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.
KJZZ's Sun Up Transcript for Aug. 26, 2026
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: And welcome to Wednesday. This is KJZZ's Sun Up, your daily news update from here in Phoenix on our state and region. I'm Phil Latzman, your host for this podcast-y daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team and as supported by listeners like you, of course. And welcome to Wednesday. It's the 26th of August. We are on the downhill run to the weekend, so let's keep it moving with a check of the news. Two former Phoenix police officers have been arrested for allegedly conducting a violent and unreported traffic stop, and they've now been formally charged by prosecutors. KJZZ's Matthew Casey has the latest.
MATTHEW CASEY: The Maricopa County Attorney's Office has charged Antonio Felix and Luis Vazquez Jr. via direct complaints instead of seeking indictments by a grand jury. Both men face nine counts including kidnapping, assault, evidence tampering, and conspiracy to hinder prosecution. Felix and Vazquez were arrested over the weekend and fired in connection with a late-night traffic stop on Aug. 5. A man and a woman who were in the vehicle claim they were beaten and tased. Online court records show Felix and Vazquez are currently represented by public defenders. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Trump administration's top education official visited Arizona to tout a new federal voucher program that will let Americans redirect their tax dollars to pay for school expenses—a program that Arizonans though won't be able to actually access until, or unless, Gov. Katie Hobbs opts in by the end of the year. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky reports.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: The federal tax credit, a piece of President Trump's big, beautiful bill, lets families claim up to $1,700 for contributing to nonprofits that help pay for a student's private, public, or homeschool expenses. Hobbs vetoed Republican bills to opt Arizona into the program amidst opposition from Democrats and public education supporters. But not all public school advocates are outright opposed to the federal voucher. Scottsdale Unified Superintendent Scott Menzel says that, unlike the state school voucher system, the federal credit could be used to cover public school costs.
SCOTT MENZEL: But, but from my perspective, it's the first time where in this competitive environment, there's a mechanism where we can also generate additional revenue.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Menzel says the credit could help his district raise millions to take pressure off of its budget. But he wants to wait until the federal government finalizes rules for the program in September to pass final judgment. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Where Arizona's Democratic Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva is among a group of lawmakers calling on the Trump administration to immediately halt its construction of a secondary border wall. Kathy Ritchie has more on that.
KATHY RITCHIE: Grijalva and three other members of Congress want the Departments of Homeland Security and the Interior to stop their work on a secondary wall along a stretch of land bordering the Tohono O'odham reservation and its boundary with Mexico. In a letter, the lawmakers wrote their, quote, "concern by the federal government's failure to meaningfully consult with tribal nations regarding projects that may impact sacred sites," places like Monument Hill and Quitobaquito Springs. A border wall contractor destroyed a nearby 1,000-year-old archaeological site earlier this year. A federal district judge recently denied an injunction by the Tohono O'odham Nation to halt construction. Kathy Ritchie, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Pinal County supervisors will decide today whether to approve a large-scale data center planned 12 miles outside the city of Eloy. But as Taylor Griffith tells us, the developer will need to meet more than 50 conditions in order to start building.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: The La Osa Energy Center would include 11 data centers, a gas-powered plant, and a battery storage system designed to hold enough energy to power a large city. During the project's last public hearing in May, the developer Vermaland said it planned to reduce the project scale by 80% due to community opposition. The Pinal County Board of Supervisors will vote on whether to rezone over 3,000 acres of rural land for the project, a third of which will be left as open space, though it's unclear if the land could be developed down the road. Supervisors have some demands for the project, including a reporting requirement for water used inside the data centers and at the on-site gas plant. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A legal watchdog says it is filing bar complaints against U.S. District Attorney and former Fox News host Jeanine Pirro. As Greg Hahne reports, the Legal Accountability Center says Pirro and her subordinates sought meritless indictments against Arizona Senator Mark Kelly and other Democratic lawmakers.
GREG HAHNE: Pirro brought the order to investigate Kelly and other lawmakers after they appeared in a video calling on troops to resist unlawful orders. In a rare move, a grand jury in Washington, D.C., rejected bringing the indictments. The center filed the bar complaint in New York to investigate whether Pirro knew her requests were frivolous and would serve to harass the lawmakers. Pirro's office hasn't responded to a request for comment. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth tried to censure Kelly for his statements in the video, but a judge ruled in Kelly's favor, but that ruling is under appeal. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A coalition of Arizonans across the western part of the state are banding together to protect their shrinking groundwater basin, about 80 miles northwest of metro Phoenix. They're hoping to establish a zone where pumping will be restricted. From the politics team, here is Camryn Sanchez with that.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Residents are collecting signatures to establish a groundwater protection zone around the McMullen Valley aquifer. A New York City-based hedge fund supported legislation earlier this year which would have allowed it to pump some of that water out and sell it to cities in the Phoenix metro area. The bill died, but McMullen Valley Water Defenders leader Gary Saiter says it pushed him to take action.
GARY SAITER: I just think it's morally wrong to take water from us that we need for development and survival and send it to Buckeye or wherever so that a family can build a new house and live there. Why are they more important than me?
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Backers of the protection effort want to put the question of establishing an active management area on local ballots next March. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, it's been a dry and dusty summer so far, and those conditions increase chances that people might inhale the fungal spores that spread valley fever. Katherine Davis-Young has more.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Dr. John Galgiani directs the University of Arizona's Valley Fever Center for Excellence. He says Banner Urgent Care centers have seen an increase in positive tests for the infection over the last month. Valley fever is often misdiagnosed, so Galgiani encourages Arizonans to seek testing if they develop symptoms like coughing, joint pain, or fatigue that lasts longer than a week.
DR. JOHN GALGIANI: By knowing that it's a fungal infection, you stop getting treatments for other things that you don't have, like getting antibiotics for a bacterial pneumonia, for example.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Arizona has confirmed more than 7,000 cases of valley fever so far this year. Galgiani expects that number to rise. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The FBI has set a minimum reward of $25,000 for help solving some cold cases where people went missing or were killed in Indian Country. Matthew Casey reports.
MATTHEW CASEY: The new minimum applies to more than 50 unsolved homicides and missing person cases in tribal communities. Most of the cases are less than 10 years old, though The Associated Press reports a dozen have been unsolved for more than two decades. In its announcement, the FBI cited the murder of San Carlos Apache teenager Emily Pike, whose body was found after she disappeared from a Mesa group home. An FBI spokesperson in Phoenix says investigating crimes in Indian Country often is complex because of the remoteness, limited resources, and extensive workload. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: More U.S. forest lands could soon be open to ATVs and bikes. The Mountain West News Bureau's Hanna Merzbach reports on the Trump administration's latest plans in an attempt to increase motorized use on public lands.
HANNA MERZBACH: For over two decades, motorized vehicles have only been allowed on national forest lands specifically designated for them. But Wyoming Wilderness Association's Peggy dePasquale says the Trump administration could flip that on its head.
PEGGY DEPASQUALE: Instead of closed unless designated open, open unless designated closed.
HANNA MERZBACH: The administration says it's revising the long-standing travel management rule to increase access for motorized vehicles, e-bikes, and other mobility devices. Though dePasquale says the Forest Service's policy has never been about restricting access.
PEGGY DEPASQUALE: It's about making access sustainable and well-understood by everybody.
HANNA MERZBACH: She worries vehicles could damage habitats. This comes as the Trump administration is also repealing the Roadless Rule, which could mean more roads on national forests. That's Hanna Merzbach reporting.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, rookie Ryan Waldschmidt's two-out, two-run walk-off homer won it for the Diamondbacks in a comeback to beat the Cubs 5-4 last night at Chase Field. They were down 4-0 after seven; they scratched back with three in the eighth before, or before Waldschmidt's game-winner. The D-backs' league-leading 40th comeback win of the season moves them within a game of the Padres for the final National League wild-card spot. Arizona and Chicago finish up their series in Phoenix this afternoon. In basketball, the Mercury continue to fall. They lose to the Washington Mystics last night in Phoenix 94-84. Natasha Mack and Kahleah Copper each scored 19 for Phoenix, who made just three of their 17 3-point shots. On a positive note, Kelsey Plum did return to action for the first time since early August; she had 10 points. The Mercury have been eliminated from the WNBA postseason; they'll host the Mystics again tomorrow night. And that will do it for this Wednesday edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast on this August 26th. I'm Phil Latzman. Thanks for listening, and we'll do it again tomorrow. Talk to you then.
