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.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: This is KJZZ’s Sun Up, your daily news update from Phoenix, the state and the region. Good morning, I’m Bruce Drummond. Phil is away this week. This podcast is a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by the KJZZ news team. It’s Labor Day, Sept. 7, 2026. Thanks for being here on this Monday, and let’s see what’s happening in the news.
A North Carolina judge ruled Friday that former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema can be sued under the state’s homewrecker law. Trenton Ashdown reports.
TRENTON ASHDOWN: The ex-wife of a member of Sinema’s security detail is suing the former lawmaker for financial damages over an affair. Sinema has previously acknowledged having a romantic relationship with her bodyguard Matthew Ammel while he was married, but she argued that she can’t be sued in North Carolina due to a lack of connection to the state.
A U.S. district judge rejected that argument, stating that nine text messages sent to Ammel while he was in North Carolina gives the state jurisdiction over Sinema. North Carolina allows jilted spouses to sue third parties responsible for marital breakups. Trenton Ashdown, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: A new report from the American Psychological Association says heat waves are quietly eroding kids’ ability to learn, and schools should plan for it the way they plan for snow days. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Jenny Kinsey has more.
JENNY KINSEY: The report consolidates research on extreme heat at schools. Psychologist Nicole Barnes says the issue is a serious problem, especially in a year that has brought several heat waves.
NICOLE BARNES: Heat shapes how children think, learn, feel and develop. That makes it a psychology issue.
JENNY KINSEY: The report finds that when classroom temperatures rise above an optimal 68 to 73 degrees, students complete tasks more slowly and less accurately. That leads to lower test scores and more absences. Young kids are the hardest hit along with students with preexisting health conditions or on certain medications. Barnes says school districts should create a heat response plan if they don’t have one in place already.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: That’s Jenny Kinsey reporting.
A decision by the United Nations’ cultural arm, UNESCO, reiterates concern about the U.S.-Mexico border wall’s impact on animal habitats along the Arizona-Sonora border. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Nina Kravinsky reports.
NINA KRAVINSKY: The wide swath of protected land in northwestern Sonora is known as El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve. UNESCO named the reserve a World Heritage site more than a decade ago. Alex Olivera with the Center for Biological Diversity says border wall construction under the first Trump administration has hurt animals’ ability to move across the border.
ALEX OLIVERA: Animals cannot cross that used to for millions and thousands of years from the U.S. to Mexico in order to look for water, for food.
NINA KRAVINSKY: UNESCO’s decision calls for Mexico to organize a mission of UN officials to El Pinacate to assess the impact of the border wall. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Last week, Banner Health clinicians voted in favor of unionizing for better working conditions and patient care. Kathy Ritchie talked to one physician about what’s next.
KATHY RITCHIE: Dr. Justin Watkins practices family medicine at Banner. He says since voting to join the Union of American Physicians and Dentists, there’s been a lot of excitement among staff.
JUSTIN WATKINS: In the next week or so, we expect the results to be certified and finalized. Not anticipating at this time that there’ll be any challenges, just based on the margin of victory.
KATHY RITCHIE: Nearly 70% of the voting clinicians were in support of union representation. Watkins says Banner likely thought they were dealing with a smaller percentage of dissatisfied staff.
JUSTIN WATKINS: Now they are realizing that we are nowhere near a minority. We are a large majority of their workforce.
KATHY RITCHIE: In an earlier statement, Banner said if the results are certified, they will consider next steps in meeting their obligation to the union. Kathy Ritchie, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Labor Day weekend is a busy time as the summer comes to an end, and airports in Arizona are bracing for increased passenger demand. Austin Wright is the communications director for the Tucson Airport Authority. He says this could be one of their busiest Labor Day weekends.
AUSTIN WRIGHT: We expect that we’ll have about 5,000 passengers per day at load factors exceeding 85% for the weekend, which means flights will be very full for Tucson airport standards, which we’re a small airport.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Wright says most passengers are trying to escape the heat by leaving the state.
Pima County officials recently teamed up with researchers at Johns Hopkins University to study how data centers could affect the environment and your body. Taylor Griffith has more on what they found.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: John Neatherlin is deputy director of the Pima County Health Department and says it’s a brave new world for understanding how data centers impact our health.
JOHN NEATHERLIN: I’m not saying there were no tools, but I think the hunger for this was really apparent in our search and in the work we were doing.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Drawing from limited related studies, Neatherlin and team mapped out how each phase of data center development could impact public health broadly across Pima County. The county already has higher rates of disability, respiratory conditions and heart disease than the nationwide average, as well as extreme heat and water supply vulnerabilities. Large-scale data centers, especially those relying on diesel backup generators, could heighten risks across all of these categories. Netherland says further research or site-specific studies may follow. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Phoenix-based multidisciplinary artist Daniel Ragsdale Combs has seen four decades of awards for his work, and now he’s a new member of the Colored Pencil Society of America. As part of our Voices of Arizona, here’s Jill Ryan.
JILL RYAN: Joining the society has been a longtime goal for Combs.
DANIEL RAGSDALE COMBS: I’ve been drawing before I was 1. Colored pencil was my first go-to when I was a child. My mom would bring me around anywhere we went, she’d always have art supplies with her. She’d always tell me, “Shut up and draw,” and that’s what calmed me down as a child. I won my first national competition when I was 9. I’ve been winning national and international awards since.
JILL RYAN: Looking around his workspace, you’ll find drawings in a variety of styles, featuring a wide range of subjects, from realist to the abstract.
DANIEL RAGSDALE COMBS: This is called “Ripped Away.” It’s 100% colored pencil. It deals with the internal psychological response to stimuli.
JILL RYAN: Combs says he suffered a head injury in the U.S. Navy, which is the inspiration for this work.
DANIEL RAGSDALE COMBS: There’s a face that’s exploding into a skull, and the eye is being ripped out of the image, coming forward. I get inspired by everything around me, and in my dreams.
JILL RYAN: The theme for Combs’ next show with the Colored Pencil Society of America is conservation. It opens in 2027. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Hydrologists use a variety of techniques to restore the natural function of rivers and streams. So-called process-based restoration can bring a number of ecological benefits, but as the Mountain West News Bureau’s Murphy Woodhouse reports, fire managers are now using it more.
MURPHY WOODHOUSE: “It may sound simple, but water doesn’t burn.” That’s the opening of a recent federal report on the promise of process-based restoration, or PBR, for wildland firefighters.
There are a number of techniques used. On the lower-tech side, there’s the reintroduction of beavers. On the higher-tech side, using heavy machinery to fill deep channels. Their common effect is to raise water tables and soil moisture.
That can also give firefighters an edge when trying to control blazes. Here’s report co-author Jen Croft with the U.S. Forest Service.
JEN CROFT: We have fire practitioners now who are integrating this, not just folks in fisheries and hydrology and watersheds.
MURPHY WOODHOUSE: She says there’s increasing coordination between firefighters and those who have been using PBR for years to maximize ecological and fire protection benefits. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I’m Murphy Woodhouse.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: President Trump signed an executive order on Friday that could lead the Mexican gray wolf to be removed from the endangered species list. Connor Greenwall reports.
CONNOR GREENWALL: The wolves nearly went extinct before they were reintroduced to Arizona and New Mexico in 1998. Now, there are roughly 300 Mexican gray wolves in the region. Sandy Bahr from the Sierra Club says there are two concerns: There isn’t yet enough genetic diversity among the wolves to warrant delisting, and the population is not large enough to be removed.
SANDY BAHR: There are a lot of animals we wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the Endangered Species Act. Of course, some of them have actually recovered, but the Mexican gray wolf just isn’t there yet.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Trump’s order directs the Secretary of the Interior to determine within 90 days whether the Mexican gray wolf should be delisted or downgraded under the Endangered Species Act. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: In sports, the Diamondbacks took two of three from the Astros over the weekend, closing out their series yesterday with a 3-2 win in Houston. The win helped Arizona hold on to a half-game lead over the Padres for the last National League wild-card spot.
Shortstop Geraldo Perdomo left the game in the third inning after getting hit in the head by a Ketel Marte line drive. D-backs manager Torey Lovullo says Perdomo is expected to start today as the team kicks off a series against the Royals in Kansas City. First pitch is at 11:10 a.m. Arizona time.
And that’s it for this edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast for Monday, Sept. 7. I’m Bruce Drummond. Enjoy the day and stay hydrated.
