KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning news podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.
KJZZ's Sun Up Transcript for July 14, 2026
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, it is your daily news update from here in Phoenix on our state and region. I’m Phil Latzman. This podcast brought to you as a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. Top of the Tuesday to you on this 14th of July, and here is a check of the news as we know it.
Well first, the monsoon has officially arrived! First significant rainfall of the season around the state on Monday. Officially, 38/100ths of an inch at Sky Harbor before midnight; as much as an inch in some spots downtown over the last 24 hours. Some areas got more dust than rain, though, with winds in excess of 50 miles per hour. And we do expect some more monsoon rain later in the week.
Well, a cooling center that provides services for homeless seniors in downtown Phoenix is seeing more visitors than usual this summer. KJZZ’s Kathy Ritchie reports.
KATHY RITCHIE: Justa Center is one of the only day programs in the city for homeless seniors. Dean Scheinert is the executive director, and he says they’ve been averaging around 150 to 175 visitors per day. And when it was really hot last week, they packed in around 200 people.
DEAN SCHEINERT: Many of them, as you know, have serious health — both physical and mental — challenges, and the heat just exacerbates those conditions.
KATHY RITCHIE: Besides being a cool space, visitors here can get a meal, water, as well as basic healthcare. Scheinert says this summer has been busier than previous years, not because there are more unhoused seniors ...
DEAN SCHEINERT: They’re more informed about where to go.
KATHY RITCHIE: Scheinert says the city has done a better job of getting the word out to older unhoused people looking for services. Kathy Ritchie, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Although Phoenix restricts its most popular trails when extreme heat warnings are issued, danger can still arise when the trails are open this time of the year. Firefighters rescued a pair of hikers Monday who were without water on Camelback Mountain. Fire Captain D.J. Lee says even normal summer temperatures are enough to put hikers in danger.
D.J. LEE: It might not hit that heat index where they shut down the trails, or close them, or restrict the trails, but it’s still extremely hot. The sun here is brutal.
PHIL LATZMAN: Lee says added humidity during monsoon season can increase the risks. Although trails are expected to remain open this week, the forecast does show temperatures approaching 110 degrees for today and tomorrow. They’ll cool off, though, later in the week, and we have rain chances back again.
In a new report to the UN, an Arizona migrant advocacy group argues that conditions in immigration detention centers in the U.S. amount to torture. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Sonora, KJZZ’s Nina Kravinsky has details.
NINA KRAVINSKY: The report from the Kino Border Initiative and Loyola University Chicago School of Law documents instances of alleged mistreatment in immigration detention from recent deportees in Nogales, Sonora. Juan Cuellar with the Kino Border Initiative says recent deportees told his organization they experienced crowded conditions and verbal and physical abuse in U.S. immigration detention centers.
JUAN CUELLAR: They were being denied food, being denied water, they were being denied the access to medical attention when it was direly needed.
NINA KRAVINSKY: The report argues the conditions inside detention centers amount to violations of international human rights standards. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said that any claim of subprime conditions at ICE detention centers is false. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, Arizona is among the 12 states filing an antitrust lawsuit to block Paramount’s purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery. KJZZ’s Katherine Davis-Young has more on the state’s role.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: California is leading the lawsuit, but the other states involved argue the effects of the mega-merger between media companies would be felt far beyond Hollywood. Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says the $110 billion deal would harm movie theaters and audiences.
KRIS MAYES: When fewer films are available, theaters may be forced to raise ticket prices to remain viable, and Arizona consumers bear those costs.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: The states’ lawsuit comes after the U.S. Justice Department said it would not challenge the merger. Paramount has said it is prepared to defend the transaction in court. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says this year’s West Nile virus season could be among the worst in 20 years. And Maricopa County is often the hardest-hit area in the country. KJZZ’s Taylor Griffith has more.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Dr. Kim Olsen Gibbs at HonorHealth says in Arizona, mosquitoes are not a top concern for people in the summer.
DR. KIM OLSEN GIBBS: Here, we think about sunscreen, right? We think about being well hydrated. But we don’t think about bug spray.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: She says that could be why Arizona tends to have higher rates of transmission. State officials have recorded 38 cases and five deaths so far in 2026, which is more than at this time last year, and much more than in any other state. The good news is 80% of people who contract the disease experience little to no symptoms or long-term effects, says Olsen Gibbs.
DR. KIM OLSEN GIBBS: The vast majority of people when, if they do get infected, they may not even know, or have very mild case.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: There is no vaccination or treatment available for West Nile. The best prevention is avoiding mosquito bites by staying away from standing water and wearing bug spray and protective clothing. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A longtime Mesa police officer is suing the city and a behavioral healthcare contractor that was hired to treat his PTSD. KJZZ’s Matthew Casey has more on that.
MATTHEW CASEY: Court records say the officer developed symptoms of PTSD over a 26-year career with Mesa Police. Encouraged by the department and on the cusp of retirement, he reportedly sought help and was referred to therapist Jennifer Cooper. She is accused of grooming and seducing the officer into an intimate relationship that undermined his marriage, and reportedly caused Cooper to lose her professional license. The officer claims he was irreparably harmed when the relationship led to an internal investigation by Mesa Police. He and his wife are seeking a jury trial. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The already strong El Niño is strengthening, a trend with potentially significant implications for this intense and now tragic fire season. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Murphy Woodhouse has details.
MURPHY WOODHOUSE: During El Niño, equatorial Pacific Ocean temperatures are above normal. There are global effects, and in the American West, they are geographically varied. Climatologist Abby Frazier says they often bring more moisture to the Southwest, which can reduce fire risk in the short term.
ABBY FRAZIER: A little bit further north and inland, El Niño is likely going to bring drier, warmer conditions. Putting that into potential fire danger [laughs] — right, drier and warmer — may lead to more wildfire risk.
MURPHY WOODHOUSE: A broad swath from western Colorado to the Northwest is expected to have above-average risk of significant wildfire through the end of August. After that, just the Northwest will remain at higher risk, according to federal forecasts. By October, normal fire risk is expected for the entire country. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I’m Murphy Woodhouse.
PHIL LATZMAN: Some science health news now. Current drug delivery methods often face a major biological roadblock: the human body itself. One University of Arizona scientist has been awarded a major grant to develop a new generation of drug delivery systems that can hide from the body’s immune response. L.M. Boyd reports.
L.M. BOYD: Min-Kyu Kim is an associate professor at the College of Engineering. He began researching how drug carriers, like pill capsules, could reenact how red blood cells travel through the body. Now, he’s looking at how red blood cells flex, recover, and survive in circulation for up to 120 days, compared to how the body’s defense system tends to filter out drug carriers before they reach their intended destination.
The National Institute of General Medical Sciences awarded Kim $1.9 million over five years to develop a long-lasting drug carrier disguised as red blood cells. The study aims to inform how harsh treatments, like chemotherapy, can be both more effective and gentler on a body.
PHIL LATZMAN: That’s L.M. Boyd reporting from Tucson.
In sports, the Mercury dropped their fourth straight last night. They lost to the Lynx in Minneapolis, 104-100. The game featured 23 lead changes, 13 ties. Minnesota took charge at the end, getting a season-high 37 from guard Kayla McBride. Kahleah Copper led Phoenix with 26 in a losing cause. They’re now 8-17. The Merc have off until Friday, though they’ll return home for the first of two games against Connecticut.
Baseball, outfielder Corbin Carroll and pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez will be the Diamondbacks’ reps at the Major League All-Star Game today in Philadelphia. Winners of four straight, the D-Backs resume their regular season schedule Friday in Phoenix. They’ll start a weekend series against the Cardinals.
And that will do it for this edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast, this Tuesday, July the 14th. I’m Phil Latzman. Have a wonderful day, and may the good news be yours.
