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: 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! And thank you to Bruce Drummond for sitting in these last few days. Good to be back with you for this podcast, a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team.
Welcome to Wednesday. It’s the 29th day of July. It’s hot out there — extreme heat here in the Valley and in many counties throughout the state through Sunday night, and pretty dangerous temperatures coming as well. Lots of other news to hop in on, and let’s do that now.
And speaking of the heat, Arizona’s two largest utilities, APS and SRP, said they saw record-breaking demands for energy late last week. As Greg Hahne reports, the utilities inched closer to the capacity that they initially planned for the summer.
GREG HAHNE: Both utilities delivered over 9,000 megawatts last Friday as temperatures hit 117 degrees. That’s about 90% of the planned power capacity they reported to the state’s utility regulator in April. The jump in demand was between 400-500 megawatts from last year’s record. That’s enough to power between 65,000 and 100,000 homes.
Although the utilities neared planned capacity, they are able to tap into the regional grid and pull power from other states like California to prevent outages. With the growing demand, APS says it is adding to its power reserves. It’s possible the energy records could be broken again this year depending on weather. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Secretary of State Adrian Fontes is calling on the Trump administration to provide proof backing up its claims that federal election monitors are needed here in Arizona. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky reports.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Earlier this month, Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said the Department of Justice planned to send monitors to Arizona due to “some problems in recent elections.” But Fontes said the DOJ hasn’t actually told his office what those problems are, so he filed a Freedom of Information Act request asking for more information.
He said his office is willing to work with the federal government, but it cannot do so without first receiving that evidence. While speaking on an elections panel in Chicago, Fontes accused the Trump administration and the president’s allies of politicizing voting.
ADRIAN FONTES: This is not a political issue. And anybody who says it’s a political issue is trying to use something that is an American fundamental right issue, so that they can juxtapose some other agenda.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Fontes also called on the federal government to provide more financial support to state and local election officials. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: And as part of the continued attack by President Trump on voting, Fontes also condemned the administration’s efforts to restrict mail-in voting. In March, President Trump issued an executive order to require the U.S. Postal Service to only deliver ballots to voters on federally created lists. A federal judge blocked the order, but Trump is asking the Supreme Court to overturn the decision. Fontes warned voters would be disenfranchised if the high court allows Trump’s order to proceed.
ADRIAN FONTES: This close, less than 100 days from the election, this is a federal takeover of a constitutional duty that the states have, not the White House.
PHIL LATZMAN: About 80% of Arizona voters choose to vote by mail.
After months of legal wrangling, the East Valley Institute of Technology and its member school districts have reached an agreement for transportation funding. EVIT has agreed to cover the $5 million cost of bus commuting students to its Mesa campus. Jessica Snyder’s daughter attends EVIT and says despite the agreement, many students still do not have reliable transportation.
JESSICA SNYDER: A lot of kids that are still on wait lists for transportation that can’t get it. And I do believe that the school district fighting this long and pulling transportation from the children was just to discourage them from attending EVIT.
PHIL LATZMAN: Snyder says the transportation issues forced some students in her Queen Creek community to drop the program. A Maricopa County Superior Court judge deemed a ballot measure that would severely restrict teachers unions is unconstitutional and said it can’t stay on the ballot. Also from our politics team, here’s Ben Giles.
BEN GILES: Republican lawmakers created the proposal to target the Arizona Education Association, the state’s public school teachers union, following a fight over the union’s effort to restrict private school vouchers. The AEA argued that the measure is written in such a way that it affects all the state’s unions, even though the measure purports to only be about teachers.
As written, they argued the measure violates a constitutional requirement that ballot measures stick to a single subject. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Gregory Como agreed. Republican lawmakers still have the option to appeal the decision. Ben Giles, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Following the Navajo Nation’s presidential primary last week, the top vote-getters have now named their VP picks. Gabriel Pietrorazio has details on that.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Navajo Nation Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley was first to announce her ticket in Window Rock.
CRYSTALYNE CURLEY: Excited to share this moment with you. I know people online were very anxious ...
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: She picked former Arizona Democratic state lawmaker Chris Deschene.
CHRIS DESCHENE: Throughout my career, I know what it means to be an underdog.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: In 2014, the Marine Corps vet vied for the very seat Curley is now seeking. But after placing second in that primary, Deschene was disqualified in part because of Curley’s November opponent, Farmington attorney Justin Jones.
JUSTIN JONES: This is where I grew up.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: As for Jones, he returned to Rock Point, Arizona, to name his running mate. Emily Ellison is in charge of the Gallup nonprofit Battered Families Services.
EMILY ELLISON: I want to thank the committee for this opportunity to serve our Navajo people.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Environmentalists are sounding the alarm about the destruction of an ancient cottonwood grove along the Arizona-Mexico border as construction crews are working on the Trump administration’s latest border wall project. From the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick reports one protester was arrested at the site.
ALISA REZNICK: Video shows a protester talking to a construction worker in a bright vest and a Border Patrol agent. The gray trunk of a cottonwood tree is toppled over behind them. Erick Meza with the Sierra Club says four trees sit right along the border and are over 100 years old. He says all but one have been downed so far, all without protection measures outlined in a letter from Border Patrol.
ERICK MEZA: And even if they were told about these letters, they didn’t want to listen, so they start using some of the heavy machinery they have and start just taking down the trees.
ALISA REZNICK: The June 18 letter says the trees will be removed, but environmental monitors will be present and crews will create a buffer zone for active bird nests. The Santa Cruz County Sheriff says a protester was arrested on federal trespassing charges. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: Phoenix police are still investigating after a 61-year-old hiker was found dead on a South Mountain trail over the weekend. The man was described as an experienced hiker and the cause of death has not been determined, but Phoenix Fire Captain Mike Johnson says hiking can be very dangerous in Arizona’s summer heat.
MIKE JOHNSON: Make sure you have plenty of water, more than you think you’re going to need. And most importantly, I would say is have a charged cell phone in case you do find yourself in trouble, you could get injured and be a very avid hiker, you get injured on the trail, you’re going to be stuck out there.
PHIL LATZMAN: Several popular hiking trails in Phoenix are closed from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. because that extreme heat warning is in effect through Sunday night.
Santa Cruz County has declared a state of emergency due to a July monsoon flood. Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva recently toured damage to the Nogales Wash, which runs north from Sonora and empties into the Santa Cruz River. Grijalva said the infrastructure has long-caused challenges that led to the patchwork fixes.
ADELITA GRIJALVA: Part of the problem is is the project is going to cost $30 million and they’re approved for $10 (million). And so what the result is is we’re going to utilize the $10 million whatever way makes sense, which seems to be a lot of the Band-Aids that you’re seeing.
PHIL LATZMAN: Grijalva also wants a long-term bipartisan solution, which Nogales Mayor Jorge Maldonado echoed.
JORGE MALDONADO: I think working together, everybody, we should find a very good solution, but obviously the main focus is who’s going to fund it.
PHIL LATZMAN: Water in the Nogales Wash can be contaminated with sewage and pose a public health risk.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is now throwing its support behind Amish Shah in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District after supporting his opponent in the primary. From our politics team, here’s Ben Giles once again.
BEN GILES: The DCCC is the political arm of House Democrats. The organization invests in competitive races in an effort to flip control of the House in 2027. The DCCC made the controversial choice to endorse Marlene Galan-Woods in the CD1 primary, only to watch Galan-Woods lose to Shah by 3,700 votes.
Now, the DCCC has added Shah to its Red to Blue program, ensuring he will have the group’s financial support ahead of the general election. In a statement, the committee called Shah a dedicated, independent voice for his community who will be the fighter Arizonans deserve in Congress. Ben Giles, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, baseball: James McCann singled in the winning run in the 12th inning. His fourth hit of the game as the Diamondbacks held on for an 8-7 win over the Pirates last night in Pittsburgh despite blowing a six-run lead. Back-to-back home runs for the Pirates sparked a three-run rally against Arizona closer Paul Sewald in the ninth to force extra innings. D-backs were up 6-0 after seven scoreless innings from starter Brandon Pfaadt. They did snap a three-game losing streak. They play the decisive game of the three-game series in Pittsburgh and will start that game later this morning, Arizona time.
Basketball: Mercury back at it tonight, their first game after the WNBA All-Star break, hosting the Golden State Valkyries. Phoenix went into the break with a 10-18 record, next to last in the Western Conference.
And that does it for this Wednesday edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast on this July the 29th. I’m Phil Latzman, and thanks for being here, and remember with our heat warnings, stay cool, hydrated, find some shade — and we’ll talk to you again tomorrow.
