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
UNDERWRITER: KJZZ’s Sun Up is supported by Banner Health, Arizona’s largest nonprofit healthcare system. Last year, Banner reinvested more than 1.1 billion dollars 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, good morning. We bring you this podcast as a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team.
It’s the last day of June. Happy half-year eve on this Tuesday, June 30. Hope the week’s going well so far. And let’s check in on the news.
Well, the Pocket Fire in Northern Arizona has grown now to more than 15,000 acres with 0% containment. Smoke and ash are filling the skies near Flagstaff, and the communities of Oak Creek Canyon, Forest Highlands, Pinedale, and Kachina Village are in set status, ready for evacuation if needed. Chris Clements is in the area, and he spoke with some of the Kachina Village residents who feel anxious as they prepare for possible evacuations.
CHRIS CLEMENTS: At a Shell gas station in Kachina Village, residents like Cheyenne Grabiec say they’re worried. The Pocket Fire seems worse to Graybeak than others that have burned nearby.
CHEYENNE GRABIEC: It feels a little scarier just because the wind we’ve had the last few days and just how dry it’s been.
CHRIS CLEMENTS: Meanwhile, Shell employee Rhonda Gutierrez has been going over the possibilities in her head.
RHONDA GUTIERREZ: I got things kind of planned, like a general idea what I’m going to do, just try to keep it simple. I’m going to stay with my daughter.
CHRIS CLEMENTS: Triston Herrick also works at the Shell. He says he just got a mobile home in Kachina, but wasn’t able to get fire insurance for it.
TRISTON HERRICK: It’s terrifying. I mean, you save up for years and try to get some somewhere in life, and then something like this happens.
CHRIS CLEMENTS: Fire managers say the Pocket Fire could get closer to Flagstaff as high winds continue, though critical wildfire conditions are likely to ease up this week.
PHIL LATZMAN: That’s Chris Clements reporting from Flagstaff. Well, the Arizona Supreme Court upheld an anti-dark money law approved by voters in 2022. But it gave critics one last opportunity to prove the measure violates free speech protections by opening political donors up to threats and harassment. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky has more.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: The Voters Right to Know Act requires organizations that spend more than $50,000 on commercials or other media in statewide races to disclose their largest donors. The Supreme Court rejected arguments from conservative groups that claim the law violates the state constitution. But the justices will let the groups go before a lower court to argue the law will stifle the free speech of their specific donors due to concerns that revealing their identities will result in threats or harassment.
Former Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, who led the anti-dark money campaign, says the state has long had campaign disclosure laws in place.
TERRY GODDARD: And there are no recorded incidents of anybody being harassed or bothered or beaten up, whatever, from a political contribution disclosure.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Goddard said the Supreme Court’s ruling keeps the Voters Right to Know Act in effect this year. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A team of scientists is sharing a rare bit of good news about the Colorado River. They say restoration work in the river’s delta has brought huge amounts of plants and animals back to a part of Mexico that was once left dry by demand for water. Alex Hager reports.
ALEX HAGER: A new study found that around 250,000 trees have been replanted across huge swaths of land south of the border. Karl Flessa, a scientist with University of Arizona, says that brought back a diverse set of bird species — plus bobcats, coyotes and beavers.
KARL FLESSA: It’s really quite remarkable how a little bit of water can go a long way in the Colorado River Delta.
ALEX HAGER: Flessa says the work was only possible because a binational agreement designated some water for habitat restoration, and policymakers should keep similar agreements alive in the future. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Kimberly Yee, who is currently the state’s treasurer and wants to become Arizona’s school superintendent as a Republican candidate for that job, is calling an attack ad against her racist. Yee is Chinese American and is portrayed in the ad with an Asian backdrop, the sounds of gongs and the tagline “empress of DEI,” referring to diversity, equity, and inclusion.
AD NARRATOR: Meet Kimberly Yee. She’s the empress of DEI. Yee led a national shadow government of bureaucrats pushing an extreme diversity, equity and inclusion agenda.
PHIL LATZMAN: Yee says for the record she’s always opposed DEI. She accuses her GOP primary opponent, incumbent Tom Horne, of being behind it.
KIMBERLY YEE: Tom Horne has a long history of lying. He’s lied about his bankruptcy with the Securities and Exchange Commission, they banned him from trading for a lifetime. He lied to his wife while he was having an affair with his mistress, who was also his employee.
PHIL LATZMAN: Horne says he is not responsible for the ad and called for it to be taken down, agreeing that it was racist. Well, a measure to reinstall funding for National Park maintenance has wide support in Congress. But as the Mountain West News Bureau’s Rachel Cohen reports, it may not be enough to get over the finish line before the country’s 250th birthday.
RACHEL COHEN: Many parks are desperate for road repairs or campground upgrades, but annual budgets only cover so much, racking up a multibillion dollar backlog of what’s known as deferred maintenance.
Paul Kusam with the National Park Foundation says in 2020 Congress unlocked a big fix. The Great American Outdoors Act included the Legacy Restoration Fund, $9.5 billion for things like a major bridge at Yellowstone and —
PAUL KUSAM: Improving historic structures, improving park ranger housing, and that’s a project that is happening at Great Sand Dunes in Colorado.
RACHEL COHEN: Last year, lawmakers failed to renew the fund, but now there’s a big bipartisan push to revive it. House and Senate committees signed off unanimously. President Trump reportedly wanted to sign it before July 4, but that’s not likely as the Senate has taken off for the holiday. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I’m Rachel Cohen.
PHIL LATZMAN: The lightning-caused Sycamore Fire located north of Globe in the Salt River Canyon Wilderness Area has grown to nearly 12,000 acres. It’s currently 68% contained. We told you earlier about the Pocket Fire, and as other fires are burning in the West, three firefighters lost their lives, two more injured while responding to the fires along the Colorado-Utah border this past weekend. Among those who passed away was 27-year-old Nick Hutcherson of Glendale. Taylor Griffith has more.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Hutcherson died along with 38-year-old Emily Barker of Michigan and 27-year-old Sydney Watson of Alabama. Two other firefighters are receiving medical care for their injuries.
The deaths are under investigation, but a release from the Department of Interior suggests they were likely the result of a burnover incident. Federal officials say the five firefighters took emergency shelter but were eventually overcome as four different fires merged into one, now called the Snyder Fire.
Today also marks the 13th anniversary of when 19 Arizona firefighters known as the Granite Mountain Hotshots lost their lives in a burnover event during the Yarnell Hill Fire. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Senate Ethics Committee has dismissed a complaint against Democratic Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego. Back to the politics desk, and here’s Camryn Sanchez with that.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Florida Congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna filed the complaint against Gallego in April but didn’t say exactly what she was accusing him of. According to a letter from the committee, the Republican accused Gallego of campaign finance violations and inappropriate sexual conduct.
The committee conducted an investigation and said Gallego cooperated fully. In a statement, Gallego says the dismissal confirms what he’s said from the beginning: that the allegations are right-wing conspiracy theories Luna used to try and weaponize the ethics process against him. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: U.S. Customs and Border Protection is reminding those traveling from Mexico with dogs that they need special paperwork to show their animals aren’t carrying the New World screwworm parasite. From the Fronteras desk, Nina Kravinsky reports.
NINA KRAVINSKY: Dogs traveling from Mexico to the U.S., even just on vacation, need a certificate from a veterinarian in Mexico showing the animal doesn’t have New World screwworm.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture requires travelers bringing pet dogs from screwworm-infested countries to show the animal has been inspected by a vet for screwworm within the past five days. The first cases of New World screwworm from Central America arrived in Mexico in late 2024.
Since early June this year, 27 cases have been confirmed in the United States, largely in cattle. The closest confirmed case to Arizona was reported in a dog in eastern New Mexico. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona’s joined about two dozen other states in a lawsuit against the Trump administration, alleging it is illegally implemented new Medicaid work requirements. Greg Hahne has more.
GREG HAHNE: The states are challenging a rule adopted this month by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The new work requirements for Medicaid implemented last year created exemptions for people with serious illnesses and disabilities.
Attorney General Kris Mayes and other suing states say the federal agencies implemented a new definition for terms like medically frail that aren’t backed by federal law. The states say that will create unnecessary bureaucratic burdens and could cause people to lose health coverage. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, Geraldo Perdomo hit a three-run double, Ketel Marte and Nolan Arenado added solo homers, D-backs held on for a 5-4 win over the Giants last night in Phoenix. The D-backs snapped a three-game losing streak, now 7-0 against San Francisco so far this season. They’ll play the second of three against them this evening at Chase Field.
In basketball in the WNBA: Mercury off till Thursday, they’ve won a couple in a row after a win in Toronto Saturday. But they’ll be without guard Jovana Nogic for the rest of the season. The rookie, who was the Merc’s third-leading scorer, has left the team for personal reasons.
And that’ll do it for this final June 2026 edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast. This June 30, 2026, I’m Phil Latzman, thanks for being here and we’ll do this again tomorrow. Talk to you then, when it’s July.
