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: Non-profit for Arizona. bannerhealth.com/nonprofitforaz.
PHIL LATZMAN: Hello there, this is KJZZ's Sun Up, your daily news update from here in Phoenix on our state and region. I'm Phil Latzman. Every day we bring you this podcast, a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. And it's Tuesday, August 25th. Hope the week's off to a good start for you. Thanks for being here today, and let's check on the news.
Well, about six weeks before voting begins in Arizona, and a new poll, Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs holds a double-digit lead over Republican Congressman Andy Biggs. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky has details.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: The poll, conducted by Phoenix-based HighGround, shows Hobbs holding a 15-point lead with nearly 50% of the vote. Hobbs has largely consolidated the Democratic electorate, with 93% choosing the governor in the poll. Meanwhile, only 70% of Republican respondents picked Biggs, with nearly 12% crossing the aisle to pick Hobbs. At the same time, pollster Paul Bentz says Hobbs holds a significant advantage with independent voters who aren't registered with any political party.
PAUL BENTZ: She’s got about a 30-point advantage among independents. So, Biggs can’t really afford to lose both a portion of his Republican base as well as this sizable amount of independents.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Biggs is one of President Trump's closest allies in Congress, and Bentz attributed Hobbs’ advantage to dissatisfaction with the president and concerns over affordability. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: President Trump imposed sweeping 50% tariffs on Canadian goods over the weekend after negotiators failed to reach an agreement on Friday. As Greg Hahne reports, Canada is Arizona's third-largest trade partner.
GREG HAHNE: Trade between the state and Canada amounts to about $5.7 billion both ways, with a slight surplus in Arizona's favor. But the new federal tariffs on Canadian goods could affect Arizona's trade, as Canada has also promised dollar-for-dollar retaliatory measures starting next month. Canada-Arizona Business Council CEO Glenn Williamson says supplies used in housing construction, like cement and lumber, are among the goods hit with the new taxes.
GLENN WILLIAMSON: All these builders are going to have to figure out how do they absorb these costs. And do they pass it on to the consumer? Do they absorb it themselves?
GREG HAHNE: The tariffs on those products come as the state faces an affordable housing shortage. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Water officials in Nevada are suing the federal government over its new plan for sharing water from the Colorado River. As Alex Hager tells us, it's a major step in the battle over the shrinking water supply.
ALEX HAGER: Nevada says the federal plan places too much burden on the state by suggesting up to 71% cuts to its water allocation while not forcing any cuts from Colorado, Utah, New Mexico, and Wyoming. In a statement, Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo said, quote, "The Colorado River is a shared resource, so the solution needs to include everybody. Until that happens, we're prepared to fight for as long as it takes," end quote. Water experts have long said that lawsuits are not the best way to chart the future of the Colorado River, but Nevada's move opens the door to a court settling differences between states that couldn't do it themselves. Arizona water officials recently emphasized their state reserves the right to sue as well. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: ICE agents arrested three people during a traffic stop within the Gila River Indian Community earlier this month. As Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, the Valley tribe's leader says the encounter stoked fear.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Governor Stephen Roe Lewis claims the tribe made a deal allowing federal agents to conduct activities on their sovereign lands, so long as they first notify the Gila River Police Department. But tribal officers will not assist.
STEPHEN ROE LEWIS: Now with this recent incursion, that agreement clearly broke down and needed to be urgently and directly and clearly addressed.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: In a video message on social media, Lewis revealed he has contacted the Department of Homeland Security.
STEPHEN ROE LEWIS: To their credit, they understood immediately that this was a genuine problem and arranged that same day to put our new Chief of Police in touch with the local regional ICE leadership.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: None of the apprehended men are reportedly tribal members. Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona has seen the nation's steepest decline in food stamp enrollment, and that could have an impact on the state's school lunch programs. David Lujan is with the Arizona Center for Economic Progress. He told KJZZ's The Show schools can get funding to provide free lunches for all students if at least a quarter of kids qualify for SNAP.
DAVID LUJAN: And so, because we are seeing so many Arizonans fall off the SNAP rolls, that means fewer students are being able to qualify for this community eligibility category in the schools.
PHIL LATZMAN: Lujan's organization estimates more than half of children who had SNAP last year in Maricopa County now have lost those benefits.
Well, hundreds of cattle from Mexico crossed the border into Douglas yesterday, the first live cattle imports from Mexico in over a year. And it comes as the Trump administration is trying to reduce record-high beef prices. From the Fronteras Desk, Nina Kravinsky has the latest.
NINA KRAVINSKY: The Trump administration closed the border to cattle imports in May 2025 in response to the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite that can infest and even kill cattle or other animals. But Mexican and U.S. livestock inspectors declared these cattle pouring through a gate in the 30-foot border wall as free from screwworm. Gerardo Guerrero González is with Mexico's agriculture department.
GERARDO GUERRERO GONZÁLEZ: Una coordinación binacional es fundamental para poder...
TRANSLATOR: Binational coordination is fundamental to control and eradicate the New World screwworm, Guerrero González says.
NINA KRAVINSKY: The reopening comes days after the first case of New World screwworm in the state of Sonora, where these cattle are crossing from. But officials on both sides say the case nearly 300 miles away isn't a threat to this herd.
GERARDO GUERRERO GONZÁLEZ: Todo el ganado que está pasando de México va totalmente sano...
TRANSLATOR: All the cattle that are coming from Mexico are completely healthy, Guerrero González says.
NINA KRAVINSKY: Mexico has been in a more than year-and-a-half-long battle with the parasite, which entered Texas earlier this summer. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Agua Prieta, Sonora.
PHIL LATZMAN: In 1991, a rural Arizona school district built an indoor sports stadium funded almost entirely by one of the state's largest utility companies. But decades later, the cost of keeping that stadium up and running it is draining district coffers. Here's Wayne Schutsky once more.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: The Round Valley Unified School District's Round Valley Dome seats thousands at sporting events in the Eastern Arizona community of Eagar. The facility was built using an $11 million voter-approved bond which was mostly paid by Tucson Electric Power because it was the largest property taxpayer in the district at the time. State auditors found Round Valley lost nearly $400,000 operating the dome in 2024. That led to above-average facility costs for the district, which auditors said may have contributed to recent budget cuts. District officials said the dome is an important asset used by the community, and its value goes beyond the district's bottom line. But it agreed to reevaluate its rental rates regularly to ensure they remain competitive. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration's approval of exploratory drilling for a copper mine near Arizona's San Pedro River. As Jill Ryan tells us, the center claims the activity threatens Mexican spotted owls.
JILL RYAN: Earlier this year, the Center for Biological Diversity filed an intent to sue the Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife Service over the Copper Creek Exploration Project. The center says the Feds are violating the Endangered Species Act, claiming the Feds knew the spotted owls were in the project area and still approved the land for drilling. Furthermore, the suit says the project will need to withdraw unprecedented amounts of groundwater from the area. The complaint also says the bureau failed to consult with the San Carlos Apache Tribe as required under the National Historic Preservation Act. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, the new federal plan to manage the Colorado River calls for big water cuts in Arizona, Nevada, and California, but not the headwater states. Still, the plan calls on Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and New Mexico to voluntarily conserve up to 200,000 acre-feet per year. Here's Colorado's river negotiator, Becky Mitchell, during a conference in Steamboat Springs last week.
BECKY MITCHELL: Not because we have to, or that we feel like we legally have to, but because the importance of this system and the survival of this system is a responsibility for everyone.
PHIL LATZMAN: Upper Basin states are now working to set up incentive programs to compensate farmers or cities that use less, backed by $100 million in federal funding.
In sports, the Diamondbacks were blanked by the Cubs 7-0 last night at Chase Field, and they dropped two games behind the Padres for the National League's final wild-card spot. They'll play the Cubs again tonight in Phoenix. Meanwhile, D-backs hoping to get star second baseman Ketel Marte back in the lineup next week. He disappeared unexpectedly before a game in Boston recently, was placed on the injured list—or restricted list, then the injured list—with mild knee inflammation.
In basketball, losers of five of six and now eliminated from postseason contention, the Mercury try to finish strong in the final month of the WNBA season. They'll host the first of two games this week against the Washington Mystics tonight in Phoenix.
And that'll do it for this edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast this Tuesday, August 25th. I'm Phil Latzman, thanks so much for being here. We'll do it again tomorrow. We'll talk to you then.
