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 non-profit healthcare system. Last year, Banner reinvested more than $1.1 billion in community health and charity care. Banner Health, nonprofit for Arizona. BannerHealth.com/nonprofit4az.
PHIL LATZMAN: Hey, we've made it to Friday! This is KJZZ's Sun Up, your daily news update from here in Phoenix on our state and region. I'm Phil Latzman. We bring you this podcast during the week as a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. It is Friday, Aug. 7. We have done it. We've made it. Hope you've had fun along the way and have some fun weekend plans. Let's check in on the news.
Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has certified the state's primary election results. From the politics desk, Camryn Sanchez says there was no drama.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: All 15 counties successfully conducted the July primary, Fontes said. He touted some changes that were implemented in this election for the first time. Apache and La Paz counties conducted successful hand-count audits, and more voters were able to track their ballot's progress than ever before using a website called BallotTrax.
ADRIAN FONTES: Each of these efforts is designed with the same goal in mind: making Arizona's elections more accessible, more transparent, and more secure.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Fontes and state Elections Director Lee Seimara thanked county officials, poll workers, and volunteers for their efforts. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Pinal County Sheriff has told the Board of Supervisors that he won't renew a contract with a controversial tech company when it expires in less than 60 days. Matthew Casey has details.
MATTHEW CASEY: The contract is with a company called Flock, which makes cameras that monitor vehicles and send alerts to police. Pinal County Sheriff Ross Teeple told the board that the cameras can do more than read license plates. Teeple said on social media that he worries about them being used for unreasonable search and seizure.
ROSS TEEPLE: I have serious Fourth Amendment concerns with some of the technology that is contained in those cameras, whether we have access to it or not.
MATTHEW CASEY: Teeple's decision comes shortly after the Navajo Nation announced that law enforcement is using Flock cameras. And it's about a week before the Chandler City Council is set to reconsider whether to renew city contracts with Flock. The council delayed voting on it in May after hours of resident pushback. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Leaders of the Central Arizona Project may want to pull back funding from a cloud-seeding program that adds snow to the Rocky Mountains. As Alex Hager reports, the program is designed to boost flows in the Colorado River.
ALEX HAGER: Since 2007, the CAP has helped deploy a technology that can help boost snowfall in the places where the Colorado River starts: Colorado, Wyoming, and Utah. Now, as tensions about sharing water are rising between Arizona and those states, CAP board member Barbara Seago questioned the agency's funding for the program.
BARBARA SEAGO: We've been funding this for almost 20 years, and now everybody's trying to cut us off. So, my take is, why would we keep funding anything that benefits Colorado if they're willing to cut us off?
ALEX HAGER: CAP leaders say the upstream states aren't doing enough to share snowmelt downstream with Arizona. The agency expects to make a decision about funding the program in a meeting next month. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: An Arizona woman who used fake court documents to secure her father's early release from prison last year has been arrested in Texas for forging documents in a child custody dispute. Also from our politics team, here's Wayne Schutsky.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Last June, the Arizona prison system freed David Kramer 20 years early after his daughter, Haven McQueen, presented fraudulent court documents purportedly ordering his release. Law enforcement re-arrested Kramer two months later. McQueen is now facing allegations she created fake documents in an attempt to game the court system again, this time in Texas. According to court filings, McQueen was arrested in Chambers County after trying to use fake documents to take custody of her children. A Maricopa County judge overseeing the custody case had previously determined those documents were fraudulent and included a forged judge's signature. McQueen is being held without bond. Her attorneys say she is entitled to the presumption of innocence. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A case over legal aid funding for immigrant children was in court again on Thursday. Attorneys representing the children say the government is withholding $65 million unless they release sensitive information about their clients. From the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick reports.
ALISA REZNICK: A federal program funds legal services for children alone in the U.S. Legal groups in the program sued after the Trump administration tried to end it last year, and a judge ruled in their favor. Now the groups are asking the same court to find the government in contempt for failing to pay them at all this year. In court this week, attorneys for the legal groups argued that the government wants granular data about clients — information they say is both protected by attorney-client privilege and impossible to calculate eight months later. Government attorneys argued their data requests are necessary to verify the work the legal groups are doing. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: Gov. Katie Hobbs is once again asking the federal government to reimburse Arizona for border security spending. The governor's asking for $900 million. Here's Camryn Sanchez once again.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Border security is a function of the federal government, but Hobbs and eight Arizona sheriffs say the state has paid heavily to combat drug trafficking, human smuggling, and other border-related crimes. Hobbs wants the Department of Homeland Security to pay Arizona back for the past five years' worth of those efforts. This isn't the first time Hobbs has asked for reimbursement. Former Republican Gov. Doug Ducey also urged the Biden administration to reimburse Arizona for the cost of deploying the National Guard to the border. Neither the Trump nor Biden administrations caved to the requests. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A new law banning common food additives from Arizona schools is now in effect. As Connor Greenwall tells us, that includes dyes like Red No. 40.
CONNOR GREENWALL: The law, which passed last year, is now in effect as school starts back up this month. The list of banned additives includes colored food dyes and potassium bromate, which are linked to negative health outcomes, including stomach issues and some cancers. Republican State Representative Leo Biasiucci says popular snack options with approved additives are still available to students.
LEO BIASIUCCI: Hot Cheetos, they're now being made with beet juice as the red. They're being made with spirulina for the green. So, they're actually already providing these products, and a lot of them are just — they've made it specifically for the schools.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Biasiucci says similar laws are proposed or in effect in 35 other states, and some of the additives are banned in many countries. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In the state of Sonora, south of Arizona, it leads all Mexican states for heat-related illnesses and injuries this year with nearly 300 reported cases. That's according to new data released by the Mexican government. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Nina Kravinsky has more.
NINA KRAVINSKY: Sonora has registered a hundred more cases of heat injury or illness than the next highest Mexican state. More than two-thirds of heat illnesses in Sonora were attributed to dehydration. There have been nearly four times as many cases of heatstroke compared to the same time last year. In a press release, the state of Sonora said most heat-related illnesses are seen in men due to exposure to high temperatures from work or outdoor activities. It urged men not to ignore thirst and to avoid physical activity during the hottest hours of the day. There have been 17 heat-related deaths in Sonora so far this year. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
PHIL LATZMAN: Two Phoenix-area teens have been selected to represent the state in a national competition called the Patriot Games. Once more, we'll hear from Camryn Sanchez with that.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Seventeen-year-old Eliza Anderson of Mesa and 14-year-old Abraham Van Wyk of Phoenix are headed to Ohio to compete next week on behalf of Arizona in the 2026 Patriot Games. President Trump announced the games in December as a part of Freedom 250 celebrations. One young man and one young woman volunteered from each of the 50 states and will compete in a series of athletic challenges over three days, including track and field events and obstacle courses. The games will be streamed on the ESPN app beginning Sunday, with an hour-long special to be broadcast August 13th on ESPN on ABC. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, in sports, football rookie quarterback Carson Beck was impressive in his debut at the Cardinals' loss to the Carolina Panthers, 33-30, in the Hall of Fame game last night. Most Cardinals regulars sat out the exhibition, but Beck, a third-round pick from Miami, completed 15 of 19 passes for 188 yards and a touchdown before sitting out the second half.
CARSON BECK: I was ready to roll, you know? I mean, since last night when I was laying in bed, I could barely sleep, you know, just thinking about having that opportunity to play football again, you know, just never taking it for granted.
PHIL LATZMAN: After Beck left, Scottsdale-owned Kedon Slovis tossed a touchdown pass with less than two minutes left to give the Cards the lead. In the end, though, it was the Panthers' undrafted rookie quarterback Haynes King that led Carolina to the win, which doesn't mean anything. Cardinals will play their second preseason game in Las Vegas next Thursday.
Baseball: The Diamondbacks lost the finale of their series with the Padres 5-1 last night at Chase Field to split the four games between the two division rivals. Arizona has a 16-8 record since July 9th, but they've dropped three of their last five. They'll open a three-game series against the Dodgers tonight in Phoenix.
And basketball: In the WNBA, the Mercury try to get back on the winning track. They'll continue their road trip tonight in Connecticut against the Sun. Phoenix, a long shot for the playoffs at 12-20 with a dozen games left.
And that will do it for this edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast this Friday, August the 7th. I'm Phil Latzman. Have a wonderful weekend. Stay cool and hydrated out there—heat warnings through the weekend. And we will do this all again on Monday. Talk to you then.
