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. Welcome to Wednesday, it’s Sept. 9. We’re halfway to the weekend, let’s keep picking up steam with a check of the latest news.
Conservative activists working with Turning Point Action created fake images that purport to show a group of Democrats, including a progressive state lawmaker, supporting Republican Andy Biggs in the state’s race for governor. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky reports.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Over the weekend, Mary Ann Mendoza and Matt Whitmire made posts on X thanking Democratic Rep. Lorena Austin for supporting Biggs’ campaign. Both posts include images of an individual who bears a resemblance to Austin posing with signs that say “Democrats for Biggs.” But Austin says she did not pose for the photos.
LORENA AUSTIN: I guess my first thought was a little shocked but not surprised, because being deceptive and deceitful is what this group kind of does.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: DeepFake Detector, an AI tool designed to identify AI-generated images, found the photos were likely made using artificial intelligence. A video posted by a different Turning Point Action staffer did not include the fake Austin lookalike, but included the same “Democrats for Biggs” signs and other individuals featured in the photos. A disclosure said that video was created by Grok, Elon Musk’s AI platform. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Weather patterns across the globe are expected to be upended in the months ahead by a record-strong El Niño developing in the Pacific Ocean. Katherine Davis-Young has more on what it could mean for Arizona.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: El Niños tend to push more storms across the southern U.S., including Arizona, so long-range forecasts are showing the state is likely to see above-average precipitation throughout the fall and winter. But University of Arizona climate scientist Michael Crimmins says it’s hard to predict how strong those storms might be or when they might come.
MICHAEL CRIMMINS: If everything’s pointing to us being above average, some of that precipitation could be extreme in the way it comes. But if everything’s spaced out right, this could be just a really beneficial wet period for Arizona as well.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Crimmins says increased odds for rain aren’t a guarantee. The last time there was a strong El Niño in 2016, much of Arizona actually ended up with drier-than-normal weather. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Secretary of State Adrian Fontes has launched a new website he hopes will “inoculate” the state’s voters against misinformation about Arizona’s elections. Arizona.vote offers basic facts like the Oct. 5 deadline to register to vote ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. Fontes says he hopes the website will help equip Arizonans to identify lies about the election process.
ADRIAN FONTES: We really want to make sure that when one of these knuckleheads goes out there and starts saying dumb crap about our elections, we’ll have already had sort of the facts laid out about how this actually works.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Arizona.vote also includes procedures where voters can track a ballot to confirm it was received and counted.
Last year, Pima County supervisors put a limit on how many months developments under consideration in the county can remain a secret. Yesterday, county officials said that limit should apply to projects under existing nondisclosure agreements, including data centers. Taylor Griffith has more.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Data center developers use NDAs for a couple reasons. While they can be important for protecting sensitive company data, sometimes they’re simply there to avoid creating too much competition in one area for favorable water and energy costs. Pima County Supervisor Jennifer Allen has been outspoken about the challenges NDAs created for publicly discussing the Project Blue data center.
JENNIFER ALLEN: For the purposes of, you know, negotiating purchase and sale prices and agreements, yes. But, you know, the obscuring of information from the public and the sort of lack of transparency that they can create, I just think is problematic.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Pima County supervisors voted to ask developers with existing NDAs to voluntarily apply a six-month limit they adopted on those agreements last year, retroactively. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: A ranch based in Buckeye will donate over 2 million eggs to food banks as part of a settlement over price fixing. Jill Ryan reports.
JILL RYAN: Hickman’s Egg Ranch will deliver eggs this month to St. Mary’s Food Bank in Phoenix, United Food Bank in Mesa and Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona in Tucson. The Attorney General’s Office says Hickman’s and two other companies illegally coordinated for nearly three years to artificially inflate prices for retailers and consumers nationwide. The egg producers are expected to donate a total of 53 million eggs and are responsible for over $3 million in fines as a part of the settlement. Jill Ryan, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Legal aid groups were back in court yesterday for a hearing over whether the Trump administration is complying with a previous court order to maintain a congressionally mandated legal aid program for immigrant children. From the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick reports.
ALISA REZNICK: The hearing lasted nearly two hours as attorneys questioned Richard Debany with the Office of Refugee Resettlement, the federal agency in charge of immigrant children alone in the U.S. Under a congressionally funded program, dozens of legal aid groups were providing direct representation and know-your-rights presentations to the children until the end of July, when their contract with the Office of Refugee Resettlement ended and wasn’t renewed. The aid groups say the new group contracted to do the work now is leaving children in court without attorneys. The government argues the new group needs time to ramp up to full capacity. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced that a former Tucson charter school director and others were indicted for allegedly stealing education dollars to pay for jewelry, trips to casinos, and other extravagances. Here’s Wayne Schutsky again.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: According to the indictment, former Academy Del Sol Executive Director Jason Riegert, his wife Staci Barton, and office manager Kimberly Richards are accused of misusing more than $100,000 belonging to the school, including more than $25,000 public education dollars from the state. The indictment accuses them of funneling money to a shell company owned by Riegert, claiming the business was providing student support services. They allegedly used the money to pay for personal home repairs, plastic surgery, a Cadillac, and trips to New York and Las Vegas. The trio faces dozens of felony charges, including theft, conspiracy, and fraud. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: Public opposition to data centers is high, regardless of political affiliation. Now, a new report from researchers at Yale is finding out what it would take for communities to be more supportive. The Mountain West News Bureau’s Yvette Fernandez has more.
YVETTE FERNANDEZ: One strong reason people oppose data centers is that they believe their utility bills will rise. That’s according to a survey from the university called Climate Change in the American Mind. Most people do not want data centers near them, but 74% would if building a data center in their community meant it would lower their utility bills. Kristin Eberhard with the nonprofit Rewiring America advocates for affordable electricity and collaborated on the report.
KRISTIN EBERHARD: It’s really opposition to a bad bargain, where communities are being asked to absorb the costs while somebody else gets the benefits.
YVETTE FERNANDEZ: She adds that data center developers could invest in residential infrastructure, such as home weatherization efforts, that could lower energy costs for ratepayers. Yvette Fernandez, Mountain West News Bureau.
BRUCE DRUMMOND: New changes are kicking in this month for Arizona driver’s licenses. Drivers will need a new photo every 16 years. Federally compliant Arizona Travel IDs are valid for eight years, so Arizona is updating its timeframe for new license photos to 16 years so that Travel IDs will come due for a new photo with every other renewal. Old rules required new photos every 12 years. The same rules will apply to Travel IDs or standard Arizona licenses. Arizonans needing new photos can visit an MVD office or schedule an appointment at azmvdnow.gov.
In sports, after blowing a two-run lead in the bottom of the ninth, the Diamondbacks managed to come back and beat the Royals last night in Kansas City. Two runs in the 11th inning put the game away for Arizona, 5-3. It was the D-backs’ fourth straight win and kept them a half-game ahead of the Padres for the last National League playoff spot. The game also saw the return of Arizona pitcher Corbin Burnes after more than a year away. The series with the Royals wraps up this afternoon with Game 3.
And that’s it for this Wednesday version of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast for Sept. 9. I’m Bruce Drummond. Stay cool and hydrated, and we’ll talk again tomorrow.
