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. This podcast, a daily digest of Arizona news, is reported by our KJZZ news team. It is Thursday, or as we call it around here, Friday eve, August the 20th, and here we go with a check of the news.
A new report card grading Arizona's infrastructure gave bad marks to the state's water systems. As Alex Hager reports, things like dams, drinking water, and wastewater all got grades of C or C-minus.
ALEX HAGER: The report says bigger, wealthier cities are leading the way with strong infrastructure, but shortcomings in rural areas brought down the statewide average. Frederick Tack with the American Society of Civil Engineers says a hotter, drier future means more money is needed to build and maintain all those pipes, pumps, and treatment plants.
FREDERICK TACK: We cannot afford to keep building infrastructure future generations cannot afford. The decisions we make have a really big impact in the future.
ALEX HAGER: Arizona's low marks, Tack said, were all higher than the national average, but billions of dollars are still needed to keep the state's infrastructure up to speed with its growing population and economy. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Arizona Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit against Secretary of State Adrian Fontes. The suit argued he tried to trick voters into rejecting an election reform ballot measure that is being backed by Republicans. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky has that.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: The lawsuit was filed on behalf of three Arizona voters by America First Legal, a firm aligned with President Trump. It took issue with the ballot description Fontes crafted for Proposition 144, which would make a number of changes to Arizona election laws if approved by voters. The suit argued the description doesn't mention parts of the proposed law that would explicitly state non-citizens cannot vote in Arizona elections, something that's already illegal. The Supreme Court found the three voters challenging the description didn't have standing, meaning they had no legal justification to bring the lawsuit in the first place. The court also concluded that Fontes has broad authority under the law to craft ballot measure descriptions, and that the language he chose was not false or clearly misleading. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The U.S. is in the middle of its worst wildfire season in the last 10 years, but compared to other states in other years, Arizona has had a somewhat mild season. Taylor Griffith explains.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Arizona saw a slight increase in the number of fires this year compared to last, but they've been much easier to put out. John Truett, the Arizona state fire management officer, says that's for a few reasons. For one, there have been fewer starts in difficult terrains, save for the Pocket Fire near Sedona. Knowing that the potential for large wildfires was high this year, Truett says fire officials were very active in their community outreach and prevention efforts.
JOHN TRUETT: And the messaging may be finally catching on, you know, folks not dragging chains as much and those kind of things.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Lastly, the monsoon arrived on time and brought the amount of rain that is typically expected, which helped with lowering fire risk and extinguishing active fires. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, the Mexican state of Sonora south of Arizona has confirmed its first case of a flesh-eating parasite in a cow, just days before the border is set to reopen to cattle. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Nina Kravinsky has the latest.
NINA KRAVINSKY: The U.S. has barred cattle from Mexico from crossing the border for more than a year to protect against the spread of the New World screwworm parasite. Now, Mexico has confirmed the first case of the parasite in the state of Sonora, more than a year and a half after the screwworm first entered Mexico in late 2024. The border is set to reopen to cattle on Monday, starting with the Agua Prieta Douglas crossing from Sonora into Arizona. The USDA did not immediately respond to a question about whether the reopening would still take place as scheduled. Texas has confirmed more than 40 cases since the parasite first appeared in the United States earlier this summer. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, the West Valley NAACP says it is filing a complaint with the Peoria Unified School District. As Bridget Dowd tells us, it comes after three books written by people of color were removed from the K through 8 curriculum.
BRIDGET DOWD: "Summer of Mariposas," "A Raisin in the Sun" and "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass" were pulled from the sixth, seventh, and eighth grades, respectively. The district says the decision was made based on the maturity of the language, themes, and situations in each work relative to the developmental readiness of students in those grades. But at a recent governing board meeting, several community members raised concerns, including Kerry Cooper with the NAACP.
KERRY COOPER: We are deeply concerned about what has happened here, and we are going to continue to be a cooperative partner to press that we have dialogue regarding Policy 1-204.
BRIDGET DOWD: That policy, passed by the board last year, prohibits the adoption or promotion of diversity, equity, and inclusion frameworks. Bridget Dowd, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Phoenix police have launched a criminal investigation into two officers whose actions could be detailed in a Tempe police report that describes a traffic stop two weeks ago. Matthew Casey has more.
MATTHEW CASEY: The Tempe police report says a late-night stop happened near 19th Avenue and Broadway Road. A male driver and a female passenger told investigators they were beaten and tased by men the driver thought were riding in an unmarked police vehicle. Phoenix attorney Benjamin Taylor is not involved in the case.
BENJAMIN TAYLOR: The victims and even the Tempe police were not sure on 100% like who did this, but the fact that there's two officers who have been put on leave, Phoenix police must assume or think that these two officers were involved somehow.
MATTHEW CASEY: The Tempe report says the suspect vehicle description is similar to older models used by four local police agencies, none of which are Phoenix. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A new analysis of oversight inside ICE detention facilities finds deficiencies with one of the last remaining agency offices doing inspections. From the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick has more on that.
ALISA REZNICK: The report comes from the investigative wing of the watchdog group Project On Government Oversight, and uses publicly available inspection reports from ICE's Office of Detention Oversight. The office conducts congressionally mandated visits to report violations of detention standards and rate conditions inside facilities. Co-author René Kladzyk says facilities receive good ratings despite medical, hygiene, and other complaints from detainees inside.
RENÉ KLADZYK: If you look solely at the data about ICE detention inspections, it would appear that conditions within ICE detention have improved dramatically.
ALISA REZNICK: The data shows the number of violations reported by the office dropped by nearly 70% between 2022 and 2025. The proportion of facilities that received a superior rating has nearly tripled since the 2024 fiscal year. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, there's growing interest in putting data centers and other power-hungry facilities in rural parts of Arizona. As Greg Hahne reports, the state's utility regulator says it recently approved a measure that aims to ensure the costs of serving those buildings doesn't get passed on to rural residents.
GREG HAHNE: Rural providers sent a regulatory application to the Arizona Corporation Commission that would set up a checklist when signing power agreements with large users. The new measure means commission staff would review whether an agreement is in the public interest and whether costs could be shifted to other customers. The commission would then approve or deny those service agreements. Nick Myers is chair of the commission.
NICK MYERS: The problem is that you've got these co-ops that are relatively small in nature compared to an SRP or an APS, and they would have trouble serving a massive load.
GREG HAHNE: A Pew Research report from earlier this year shows two-thirds of planned data centers in the U.S. are in rural areas. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona's water finance agency took a step towards implementing two projects which could increase the state's water supply through partnerships with California and Mexico. From the politics team, Camryn Sanchez has details.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: The State Water Infrastructure Finance Authority solicited ideas for long-term water augmentation projects last year, and is exploring seven proposals. The board voted Wednesday to approve scopes of work for two of those proposals. Director Chelsea McGuire:
CHELSEA MCGUIRE: These are the scopes that actually dictate real work on the ground to give us real answers to the questions we all have, like: How much is this water going to cost? Do we have willing exchange partners and willing stakeholders and partners in the communities where these projects are going to be built?
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: The projects in question were proposed by EPCOR, a utility provider based in Canada. They would each bring in about 100,000 acre-feet of water to Arizona per year, but would take several years to implement. That's enough water to serve 600,000 single-family homes. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Rural and tribal communities in Arizona are facing a shortage of healthcare workers. The University of Arizona and the Gila River Indian Community aim to remedy that by launching a new medical program. Suresh Garimella is president of the UA.
SURESH GARIMELLA: Beginning next summer, 10 students will be admitted annually to the program. They will train as physicians in the Gila River Health Care system.
PHIL LATZMAN: The partnership also means those students will receive a fully funded scholarship from the Gila River Community. Arizona ranks 42nd in the nation for primary care access.
In sports, Nolan Arenado hit a tie-breaking single over a drawn-in infield to spark a two-run 10th inning as the Diamondbacks avoided a series sweep in Boston. They beat the Red Sox 7-6 yesterday. Newcomer Lars Nootbaar hit a pinch-hit, two-run homer. One of the highlights, Arizona though without All-Star second baseman Ketel Marte for a third straight game. On social media, Marte's agent said he was, quote, "managing a personal matter" and would undergo an MRI on his left knee today. The D-backs are home for a series against the Cincinnati Reds tomorrow. No, the night off for the Mercury; they are in fact off till Saturday, when they will host the Atlanta Dream.
And that does it for this Wednesday edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast, this Thursday, August the 20th. I'm Phil Latzman, thanks so much for being here, and we'll do this again tomorrow when it's Friday. Talk to you then.
