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:
Funding Credit: KJZZ's Sun Up is supported by Banner Health, Arizona's largest non-profit 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: 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 for this file named "sun-up-podcast-20260622.mp3", a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. Hey, it's Monday, 22nd day of June. Glad you're here. Hope you had a nice holiday weekend, good Father's Day, and happy summer solstice, if we can say that here in Phoenix. Let's kick off the day with a check of the latest news. Well, Phoenix is rebranding a library in Laveen that had been named for disgraced labor icon Cesar Chavez. The facility will now be known as the Prickly Pear Library. The city got 6,000 responses from the public who were given a list of five potential names to choose from. Phoenix Public Library spokesperson Lee Franklin says city guidelines call for new libraries to be named after Sonoran Desert plants.
LEE FRANKLIN: We tend to follow a process that we put in place back in the 90- early 1960s. Um, back in the early 1960s, the City of Phoenix did um approve a a go bond at that time to add a number of new libraries to our system.
PHIL LATZMAN: Franklin says some of the other plant names may be considered as the city prepares to develop two more libraries in the near future. Well, Scottsdale officials plan to restrict e-bike usage by creating pedestrian safety zones in local parks. Those zones came in response to concerns brought forth by residents. Ignacio Ventura has that.
IGNACIO VENTURA: The city says it's heard complaints about excessive speeds, near crashes, and other risks associated with e-bikes in parks. The safety zones will be placed in Chaparral, Mountain View, and Scottsdale Ranch parks. Nick Molinari is the city's director of parks, recreation, and preserves. He says there will still be spaces to ride e-bikes.
NICK MOLINARI: The parks that were implementing these these pedestrian safety zones have areas where where e-bikers can use their e-bikes and can ride through the park and to different places within the park on their e-bikes.
IGNACIO VENTURA: Molinari says these zones will be set up soon and may be adjusted depending on how they function. Last year, the city banned those under age 16 from riding e-bikes on city property. Ignacio Ventura, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, the nation's nearly 600 federally recognized tribes are now eligible for conservation grants from the National Park Service. And as Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a new digital tool is designed to help them navigate the bureaucracy.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: The Land and Water Conservation Fund has been around since 1964.
STARLIN ROSE MILLER: It receives about $900 million each year from offshore oil and gas royalties, not taxpayer dollars, to support conservation and outdoor recreation nationwide. And yet, I had never heard of the program.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Starlin Rose Miller is from the Little Shell Chippewa Tribe of Montana. She's with the nonprofit Wilderness Society, which launched the new online hub.
STARLIN ROSE MILLER: Tribal governments are so busy. We thought if we could put a hub up, designed in partnership with Indigenous-led orgs, agencies, nonprofits, that it could be helpful.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: The fund has aided more than 47,000 projects in nearly every county nationwide. Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A petition has been filed in Surprise to disincorporate and transfer authority to Maricopa County. Lilly Roseburrough has more.
LILLY ROSEBURROUGH: Amid concern about a proposed DHS immigration detention center and a chemical storage facility, local activists are proposing a petition to give ownership of the city to Maricopa County. Activist Jeremy Helfgot filed the petition and says city leaders are refusing to address the community's concerns.
JEREMY HELFGOT: Mayor Kevin Sartor and the members of his city council have refused every public inquiry regarding safety and hazards in connection with this facility and its location.
LILLY ROSEBURROUGH: Helfgot says Surprise should follow the lead of other cities around the country in pushing back against DHS's purchases. The city has not responded to the petition. Lilly Roseburrough, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, back in January, the Phoenix City Council voted to move the light rail expansion away from the state capitol and instead focus efforts down Indian School Road. Now, Valley Metro is inviting the public to weigh in. Connor Greenwall has more.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Valley Metro will host an open house to gather community input on the proposed. The new route would bring light rail down Indian School Road and end at the Desert Sky Transit Center. Valley Metro's Juliana Vazquez-Keating says the open house gives the chance to hear the community's questions and concerns.
JULIANA VAZQUEZ-KEATING: Community input is such such a key component in this whole design process with the light rail extension. So, we want to get out to the community early and often to hear their thoughts.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Vazquez-Keating says the open house is June 24th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Maryvale High School. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Oh, the population of the city of Prescott has steadily increased since 2020, and with that comes some growing pains. Kathy Ritchie was in the area and filed this report with a snapshot.
KATHY RITCHIE: Prescott has four mild seasons, plenty of outdoor activities, and lots of history. City Manager Dalan Kimble says that's made it a popular place, not just to visit, but to live.
DALAN KIMBLE: It's really risen quickly, especially in these post-COVID years.
KATHY RITCHIE: But for some long-time residents—
DALAN KIMBLE: Folks are finding themselves maybe priced out of areas that they've lived in in the past.
KATHY RITCHIE: Kimble says the city is working to address the housing shortage by building more apartments, condos, and townhomes. Access to healthcare is another issue. There aren't enough providers.
DALAN KIMBLE: And so folks find themselves having to travel to Phoenix or sometimes Flagstaff to get the care that they need. Obviously, as you get older, that's less and less ideal.
KATHY RITCHIE: In fact, 40% of the people who live in Prescott are 65 and older. The city is also building new police and fire stations, as well as more retail to keep up with the demand. Still, change often means give and take between long-time residents and newcomers.
DALAN KIMBLE: There is a way of doing things in Prescott, and now the people who are kind of the ambassadors of that way are outnumbered by people who are coming from other places—
KATHY RITCHIE: With different ideas and sometimes politics. Kathy Ritchie, KJZZ News, Prescott.
PHIL LATZMAN: Triple-digit temperatures and, of course, more, up to 110 or more this week, are here, and safety advocates say it is critical to always check the back seat to make sure kids or pets are never left alone in hot vehicles. Amber Rollins is with the organization Kids and Car Safety. She says cracking the windows is just not enough.
AMBER ROLLINS: When you take into account that a child's body temperature rises three to five times faster than an adult's, and dogs really can't regulate their body temperature either, you've got a recipe for disaster in literally minutes.
PHIL LATZMAN: Rollins' organization reports 51 children have died in hot cars in Arizona since 1990. She says if you ever see a child alone in a car, call 911. During a remodeling project at Glendale's City Hall, workers discovered a time capsule from 1985. The items were unveiled at Bison-tennial South School and included letters from school children and the mayor, as well as a VHS tape and some articles referencing Glendale-born singer Marty Robbins. Patrick Banger is city manager in Glendale.
PATRICK BANGER: Most things, again, were still paper in nature, like phone books and and uh items of of of that uh type. There was a menu from a restaurant at that time, which is still here in downtown Glendale today, Bitz-ee Mama's.
PHIL LATZMAN: The city is burying a new capsule that'll be opened in 2060. It'll include memorabilia from the Arizona Cardinals and the Los Angeles Dodgers, and a copper memento commemorating the country's 250th anniversary. Well, at several Phoenix libraries this summer, select volunteers from the North Valley Symphony Orchestra will be performing in an event called the 250 Years of America. To celebrate the country's semiquincentennial, cellist Liz Galpin helped to put together a selection of American compositions.
LIZ GALPIN: And so I envisioned the classic concert in a bandstand in the 1920s, 1930s. Imagine going to the park, a big white gazebo with red, white, and blue bunting, and we we put together a program that's some patriotic music and then some of that nostalgic music.
PHIL LATZMAN: Between songs, the musicians talk to the audience about themselves, the origins of the music, and fun facts behind the songs. In sports, a rough weekend for the Diamondbacks who lost both games at home. They fell to the Twins 4-2 yesterday. Minnesota rallied after Ketel Marte drove in both Diamondbacks runs early, and the rally did spoil the major league debut of Arizona's Jose Cabrera, who was called up to make the start Sunday. The 24-year-old Dominican held the Twins to three hits in five-plus innings. The D-backs hit the road to begin a series in St. Louis this evening. Basketball, fresh off of snapping a four-game losing streak Saturday against Seattle, the Mercury tries to make it two in a row tonight. They'll begin a road trip with the first of two in Indiana. And that'll do it for this edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast, this Monday, June 22nd. I'm Phil Latzman, thanks so much for being with us, and we'll do it all again tomorrow. Talk to you then.
