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: Hi, 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 KJZZ news team. ¡Feliz viernes, amigos! We’ve made it to Friday.
Cooler temps and rain around the state this week, hoping for more. On this July 17, 2026, before we check the rain gauge though, let’s check the news gauge.
President Trump claimed in an address on Thursday night that newly unclassified documents prove that there was foreign interference in American elections. Trump said China nefariously obtained voter information and tried to affect the results of elections in 2018 and 2020 and ensure that Trump couldn’t get reelected. He also reiterated claims that non-citizens are voting in huge numbers and that mail-in voting isn’t safe to use.
Arizona’s Secretary of State Adrian Fontes scoffed at those allegations and said no new information was presented.
ADRIAN FONTES: My message to Arizona voters is pay attention. Pay attention to the fact that this is the same grievance repackaged over and over and over again. Pay attention to the fact that there’s no credibility because there’s no facts here. There’s no proof here. All of these allegations are without any backup.
PHIL LATZMAN: Fontes accused Trump of undermining voters’ confidence in elections because he lost in 2020 and is unable to concede.
A Maricopa County Superior Court judge says a measure that would ban transgender students from using preferred bathrooms can stay on the ballot. From the Politics Desk, Camryn Sanchez has that.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Republican state lawmakers referred the bathroom ban to voters. If approved in November, the measure would ban schools and athletic associations from allowing students to use a bathroom or locker room that doesn’t match their sex assigned at birth.
An advocacy group sued to try and get the measure blocked from the ballot. Attorney Jim Barton argued the measure is allegedly about sports but has a much broader impact and therefore violates a law requiring measures to stick to a single subject.
JIM BARTON: The fact that now we turn around and add in bathrooms and showers and locker rooms for everyone in the school — so long as the school has a sports program — for everyone in the school, that really expands it.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Judge Greg Como rejected Barton’s argument from the bench. He ruled the measure is narrowly tailored because it will only apply to schools with athletic programs. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: More than a hundred people gathered in downtown Tucson earlier this week to protest the deadly shootings of two men by immigration agents in recent days. Angela Gervasi has more from Tucson.
ANGELA GERVASI: People carried signs commemorating Lorenzo Salgado Araujo and Joan Sebastian Guerrero. Both men were fatally shot by ICE agents—one in Texas and one in Maine. Karla Toledo, a Tucson resident who was detained by ICE and released earlier this year, reflected on the recent shootings.
KARLA TOLEDO: I kept remembering that I had the chance to go home, and Lorenzo and Joan Sebastian don’t have that chance.
ANGELA GERVASI: Maine Senator Angus King’s office told NPR this week that ICE will cease non-urgent vehicle stops in light of the recent shootings, but since then, President Donald Trump has said he opposes that idea.
PHIL LATZMAN: That’s Angela Gervasi reporting.
The major reservoirs that hold water from the Colorado River just set a shocking new record. As Alex Hager reports, the combined amount in Lake Powell and Mead is now the lowest it’s been since 1957.
ALEX HAGER: The last time there was this little water stored along the Colorado River, Lake Powell hadn’t even been built yet. Jack Schmidt directs the Center for Colorado River Studies at Utah State University.
JACK SCHMIDT: It’s a real reminder of what a remarkably small amount of water we have left in the system. We’ve never been in this position. We are truly in uncharted territory.
ALEX HAGER: Schmidt said Western policymakers aren’t doing enough to turn things around. He compared current negotiations over sharing the Colorado River to a bus careening toward a cliff with policymakers arguing about who should steer rather than hitting the brakes. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Federal Emergency Management Agency is once again denied a major disaster declaration request from the city of Globe. As Jill Ryan reports, Gov. Katie Hobbs and the city’s mayor have condemned that decision.
JILL RYAN: Last year, devastating floods hit Globe and other communities in Gila and Mohave counties, killing three people and causing an estimated $96 million in damage to the city. Hobbs says FEMA reaffirmed its initial denial, claiming, quote, “The impacts from the flooding were not of the severity and magnitude needed to warrant a major disaster declaration.” Here’s Globe Mayor Al Gameros.
AL GAMEROS: It would have been huge for us. I don’t know what it’s going to take, or what it would take, to qualify for a federal designation if this isn’t it.
JILL RYAN: A FEMA spokesperson did not provide a direct reason to KJZZ for the denial. The mayor says Globe has received millions in recovery dollars from the state and other federal sources in the meantime; though, he says it’s not enough. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Lawyers in Arizona could be sanctioned for using generative AI to write their briefs if they cite cases that don’t exist. Kathy Ritchie has more.
KATHY RITCHIE: The ruling came about after the Arizona Court of Appeals got involved in a case between two family members in probate court. The court determined that the respondent in that case, who also represented himself, made inaccurate and false claims in his legal brief. He later admitted that he used generative AI and did not use legal research tools or materials to verify case citations.
The court said because both attorneys and self-represented litigants are increasingly relying on AI, it ruled that citing fake cases is sanctionable conduct. Those sanctions could include contempt, dismissal, monetary fines or imposing attorneys’ fees. Kathy Ritchie, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Roosevelt School District in South Phoenix is removing the name of Cesar Chavez from one of its schools. From the education desk, Bridget Dowd has that.
BRIDGET DOWD: Cesar Chavez Community School is now Rio Vista Community School. It’s the latest in a slew of name changes across the state in the wake of sexual abuse allegations against the late civil rights activist. Here’s Roosevelt School District Governing Board member Megan Frankiewicz.
MEGAN FRANKIEWICZ: I cannot, in good conscience, allow our elementary school to bear the name of an individual that I would not have alone in a room with our children.
BRIDGET DOWD: The district created a committee to come up with name recommendations earlier this year. In a survey of the community, the one with the most votes was Rio Vista, which was the school’s original name. The Phoenix Union High School District also changed the name of its Cesar Chavez High School earlier this year. Bridget Dowd, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Aid groups that provide legal services to immigrant children alone in the U.S. say the government has failed to pay them since December. From the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick reports it’s the latest in an ongoing legal case.
ALISA REZNICK: A federal program has for years provided funding for a handful of legal groups representing immigrant kids in Arizona and elsewhere. The Trump administration moved to end that program in April of last year. The groups sued to stop that effort, and a court order allowed the federal funding to continue. But attorneys say, despite that order, groups haven’t been paid at all so far this year. Esther Sung is with the Justice Action Center, one of the groups behind the suit.
ESTHER SUNG: And they’re looking at furloughs or laying off staff and also trying to find other representation for these kids because they don’t have the funding to keep supporting these legal services without payment from the government.
ALISA REZNICK: Sung says the groups brought the case back to court this month. In a hearing this week, parties were given seven days to provide more evidence for the court. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: The FCC recently approved a satellite set to hold a 60-foot mirror to reflect sunlight back on Earth during the night. As Greg Hahne reports, the satellite has received backlash from astronomers, including some here in Arizona.
GREG HAHNE: The satellite prototype, developed by the aerospace company Reflect Orbital, would light about a three-mile area to the brightness of a full moon. Some astronomers have said that would interfere with observations. In its approval, the FCC said the agency’s focus was on radio communications. Richard Green, astronomer with the U of A, says there are gaps in regulating what satellites can do once they get to space.
RICHARD GREEN: Astronomy is the canary in the coal mine for this because we’re really sensitive to access to the sky. But it’s a broader issue, and we really ought to be mindful of having a long-term presence in space that we can sustain without damaging the planet we live on.
GREG HAHNE: Reflect Orbital wants to send 50,000 satellites into orbit by 2035. The company said it spoke with researchers before approval and is committed to further dialogue. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, baseball Diamondbacks are back at it after the All-Star break, startingna weekend series against the St. Louis Cardinals in Phoenix tonight. D-backs won four straight going into the break. They enter play 2 1/2 back of the National League’s final wild card spot, and they’re 11 1/2 of the Dodgers in the standings in the division.
Basketball, the Mercury also back in action tonight. They’ll host the first of two games against the Connecticut Sun. Phoenix has also lost four straight games.
And that is going to do it for this edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast, this July 17, 2026. I’m Phil Latzman. Thanks for taking the time to listen, stay informed. We’re back at you Monday. In the meantime, have a great day and great weekend. May the good news be yours.
