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: Hey, this is KJZZ's Sun Up, your daily news update from here in Phoenix on our state and region. I'm Phil Latzman, and we bring you this podcast as a daily digest of the news here in Arizona as reported by our KJZZ news team. Welcome to Wednesday, the 12th day of August. Today is hump day, so let's keep rolling towards the weekend with a check of the news.
A judge ruled that Republican lawmakers broke the law when they created informational language for Arizona voters designed to convince them to vote against a proposed school voucher reform measure. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky starts us off.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Daniel Martin said it was wrong for lawmakers to tell voters that if Proposition 212 is approved, it will give initiative organizers the right to go to court and sue participating families if they violate any of the new rules in the ballot measure. Martin concluded that isn't true, and he ordered the Republican-controlled Legislative Council to rewrite its description of the proposal that will be sent to all voters in an informational brochure.
It was only a partial victory for the initiative's backers, as the judge rejected several other complaints about the council's description of the measure. A spokesman for House Speaker Steve Montenegro, who chairs the council, said lawyers for the legislature are reviewing the ruling. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The 2.5 million-square-foot “city within a city” planned around TSMC's manufacturing hub in North Phoenix is entering its first phase of construction. Taylor Griffith has more on that.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: The mixed-use development known as Halo Vista is almost entirely meant to serve one company: global microchip manufacturer TSMC. Richard Mack is CEO of the developer, Mack Real Estate Group.
RICHARD MACK: We need to make provisions for the workers. Places for them to eat, to shop, to get educated, to get healthcare, to exercise.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Mack says the last two years since the project's announcement have been focused on preparing infrastructure for the site. Now he says they're ready to start on the first seven buildings for TSMC's suppliers. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs's pick for lieutenant governor will not participate in any public debate. The Hobbs campaign confirmed that former Mesa Mayor John Giles will be the governor's running mate. GOP candidate Andy Biggs's lieutenant governor pick, Sine Kerr, says she will participate, and that Giles is doing a disservice to voters by refusing.
SINE KERR: It's really unfortunate that they don't want to stand for a debate, they don't want to answer tough questions. I think it's very disrespectful to the people, to the voters of Arizona.
PHIL LATZMAN: Hobbs' campaign manager, Nicole DeMont, said in a statement that the Hobbs-Giles campaign believes “face-to-face engagement with Arizonans is more effective than debating.”
ICE says it plans to deploy body cameras to agents by the end of this month, but whether the public will actually see the footage is another question. From the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick reports.
ALISA REZNICK: As the AP reports, ICE's policy, issued in February 2025, says the agency will release body camera footage in the event of serious harm or deaths in custody, but only when it's in “the best interest of the agency.” Catherine Hawkins, with the watchdog Project On Government Oversight, says not only is there a question of whether the public has access to footage —
CATHERINE HAWKINS: What there is now this year is a question of whether state and local law enforcement agents who are trying to investigate any use of force or homicide get access to the footage.
ALISA REZNICK: Hawkins says a policy where footage release is left up to agency heads isn't an effective accountability measure. An ICE spokesperson refuted the AP report and said ICE policy permits expedited release of footage when it doesn't compromise investigations or privacy. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: A Maricopa County judge has granted Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes' request to dismiss her prosecution of the state's so-called fake electors, but he gave Mayes permission to refile charges against the defendants in the future. Jill Ryan has details.
JILL RYAN: In 2024, an Arizona grand jury indicted over a dozen elected officials and other Republicans for allegedly trying to undermine Democrat Joe Biden's victory over President Donald Trump in the state's 2020 presidential election. But in June, the Attorney General's Office asked Judge Sam Myers to dismiss the case after he sent the indictment back to a grand jury. At the time, the AG indicated it would continue prosecuting the case, but could not do so within a 15-day deadline to go back before a grand jury.
Last week, Myers approved Mayes's request to dismiss the case without prejudice, which means she can refile charges in the future. A spokesperson for the AG had no updates on when Mayes plans to refile or seek a new indictment. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A conservative special interest group in Arizona may take legal action against a sitting Republican official who claims it offered to help him skirt campaign finance laws four years ago. Here once again from our politics team is Wayne Schutsky.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Arizona Corporation Commissioner Nick Myers accused the Arizona Free Enterprise Club of offering to help him work around Citizens Clean Elections Commission rules to purchase campaign signs during his successful run in 2022. The claim surfaced after state lawmaker Ralph Heap, a Free Enterprise-backed candidate who defeated Myers in this year's Republican primary, faced allegations he didn't disclose who paid for his campaign signs.
In a cease-and-desist letter, an attorney for the Free Enterprise Club accused Myers of making false and defamatory statements and asked him to publicly retract the claims. Myers tells KJZZ he stands by what he said. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Western rivers like the San Juan are mostly fed by burbling mountain streams, which are themselves fed by groundwater. But as Chris Clements reports, a new study says those tiny streams are in big trouble.
CHRIS CLEMENTS: The study in the journal Earth's Future says if climate warming continues, by the end of the century, headwater streams could have 45% less groundwater to sustain them. Lead author Caelum Mroczek says less groundwater in streams and rivers is a big deal because groundwater keeps them alive during dry periods.
CAELUM MROCZEK: And so things like the Colorado, of course, things that are affecting its headwaters are going to have a cascading effect.
CHRIS CLEMENTS: By studying historical data, he says the peak amount of groundwater in streams is shifting earlier in the year, from peaking in the summertime to early spring and now even late winter. If the study's predictions are correct, it could translate to way less water in the rivers that families depend on here in the arid Southwest.
PHIL LATZMAN: That's Chris Clements reporting from Flagstaff.
Another Valley city is changing the way it uses information from its automated license plate readers. The Tempe Police Department says it's stopped sharing data gathered from its Flock cameras, and as Al Macias reports, it comes as three cities are taking steps to curb misuse.
AL MACIAS: Tempe says the change is in response to privacy concerns expressed by the community and recent incidents with the automated license plate readers. Chandler is ending its Flock contract after an audit flagged potential misuse.
In Apache Junction, a police officer resigned after an internal investigation revealed he used data from the readers to locate his wife. Goodyear says a July audit resulted in an officer being put on leave.
According to Tempe Police, the cameras are used to scan vehicle license plates and compare them to law enforcement databases. Tempe PD says it will work with other law enforcement agencies who request information through the appropriate process. Al Macias, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Gov. Katie Hobbs announced an economic agreement with Northern Arizona tribal leaders on Tuesday. It's meant to bolster the Four Corners region at a time when the coal industry is in decline. Gabriel Pietrorazio has more on that.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: The MOU is between the Navajo Nation, Hopi Tribe, and the state, all of which are vulnerable to coal mines and power plants shutting down. That includes the Four Corners plant, which could close by 2031.
The Navajo-owned company that fuels the aging facility recently announced plans to extend the life of a massive coal mine by more than a century. But with coal giving way to cleaner, more efficient fuels, leaders are coming together to ink a five-year commitment to track closures and promote the well-being of coal miners. Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, baseball: Diamondbacks cooled off by the Rockies 3-2 last night in Phoenix. D-backs had an early 2-0 lead on solo homers in the first inning from Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte, but that was it offensively. Colorado eventually caught up with a two-run shot in the sixth inning, then went ahead for good in the seventh.
A setback for the D-backs as they fight for the National League playoff positioning in a tight race, currently now in a three-way tie with the Phillies and Padres for those final two wild card spots. The decisive game of the series against the Rockies is this afternoon at Chase Field.
And in basketball, rookie Noemi Brochant had a season-high 24 points and Alyssa Thomas scored nine of her 16 in the fourth as the Mercury beat the Sparks 94-87 last night in Phoenix to snap a three-game losing streak. Mercury guard Kelsey Plum did not play against the team that traded her a little over a week ago; she sat out with a leg injury.
And that will do it for this Wednesday edition of the KJZZ Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast on this August the 12th. Get over the hump with you. I'm Phil Latzman, have a great day, and we'll do this again tomorrow.
