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 29, 2026
KJZZ Sun Up Podcast Transcript — May 29, 2026
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PHIL LATZMAN: Feliz viernes, amigos. 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, which brings you a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our award-winning KJZZ news team. It's Friday, the final weekday of May. You did it, the 29th of May, as we head towards the weekend. Let's check the news first.
Well, the Glendale City Council has kicked one of their own off the dais. Members voted 4-3 on Thursday to remove Lupe Conchas over compensation he's eligible to receive for holding another public office on the SRP board. Conchas twice offered to resign the board position if his colleagues would reconsider their vote.
LUPE CONCHAS: And I understand, I know that a lot of you are are frustrated with me and are tired of me. But just because of that does not mean that we can expel me today.
PHIL LATZMAN: Conchas lost his seat despite support from three state lawmakers who represent parts of Glendale.
Well, the town of Superior has forged a $20 million water deal with the mining company Resolution Copper. As Alex Hager reports, that's designed to boost flows and habitat in the Queen Creek watershed.
ALEX HAGER: The deal would put new water in Queen Creek, which is usually just a dry wash. The water would come from a few sources, including groundwater that would be treated and cleaned before entering the creek. Superior Mayor Mila Besich says the agreement came after years of studies and negotiations.
MILA BESICH: These are not small commitments. These investments will help ensure that our creek, our environment, our community and Superior's outdoor recreation economy can continue to thrive for generations to come.
ALEX HAGER: Resolution Copper is in the process of opening up a massive new mine near Superior. The project around Oak Flat has raised concerns that mining work could place a big strain on groundwater in the area. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A member of the Deer Valley Unified School District's board is facing calls to resign after she used a Nazi salute to criticize the board president during a Tuesday meeting. Kimberly Fisher was arguing with President Paul Carver when he moved to adjourn the meeting. That's when Fisher raised her arm into a Sieg heil! salute and mimicked a Nazi chant. In a video posted to social media after the meeting, Fisher didn't apologize, and instead doubled down on her claim that Carver, who is running for the state Legislature, was acting like a dictator.
KIMBERLY FISHER: Legislature does not need some little dictator with some, you know, Napoleon complex or whatever. What is what is it, Pol Pot? You know, is the most uh egregious dictator I've heard of. All I could think of tonight was Hitler, so I said, "heil" or whatever.
PHIL LATZMAN: A local teachers union is calling on Fisher to resign. A former Arizona resident pleaded guilty to theft for continuing to accept thousands of dollars from the state's state school voucher program after moving to Texas. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky has that.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Amanda Mestas received more than $25,000 for her child from Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Accounts program between June 2023 and May 2024, even though she no longer lived in the state. State law requires students to be an Arizona resident to qualify for those dollars. And local court records show she was living in Comal County, Texas, when the attorney general filed the charges. Under the plea agreement, which must be approved by the court, Mestas will pay back $28,000 in restitution and will be placed under supervised probation. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, the chief of Buckeye police says one of his officers has been indicted on charges of aggravated assault. Matthew Casey has details.
MATTHETH CASEY: Among the charges Diego Gonzalez Rosales had faced was knowingly, continuously hiring undocumented people to work at Zipps Sports Grills. Instead, he's now pleaded guilty to unlawfully transferring, possessing, or using an identification to help someone make a false statement about their employment status. The plea agreement says the sides agree that Gonzalez Rosales should serve at least five months in prison, after which he could face deportation. Gonzalez Rosales began working for Zipps in 2006 and was promoted in the last year. He's scheduled to be sentenced on June 1. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, the massive Project Blue data center under construction in Pima County has applied to drill water wells after losing access to the Tucson city water utility. Katya Mendoza has more from the Old Pueblo.
KATYA MENDOZA: Officials with the State Department of Water Resources say that Bobcat Tucson Water, an out-of-state company, applied for two commercial wells in January on behalf of Project Blue. According to its application, Bobcat would pump around 31 million gallons a year for potable and fire suppression purposes. The data center's developers had to find an alternate source of water because the city of Tucson rejected the project last year, including the use of city water.
PHIL LATZMAN: That is Katya Mendoza reporting from Tucson. Maricopa County is launching a new pilot in Phoenix to combat high eviction rates. Kate Brophy McGee, chair of the County Board of Supervisors, says the program will act as an intervention to those facing eviction.
KATE BROPHY MCGEE: We are going to address it in this small area, see if our solutions work and are successful. By definition, both the tenants and the landlords will incur lower costs and less disruption in their lives than an actual eviction process.
PHIL LATZMAN: Brophy McGee says the pilot was adapted from a similar statewide program in Texas, identifying households at risk of eviction and referring eligible residents to housing services.
In an effort to reduce the number of encounters between wild animals and humans in certain areas of the Grand Canyon's South Rim, the National Park has deployed Blue, a herding dog with the Conservation Canine Pilot Project. Jill Ryan has details.
JILL RYAN: For the next three years, South Rim visitors may see the Catahoula Leopard Dog herding and strategically barking at bighorn sheep and elk in developed areas. Park staff say the Grand Canyon wildlife is increasingly getting too comfortable around humans, which can cause traffic and safety issues. And non-lethal management tools like paintball guns or making loud noises have had mixed results. So, while leashed, Blue will work alongside park staff to help reduce human-animal conflicts. South Rim visitors are asked to never approach, feed, haze, or attempt to move wildlife. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, a number of airports across the country are using the same technology that tracks aircraft in real time to collect landing fees. As Connor Greenwall reports, some Arizona lawmakers are looking to follow other states in banning that practice.
CONNOR GREENWALL: The Federal Aviation Administration says the tech is meant as a safety and situational awareness tool and was never intended to be used for revenue collection. In a hearing on Capitol Hill with the agency's director, at least one senator raised concerns pilots would simply turn off the aircraft's data transmitter in protest. Republican Rep. Matt Gress is sponsoring the bill in the Arizona House.
MATT GRESS: We should not be putting public policy in place that in any way induces someone to turn off the ADS-B equipment. I think that's asking for trouble.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Multiple airports in Arizona are considering using the equipment for landing fees, including Falcon Field in Mesa. The city is facing a federal lawsuit over newly imposed fees there. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A bill in the U.S. Senate aims to crack down on fuel smuggling by drug cartels. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Nina Kravinsky has more on that.
NINA KRAVINSKY: The bill calls for a report from the Defense Department on the practice of fuel smuggling, which officials say has become an increasingly important source of revenue for Mexico-based drug cartels. Government officials on both sides of the border have been calling attention to the practice, which can involve cartels illegally tapping pipelines and bribing employees of Mexico's state-run gas company. An alert from the U.S. Treasury Department last year accused cartels of then selling that stolen crude oil to complicit U.S.-based oil and natural gas companies near the border. Mexican authorities have arrested several people over the past year suspected of being involved with fuel smuggling. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, in baseball, the ASU men's team begins their quest for a College World Series appearance in the NCAA's Lincoln Regional this evening in Nebraska. The Sun Devils will start off against Ole Miss in the four-team double-elimination bracket, which also includes Nebraska and South Dakota State. First pitch at 6:00 p.m. Arizona time.
Meanwhile, in the Majors, the streaking Diamondbacks have won five straight and 10 of 11, start a weekend series in Seattle tonight against the Mariners. Arizona is tied with San Diego in second place in the National League West.
In basketball, the Mercury try again tonight in New York, the second of back-to-back games against the Liberty, which handed Phoenix its sixth loss in seven games in the opening contest on Wednesday.
And that will do it for this edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast. On this Friday, May 29, I'm Phil Latzman. Have a terrific weekend, and we'll be back at you to do this again on Monday. Talk to you then.
