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: Greetings friend, 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 award-winning KJZZ news team. It is Thursday, June 25, and thanks for being here. Hope the week's been decent for you so far, and here is a check of the news.
A Maricopa County judge has reinstated an order that requires Recorder Justin Heap and the Board of Supervisors to sit down with an independent mediator to solve their ongoing election dispute. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky has today's latest.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Last week, Judge Scott Blaney ordered Heap and the supervisors to meet for a settlement conference with a mediator. But he canceled that directive after the Arizona Court of Appeals issued a stay in the case. That paused a previous order that handed Heap a significant victory and required the board to return certain election functions to the recorder's office. The Arizona Supreme Court later modified the appeals court's stay to let mediation continue. In his new order, Blaney directed Heap and the supervisors to meet with Judge Christopher Coury to engage in, quote, "good faith negotiations." Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In a debate last night, Republican candidates vying to represent Arizona's 1st Congressional District say they'll help to get a handle on the economy, and they support President Trump. The three candidates are political newcomer John Truvillion, former Cardinals kicker Jay Feely and former state legislator Joseph Chaplik. Chaplik says his priority will be cutting government waste.
JOSEPH CHAPLIK: Well, day one, first important issue is balancing that budget in DC. Our country is $2 trillion in debt every budget cycle. We need to cut that waste, fraud, and abuse and stop the overspending. We have a spending problem.
PHIL LATZMAN: CD1 encompasses Scottsdale, Cave Creek, and North Phoenix and is one of the most competitive districts in the state, currently represented by Republican David Schweikert, who is quitting to run for governor.
Well, the Pocket Fire located in the Oak Creek area north of Sedona, it's now grown to nearly 1,200 acres. It's still 0% contained. More than 900 personnel are battling the blaze. Officials say it continues to burn in tough terrain, making access difficult and hazardous, and firefighters are watching the weather as winds pick up and there's a slight chance of rain. State Route 89A remains closed from Sedona to I-17 except for residents. Also, the lightning-caused Sycamore Fire north of Globe has grown to nearly 10,000 acres. It's currently 20% contained.
Arizona's error rate in dealing with food stamp applications has worsened, meaning the state stands to lose hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. Also from the politics team, here's Camryn Sanchez with that.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: The error rate refers to both overpayments and underpayments and is calculated by the USDA. Last summer, Congress implemented changes to the SNAP program, including stricter work requirements. Federal lawmakers demanded that all states lower their error rates to under 6% or they'll lose federal funding. Arizona's error rate for 2024 was close to 9%, and the new error rate released Wednesday jumped to 10.8%, which could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding. After the congressional changes took effect, Arizona, in an effort to reduce its error rate, cut hundreds of thousands of people from SNAP, a higher percentage than any other state by far. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Valley Metro and the city of Phoenix are planning a light rail extension west down Indian School Road, and they've asked the community to help shape that route. Connor Greenwall has more.
CONNOR GREENWALL: More than 100 people gathered at Maryvale High School on Wednesday to share their thoughts on the proposed extension, which could connect the rail network to Desert Sky Mall. Among the topics were where residents want the extension to join with the existing lines. Ismael Morales, a local transit influencer known online as "the LA Guy in Phoenix," says he prefers an Indian School alignment that intersects with Central Avenue.
ISMAEL MORALES: The more options that you provide to residents here in Phoenix, especially Maryvale, uh, it could provide access to not just downtown, but to the East Valley.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Morales, who works in Maryvale, says the West Valley community is in need of high-volume transit. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona's new budget does not include funding for a statewide adult education program. As Bridget Dowd reports, that's a loss of about $6 million for community colleges.
BRIDGET DOWD: The community college adult education workforce program helps people who have not finished high school gain the skills they need to be successful in college or in their careers. Laurie Kierstead-Joseph is with Pima Community College. She says previous funding from the Legislature has helped expand the program and provide additional support for students.
LAURIE KIERSTEAD-JOSEPH: Learners often need assistance with things like transportation, or they might need interview clothes or or different things like that. And so, um, being able to do wraparound supports has been part of what we've been able to do with that fund.
BRIDGET DOWD: She says that funding makes up about 20% of Pima's budget for adult basic education. Bridget Dowd, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Public education advocates filed a legal challenge against a Republican-backed ballot measure. That measure would have voided efforts to put guardrails on the state's private school voucher program, and still could. Here's Camryn Sanchez once more from the politics desk.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: The state's teachers union and other public education advocates are backing a separate ballot measure that would put an income cap on voucher eligibility and add other restrictions. GOP lawmakers added a competing measure to the ballot, which would void the other measure if voters pass both. The teachers union argues the GOP measure violates a separate amendment rule in the state constitution and uses a misleading title, which claims to be specifically about protecting education for military families and doesn't alert voters to the part of the legislation which would nullify the union's measure. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona voters added abortion protections to the state's constitution two years ago, but reproductive rights advocates say their fight is far from over. Here's Wayne Schutsky again with that story.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: On the anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, Governor Katie Hobbs joined Reproductive Freedom for All, the group that backed the Prop 139 abortion rights initiative in 2024. Even with those protections in place, Hobbs says abortion rights could hang in the balance again. She pointed to a number of anti-abortion bills the Republican-controlled Legislature introduced this year.
GOVERNOR KATIE HOBBS: Even in the face of Prop. 139 passing overwhelmingly, clearly with Republican and Democratic votes, um, the Legislature still is not willing to to understand that that this is something Arizonans want.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Hobbs says that even if a Republican governor signs similar bills, they will likely be struck down in court for conflicting with Prop. 139. But that would still result in expensive, taxpayer-funded court battles and uncertainty for patients. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona's Attorney General Kris Mayes says her office has indicted close to 300 people for Medicaid fraud crimes. Arizona's Medicaid system was defrauded out of an estimated $2.8 billion through bad actors billing the state for sober living services they never provided. Mayes said Wednesday investigators have only been able to recover about $140 million of that money.
KRIS MAYES: We inherited a nightmare. We inherited the greatest scandal in Arizona history.
PHIL LATZMAN: Mayes says portion of the reclaimed money will be paid to victims as restitution, some of it will go back to AHCCCS, the state's Medicaid agency.
The Indian Health Service is planning to close its Tucson office. Staff from the facility would be relocated to Phoenix and continue to manage more than 28,000 patients from southern Arizona. Tribal leaders are concerned, so too are members of the Arizona State Legislature. Democratic State Sen. Sally Ann Gonzales is a member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe.
SALLY ANN GONZALES: The Secretary of Health, Congress, and everybody else should hear from from a lot of people, not just from one entity or organization. So the more, the merrier.
PHIL LATZMAN: More than 30 of her Democratic colleagues have already drafted a letter asking Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy to delay the stated closure. The agency did not respond to a request for comment.
The Arizona Office of Tourism is celebrating Arizona's 250th birthday with a free digital passport. The downloadable resource highlights 250 popular destinations across the state, from sites of historic significance to local restaurants. Josh Coddington is with the Tourism Office.
JOSH CODDINGTON: We actually reached out to people in Arizona and said, "Share with us your favorite places. Share with us the things you love to do in your community," because the people that live there know their communities the best. They know the hidden gems, they know their favorite places.
PHIL LATZMAN: Coddington says while the pass is intended for the America 250 celebration, it will be available into 2027 and beyond.
In sports, basketball in the WNBA, Kahleah Copper made 15 of 16 from the free throw line and finished with 28 points to help the lead the Mercury to a 111-to-109 win over the Fever last night in Indianapolis. Alyssa Thomas added 24 and eight assists. Fever star Caitlin Clark left with a lingering back injury in the third quarter in a game that got chippy. The Merc split two games in Indy. They head to Toronto on Saturday. In the NBA, the Suns made official their trade into the first round to take Arizona's Wildcat star and Valley native Koa Peat with the 30th pick. The four-team deal also involved the Mavericks, Lakers, and Knicks, the Suns sending the 47th overall pick and two future second-rounders to New York. In baseball, Lu James Groover hit his first major league homer, went back-to-back with Ketel Marte in a six-run fourth inning to lead the D-backs to a 9-4 win over the Cardinals last night in St. Louis. They've won two straight, try to take three of four in St. Louis this evening with the finale.
And that'll do it for this edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast this Thursday, June 25. I'm Phil Latzman, enjoy the day, stay cool, and talk again tomorrow when it's Friday.
