The Show for July 10, 2026: Friday NewsCap, the power of cold plunges and more

The U.S. Justice Department has sent a letter to Arizona election officials threatening prosecution if noncitizens are allowed to vote. Our Friday NewsCap panelists analyze that and the rest of the week’s top stories. Plus, the physical and mental appeal of swimming in ice-cold water.

Transcript

UNDERWRITER: KJZZ’s original production, The Show, 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.

MARK BRODIE: Hi, I’m Mark Brodie, co-host of The Show, an original production from KJZZ. Every weekday, we bring you the latest news and culture from across the state. You can find much more at theshow.kjzz.org. Here’s today’s episode.

MARK BRODIE: Good morning. It’s The Show on KJZZ 91.5 in Phoenix. I’m Mark Brodie. Coming up, the efforts on both sides of the border to get New World screwworm under control. And as the Valley deals with highs north of 110, we’ll learn about the world of swimming in ice-cold water.

But first, it is time for the Friday NewsCap and some voices from the news over the last week or so.

KATIE HOBBS: We’ve been focused on what potential federal interference there will be. We are going to be watching this very closely, and we’re working closely with election officials across the state to ensure that our elections are secure.

GREG STANTON: This master deportation is not what the American people want. We’re going to continue to provide strong oversight. But the announcement by the attorney general of the agreement with Homeland Security to delay any further action on the Surprise warehouse is very good news.

MARISOL GARCIA: After years of lifting up the issues that the ESA reform system had in this state, that there’s a potential to get something done.

OSCAR DE LOS SANTOS: The Republicans in charge of the Legislature have decided to throw firefighters, police officers and teachers under the bus in order to protect the waste, fraud and abuse in the ESA voucher program.

ANDY BIGGS: Nobody asked me to negotiate this. They said, “What do you think?” And I said what I think. And I still think that’s the most equitable deal.

STACY PEARSON: What we needed was a more robust paid program to get us over the top. I mean, the volunteers can sincerely only get so far.

MARK BRODIE: And with me to talk about the State Supreme Court siding with Maricopa County’s recorder in his dispute with the Board of Supervisors, a familiar face taking the lead on support for a ballot measure this fall and more, are former state lawmaker Regina Cobb. Regina, good morning.

KATIE HOBBS: We’ve been focused on what potential federal interference there will be. We are going to be watching this very closely, and we’re working closely with election officials across the state to ensure that our elections are secure.

GREG STANTON: This mass deportation is not what the American people want. We’re going to continue to provide strong oversight. But the announcement by the attorney general of the agreement with Homeland Security to delay any further action on the Surprise warehouse is very good news.

MARISOL GARCIA: After years of lifting up the issues that the ESA reform system had in this state, that there’s a potential to get something done.

OSCAR DE LOS SANTOS: The Republicans in charge of the Legislature have decided to throw firefighters, police officers and teachers under the bus in order to protect the waste, fraud and abuse in the ESA voucher program.

ANDY BIGGS: Nobody asked me to negotiate this. They said, “What do you think?” And I said what I think. And I still think that’s the most equitable deal.

STACY PEARSON: What we needed was a more robust paid program to get us over the top. I mean, the volunteers can sincerely only get so far.

MARK BRODIE: And with me to talk about the State Supreme Court siding with Maricopa County’s recorder in his dispute with the Board of Supervisors, a familiar face taking the lead on support for a ballot measure this fall and more, are former state lawmaker Regina Cobb. Regina, good morning.

REGINA COBB: Good morning, Mark.

MARK BRODIE: And Dawn Penich of Agave Strategy. Dawn, good morning to you.

DAWN PENICH: Good morning.

MARK BRODIE: So Regina, let’s start with Maricopa County. This has been, I feel like we’ve talked about this every week for the last who knows how many weeks it’s been going on, but we got some guidance this week from the State Supreme Court, which sided with Recorder Justin Heap in his conflict with the Board of Supervisors, basically over who runs what when it comes to elections in Maricopa County and what funding goes for and all that sort of thing. What do you, I’m curious what you make of what the court had to say and what the impacts of that might be?

REGINA COBB: I think the court made the right decision. I think there is clear outlines of who does what with Maricopa County. The supervisors do their general election. He does the primary election. I know they made a deal with the last recorder, but if they wanted to make a deal with (Heap), they should have done that. And they didn’t. And so you go back to what the laws dictate.

MARK BRODIE: Do you have concerns about this ruling coming when it did, in the sense that people had already voted and are continuing to vote as they’re trying to implement this?

REGINA COBB: Yes, I do. I did have concerns with that, and I still have concerns because I think some of the things that he might have wanted to have done or should have done were delayed, and we’re already into the primary.

MARK BRODIE: Yeah, Dawn, I mean, how concerned I guess should Maricopa County voters be that, you know, this ruling comes down this week when voting has been going on for a little while already, will continue with the primary in just a couple of weeks now?

DAWN PENICH: Yeah, well, I mean, there is a structure in place, right? There are places to go vote, there is a mail-in deadline. So for someone who wants to make sure their vote gets in and gets counted, the infrastructure is there.

But yeah, it’s a question that we won’t understand, unfortunately, until retrospect allows us to look back and kind of understand what else could have been open, what else should have happened.

So, you know, Helen Purcell, previous recorders have kind of said things should be OK. Um, but I think what’s most important is that we have a really good understanding. And I am very personally curious to know how the relationship between the supervisors and the recorder is from this point on.

And it’s been over a year of constant suing one another back and forth. But at the 11th hour, they actually struck a compromise that the court ruling now supersedes, apparently. But I’m very curious, what was that compromise? Could that have been the first step toward a more productive relationship that will matter in the general?

MARK BRODIE: Well, Dawn, when you talk about the relationship, I think it’s fair to say that it has been not great between the most of the supervisors and and the recorder

DAWN PENICH: Pretty bad.

MARK BRODIE: What will you be looking for going forward then? Because obviously with the primaries, as we’ve talked about, in a couple of weeks, but of course, the general election is not that far away.

DAWN PENICH: Right. Well, you know, up until this point, it’s been a lot of um questions over who has the authority to do what. And if that’s what you’re focused on, then you’re not having conversations about what can we be doing together.

And so that’s what I want to see, is whether they stick with the court ruling — which gave Heap everything — or whether there is some going back to the compromise that they had reached. Can we have more of a “everybody’s in this together” sense? The supervisors have long said that that’s all they want. They just want to be able to all be on the same page. Will the recorder be able to move forward that way?

REGINA COBB: Also, I think they’re both still adversarial, because if you look at the posts that they putting out, uh like Justin Heap just put out his announcement yesterday that his 19-point plan, whatever it is. Uh, and then you get a supervisor saying, “We haven’t seen it yet. When are you going to give it to us?” So there’s still some hard feelings going on there.

MARK BRODIE: Can that be rectified? You’ve served in elected office. Can that be rectified in time for November?

REGINA COBB: I don’t know if it can be rectified completely in time for November. I think we probably — just what Dawn said — things are in place right now, so I think we’ll probably go through this next general election, and until we can look back and say “this should have been done” and “this could have been done if everybody was on the same page.” I think we’re probably not going to be able to rectify what happens this year. But going forward, hopefully we can.

MARK BRODIE: Anything in particular you’re looking for in terms of maybe differences between how things happen in Maricopa County between the July primary and the November general?

REGINA COBB: I don’t see any differences between the primary and the general. I think we’re going to be on task and just Purcell said: Everything is in place, we’re good to go. So I think they’ll be fine I think there could have been improvements. And I think the differences of what the supervisors want and what he wants could be compromised after this.

MARK BRODIE: Dawn, is there a potential perception issue among voters? I feel like we’ve been hearing basically for the last six years about how there are problems with elections, and they’re rigged, and lawsuits, and everything. Even if everything is on the up-and-up and everything goes very smoothly, does all the fighting between the various entities here, does that do anything to voters?

DAWN PENICH: Absolutely. And I think honestly, like we were saying, there are processes in place, there are voting locations, all of that. That’s why it has actually been my top concern through all of this, is the public perception of our election system and the trust and faith that voters have in that system and in their vote being counted. Because if you get too much of the populace to get to a place of “It’s all corrupt, what does it even matter? I’m sitting this one out,” that is not good for our state, for our democracy.

And so that’s the number one thing that I hope would come out of some kind of either getting on the same page, agreeing to the court order, a compromise solution, whatever it is, is starting to have all voices in unison — and Recorder Heap will be the toughest one because he has a history of election denialism — getting everyone on the same page saying our elections are accurate, they are fair, we want you to vote, and we want you to figure out how to best vote in the way that suits your lifestyle.

MARK BRODIE: So Regina, one of the ways that election skeptics, election deniers have been trying to make their case is claiming that people who are not citizens of this country are voting, which we know data show that that is exceedingly rare for noncitizens to vote.

But this week, the Department of Justice in Washington sent what Adrian Fontes, the secretary of state, called a nastygram to uh election officials here and elsewhere, basically saying, “We will prosecute you if we find that there are non-citizens on the voter rolls or who actually vote.”

Obviously a lot of states have already had their primaries and voted. Arizona’s in the middle of it, as we talked about. The general coming up in a few months. Like, are you expecting to see election officials being handcuffed here?

REGINA COBB: Oh no, I don’t. What I do see is uh just what happened is is that they were citing all the laws, saying “You need to abide by all of these rules that we have. You’ve got five days to respond to this.” That’s a that’s a short time period. And I think that that’s why he looked at it as a nastygram.

But really, it’s at the very end of the letter it says, “And we would like to help you,” you know? So if you need help, this is it. But as long as we’re abiding by the laws, I don’t think there’s anything that we’re going to have to be concerned about. And just what you said, it’s a rare thing when it happens. If everything goes smoothly and we’re all in accordance to what we need to do, I think we’ll be fine.

MARK BRODIE: So why send the letter then, if it is very, very, very rare for noncitizens to vote, and election officials are saying, “We are following the laws,” why send the letter in the first place?

REGINA COBB: It’s a political move. Yeah. It makes it look good. And saying “I’m enforcing this,” that’s exactly what it is.

MARK BRODIE: Do you agree with that, Dawn? You’re nodding your head. Political theater here?

DAWN PENICH: It’s a PR stunt, and what it does is serve the larger Trump narrative of election inaccuracy or stolen elections, because it begs the question: Well, why did the Department of Justice have to send that letter? The answer is for no reason, they just chose to, to get some headlines.

But it still plants that seed in the minds of folks saying, “Well, what’s actually going on?” And the answer is everything that’s going on is above board, accurate, valid. And this is Arizona. The vast majority of our county recorders are Republicans who want to make sure that every vote is counted regardless of who is in the White House. And so, yeah.

MARK BRODIE: Well, so I wonder, Dawn, if you think that this in any way helps Adrian Fontes in his reelection. He’s of course going to be on the ballot come November for his reelection bid. His signs say, “protect the voter” or something like that. I might be paraphrasing. But does this become a campaign issue for him?

DAWN PENICH: Oh, yeah. I mean, lots of surveys have been done in Arizona and nationally that people do not like federal meddling in local and state elections. And so the Fontes campaign has obviously done some polling and figured out that as long as he’s standing up for our elections to go the way we the people of Arizona want them to go, that that is a popular position to be in for his reelect.

MARK BRODIE: Regina, you were nodding as well. Does this help Fontes, do you think?

REGINA COBB: I think it does. I think he’s going to use it all the way through his general election. Again, some of the things that we do uh backfire on us, you know?

And so I think this is going to be one of those things that he’s going to like continually put out there. “Look, I’m doing the right thing, and they don’t think I’m doing the right thing, but I am.” So I think he’s going to he’s going to utilize it.

MARK BRODIE: OK. So, well, guys, one more quick thing before we take a break, related to how we vote and the way elections are run. Dawn, we saw a couple of weeks ago now, a group that was trying to collect signatures to put a referendum on the ballot dealing protecting mail-in voting, expanding voting hours, that sort of thing. They realized they did not have the signatures, so they did not turn them in.

Dawn, this is something you have done before. You’ve been out trying to collect signatures to uh to get stuff on the ballot. Are you surprised that that they fell short?

DAWN PENICH: No, they started really late for the number. This was to be a constitutional amendment, which is the higher number of signatures. They started really late with only a couple months to go and with not the type of funding that’s required to pay for that degree of signature collection.

But the organizers knew that going in, and I at least have heard them say, “We just wanted to put the conversation out there, to start talking about other ways to protect mail voting and our voting system.” So I don’t think that even the organizers were surprised that they didn’t make it.

MARK BRODIE: OK. Regina, what do you agree, surprise not surprised that they didn’t make it?

REGINA COBB: I agree with that. I think that they really wanted to say that there’s another referendum out there, and we want you to be aware of what is out there and what’s going on with that one. And so we’re going to do this. I don’t think they planned on getting the signatures.

MARK BRODIE: Do you think that that conversation does raise the conversation at least about the measure that is on the ballot that the Legislature referred?

REGINA COBB: It does. It does. And that referendum still has to be approved. I think they looked at the language yesterday, and there’s three parts to that. And even though that they’re all three in conjunction with each other, they’re trying to do the single-subject denial on that one.

MARK BRODIE: A legal challenge to try to get it kicked off. Interesting.

Dawn, let me start with you on some ESA stuff. A lot of ESA stuff actually going on. Supporters of some guardrails, I guess you could call them, on the ballot turned in their signatures, a lot more than needed. They were immediately challenged by critics.

At the same time, a proposal to maybe have a legislative deal to keep some initiatives off the ballot in exchange for uh some legislative uh guardrails uh fizzled out as a potential special session. I’m curious: Where do you see this issue standing right now as these initiatives — the legal process is going through, the signature verification is going to happen. Assuming that all these make the ballot, like where do you see this standing?

DAWN PENICH: Yeah, well, OK, so a couple parts to that question.

MARK BRODIE: Sorry, it’s very broad. Basically “vouchers, go” is what I asked.

DAWN PENICH: Well, let me answer the last part first. If the measure put up by the teachers’ union and public education advocates, if that does get to the November ballot, it will pass with flying colors. We know that anytime private school vouchers are put to the people — and this is in Arizona, but also across the country — that voters look to limit, stop, or regulate private school vouchers.

So I fully expect that to be the case. Now, whether the poison pill measure that Republicans put on the ballot —

MARK BRODIE: That’s the referendum for military families ESAs.

DAWN PENICH: Right. And we know that it’s a poison pill because there are around 100,000 students on the ESA voucher program currently. About a thousand of those 100,000 are military families. So we know that this is kind of being put up as a poster child, a sympathetic poster child to actually invalidate the teachers’ union measure that would substantially regulate the voucher program.

But there’s a lot of obstacles and things that need to happen before then. First of all, they collected I think 420,000 —

MARK BRODIE: Something like that, yeah.

DAWN PENICH: Something like that. Well, remember that in paid signature collection, you look at a validity rate of about 65%. So that automatically knocks 100,000 signatures out. Then you start to look at things like what was said to in order to get people to sign.

And so I bring all of those up because those are the legal challenges that the pro-voucher groups have already said they will be waging in the courts. And so first we have to watch whether all those signatures make it, then we’ll look at the language itself and whether there are any legal challenges to the way the language is written, and that’s for any of these measures.

Then we’ll know what we actually do and don’t get to vote on. And when there’s both a pro-reform and an anti-reform measures on the same ballot, normally whichever one gets the highest number of votes will win if they’re in conflict with one another. But there’s a legal question this time of whether that still pertains if one is constitutional.

MARK BRODIE: Right, the one the Legislature referred with the poison pill is constitutional.

DAWN PENICH: The poison pill is constitutional. The public school advocate one is statutory. So is that apples and oranges? So a lot of legal questions alone until we get to November.

MARK BRODIE: Yeah. Regina, do you agree with Dawn that assuming the teachers’ union measure makes the ballot, do you think it passes?

REGINA COBB: Um, I it it could pass, but the other one could pass also. I think what happens when you have competing initiatives, the public’s confused. They don’t know what they’re voting on. And so you could end up with both of them.

If you end up with both of them, then the legal challenge is whether the teachers’ union one gets thrown out or not. I think a better way — I’m not a big fan of initiatives. I think it’s uh hard. It’s just like the one we were talking about earlier where you have three parts to it. The public doesn’t always see the little intricacies that you have in those initiatives. So I would have loved to have seen a compromise happen with the Legislature rather than it going to the ballot.

MARK BRODIE: Do you what do you make of the fact that former Gov. (Doug) Ducey is stepping forward and saying he’s going to be helping to lead the campaign in support of the ESA for military families that contains the provision that Dawn mentioned that basically invalidates anything else dealing with ESAs?

REGINA COBB: No surprise. No surprise. Gov. Ducey’s always been a big advocate of the ESA program, of the voucher program, however you want to call it. He’s been huge on this. He’s school choice all the way down the line. So I would have definitely expected him to engage in this.

MARK BRODIE: What do you see as his role, or what does he bring to that campaign?

REGINA COBB: Well, eight years of experience with it, for one thing. And I think he’s been a proven leader. So I could see him leading this and getting it done. He did Prop 123. I mean, when we had issues with getting funding for schools, he pushed Prop 123. And honestly, he did a fantastic job.

MARK BRODIE: And of course, signed the universal vouchers, right? This is kind of his thing.

REGINA COBB: This is his baby. Yeah.

MARK BRODIE: So, Dawn, how do you, if you are, let’s say, the teachers’ union and supporting that ballot measure, how do you run a campaign to basically say, “Vote for this one, don’t vote for these other ones”? Like, how do you go about doing that?

DAWN PENICH: Well, on the progressive side of the house, we’ve had lots of experience kind of saying like, OK, we got one or two, three through to the ballot. The Legislature put seven, eight, 11. So we have some experience saying “Yes on this one, no on everything else.”

And that’s kind of what the messaging will have to be to boil it down to the most simple version for the average voter. So it’ll be yes on Prop. whatever, no on everything else is the messaging that’ll come out.

MARK BRODIE: So you kind of do you kind of like leave the contents of the measures out and just say yes on this number, no on this number?

DAWN PENICH: Yes. You you go back to just relying on kind of your reputation, the values that people associate with your group. You know, if you see the teachers’ union saying no on everything else and you’re a pro-schools, a pro-teacher person, then rather than read the details of every single one of those measures, you’re just going to say, “I I trust the local teachers group.”

MARK BRODIE: OK. Interesting. All right, guys, we have about a minute left. I want to ask about a new poll that came out about the governor’s race, the GOP primary. It showed Andy Biggs is running away with it, 60%, about 10% for David Schweikert. Is this what you believe is going to be happening?

REGINA COBB: Absolutely. I thought this was going to happen a long time ago. I was wondering why Schweikert wanted to get into the race. When Karrin Taylor Robson was in there, I thought it was a more competitive race going on. But once Schweikert jumped in and Karrrin came out, I knew Andy was going to run with it.

MARK BRODIE: Dawn, is this what you kind of expected as well? Assuming that this is what happens.

DAWN PENICH: Yeah, absolutely.

MARK BRODIE: All right. Well, we’ll have to leave it there. Dawn Penich, Regina Cobb, thank you both for coming in. Thanks for the conversation.

DAWN PENICH: Thanks so much.

MARK BRODIE: Good morning. It’s The Show on KJZZ 91.5. I’m Mark Brodie. Coming up in the next installment of our summer soapbox series, an outlandish rescue mission leads to an impromptu road trip.

But first, if you’ve never heard of the sport of mounted shooting, take a listen to this:

[SOUNDS OF GUNSHOTS AND CHEERING]

That was the about 10 seconds it took world champion mounted shooter Kenda Lenseigne to shoot five rounds of blanks from two different pistols while riding at breakneck speed on a horse around a course — and she did hit all 10 targets.

Lenseigne is the six-time world champion in her sport, and she lives and works here in Arizona. And now, she’s being inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. She came into our studios earlier this week to tell my co-host Lauren Gilger more about it.

KENDA LENSEIGNE: I have been a cowgirl since I was born. Basically, once I was old enough to hold my own head up, I was on my own pony at age 2. And my sisters and I, we were just little cowgirls growing up, and here I am still after all this time.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. So, talk a little bit about mounted shooting, because I don’t think people necessarily know that this is a competitive sport or how it works. And it’s quite a sport. It’s timed, it is fast, it is loud.

KENDA LENSEIGNE: It’s basically the most fun you can have on horseback, in my opinion. It’s, you know, there’s a element of challenge to it because we’re we’re riding a horse at 35 mph and also trying to hit targets at the same time. So the timed aspect of it is really exciting because it’s not a judged event. It’s just me, my horse and how I perform in the arena. And the fastest time wins.

LAUREN GILGER: The fastest time wins. How fast do you go?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: Well, I guess the fastest time I’ve ever clocked on a course is 8.6 seconds.

LAUREN GILGER: I know. I can’t even when I say that out loud, it doesn’t make sense. I thought you were going to say minutes. What happens in that 8.6 seconds?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: So it’s a full-sized rodeo arena and cross the timing beam, which is an electronic eye to start the clock, and shoot five targets, holster the first gun, pull the second gun, and shoot five more targets. ... So it’s a total of 10. We have 10 rounds of blank ammunition. There’s no projectile to the ammunition, so it’s safe to use in a spectator environment.

LAUREN GILGER: Right, worth noting.

KENDA LENSEIGNE: Yes. But that — there’s a lot that goes on in those, well, 8 seconds. I mean, that that’s not typical for a nationwide course, but that was the the fastest time I’ve logged on course before. ... I have an amazing horse and I can’t do it without him. He’s such a great partner, and we just know each other so well, so that helps, too.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. And and we should say the horses wear earplugs. Do you wear earplugs even though you’re shooting blanks?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: I do. They are — it’s a .45-caliber load, full of black powder, and then crimped at the end, meaning there’s no projectile.

LAUREN GILGER: Right.

KENDA LENSEIGNE: However, it is loud, so yes, I do wear hearing protection, and my horse does as well.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. OK, so this must take incredible skill. How did you get into this?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: This I actually the sport was headquartered in Scottsdale, and it started in ’95. I joined the sport in ’98, so I’ve been doing it quite for quite some time.

LAUREN GILGER: And almost from the beginning of its existence, OK.

KENDA LENSEIGNE: Exactly. And it started out with the cowboy shooters who shoot from the ground. You know, they kind of dress up in the old-timey clothes. And one of them, he thought, "This looks like so much fun, we should" — and he was a horseman, so he said, "Let’s try shooting targets off horseback." And that’s literally how it was started and born all those years ago. And now it’s a national and worldwide event that on any given weekend you can go to a competition around the country.

LAUREN GILGER: Right. And this is what you do, right? You go around the country, around the world, competing in this?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: I do. I travel mostly domestically all around the country, but I teach classes, I train horses for the sport, and I compete on a professional level. So it’s a full-time job.

LAUREN GILGER: Wow, OK. Talk about your partner, as you described your horse, right? This is an important part of this. Like, you said you couldn’t do this without your horse and the skill that the horse actually has, right?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: Absolutely, my horse is — I mean he’s incredible, he’s such an athlete. And you know I always relate it to this like, I’m I can only be as good as I am, but if I’m riding a three-legged donkey ... I’m definitely not going to turn in those top times, so it it such a partnership that I have with him.

And I think any equestrian rider will vouch for that as well. Like, you are literally only as good as the horse you’re riding. And, you know, it’s hours and hours and hours of cultivating that relationship and respect for him as a partner, as a teammate. Because, you know, when I’m out there trying to focus on my targets, I need him to go where I point him.

LAUREN GILGER: Which your horse’s name?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: His name’s Charles. ...

LAUREN GILGER: Do you remember the first time you rode with Charles?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: I do. He came into my life in 2021. I had broken my leg in a freak accident, and I met his owner, who put me up in his guest house because I was — this was in Georgia. Wow. And he’s also a shooter, so, you know, it’s kind of a family across the country.

... Turns out that he was looking for a rider to take Charles on because he said, "You know, I’m 72 years old. I can’t ride this horse, but I don’t want him to go to waste, and you’re the only person in this whole sport that I could see gelling with him. ... So, would you ride him? Would you take him and make him a star?"

And so I did, and it was like it was such a love connection from the minute I got in the saddle. We just, you know, peas and carrots, we’re just a great team together.

LAUREN GILGER: How does that work? Like, I’ve heard people talk about the relationship with their with their horses, right? ... It sounds like this very deep connection.

KENDA LENSEIGNE: No, you’re right. It’s, you know, it’s not like a car where you just get in and you read the manual, and you buy the car because you know it has all the things that you want. ... This, I mean, they have a brain, they have a personality, and there’s a level of respect, I think, for that partnership.

And I mean, I don’t know, I think you just you either get along or you don’t. And some horses you just don’t really get along with, and then they’re they’re perfect for somebody else. So you just kind of have to find that relationship, and you know when you know.

LAUREN GILGER: That’s really interesting. OK, so this is one of the few rodeo events, right, where women and men compete. And you, I understand, have come out on top, even in this mixed-gender sport, a couple of times. You were in 2009 the first woman ever to win the world championship title in this sport.

KENDA LENSEIGNE: Yes, it was a really big, trailblazing effort for all the young women and cowgirls all over — forever. ... It was a really big, big deal, and and it still is. I still am the only woman in my sport to to be on top and to have basically outrun all the men.

LAUREN GILGER: Have you ever trained a young woman in this sport or or coached someone, and hoped that they might come up and take the mantle from you one day?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: Absolutely, I do coach a lot of women and young girls and I know that that will be my place of entry eventually. I mean, you can’t be an athlete forever, so there will come a time when that happens, and I hope it’s one of my my girls.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. OK, so you are being inducted into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. And I mean, this is a quite a roster of women who have kind of shaped the history of the American West. What’s this mean to you?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: It’s first of all, of course, it’s a big honor because I’m just a, you know, a girl likes to ride horses and shoot targets. I mean, I never expected that this would come into my life. And I think it’s really validating for the nearly three decades of hard work. It still hasn’t hit home yet that I’m part of that. And it’s just such an honor and I can’t it’s — like I said, it’s really validating.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. How long do you think you’ll do this? You said 28 years doing this sport, and you’re still the best. How long do you want to keep going?

KENDA LENSEIGNE: Well, I have told myself — I’ve ridden three different horses to win the world. So Charles is my third. Of Justin was my first, I won the world twice on him. Sparky was the second, twice on her, and now Charles twice on him. And with each one of those accomplishments, I think, OK, it’s time to move on. Like, at what point am I going to move on from this?

But I still love it so much. I wake up and I just can’t wait to go do it again. So, until I either physically cannot, which, you know, that happens to us all of us, we’re human. I’ve had a lot of injuries, a lot of broken bones, and it’s going to catch up with me eventually. But until that spark isn’t there, I’m just going to keep going.

LAUREN GILGER: All right. Kenda Lenseigne, six-time world champion in the sport of mounted shooting and new inductee into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. Kenda, thank you so much for coming in. Congratulations.

KENDA LENSEIGNE: Thank you. Thanks for having me today.

MARK BRODIE: The New World screwworm feels a bit like something from a gory horror movie. A flesh-eating maggot burrows into the wounds of warm-blooded animals and lays eggs for the cycle to continue. The reality is screwworm cases have been confirmed in more than two dozen cows, sheep and goats in Texas since early June, having made its way up through parts of Mexico for more than a year and a half. From the Fronteras Desk in Hermosillo, Sonora, KJZZ’s Nina Kravinsky reports on the cross-border efforts to get the parasite under control.

NINA KRAVINSKY: Outside the ranching cooperative store in Hermosillo, saguaro cactuses stretch toward a bright blue sky. Inside, ranchers in white cowboy hats file in to order feed and buy supplies. The walls and shelves are lined with tools, saddles and medicine.

VICTOR LEZAMA: Sueros, vitaminas, antibióticos.

NINA KRAVINSKY: Victor Lezama is the veterinarian who runs this depot for Sonora’s cattle ranchers union.

VICTOR LEZAMA: Todo lo que puede utilizar en un rancho, aquí encontrarlo.

NINA KRAVINSKY: One newer addition, a pamphlet at the checkout counter. On the front is a blown-up photo of a single New World screwworm maggot, baring its signature mouthhooks, which look like little black fangs that it uses to bury into living animal tissue.

VICTOR LEZAMA: Sonora como como estado.

NINA KRAVINSKY: This Mexican border state, Sonora, directly south of Arizona, hasn’t had any cases. But as the parasite has crept up from Mexico’s border with Guatemala to the U.S.-Mexico border over the past year and a half, the Mexican government has been trying to reach out to ranchers. It’s provided many with kits they can use to collect samples of possible screwworm maggots and send them in for testing, and it’s provided ranchers with medicine to treat open wounds.

JULIO BERDERGUÉ: This needs to be a joint effort between government, state governments and the ranchers.

NINA KRAVINSKY: Julio Berdergué is Mexico’s former agriculture minister, who served in that position until this spring.

JULIO BERDERGUÉ: If you lose the the trust, the collaboration of ranchers, you’re dead. That’s the most precious element of this.

NINA KRAVINSKY: If left untreated, the parasite can be deadly and it now threatens the U.S.’s already low cattle supply, as confirmed cases in Texas climb past 30. Screwworm spread could raise beef prices from already sky-high levels. Its arrival in the U.S. comes as the country’s cattle herd reaches a 75-year low, even as demand for beef remains strong. The average U.S. price per pound of ground beef has risen from under $4 at the start of 2020 to nearly $7 this year. Dudley Hoskins is an undersecretary at USDA.

DUDLEY HOSKINS: Mexico is a critical partner in all this with us.

NINA KRAVINSKY: He says the two countries’ agriculture departments have been in close contact as they try to beat back the northward spread of the New World screwworm. The U.S. formally eradicated the parasite in the 1960s by releasing sterile male flies into the environment. Those sterile flies mate with normal screwworm flies to dwindle the population, and it remains what most experts consider the most effective tool against the parasite. But in the decades since, the sterile fly program ramped down, until this summer a USDA facility in Panama was the only one producing sterile flies.

PHILIP KAUFMAN: But we don’t want very many more of these infestation zones, or it’s really going to stress the supplies that we have.

NINA KRAVINSKY: Philip Kaufman is the head of the entomology department at Texas A&M University. The U.S. and Mexico are now rushing to produce more flies. Late last month, they together inaugurated a production plant in southern Mexico. It’s that kind of collaboration between the two countries that Hoskins and Mexico’s former agriculture minister Berdergué say prevented the screwworm from arriving in the United States sooner.

HORACIO GAMEZ LOPEZ: Soy el ingeniero Horacio Gamez Lopez.

NINA KRAVINSKY: Back in Sonora, rancher Gamez Lopez waits at the union headquarters for a meeting with the union president. Ranchers say a nearly year-long border closure for Mexican livestock to protect the U.S. from screwworm has meant prices on cattle here have plummeted, since so many more cattle stay in Sonora rather than be exported.

HORACIO GAMEZ LOPEZ: Mucho, fuerte, drástico.

NINA KRAVINSKY: Gamez Lopez says that’s had a drastic impact on his business. Ranchers like him say it’s not fair that the stretch of border between Sonora and Arizona has remained closed, even though there have been no screwworm cases here. The USDA says it’s constantly evaluating to assess when to reopen the U.S.-Mexico border to livestock. Gamez Lopez is hopeful that the United States and Mexico will figure out how to eradicate the parasite again together, so the industry here can get back to normal soon. Nina Kravinsky, KJZZ News, Hermosillo.

MARK BRODIE: Good morning. It’s The Show on KJZZ 91.5. I’m Mark Brodie.

With the Valley’s triple-digit high temperatures firmly upon us, taking a swim in ice-cold water may sound appealing. If so, does Chris Ballard have something for you.

Ballard has been a senior writer at Sports Illustrated for two decades. He’s also an author, his new book is called “The Plunge: Maverick Swimmers, an Unlikely Quest, and the Transformative Power of Cold Water.” In it, he meets people who do cold plunges and those who swim distances in freezing water. And he not only reports their stories, he becomes a participant. Ballard joins me to talk more about this.

MARK BRODIE: Chris, what first got you interested in looking into this world, and I wonder if it’s maybe a bigger world than you thought it was?

CHRIS BALLARD: To the latter question, yes. It was a whole alternate universe I didn’t know existed. So part of my interest was professional curiosity. You know, I’ve spent the last, you know, few decades writing about sports, but often I’m interested in the people behind the sports, and often I’m interested in more esoteric sports where you might be asking, "Why is someone running an ultramarathon, right? Like why would someone do that to their bodies?" Usually, there’s a, a fascinating reason behind that.

So part of it was seeing this this world of people who are not only going to cold water for wellness trends or for health benefits, which are there, but also swimming in it. And then personally, I was in my late 40s and I had always loved, loved, loved basketball. I spent 20 years covering basketball for Sports Illustrated, and personally, I’d hit a point where I couldn’t really play anymore. And I’d had a hip replacement, and it was sucking away my identity, my sense of self, my stress relief, so many things I got from it.

And so I’d heard from an NBA trainer, he’s like, "The thing that all these athletes are doing now is intense cold, where they alternate between like a 39-degree plunge tub and hot water or a sauna." And I was like, hey, if it works for them, you know, if it was good enough for Steph Curry and and LeBron, it’s good enough for me to try to stay on the court in my weekend warrior aspect. So those two things were what drove me into it.

MARK BRODIE: So did you find that it had that, those kinds of effects for you, like were you able to get back on the court or at least maybe not be quite so sore as you had been feeling?

CHRIS BALLARD: Yeah. It’s you think of it almost like a a vascular pump because when you go into hot, whether it’s a sauna or hot water or, you know, a hot tub, essentially all the blood goes out to your skin because it’s trying to shed heat. It’s called vasodilation. So that happens first.

But then when you go immediately into cold after that, your body’s like, "Oh boy, we got to bring all the blood to the core. We got to protect the heart." So instead of going out to the to the skin, it comes all the way away from the skin to the heart, and that works, think of it almost like cycling through if you’re cleaning, like an oil change, in some ways, like you’re just cleaning out your system that way.

So they’ve seen in studies that this is going to help with cellular repair, and you, you do feel it. I was able to get back on the court and, I got to be honest, you know, that sort of thudding, it’s called delayed onset muscle soreness, that goes away as well. So you sleep better, you rest better.

MARK BRODIE: So you found all sorts of different reasons for the people who who do this not because they’re trying to recover from injuries or, you know, trying to get back on the court or on the field more quickly. There are all sorts of reasons, it seems like, why people choose to do this.

CHRIS BALLARD: Yeah, I think the one that was most compelling to me was a mental health aspect. And so if you think about it from a physiological standpoint, it does make sense. When you get into cold water, your body goes into fight or flight. It sees this as a threat, and so it tries to prepare you for this threat by boosting your levels of dopamine and adrenaline.

And so the side benefit to that is that you feel amazing. It’s the same receptors in your head as an opioid. And so you’re ready, and you also you really can’t think about whatever is swirling around your head, the intrusive thoughts, then, you know, you’re worried about this, you’re worried about that. When you’re in that cold water, you’re really only present in that moment.

So there’s that aspect, and then if you do it with other people, that’s where I found a lot of swimmers and plungers around the world, they were finding these communities. And often, you know, if people are lonely, they’re scrolling social media, here is something where really the barrier entry is just like show up on Saturday at, you know, 8 a.m.

MARK BRODIE: Well, so those kinds of things, sort of the calm, the mental health aspect, the doing hard things together, it strikes me that that's not necessarily that dissimilar from, you know, you mentioned why people might run an ultra-marathon or do other extreme sports. It seems like those are some of the answers you hear for those kinds of events also.

CHRIS BALLARD: For sure. There's, I mean, there's an element of this, you know, I got into the extreme element of ice swimming, which is 41 degrees or lower water and you're only wearing a silicone cap, goggles, and a Speedo.

And so there's people who come to this partly to test themselves, to find out that line and that's, I think what appeals to people who might do an ultra marathon as well. Like, you know, what are my limits? What do I find when I push my limits? So there's that aspect.

But I think the difference here that you find is you really, you rely on other people. If you go out for a run and let's say you conk out 14 miles into your run, you know, you just walk. But if you're out in very cold water and swimming with a group of other people, you need each other because if you start to get very cold or, you know, you get disoriented, whatever it is, there's that communal element to this that is really powerful and it's one of those things that's hard to explain.

And so myself in reporting the book, of course, I had to start doing this, otherwise a reader isn't going to be able to really understand it. And so in doing it, I did start to feel this like amazing, wow, I met these people, you know, two hours ago and suddenly I have this bond with them.

MARK BRODIE: What was it like for you to start and to sort of know that you have to kind of trust these, these people that you met, you know, maybe less than, less than a few minutes ago, you know, if something goes sideways, these are the people who are going to help you and possibly save your life?

CHRIS BALLARD: Exactly. And that's, one of the things that I heard from the people who do the really intense ice swimming where they swim something called an ice mile, and that's when you're, it's just what it sounds like you're trying to swim a mile in, in water that is near freezing, in this case, 41 °F or lower, is they said a lot of them are caretakers in their day to day life, whether it's a family member or an elderly parent or maybe it's their job.

And one of the things they appreciate about this is you put in a position where you need others to take care of you. You know, there's some people who are like, I can do this on my own. I'm self-reliant. I'm independent, and this forces you outside of that in a way that if done safely is healthy as well.

And so that is very appealing, and I think especially in our day to day life, we don't have many opportunities where we have to rely on each other because everything is so easy.

MARK BRODIE: Well, and to your point from earlier, this is also like, yes, I'm sure that there are things you can do to prepare and precautions you can take and, and things like that, but at the end of the day, like, you have to actually get into the water and do it.

CHRIS BALLARD: For sure. And to me, this was really profound with the Paralympians. So there's an actual sport called ice swimming, and they've got a shot at making the Winter Olympics. It's a great visual sport, as you can imagine, and there are current Olympians who are now competing in it.

And in talking to these Paralympians, one of the things they said, you know, the water is 38 degrees or whatever it is, is they're like, part of why we do this is because 99% of the population won't. It's not that they can't. It's that they won't, and we can. So it gave them this thing that they could do. Because really, like your body will adapt to this kind of cold water within a week.

MARK BRODIE: OK, so take me through your mindset when you are standing on the edge of the water, the first time you're gonna do one of these things. Like, what do you think, what are you feeling?

CHRIS BALLARD: [LAUGHING Why did I decide to do this?

MARK BRODIE: That sounds about right.

CHRIS BALLARD: It's usually the, the first thing I could, I could have been courtside at the Lakers game writing about, you know, so there's a, there's an element of that.

And then secondarily, though, by the time you're there, by the time you've, you know, in this case, when I, my first real-time swimming was at the U.S. Nationals and I'm standing on the edge of a pool and the pool is 38 degrees, but there's hundreds of people around me. There's a live stream. You really can't back out.

So at that point, you got to go in and you are up until the moment that you actually get in and do it, you're like, I'm not going to be able to do this. And then when you get out, you know, 2 minutes later or whatever your swim was, you are so proud and, and it's remarkable how much we underestimate ourselves.

I was so not only proud but just surprised that I was able to do it and that was also gratifying.

MARK BRODIE: All right. That is Chris Ballard, journalist and author. His new book is called "The Plunge: Maverick Swimmers, an Unlikely Quest, and the Transformative Power of Cold Water." Chris, really good to talk to you. Thank you.

CHRIS BALLARD: Hey, thanks so much.

MARK BRODIE: And now we bring you another tale from the road in our summer soapbox essay series. Today, Phoenix musician and writer Jason Woodbury has got one for the dogs.

JASON WOODBURY: It had already been a long day by the time the call came, my buddy Tim on the line with an odd request. Earlier that day, he’d been on a surveying trip for work in the remote desert town of Page, located near the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell, way up in the stark northern recess of the Grand Canyon State.

While stopping for gas and road sodas en route back to the Valley, he and his co-workers had noticed a strangely affectionate dog lingering by the pump. The dog made a connection, she seemed to telepathically speak to Tim. Though he was already back at his apartment in Tempe, he couldn’t stop thinking about that dog. It was late in the afternoon, but he had a wild proposition: He wanted to drive the four-plus hours back to Page to get that dog. And he needed road trip partners, as that meant a four-plus hour drive home, as well.

Until only recently, Tim and I had been neighbors on Forest Avenue in Tempe. Though I’d departed my one bedroom next to Tim’s to move in with my then girlfriend, I was still only a few blocks away. I was working my first “real” adult job, editing the music section and online blog of the local alt-weekly, and I was feeling worn by the constant grind of my deadlines — coupled with frequent late-night work as the paper’s resident concert critic, with wordcounts to pad out looming each following morning.

But I’m a sucker for magical thinking, and the idea of not spending the evening hunched over my laptop catching up on work was striking. On the surface, Tim’s request sounded a little delusional; after all, there seemed little chance that the dog would still by there by the time we got there, and absolutely no chance we’d be able to find her in the darkness if she was lingering nearby. But then again what if it really was meant to be? I was used to late nights and early mornings anyhow, so I agreed to join him. Like they say on “The X-Files”: I wanted to believe.

Our friend Aaron was game, too. As per usual, he had details of a torrid small-town romance to get off his chest. We stopped by our buddy Zane’s on our way out of town to borrow his SUV, though he couldn’t join us, he wanted to support the cause. It was probably 7 or 8 before we got going properly on the road, which felt entirely too late.

We heard Gordon Lightfoot on the radio as we rolled past the turn off to Carefree Highway, and we chatted all the way up, noting with wonder how the time on the dash clock rolled an hour backward and then forward again as we entered and existed the Navajo Nation, the only part of Arizona that observes daylight savings time.

We tuned the radio to Coast to Coast AM. The crackle of George Norry droning on about Coral Castle — Florida’s own Stonehenge — accompanying us as we drove. About 20 minutes away from our destination, Tim called the gas station on his cell. No one answered. Not promising.

As we pulled into Page, black sky overhead populated by stars you can’t see in the city due to light pollution, I tried not to get my hopes up. But I felt something grab me internally, and decided, no, I would hope that the dog would be there. That by making this journey, we weren’t so much willing the dog to be there, but writing her into the story’s conclusion.

As Tim pulled into the gas station, I couldn’t see much beyond the dim light glowing from the closed convenience store windows. We stepped out, each taken aback by how cold it was. We peered into the darkness. And then, emerging from the shadows, the sigh of a golden brown dog, emerging from behind the gas station, trotting up to us as if she’s been waiting. Tim glowed and popped the back of the SUV. Without hesitation, she hopped in.

The drive home would bring its own delusions — along with a terrible mess for Tim to clean up before returning the car — but the whole way back, things glowed with a strange tinge of fate. An unexpected call answered — exactly as planned.

MARK BRODIE: That was Jason Woodbury. To hear his essay again and check out the rest of our SOAPBOX collection, go to kjzz.org.

MARK BRODIE: Thanks for listening to the show’s podcast. The show is produced by Sativa Peterson, Nick Sanchez, Amber Victoria Singer, Athena Ankrah and Ayana Hamilton. The show was created by Jon Hoban. Our executive producer is Amy Silverman. You can find more of the show and sign up for our newsletter at theshow.kjzz.org. You can also find us on Instagram @kjzztheshow.

KJZZ's The Show transcripts are created for audience accessibility. Transcripts are created on deadline with the assistance of AI tools and then edited, and may not be in their final form. The authoritative record of KJZZ's programming is the audio segment.