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.
PHIL LATZMAN: Hello there, this is KJZZ’s Sun Up, your daily news update from here in Phoenix. I’m Phil Latzman, your host. For this podcast, we bring to you a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our award-winning KJZZ news team. It’s Friday eve, Thursday, Sept. 24, 2026. Lots happening around the Grand Canyon State. Let’s find out with a check of the news. Well, China is warning Arizona’s Gov. Katie Hobbs not to develop political relationships with Taiwan. As Greg Hahne tells us, it comes after the Taiwanese government announced plans in July to open a cultural and economic office in the state.
GREG HAHNE: KJZZ obtained multiple letters from the Chinese consulate in Los Angeles addressed to Gov. Hobbs, protesting the opening of the Taiwan office. One letter asks the state to stop, quote, “any gimmicks that harm the friendship between China and Arizona.” China claims the democratic self-governing island of Taiwan as its own territory. Weeks before the office was announced, the federal government encouraged Governor Hobbs and other states to keep building business partnerships with Taiwan, even if they receive messages from China warning otherwise. Lily McElwee is president of the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations.
LILY MCELWEE: We’re going to see Beijing react to any development that will enhance awareness of Taiwan.
GREG HAHNE: A Hobbs spokesperson says the state will continue supporting partnerships with Taiwan consistent within the broader U.S. foreign policy framework. Greg Hahne, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: ASU’s hockey team may not have been following university practices and policies when a student-athlete collapsed during an outdoor practice in August. Katherine Davis-Young has more on the university’s initial report on that incident.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Matthew Mayich remains hospitalized more than a month after the practice. His family’s lawyer says the 21-year-old is unlikely to recover from the heat stroke he suffered. The new report says Mayich collapsed after more than an hour outside on the first day of coach-led training. It says trainers used towels and water to try to cool him before paramedics arrived. ASU policy requires an ice tub to be available for immediate full-body immersion in heat emergencies, and it says athletes should be acclimatized to heat over a few weeks. During a media event, coach Greg Powers declined to comment on the report, but said he’s still the right person to lead the team.
GREG POWERS: Everything, like I said, that has been great about coming here to play hockey still is.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: ASU Police are still investigating. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: During an attorney general’s debate held yesterday, Democratic incumbent Kris Mayes and Republican Senate President Warren Petersen sparred over Mayes’s record of suing the Trump administration. From the politics desk, Wayne Schutsky was listening in.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Mayes has filed 49 lawsuits challenging actions by the federal government since Trump’s second term began. Petersen accused the attorney general of pursuing cases against her political opponents.
WARREN PETERSEN: That is precious taxpayer money that could be used to keep Arizona safe. Because of frivolous lawsuits, nobody’s more partisan than Kris Mayes.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Mayes says her lawsuits were in the best interest of Arizonans, pointing to successful litigation that blocked Trump’s attempt to restrict mail-in voting.
KRIS MAYES: Also something that Warren Petersen has been totally mum about, but the federal government was going to try to destroy mail-in voting, which 90% of Arizonans use.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Petersen says he supported Trump’s mail-in voting executive order in principle, but acknowledged it may have been legally flawed. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Meanwhile, in another state debate held yesterday, candidates for treasurer accused one another of being too political and not financially responsible enough, and Democrat Nick Mansour said his Republican opponent Elijah Norton would inject politics into the job by divesting from any companies with liberal policies like DEI. Mansour said that would be irresponsible.
NICK MANSOUR: His plan would mean we would not invest in over 400 of the Fortune 500 companies. This is a bad idea. It will increase risk, and it will result in bad returns.
PHIL LATZMAN: Norton says his policy is not about investing in companies with racial discrimination baked into their hiring practices. Congressman Andy Biggs says if he’s elected governor, he would reverse some of the groundwater protections that incumbent Katie Hobbs has established. We go back to our politics team, and here’s Camryn Sanchez with that.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: As a Democrat working with a Republican-controlled state legislature, Hobbs hasn’t gotten many proposals through in the form of bills. But under her direction, the State Water Department has created two active management areas, which are zones where groundwater pumping is restricted. One AMA is in southern Arizona, and the other is in the western part of the state. Biggs says he may get rid of them.
ANDY BIGGS: We’ll have to see how they’re working. She’s put in a new AMA down in Cochise County that I’m not sure is working well at all. We’ll have to evaluate that very carefully.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Biggs says protecting groundwater is a top priority, but also says Arizona needs to pump more of it. He says the state has a water management issue rather than a supply issue. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: One in three Tucson residents who experienced water contamination issues in their communities are still dealing with mental health impacts decades later. That’s according to a new study out from the University of Arizona, and from the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick has details.
ALISA RESNICK: Tucson’s south side was contaminated when a cleaning solvent called TCE used at nearby military installations seeped into groundwater. Exposure has been linked to different types of cancer, Parkinson’s disease, and other issues. UA researchers surveyed more than 350 people who lived, worked, and went to school in the area and drank the contaminated water. One in three reported symptoms of post-traumatic stress, and roughly 30% had clinically significant symptoms. Southside Tucson was declared a Superfund site by the EPA in the 1980s because of the toxin. Impacted communities now drink Colorado River water, but groundwater cleanup continues. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: Attorney General Kris Mayes is suing the maker of a product marketed as an energy drink because it fails to disclose other ingredients that she says can cause illness and death. Here’s Wayne Schutsky once again with that.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: The lawsuit, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, contends that Feel Free, which is sold by Botanic Tonics, contains kratom and kava, which are both derived from plants. The attorney general says the product poses a public health risk, calling it “gas station heroin.” That’s because kratom can produce opioid- and stimulant-like effects, and kava can create mild euphoria. There are currently no state restrictions on the use of kava, and lawmakers have rejected efforts to tighten controls on the sale of kratom. The lawsuit does not demand that Feel Free be taken off the market, but does seek to stop what the attorney general calls deceptive marketing that omits key information about the product. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Arizona joined 11 other states in a settlement with Paramount that was announced this week over its acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. Paramount has agreed to operate Warner Bros. Studios and Paramount Pictures separately and to increase its film output with at least 30 releases a year for the first two years. Richie Taylor is a spokesperson for the Arizona Attorney General’s Office.
RICHIE TAYLOR: Local movie theaters really depend on these releases to bring audiences to their theaters, and that’s important for their business, but also important for the businesses nearby.
PHIL LATZMAN: Under the agreement, Paramount must also establish a board to shield CNN and CBS from corporate intervention so their newsrooms can maintain editorial independence. The agreement though still needs approval by a judge. The Phoenix City Council has voted to increase fees for commercial public records requests to pay for more staff and to end a backlog of nearly 40,000 requests. Matthew Casey reports.
MATTHEW CASEY: A commercial request aims to use public records to make money. In Phoenix, they now cost a $10 flat fee plus 25 cents a page. Noncommercial requests come from the news media, lawyers, and insurance companies. They can now get electronic copies of reports for free. Initial video requests are also no charge, but the cost of supplemental video is going up to pay for staff review and redactions. Phoenix aims to eliminate its backlog of pending requests within one year of new staff being hired and trained. Matthew Casey, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: President Trump continues to push hunting and fishing access with two new executive orders. One directs public lands agencies to open hunting at Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. Another makes it easier to reach landlocked parcels across the country. Jack Polentes with the non-profit Backcountry Hunters & Anglers supports the moves, but he’s concerned they could be at odds with other proposals from the administration.
JACK POLENTES: There’s a lot of nervousness about how revising so many federal regulations that make sense, like the Roadless Rule, like the travel management rule, gives short-term access as opposed to long-term, durable access for generations to come.
PHIL LATZMAN: The White House says the actions help support the next generation of hunters and anglers. Speaking of baseball, Corbin Carroll had a two-run triple to cap a four-run first inning as the Diamondbacks kept their slim playoff hopes alive with a fourth straight win, 5-3 over the Rockies last night. Gabriel Moreno drove in the first run, finished with three hits to help Arizona close within three games of the Phillies and Cubs for that last wild card spot, and Moreno, by the way, now with a .310 average, in contention for the National League batting title. With four games left, the D-backs go for the sweep this afternoon in Denver before they finish the regular season in San Diego this weekend, still needing a miracle. And that does it for this edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast this Thursday, Sept. 24. I’m Phil Latzman. May the good news be yours, and we’ll do this again on Friday. We’ll talk to you then.
