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, Nonprofit for Arizona. BannerHealth.com/nonprofitforAZ.
PHIL LATZMAN: This is KJZZ’s Sun Up, your daily news update from here in Phoenix on our state and region. I'm Phil Latzman. Good morning, and thanks to Bruce Drummond for sitting in last week for this podcast, which is a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. It's Monday, Sept. 14. Happy to be back, glad to have you here, and let's kick off the week — fresh week with a check of the fresh news.
Well, the city of Phoenix says the parking garages at Sky Harbor are crumbling and need extensive structural repairs. Connor Greenwall starts us off.
CONNOR GREENWALL: In August, the Phoenix City Council approved a contract not to exceed $105 million to repair the parking garages for Terminals 3 and 4 at Sky Harbor. The garages, which opened in 1979 and 1990 respectively, will require new expansion joints, bearing pads, and garage seals. John Brodsky is a spokesperson for the airport.
JOHN BRODSKY: These garages are older garages, and some of the infrastructure that's in the garage is nearing the end of its life cycle.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Brodsky says most of the work will occur overnight to minimize disruption for travelers, and the construction is scheduled to start in early 2028. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Phoenix is expanding its city transit network, including a new ride-share program. Phoenix Links is an on-demand service designed to fill gaps in the network, and will allow users to book a van anywhere in the city. Phoenix Links is broken into three service areas: North, South, and West. And rides can be taken anywhere within each zone. Brendy Yanez is with Phoenix Public Transit.
BRENDY YANEZ: The main priority of the — of this new Phoenix Links service: to try to get you closer to the bus stop, to try to get you closer to the light rail station.
PHIL LATZMAN: Users will be able to book rides on Phoenix Links online or through an app. Fares start at $2 per ride, and service is scheduled to begin in late October.
Independent voters are expected to be even more influential in the upcoming November midterms. Trenton Ashdown tells us why.
TRENTON ASHDOWN: More than 900,000 voters registered in Maricopa County have no party affiliation, a larger group than either Democrats or Republicans. Thom Reilly has been researching the growth of independent voters since 2022. He's a professor and co-director for the Center for an Independent and Sustainable Democracy at ASU. Reilly says that the coming years of American politics will largely be defined by the growing block of unaffiliated Gen Z voters.
THOM REILLY: We're seeing larger numbers of independents and unaffiliated. And as they age, they don't seem to be joining a party. And I think that has just very significant ramifications to our electoral system.
TRENTON ASHDOWN: Reilly said Arizona has a history of challenging the two-party system, mentioning late Sen. John McCain's bipartisanship and former Sen. Kyrsten Sinema's rejection of the Democratic Party. Trenton Ashdown, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona is home to thousands of legally present refugees from Afghanistan, Somalia, and other countries. And as they begin their new lives in the state, many of them rely on Arizona's Medicaid program, AHCCCS, for healthcare. But in a few weeks, they'll no longer qualify for that coverage, as Katherine Davis-Young reports.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: HR 1, the Republican tax and spending bill passed last year, laid out new rules for Medicaid eligibility to cut costs. When some of those changes take effect October 1st, refugees will no longer be covered. AHCCCS has notified about 34,000 Arizona enrollees that they might be affected. Michael Murphy is a spokesperson for Valleywise Health, which runs a refugee health program. He says without coverage, families will miss out on routine doctor visits and important preventive care.
MICHAEL MURPHY: I think you're probably going to see many of these people going to the emergency department for medical care, and that's really not ideal.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: He says the Valleywise Center for Refugee and Global Health is now working with charitable organizations to try to help clients navigate the change. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Municipalities across Arizona are raising concern over the rapid rise of data centers, especially when it comes to water consumption here in the drought-stricken Southwest. As Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, a tribe bordering the Colorado River has enacted a moratorium on its reservation.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: The Hualapai Tribal Council in northern Arizona recently passed a resolution opposing the, quote, "irresponsible development of hyperscale data centers." Such facilities powering AI, they say, pose a direct and severe threat to the tribe's sacred water, lands, environment, and way of life.
DWAYNE CRANSTON: Moving forward, we will always protect our air, we will always protect our land, and we will always protect our water.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: That's Hualapai Chairman Dwayne Cranston.
DWAYNE CRANSTON: Hualapai Tribe will stand strong with any community, and we will oppose these data centers.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Some neighbors in nearby Bullhead City, which also sits along the river, are now concerned about rezoning proposals that could lead to data center development. Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Sierra Vista is seeking approval from the Federal Aviation Administration to allow spacecraft to land in the city. Here's Connor Greenwall once again with that.
CONNOR GREENWALL: The city applied for a license to operate a spaceport re-entry site where returning spacecraft would land. The Sierra Vista Municipal Airport, which is also used by the military, has a runway long enough for any aircraft or spacecraft to use. Tony Boone is with the city of Sierra Vista.
TONY BOONE: We have access to the 12,001-foot runway. So, technically speaking, with the right support vehicles and things that we could bring in, we could do a re-entry next week.
CONNOR GREENWALL: But the city's application has been delayed so the FAA could prioritize other spaceports with imminent launches or re-entries.
TONY BOONE: We are not the only one that they're doing that to, due to a lack of resources on their end.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Boone says this is not deterring the city's pursuit for a spaceport. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Mexican state of Sonora, south of Arizona, saw drought conditions ease this summer. From the Frontier Desk in the capital of Hermosillo, Nina Kravinsky has more.
NINA KRAVINSKY: According to data from the Mexican federal government, only six of Sonora's 72 municipalities were registering drought conditions at the end of August this year. At the end of August last year, the data shows 56 municipalities were affected. The significant reduction in drought conditions across the state of Sonora comes after a particularly wet summer. Of the six municipalities that continue to register drought, none of them are classified as extreme or exceptional levels. Last year, 17 municipalities in Sonora were experiencing extreme or exceptional drought at the end of August. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
PHIL LATZMAN: The U.S. Forest Service is pushing ahead with plans to reorganize, including moving headquarters to Utah and some research operations to Colorado. As the Mountain West News Bureau's Rachel Cohen reports, fewer science buildings will shutter than expected.
RACHEL COHEN: The Forest Service says it's closing 23 research stations and a few regional offices, saving about $16 million. The agency backpedaled from initial plans to close more than 50 facilities. "That's a relief," says Elizabeth Leger, a plant biologist at the University of Nevada, Reno. She says the local Forest Service lab, originally slated to close, does critical work studying how rangelands recover from fires.
ELIZABETH LEGER: And trying to understand and nudge these systems back the way that is most beneficial after fire is a huge focus of the Forest Service.
RACHEL COHEN: And more important this year after Reno saw major blizzards. The agency says scientists at shuttering buildings will stay local; some in research management could move to Fort Collins, Colorado. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I'm Rachel Cohen.
PHIL LATZMAN: A Canadian business has begun operations in Mesa to recycle used electronic and high-tech equipment. Lily Roseburrough tells us more about that.
LILY ROSEBURROUGH: Cyclic Materials recovers rare earth magnets from devices such as electronics, hard drives, and medical equipment to supply local industries. The process also refines critical minerals such as copper, aluminum, and steel. The Mesa location has already begun processing 7,000 metric tons of products. According to the EPA, recycling these magnets relieves environmental and geological impacts that come from mining. According to the company, Arizona was chosen due to its strong and growing presence in the semiconductor, electronics, and data center industries. Lily Roseburrough, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, in football, the Cardinals pulled off the upset of the first NFL weekend. They beat the Chargers in LA yesterday, 26-14. Cards got an early touchdown from rookie Jeremiah Love, quarterback Jacoby Brissett threw for another, but it was the Arizona defense and special teams that dominated. For Mike LaFleur's team, came in as 9.5-point underdogs.
MIKE LAFLEUR: What's been said, it doesn't matter, like, we don't care. And, and I hope we continue to feel that way. Like, I just told 'em, you know, humility's a day away in this league, so we gotta reset and, and get right back to work tomorrow. So, um, but I'm happy for those guys. It's been a long, um—it's been a long camp.
PHIL LATZMAN: LaFleur became the first Cards head coach to win his debut since 1973. And they'll try for another big upset this Sunday in their home opener against the defending champion Seahawks. Of course, remember Cards did start 2-0 last year and then lost 14 games.
The Diamondbacks in baseball dropped 2.5 back of the final wild card spot. They lose two of three at home to the Rangers, dropping yesterday's finale 7-6. The Miami Marlins are in town for three starting tonight before the New York Yankees come to town later this week — a very important week for the D-backs.
And that'll do it for this edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast this Monday, September the 14th. I'm Phil Latzman. Enjoy the day, and we'll do it again tomorrow. We'll talk to you then.
