KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the 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: Feliz viernes, amigos. Welcome to 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.
It is Friday. Great job, you’re here. Last day of July on this 31st in the year 2026. I know we’re all feeling that summer heat. Thanks for sweating it out with us, and let’s get to the news.
A Maricopa County judge upheld an election reform proposal sent to the ballot by Republican lawmakers that critics claim could be used to undermine mail-in voting in the state. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky reports.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Proposition 144 would make many changes to the state’s election laws, including requiring an ID to vote, even if a person chooses to cast their ballot by mail.
Critics argue that’s designed to undermine mail-in voting, which is used by a majority of Arizonans. And they say the proposed law couples too many unrelated measures, like the ID requirement and a ban on foreign nationals contributing to electoral efforts, to confuse voters.
A lawsuit challenging the proposal argues that would violate a rule barring constitutional amendments from dealing with multiple unrelated subjects. But Judge Adele Pons disagreed, finding all of the measure’s provisions are tied to election integrity. Opponents have appealed her ruling.
Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers are appealing a court ruling to keep a measure on the ballot that would nullify an effort to put restrictions on the state’s school voucher program. Also from our politics team, here’s Camryn Sanchez with that.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: The GOP measure is ostensibly about protecting education funds for military families, but it would also nullify a voucher reform referral pushed by public school advocates. On Wednesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Joseph Kreamer agreed that the measure runs afoul of a constitutional provision requiring measures to keep to a single subject.
Republicans want the Arizona Supreme Court to reverse that decision. They argue Kreamer was wrong about the single-subject violation because everything in their measure falls under the umbrella of education funding.
Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A new pipeline built by the Salt River Project will help move water from underground storage to cities that need it. The pipe near Mesa started carrying water on Thursday, and Alex Hager was there to see it.
ALEX HAGER: Cities have been storing excess water in a nearby underground aquifer. This new system helps move it into the Arizona Canal, which already flows to city water treatment plants around the valley. Sharon Morris is SRP’s director of water construction.
SHARON MORRIS: So it’s a transmission highway for water. So we can move heavy water that takes a lot of time quickly that may not have been easy for our city partners to get to otherwise.
ALEX HAGER: Morris says moving backup water more easily will get more important in the future. Impending cutbacks to the Colorado River will force cities to use more of their other supplies in order to keep taps flowing.
Alex Hager, KJZZ News, reporting from the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community.
PHIL LATZMAN: Back in the spring, Arizona adopted a new set of heat safety recommendations for workplaces in the state. The guidelines encourage employers to have plans for heat illness prevention and provide outdoor workers with access to shade and water. Now that the extreme heat is here, Katherine Davis-Young has an update on the program.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Jazmin Moreno Dominguez advocates for workers’ rights with the organization Agave Community Threads. She says she doesn’t think the new recommendations are making much difference this summer for day laborers, farmworkers, or construction workers who spend long hours in the heat. She says the guidelines still lack enforcement measures.
JAZMIN MORENO DOMINGUEZ: When they’re recommendations and not an enforceable standard, we’re always going to have individuals who will choose to not provide these protections.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Dennis Kavanaugh chairs the Industrial Commission of Arizona. He agrees that enforceable statewide heat regulations would keep bad employers more accountable and expects the state may develop a standard in the near future. But he says the commission has been asking some Arizona employers whether they’re following the new recommendations, and he says the vast majority are.
DENNIS KAVANAUGH: I’ve been really pleased that they’re doing it, and they said, “No problem.” Others have had really good policies in place and they only had to make minor adjustments.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Kavanaugh says his message to Arizona employers is that simple, inexpensive changes like providing more water can prevent injuries or even save lives.
Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Protesters trying to halt border wall construction along a remote stretch of the Arizona-Mexico border by staging a tree sit-in. From the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick has details.
ALISA REZNICK: The multibillion-dollar project will build two steel bollard walls across large swaths of borderland, including in Lochiel, a tiny town about 25 miles east of Nogales. Earlier this week, contractors here cut down three out of four cottonwood trees, thought to be over 200 years old, that sit right along the border to make room for two parallel walls. Protester Kate Scott says she and others are trying to save the last.
KATE SCOTT: And we call it an ancient sacred grove because it is. It’s been here since time immemorial, and the trees were smaller then, but there’s layers of cultures here.
ALISA REZNICK: A protester stood on a big wooden platform perched some 50 feet up in the thick branches of the remaining cottonwood tree. Customs and Border Protection says it is still slated for removal.
Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: The University of Arizona says it will no longer recognize one of its fraternities. As Bridget Dowd reports, the decision follows a hazing investigation.
BRIDGET DOWD: A letter from the Dean of Students Office said it received reports in April that new members of Sigma Alpha Mu were subjected to hazing. Allegations included students being burned by hot liquids and forced to consume alcohol, resulting in hospitalizations. A video provided to the office included 21 individual clips of different hazing incidents.
The fraternity has lost its university recognition through May 2031, which means it can’t participate in university-sponsored events or use university facilities, equipment or services. A police investigation is ongoing, and some members are facing federal and state charges.
Bridget Dowd, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: An internal investigation reveals a U.S. Army helicopter that released fuel over neighborhoods in Tempe and Phoenix back in February did so intentionally to reduce weight so the aircraft could be airlifted out of state. Connor Greenwald tells us more.
CONNOR GREENWALD: According to an exclusive report obtained by KJZZ, the Black Hawk helicopter had been grounded due to maintenance issues and needed to be airlifted back to Tacoma, Washington. It was too heavy to be transported inside an Air Force cargo jet because of the fuel in its tanks, and neither Papago Park Air Base nor Sky Harbor had defueling capabilities.
The Army determined it was safe to do a one-time evacuation flight from Papago to Sky Harbor and dumped fuel to cut weight en route. The report says crews were not aware of the populated areas below when they dumped fuel, did not follow protocol and skipped or accelerated necessary steps due to time constraints.
Connor Greenwald, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Coconino National Forest is crowded with hundreds of unhealthy trees that could easily spark a fire and get swept away in a post-fire flood. Officials are embarking on a yearlong thinning project they hope will prevent millions in damages. Taylor Griffith has more.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Coconino County’s Forest Restoration Director Jay Smith says the forest is in —
JAY SMITH: A tree pandemic. We have too many trees. Even though it looks green and healthy, it’s very unhealthy. The best way to get ourselves back to a healthy forest is to reduce the number of trees.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: The county is targeting 1,500 acres of the forest near Snowbowl for thinning. They hope this will —
JAY SMITH: Get it to where the forest fires will not just become these large infernos that burn through a forest and cannot be controlled.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: The county estimates it could also end up saving Flagstaff upwards of $3 billion by limiting the amount of potential debris that could slide off in a post-fire flood.
Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A Filipino supermarket celebrated its grand opening Thursday in Chandler, marking the first location in the state. Seafood City features a large food court in addition to groceries with traditional Filipino dishes. Local Filipino American Jonathan Garcia says the new location gives residents a way to find community.
JONATHAN GARCIA: We have a lot of Asian places, but we don’t have really just a Filipino supermarket. And we can find a lot more things here in Seafood City. And like, honestly, this whole cafeteria, there’s like so much things to pick from.
PHIL LATZMAN: Garcia says the store features a wider variety of products compared to other out-of-state locations.
Well, with the region in the grips of extreme heat this week, the Arizona Cardinals began their NFL training camp under the closed dome and air conditioning at State Farm Stadium in Glendale. The heat is one of the many adjustments for new Cards head coach Mike LaFleur, who is used to being outside for training camp and not inside on the natural turf.
MIKE LAFLEUR: You know, these guys don’t want to — they don’t want to practice on turf. They hate playing on turf on Sundays, let alone practicing on it. So, you got to be cognizant of that as well. There’s going to have to be modifications, and we’re not going to — that is what it is.
PHIL LATZMAN: As part of those modifications, LaFleur will conduct joint practices with his brother Matt LaFleur’s Packers in Wisconsin next month. The new-look Cardinals make their preseason debut in the NFL’s Hall of Fame Game Thursday night against the Carolina Panthers, and former Cards receiver Larry Fitzgerald is one of this year’s Hall of Fame inductees.
And that’ll do it for this edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast. This Friday, July 31. I’m Phil Latzman. Have a great weekend, stay cool and shaded and hydrated out there, and we’ll be right back at you on Monday. Talk to you then.
