders from the seven Colorado River states and the federal government must channel the resolve of those who came before us and take bold action to secure our future.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Colorado River Compact paved the way for the creation of the Hoover Dam, which now serves as a water source for 16 million people.
Meanwhile, the summer deadline for the first mandatory review of the USMCA is approaching. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Nina Kravinski has more on those negotiations.
NINA KRAVINSKI: July 1 marks the day when the US, Mexico, and Canada are meant to agree on whether or what to change in the nearly six-year-old trade deal that binds the three nations. Inu Manak is a trade expert at the Council on Foreign Relations.
INU MANAK: We know the United States is not going to just clearly say, "Yes, let's approve the agreement, it's fine."
NINA KRAVINSKI: That could lead to an extended period of negotiating the USMCA trade deal, which replaced NAFTA under the last Trump administration and keeps much of the goods that flow between the three countries tariff-free. Many of them pass through the Mexico-Arizona border, including produce, cars and machinery. Mexico's economy secretary says conversations with U.S. trade officials will take place in Mexico this week. Nina Kravinski, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
PHIL LATZMAN: The state Senate passed a bill on Tuesday that would create a new licensing system for vape retailers. From the politics desk, Camryn Sanchez reports on the measure that's aimed at cracking down on sales to minors.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: The bill is supported by the vape lobby. It would set up a licensing framework for vape manufacturers and distributors, and move oversight under the purview of the State Department of Liquor Licenses and Control. Currently, it's managed by the Department of Health Services. The bill passed with bipartisan support, but there were a few holdouts like Sen. Mitzi Epstein, who say it doesn't go far enough.
MITZI EPSTEIN: There should be a retail license for all nicotine and alternative nicotine products, but this bill bifurcates them. This says vape is special, it's different — and it's not.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: The bill only establishes penalties for manufacturers and distributors, not retailers. For that reason, the bill is opposed by health organizations like the American Cancer Society. The Attorney General's office works in tandem with DHS to prosecute retailers who sell to minors. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Waymo is suspending freeway trips in the United States, including here in Phoenix. Here's Connor Greenwall with why.
CONNOR GREENWALL: According to Reuters, Waymo says it paused freeway operations to update software to improve performance around construction and flood zones. The company says surface street operations remain unaffected. The announcement comes as Waymo announces a suspension of service in Atlanta after an unoccupied robotaxi stopped in floodwater last week.
In November 2025, Waymo announced they would begin operations on freeways, including in the Phoenix area. Waymo did not provide a timeline for when freeway service will resume, but says it expects to resume these routes soon. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona's Attorney General Kris Mayes has joined a bipartisan coalition opposing a federal bill that they say could make it harder to hold tech companies accountable. Jill Ryan has details on that.
JILL RYAN: The coalition of attorneys general warns that the Kids Act out of the U.S. House would make any case involving social media harms, obscenity, social gaming platforms, and AI chatbots a federal matter. Richie Taylor is with the Arizona AG's office. The bill also removes the duty of care requirement, which he says lets tech companies off the hook.
RICHIE TAYLOR: And a duty of care requirement is for platforms, like these big tech companies, to reasonably see the harm that could come from their products and make efforts to prevent those harms.
JILL RYAN: The coalition supports an alternative bill similarly named coming out of the Senate, which Taylor says keeps the requirement and preserves states' authority. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, back in the 1960s, astronauts trained in the Grand Canyon to prepare to walk on the moon. Now that NASA is preparing astronauts to once again land on the moon, the agency is turning to the Rocky Mountains for assistance. The Mountain West News Bureau's Rachel Cohen has more.
RACHEL COHEN: Before the three Americans on the recent Artemis II mission flew around the moon, they had trained in helicopters in northern Colorado near Gypsum. Now NASA is using the same course run by the Colorado Army National Guard to train future astronauts who could return to the moon's surface as soon as 2028. Everett Balduc is a NASA instructor. He says there are similarities between the Rocky Mountains and the lunar south pole.
EVERETT BALDUC: It's a lot harder to figure out which way is up. Also, the sun angle is really low, so think of like early in the morning or evening in the mountains, you get these long shadows.
RACHEL COHEN: He says astronauts learn to communicate and make tough landings in snow and dust. More than two dozen have been certified on this course, with more training set for this summer. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I'm Rachel Cohen.
PHIL LATZMAN: Federal lawmakers are recrafting regulations around nuclear power to speed up development. Also from the Mountain West News Bureau, Hannah Merzbach reports that could include the materials that are used in plants.
HANNA MERZBACH: The Build Nuclear with Local Materials Act aims to reduce the cost of building reactors. So commercial-grade steel and concrete would be allowed in parts of plants that aren't related to safety, rather than more expensive nuclear-grade materials.
CYNTHIA LUMMIS: That means more opportunities for local manufacturers, suppliers, and skilled workers, while reducing unnecessary costs.
HANNA MERZBACH: Wyoming Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Arizona Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly led a recent hearing on the bill. They say allowing commercial-grade materials won't make reactors less safe. But the Union for Concerned Scientists' Edwin Lyman isn't so sure.
EDWIN LYMAN: If you're bending those rules or you're weakening them, that is going to have safety consequences.
HANNA MERZBACH: He says if the bill passes, safety could be compromised when retrofitting plants with new materials. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I'm Hannah Merzbach.
PHIL LATZMAN: System testing and staff training are underway at the Scottsdale Police Department ahead of an upcoming launch of a phone system that's aided by artificial intelligence. Deputy Communications Director Karen Sutherland says call volume has grown nearly, and the goal of the program is to free up dispatchers to focus on emergencies.
KAREN SUTHERLAND: And so what this is going to do is inform them of options. So they can still have an officer sent out to them if they want, they can have an officer call them if they want, or some people might want to actually file things online and not have to wait for a phone call back.
PHIL LATZMAN: Sutherland says callers still wanting to speak with a dispatcher will be transferred to one.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety cited several dozen people for filming a fatal semitruck crash in Tucson earlier this month. Nick Rommel tells us more.
NICK ROMMEL: Highway Patrol says it cited 67 people for using their cell phones while driving by a fiery truck crash on May 13. A tire blew out on a truck hauling cars on Interstate 10 near Craycroft Road. The driver swerved into the median, his truck flipped and caught fire. According to DPS spokesperson Bart Graves, large numbers of people started to slow down and stop on the highway to film the burning truck.
Highway Patrol responded by citing people under Arizona's hands-free law, which bans cell phone use while driving. Graves says it was the first example of a cellphone use highway deployment in Tucson, but that DPS intends to organize similar details in the future. Nick Rommel reporting from Tucson.
Phil Latzman: In sports, Arizona's lost one of the greatest baseball players to ever come from the state. Bob Horner, a Glendale native and ASU legend, died suddenly on Tuesday. The power-hitting third baseman Horner led the Sun Devils to three straight College World Series, including a title in 1977 when he was College Player of the Year. The top pick in the draft, Horner skipped the minor leagues altogether before playing 10 big league seasons, mostly with the Atlanta Braves. Bob Horner was 68.
Meanwhile, the Diamondbacks did it again. Ketel Marte hit a two-run homeroom in the seventh inning, Adrian Del Castillo added a solo shot, they beat the Giants 7-5 last night in San Francisco. Their ninth win in 10 games. Arizona, however, lost Nolan Arenado to right groin tightness. The slugging third baseman exited in the seventh inning. No word on his status. D-backs go for the sweep today in San Francisco.
And in basketball, the Mercury try to get back on track tonight in New York against the Liberty. Phoenix lost five of six since an opening day win. It's the first of two games in the Big Apple for the Mercury, who play again there on Friday as they finish up their road trip and hopefully try to get things back on the winning track.
And that does it for this Wednesday edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast, this May the 27th. I'm Phil Latzman. Have a great rest of your day and we'll do it again tomorrow. Talk to you then.
