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. 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, a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. It is Tuesday, July the 7th. Glad to have you here. Lots to talk about, and here comes the news.
First on the mind is the extreme heat warning, which is in effect for Maricopa County through Thursday evening. Mark O'Mally is with the National Weather Service in Phoenix. He says a ridge of high pressure is pushing temperatures well above 110 degrees for much of this week.
MARK O'MALLY: We advise people, if you need to get outside, do your outdoor activities early in the morning and try to spend your afternoons in the air conditioning.
PHIL LATZMAN: O'Mally says temperatures will cool just slightly towards the end of the week, but he says there are no real chances of rain for the next several days in the forecast, though it does appear there are some monsoon activity chances for next week.
Valley cities say the Arizona Water Banking Authority won't tell them how much water they can get from underground reserves in the event of Colorado River shortages. As Alex Hager reports, the agency is holding a special meeting today to discuss that issue.
ALEX HAGER: Taxpayers have been funding a program to store excess Colorado River water since the '90s with the idea that it could be used as a backup if there were cuts to the river's supply. Now big cuts are likely months away, and cities say they're not being told whether they can get the water they're legally owed. Warren Tenney runs the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association.
WARREN TENNEY: There should be no question about this. This is the purpose of why the water was stored. So why is it even being questioned?
ALEX HAGER: Tenney's group represents 10 major Valley cities, including Phoenix, Scottsdale, Mesa, and Glendale. He says it's hard for them to prepare for shortages without more information. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Two Democrats and one Republican running for various congressional seats have missed the deadline to file financial disclosures explaining how they make their money. From the politics desk, Camryn Sanchez reports.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Congressional candidates and members of Congress must file financial disclosure reports annually. They outline each person's income, investments, and debts. The reports are meant to eliminate potential conflicts of interest and provide information on politicians' finances.
Democratic candidate Kai Newkirk is running for Congress in District 4 against incumbent Greg Stanton and missed the May 15 filing deadline, as did Republican CD5 candidate Daniel Keenen and Democratic CD1 candidate Rick McCartney. Keenen hopes to replace outgoing Congressman Andy Biggs, and McCartney is running to replace outgoing Congressman David Schweikert. Both Biggs and Schweikert are leaving Congress to run for governor. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Pocket Fire in the Oak Creek area north of Sedona is still burning. It's now scorched more than 26,000 acres; it's 48% contained. Over 1,200 personnel are still battling the blaze, and Oak Creek Canyon remains on high alert for evacuation. State Route 89A remains closed from Sedona to I-17, except for residents.
A group — a new group handing out free American flags to Arizonans is actually part of a conservative group, Turning Point USA's latest effort to harvest voter data ahead of the 2026 election. From the politics team, again here is Wayne Schutsky.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: On July 4t, volunteers at a tent marked "Fly the Flag" at Roadrunner Park in Phoenix encouraged people to check their voter registration status. In exchange, they could receive a free flag. A volunteer who identified himself as Keith said people could check their status on Maricopa County's website or through flytheflag.com.
KEITH: Either one works. Fly the Flag is a privately funded initiative. It's nonpartisan.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: But the group does have partisan connections. Fly the Flag's website links back to Turning Point Action, a political group that has endorsed dozens of Republican candidates running in Arizona. And Fly the Flag's website uses a voter registration check form created by a new nonprofit run by former Turning Point employees. Data plugged into that form, like addresses and phone numbers, can later be used for get-out-the-vote efforts and donation requests. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Gov. Katie Hobbs's campaign is trying to paint her opponent as a debate dodger. But as Camryn Sanchez comes back to tell us, that's what he is saying about her.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Four Republicans are competing in the Republican gubernatorial primary, and the winner will face Hobbs in November. Congressman Andy Biggs is a frontrunner, and the Hobbs campaign is going after him for skipping out on a recent candidate forum organized by Sun City West Republicans. But the group's vice president, Linda Barnes, said Biggs never committed to that forum or promised to participate.
Meanwhile, Hobbs hasn't agreed to do any debates or candidate forums this cycle, and she notably refused to debate her Republican opponent, Kari Lake, in 2022. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Arizona Supreme Court has ruled that car insurance companies can block customers from stacking multiple policies to cover one collision. Greg Hahne has details.
GREG HAHNE: The case surrounds an incident from 2019 where a passenger in a vehicle suffered injuries leading to healthcare costs higher than what his auto policy with State Farm would cover. So he tried stacking underinsured policies purchased by his parents. State Farm denied the attempt, saying their rules prohibited stacking multiple policies in one household. The state's high court opinion says that State Farm's rules comply with Arizona laws, which allow insurance companies to block customers from stacking policies for one collision. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Federal land agencies are testing dozens of pilot projects to try and get better data on how many people are hiking, camping, or sightseeing on public lands. The Mountain West News Bureau's Rachel Cohen reports.
RACHEL COHEN: Federal employees might normally post up at a trailhead or count cars to track the numbers of people visiting parks or forests, but those techniques don't capture all visitors, especially in less popular areas. Last year, Congress passed a law directing agencies to create better monitoring methods. The Interior Department is looking at several, including digital mobility data. Spencer Wood directs the Outdoor Recreation and Data Lab at the University of Washington. He says this can include aggregated cell phone data and public social media.
SPENCER WOOD: If it's the photograph that says they're out having a great time mountain biking, that's useful information.
RACHEL COHEN: Wood says another option is tracking how many people participate in virtual citizen science projects on public lands. Federal agencies say these newer techniques are promising but need more studying. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I'm Rachel Cohen.
PHIL LATZMAN: The city of Tucson is switching from fireworks to drones for its annual Fourth of July display next year. And as Taylor Griffith reports, that could help free up firefighting personnel on the busiest night of the year.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Tucson's assistant fire chief, Paul Moore, says his department responded to 95 fire-related incidents on the Fourth.
PAUL MOORE: That's a 60% increase in fire calls versus a normal night.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: The city employs over 600 full-time firefighters, and additional staff is often called in for the holiday. Moore says while he's a little sad to lose the fireworks show as a Tucson native —
PAUL MOORE: From my seat as the — the chief over our fire EMS operations, it means that I don't have to send our specialty wildland team to the mountain every year.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Moore says this would alleviate staffing pressures, especially in years like this, where many local firefighters are already dispatched to various wildfires across the state and the West. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A candidate running for Congress in a deep-red East Valley district claimed Maricopa County's Republican Party is backing his campaign. But as Wayne Schutsky comes back to tell us, the party's chairman says that's not true.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Home builder Daniel Keenen, who is running against former Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb for the GOP nomination in Arizona's Congressional District 5, sent out a press release claiming the Maricopa County Republican Party is hosting a fundraising event for his campaign. In a statement, Keenen says he is honored by the outpouring of support from the county party.
But the Maricopa County GOP says it's not hosting the fundraiser. Chairman Craig Berland told KJZZ the event was scheduled by activist group We the People Arizona Alliance, which shares office space with the county party. Berland says Keenen's campaign is hosting the fundraiser. Keenen's campaign did not respond to a request for comment. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, Max Kepler homered to lead the Diamondbacks to an 8-nothing shutout of the Padres last night in San Diego. For Kepler, his three-run shot in the third is his first since being signed by the D-backs and returning from an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. Three Arizona pitchers, led by starter Brandon Pfaadt, combined for the shutout. The D-backs play the second of four in San Diego this evening.
Basketball in the WNBA: the Mercury are back at it tonight. They'll host the Chicago Sky after a slow start. Phoenix has won three straight and four of their last five.
And that does it for this edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast this Tuesday, July the 7th. I'm Phil Latzman. Thanks so much for being with us, and we'll do it again tomorrow. Stay cool and hydrated out there. We'll talk to you then.
