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
ANNOUNCER: KJZZ’s Sun Up is supported by Banner Health, Arizona’s largest nonprofit healthcare system. Last year, Banner reinvested more than $1.1 billion in community health and charity care. Banner Health, nonprofit for Arizona. bannerhealth.com/nonprofitforaz
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 Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. Welcome to Wednesday, it is June 17, rolling over the hump, and here comes the news.
A day after attorneys for Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap and the Board of Supervisors sparred in court, a judge has ordered both sides to meet with a mediator in an attempt to settle their ongoing dispute over control of the county’s elections. From the Politics Desk, Wayne Schutsky has the latest.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: The dispute between the recorder and the supervisors has dragged on for more than a year, and ended up in Maricopa County Superior Court last summer after Heap sued the board, claiming it was illegally infringing on his authority. Throughout the case, Judge Scott Blaney has pleaded with both sides to settle their differences outside of the courtroom. He repeated that request in a hearing on Monday.
SCOTT BLANEY: As I stressed before, please keep talking to each other. I know it’d be a miracle if this thing resolved outside of court, but, you know, miracles are still possible.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Towards the end of that hearing, attorneys for the recorder and the Board said they’d be willing to engage in discussions with an independent mediator. Blaney made those plans official, issuing an order requiring Heap and the supervisors to meet with Maricopa County Judge Christopher Coury next week in an attempt to settle the dispute. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A new list of water infrastructure projects obtained by KJZZ shows that surviving the Colorado River crisis will likely take billions of dollars and years of construction. As Alex Hager reports, it calls for more than $25 billion to be spent here in Arizona alone.
ALEX HAGER: The Secretary of the Interior asked state governors to put together a wishlist of water projects. There’s no indication that the feds will pay for them anytime soon — or maybe at all. But it shows that the states have plans to adapt to a shrinking water supply. But those plans come at a cost. Haley Paul is with the nonprofit conservation group, Audubon Southwest.
HALEY PAUL: I think this list demonstrates the overwhelming need and opportunity to keep investing in the Colorado River basin to improve our water outlook.
ALEX HAGER: The list includes a wide variety of projects like water recycling equipment in the Valley, a desalination plant on the coast of Mexico and forest restoration in rural Arizona. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A voter group pushing a ballot measure to rein in the state’s private school voucher program is canceling its signature-gathering effort to back a measure which could protect vouchers. From the politics team, Camryn Sanchez has details.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Public education groups, including the teachers’ union, are pushing a voter referral which would put guardrails on the state’s voucher program, like an income cap for families. Another group called Fortify AZ started their own effort to put a competing measure on the ballot, which would have had a much lesser impact on vouchers, but they’ve withdrawn.
Republican state lawmakers recently added their own proposal to the ballot, which would negate the public education group’s measure if both are passed. Fortify AZ is throwing its support behind the GOP plan to block the education group’s attempt to limit vouchers. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Home insurance rates in Arizona rose 71% between 2020 and 2025. That is the sixth-largest increase in the nation, according to a new report from the insurance shopping tool LendingTree. Taylor Griffith has details in what’s behind those rising costs.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: The cause is twofold, according to Rob Bhatt, an analyst with LendingTree. One, there’s been an increase in catastrophic natural disasters nationwide, and two, steady inflation has made it more expensive to rebuild. For Arizona, the primary risk is wildfire. Bhatt says insurers have compared recent events in California and realized ...
ROB BHATT: It costs a lot of money to rebuild homes after wildfires, and they’re realizing that they might have underpriced this risk in the past and that they need to raise their rates.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Arizona insurance rates are now close to the national average, and more people are moving into wildfire risk areas. The report recommends shopping for more local coverage options and investing in home upgrades to help lower costs and individual risk. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A judge has ruled that the Glendale City Council had no legal authority to remove Councilmember Lupe Conchas from his post after he won a seat on the SRP board. Greg Hahne has more on that ruling.
GREG HAHNE: The Council voted late last month to remove Conchas, citing a provision in the city’s charter saying no member shall hold any other paying public office. SRP pays its board members $60 for every day they physically attend meetings.
In his ruling, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Greg Como said that doesn’t go against Glendale’s compensation rules. The ruling orders Glendale to return Conchas to the Council and forever bars them from attempting to remove him again in relation to the SRP election. Here’s Lupe Conchas.
LUPE CONCHAS: The majority of the Council will decide how they want to move forward, but at the end of the day, the Cactus District residents now have their duly elected councilmember.
GREG HAHNE: The city of Glendale says it has reviewed the ruling and is working to reinstate Conchas. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Maricopa County health officials have recorded the first West Nile virus-related death of the season. As Jill Ryan reports, the rate of confirmed cases is also up from this time last year.
JILL RYAN: Officials identified the victim as an older man who had underlying healthcare conditions. Most people who contract the virus show no symptoms at all. One in five develop flu-like illness. The Maricopa County Department of Public Health says about one in 150 cases may cause severe complications or death.
The virus is typically spread through mosquito bites. There are about 17 confirmed cases of West Nile so far this year, compared to four cases during the same time period last year. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In a unanimous ruling, the Arizona Court of Appeals overturned a controversial fee on Arizona Public Service customers who have solar panels on their homes. Here’s Wayne Schutsky once more from our politics team.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: When the Arizona Corporation Commission approved an APS rate hike two years ago, it also let the utility charge solar customers an extra fee to cover what it called extra costs to provide backup power to those residents.
But a three-judge appeals court panel found that APS never actually asked for the fee as part of its rate increase request. That violated the due process rights of solar advocacy groups and customers opposed to the charge because they weren’t even informed the solar fee was on the table or given a fair opportunity to state their case. The judges also found APS never provided evidence that solar customers are responsible for increased costs. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Last August, the city of Tempe created an age-friendly subcommittee to improve opportunities and services for seniors. Nearly a year later, the group presented its final plan to Tempe City Council. Kathy Ritchie has more.
KATHY RITCHIE: Tempe’s Age-Friendly Action Plan will now go to AARP, which oversees the age-friendly communities nationwide for review. The plan is broken down into eight domains of livability: things like housing, employment, transportation and outdoor spaces. Megan Wilson is Tempe’s community health program manager.
MEGAN WILSON: Finally, one of our most exciting initiatives falls under our outdoor space and buildings. Tempe aims to be a national leader by developing one of the largest dementia-friendly parks in the country. A beautiful and engaging, safe outdoor space designed for caregivers and their loved ones with memory loss.
KATHY RITCHIE: The city’s goal is to implement the plan later this fall. Kathy Ritchie, KJZZ News.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Mountain West is lagging behind the nation when it comes to addressing the mental health struggles new moms face. That’s according to a recent state report card from the nonprofit Policy Center for Maternal Mental Health. The national average is C. Half of the Mountain West states got C grades, including Arizona. The other half got D grades, including Nevada and New Mexico. Caitlin Murphy helped write the report, which looks at 27 measures.
CAITLIN MURPHY: Such as ensuring that maternal mental health screening is occurring and ensuring that treatment is occurring.
PHIL LATZMAN: Murphy says one in five moms experience mental health disorders such as postpartum depression or anxiety, and more than half of those disorders go undiagnosed.
In sports, baseball: Angels’ future Hall of Famer Mike Trout hit a two-run homer and added an RBI double as LA shut out the Diamondbacks 7-0 last night in Phoenix. Trout’s 436-foot shot came in the fifth inning and gave the Angels a 5-0 lead. D-backs had just four hits. Starter Merrill Kelly was tagged with the loss, gave up six runs and 11 hits. Final of the three-game series is this afternoon at Chase Field.
Basketball: Coming off another loss Saturday, the 4-11 Mercury try to get back on track tonight. They’ll host the defending champion Las Vegas Aces.
And that will do it for this edition, this Wednesday version of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast on this June the 17th. Stay cool and hydrated and shaded out there. I’m Phil Latzman. Enjoy the rest of the day, and we’ll be back at you to do it again tomorrow. Take care.
