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 regional news, I’m Phil Latzman, your host of this podcast, a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by the KJZZ news team. And welcome to Wednesday, the 19th day of August 2026. Lots going on. Let’s get cracking with the news.
Well, construction has begun on the Trump administration’s second border wall project inside Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The border-hugging monument is home to an ancient spring system and already has one steel wall. From the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick has the latest.
ALISA REZNICK: The National Park Service closed the road to Quitobaquito Springs in July. The millennia-old freshwater system drains into a pond about 200 feet from the border and hosts endangered species like the Quitobaquito pupfish. Russ McSpadden, with the Center for Biological Diversity, says he reached the site by foot this week.
RUSS MCSPADDEN: About 2 1/2 miles east of Quitobaquito, I ran into a big swath of land that has been cleared by border wall contractors, and it’s about 100 feet of land cleared north of the border.
ALISA REZNICK: McSpadden’s photos show heavy machinery and two sites east of Quitobaquito that have been cleared of all vegetation. Customs and Border Protection says the second wall at the spring itself will be within a 60-foot stretch of land right along the border. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, a sweeping election reform measure which would require Arizonans to show ID every time they cast a vote survived a legal hurdle to make it on the ballot this fall. From the politics desk, Camryn Sanchez reports.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: The measure will be on the ballot as Prop 144 and makes a series of changes to Arizona’s election laws. It was sponsored by Republican state Rep. Alexander Kolodin. He’s now the GOP nominee for secretary of state. A Tempe councilmember challenged the measure, arguing it violates a constitutional rule that measures must stick to a single subject. But the Arizona Supreme Court agreed Tuesday that the proposal complies with the rule. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: An updated management plan for the Salt River wild horse herd means no horse removals in the near future. The new plan released on Tuesday says the herd must be reduced due to ecological concerns. The current plan includes removing several horses for adoption, but that is now suspended for a period of two years while a genetic study is underway. Salt River Wild Horse Management’s Simone Netherlands says the population goal also jumped from 120 to 170.
SIMONE NETHERLANDS: It was really through our concern, through our herd health report, through consistent public pressure, through legislative pressure that we’ve come to this better solution, in our opinion, than it was before.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Arizona Board of Regents secured funding for the genetic study of the horses, which will be conducted by one of three state universities.
Cochise County law enforcement leaders met Gov. Katie Hobbs in Sierra Vista to highlight the continued effort to seek nearly $1 billion in reimbursement of state funds spent on border security. Cochise County Sheriff Mark Dannels said funds are necessary to prevent deterioration of security at the border.
MARK DANNELS: What we saw last administration was horrific in this county, horrific for this state. The state stood up. Sheriffs, police chiefs, we all stood up. Our troopers stood up. We all did the right thing.
PHIL LATZMAN: Dannels’ office spearheaded a statewide crackdown on various border trafficking operations back in 2023. Hobbs and local law enforcement hope to secure a piece of the $13.5 billion congressional allocation for repayment of state funds that were spent on border security as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Despite growing public distrust in the use of AI by law enforcement, one Arizona police department says it will use the technology to help investigators manage heavy caseloads. Lily Roseburrough has more.
LILY ROSEBURROUGH: The rural city of Eloy, located along I-10 south of metro Phoenix, is adopting new AI-powered software to streamline police investigations. eSleuth Inc. says it provides thousands of “AI investigators” to help police connect cases and look for leads. The Eloy Police Department is the first agency in the country to partner with the company. Byron Gwaltney is the captain of Eloy’s patrol division.
BYRON GWALTNEY: There’s too much data and not enough time or manpower to filter through that data and absorb it and ingest it. So, where eSleuth comes in, especially for a small agency, it provides the working power of squads of detectives.
LILY ROSEBOROUGH: Gwaltney says the department first discovered the technology at a policing convention. eSleuth co-founder Scott Thomasson says the program works off of a copy of police data.
SCOTT THOMASSON: And it breaks down into four things: what was done, what wasn’t done, what should be done, and what’s incomplete.
LILY ROSEBOROUGH: Thomasson says the data is protected by proprietary software. Critics of the technology point to mistakes and data privacy concerns commonly found in AI work. Lily Roseburrough, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Arizona Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court ruling removing a so-called “poison pill” measure from the general election ballot. Critics called it a veiled attempt to undermine school voucher reform efforts. From the politics team once again, here’s Wayne Schutsky.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Republican lawmakers said Proposition 145 would protect military families who receive Empowerment Scholarship Account dollars by stopping the state from passing new laws to revoke those funds. But it also includes language that would fully void any future law that violates those protections, which critics say was created to invalidate any attempt to reform the voucher program. The Arizona Supreme Court agreed, and it ruled that including both of those provisions in the same proposal violated a law that bars state constitutional amendments from dealing with multiple unrelated subjects. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Meanwhile, related to that story, a trial court determined supporters of a measure to put guardrails on the state school voucher program did not collect enough valid signatures to get on the November ballot. Yesterday, the Arizona Supreme Court affirmed those calculations. Opponents of the measure, including Republican state lawmakers and the conservative Free Enterprise Club, claimed victory, stating the measure was dead. The state’s largest public school teachers union said in a statement it’s unfortunate that voters won’t get the opportunity to reign in vouchers.
Maricopa County has seen historically high numbers of eviction filings over the past few years. And now, as Katherine Davis-Young tells us, the county is launching a pilot program to assist vulnerable renters.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Renters in four Phoenix ZIP codes with high eviction rates will be able to apply for one-time rental assistance. Eligible households may receive up to $3,200 to cover up to two months of rent. The County Board of Supervisors budgeted $800,000 for the pilot, and the program was designed with input from the landlord trade group the Arizona Multihousing Association. Evictions strain county resources, and a record of eviction can make it harder for tenants to find future housing. Supervisors say the goal of the pilot is to intervene before families wind up in court. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Lake Powell hitting a new record low is just the latest piece of bad news for the Colorado River as climate change and megadrought and overuse are straining the vital water source. Jack Schmidt is with Utah State University’s Center for Colorado River Studies. He says this moment is even worse than when Powell reached its previous low record back in April of 2023. Back then, he said scientists knew a big boost from snowmelt runoff was right around the corner.
JACK SCHMIDT: The difference now is we’re breaking that record, but it’s only in the middle of August, and we have no idea what the coming winter is going to be.
PHIL LATZMAN: As the lake dips closer to the minimum level needed to generate hydropower, Schmidt says there’ll be plenty of hand-wringing this winter.
Maricopa County has confirmed 81 heat-related deaths so far in 2026, which is more than double the number that had been reported at this same time last summer. Here’s Katherine Davis-Young once again with that.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Maricopa County had seen decreases in heat-related deaths for the last two years after local governments made major investments to combat the problem. It’s too early to know why the trend now appears to be reversing, but this year dangerous heat did start much earlier than ever before. Phoenix hit triple digits in mid-March, which led to at least nine deaths. Kelli Donley Williams with Maricopa County Public Health says bodies aren’t acclimatized to heat that early in the year, and the county’s heat relief network doesn’t begin operating until May.
KELLI DONLEY WILLIAMS: And so when we see those temperatures that early in the year, it’s dangerous.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: More than 500 possible heat-related deaths remain under investigation, with more extreme heat still in the forecast. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo says he’s been told that Ketel Marte traveled back to Phoenix for tests on his left knee and was a bit surprised at the lack of communication with the All-Star second baseman who missed Monday night’s game and then last night as well. He was asked if he thought he would play again for the team this year, and he said he hoped so.
Meanwhile, Marte again missing from the lineup last night in Boston, the Red Sox handed the D-backs a third straight loss, 9-4. Eight different players with hits for the Red Sox, and all four Arizona runs came in the third inning off of Gabriel Moreno’s grand slam home run. D-backs try to avoid the sweep at Fenway this afternoon in the last of three.
And that’ll do it for this Wednesday edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast, this Aug. 19. I’m Phil Latzman. Stay cool and hydrated, and we’ll do it again tomorrow. Talk to you then.
