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: 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. We bring you this podcast as a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. Hey, welcome to a new month, Thursday, Oct. 1. Let’s get right to it with a check of the news.
Candidates for Arizona Secretary of State disagreed on nearly everything, including the need for faster election results, in a heated debate that was held last night. From the politics desk, Camryn Sanchez was listening in.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Incumbent Democratic Secretary of State Adrian Fontes called his opponent, Alexander Kolodin, a partisan hack who will serve the Trump administration at the expense of Arizona voters. Kolodin said Fontes has run the office incompetently and pledged to make a host of changes, including getting results much faster.
ALEXANDER KOLODIN: We’re going to have election results on election night. That’s what I’m going to deliver for Arizona voters.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: Fontes said election results on election night is an unrealistic promise that Kolodin knows he can’t deliver on. Fontes said the state must prioritize accuracy in elections over speed. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: The Arizona Supreme Court says a recent cyberattack revealed sensitive information belonging to people who owe unpaid court fees and restitution. Also from the politics team, here’s Wayne Schutsky with the latest on that.
WAYNE SCHUTSKY: Last week, hackers accessed the Supreme Court’s systems using a phishing email. Now, the court says they were able to download information about people referred to the statewide Fair Collection Program, which handles outstanding court-ordered debts from civil traffic and criminal violations. That information includes names and Social Security numbers belonging to around 1.3 million people who accrued debts over the past 30 years. The court is notifying affected individuals via text message and is also urging them to freeze their credit. Wayne Schutsky, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: ASU is placing its head hockey coach on paid administrative leave just days before the start of the season. It comes after a student-athlete collapsed from life-threatening heatstroke during the team’s first practice in August. Katherine Davis-Young has the latest on that.
KATHERINE DAVIS-YOUNG: Matthew Mayich has been hospitalized since the Aug. 20 practice and is not expected to recover. Head coach Greg Powers told reporters last week he believed he was still the right person to lead the team following the incident. But Mayich’s parents and members of the team have called for Powers and other coaching staff to be put on leave until an investigation can be completed. ASU says assistant coach Mike Corbett will lead the team as the season opens this weekend, and an interim coach will be named soon. Katherine Davis-Young, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: New federal rules for the Colorado River officially go into effect today as the month starts, but they will not change the amount of water that flows to Arizona quite yet. As Alex Hager reports, the state is still working on an agreement to spread out the pain of cutbacks.
ALEX HAGER: Arizona is slated to take the biggest cuts under the new rules, but it’s close to a deal with California and Nevada to soften the blow. State officials say it’s hung up while they figure out which specific cities and farms will use less water. John Berggren studies water policy at the nonprofit Western Resource Advocates.
JOHN BERGGREN: That’s what they’re hoping to find agreement on is, not only do we agree each state how much we’re going to take, but within each state who’s going to actually take the shortages.
ALEX HAGER: Arizona’s top water official told KJZZ that Nevada’s decision to sue the federal government over its new river rules also extended negotiations between the states, but he’s very optimistic about the deal, which must be signed before Jan. 1. Alex Hager, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A former Centennial High School student has filed a $7 million notice of claim against the Peoria Unified School District, alleging it failed to protect him from grooming and exploitation. As Kathy Ritchie reports, it comes months after a different student filed a $20 million notice of claim against the same district.
KATHY RITCHIE: This is the latest claim related to allegations of grooming against Haley Beck, a former district employee and teacher at Centennial High School. The claim states the former student was a friend of other students whose relationships with Beck became the subject of an investigation earlier this year. That led to Beck’s termination.
In the document, attorneys claim Beck provided marijuana, alcohol, and gifts to foster a personal relationship with the former student. His attorneys say he suffered psychological and emotional harm as a result, as well as lost educational opportunities. A spokesperson for the district confirmed they are in receipt of the notice of claim, which is a precursor to a lawsuit. Kathy Ritchie, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: A federal court ruled on Wednesday that a voter-approved law requiring transparency in campaign finance spending is constitutionally sound. Here’s Camryn Sanchez once more from our politics team.
CAMRYN SANCHEZ: In 2022, voters overwhelmingly passed Prop 211, which requires that people be able to see who is spending money on campaign ads. A conservative nonprofit called Americans for Prosperity challenged the law in court, arguing the transparency requirements violate the organization’s free speech rights and the rights of their donors.
There are still two open and active cases challenging specific parts of Prop 211. Those cases challenge whether the Arizona Clean Elections Commission has the power to make rules and whether certain groups should be exempted from transparency requirements for fear of their donors being harassed. Camryn Sanchez, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Homebuilders say ramped-up ICE enforcement is stoking fear in construction workforces and worsening a labor shortage in the industry. That’s according to a new survey conducted by the National Association of Home Builders. And from the Fronteras Desk in Tucson, Alisa Reznick has details.
ALISA REZNICK: The association says immigrant workers account for more than 25% of the construction workforce, and the impact of immigration enforcement and workplace raids is felt across the board, with some markets reporting even workers with legal status not showing up due to ICE fears.
Meanwhile, the group says mandatory detention policies for undocumented people arrested by ICE have forced project cancellations, reduced revenue, and eliminated jobs for U.S.-born workers as housing projects decrease. A report released by the group last year estimated skilled labor shortages were costing almost $11 billion a year. Alisa Reznick, KJZZ News, Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: Midterm elections are around the corner now, and the deadline to register to vote is even closer. Calli Jones, with Arizona Secretary of State’s office, says voters have until midnight on Oct. 5 to register.
CALLI JONES: You can send in a paper form to your county recorder, but you also have the option in Arizona to register online, and we are recommending that everyone go to arizona.vote.
PHIL LATZMAN: Maricopa County residents can check their voter registration status on the county’s website. Early ballots go out next week, and the last day for voters to mail back their ballots, if they do that, is Oct. 27. Election Day itself is Nov. 3.
PHIL LATZMAN: Casa Grande leaders created new rules for data center development last year amid concerns the facilities could build in industrial areas without a formal hearing. As Taylor Griffith reports for us, tonight will be the first time a data center will go through the city’s new public process.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: Data centers are now considered a conditional industrial use in Casa Grande. That means developers must commit to certain water, energy, and noise requirements. However, the permit only goes through one vote from the Planning and Zoning Commission. It does not need council approval. Commissioners will hold a public hearing on plans for a 900-acre data center 8 miles from downtown. The developer plans to power the facility with an onsite natural gas plant and battery storage. Here’s Mayor Lisa Navarro Fitzgibbons.
LISA NAVARRO FITZGIBBONS: Even though it’s zoned in an industrial area, we wanted to make sure that the public can get involved, can come and see what’s happening, look at the conditions that have been addressed by them.
TAYLOR GRIFFITH: The city was sued last year over the new zoning requirements over claims of lost property values. Taylor Griffith, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In other news, Arizona’s Game and Fish Department wants Arizonans to watch out for a flesh-eating parasite after a recent detection in New Mexico. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Nina Kravinsky has more.
NINA KRAVINSKY: Earlier this month, New Mexico reported its second case of the New World screwworm parasite in a horse in Grant County, about 50 miles from the Arizona border. The parasite, which can burrow into the flesh of warm-blooded animals and be deadly, has not been reported in Arizona since it reentered the U.S. for the first time in decades this past summer.
But the Arizona Game and Fish Department warns that recent detections of New World screwworm in Texas, New Mexico, and northern Mexico pose a risk that the parasite could arrive in Arizona. Reports of the parasite have been growing in Sonora, the Mexican state south of Arizona. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks has been charged with driving under the influence related to his arrest earlier this year by Scottsdale police. Court records show he has a court date next month for the class 1 misdemeanor charge. During a late-night March traffic stop, Brooks was arrested, taken to jail, and later released. He’s also facing separate misdemeanor reckless driving and speeding charges related to an arrest back in January. A Suns spokesperson told The Athletic the team has addressed the matter and has no further comment. The Suns continue training camp with their first preseason game on Monday.
PHIL LATZMAN: And that will do it for this edition of KJZZ’s Sun Up, Arizona’s morning news podcast on this Thursday, the first day of October. I’m Phil Latzman. Enjoy the day on this Friday eve. We’ll be back at you tomorrow when it is Friday. Talk to you then.
