The Show for Aug. 7, 2026: Friday NewsCap, AZ Hikeaholics and more

Gov. Katie Hobbs has reportedly settled on a lieutenant governor pick. Our Friday NewsCap panelists analyze that and the rest of the week’s top stories. Plus, a pair of influencers who are willing to tackle the not-so-picture perfect side of the outdoors in Arizona.

Transcript

ANNOUNCER: 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: Social media influencers who share the good — and the not-so-good — of Arizona’s great outdoors. And Tempe officials want to hear ideas from residents about what to do with a piece of land near Town Lake.

But first, it’s time for the Friday NewsCap and some voices from the news this week.

JUSTIN HEAP: Overall, I think we had a very smooth and successful primary. I hope that we continue to see that in the general. As all of you know, I think the general is really the test that we’re all gearing up and preparing for.

KRIS MAYES: The answer is no. You cannot blow off the Attorney General’s Office. And so, full stop. No one can, regardless of who they are.

ANDY BIGGS: You know, Charlie endorsed me, and Erica’s endorsed me. But what they’re doing is they’re also actively — not just in Arizona, but in a number of states — knocking on doors trying to help get voter turnout.

NICK MYERS: Campaigns for downballot offices like the (Arizona Corporation Commission) are decided disproportionately on name recognition. Signage is often the single largest driver of that recognition, especially in the final weeks of the race.

KATIE HOBBS: When it became clear that we weren’t going to reach an agreement with the Upper Basin, we pushed for a Lower Basin proposal. A Lower Basin proposal that shares cuts across Nevada, California and Arizona.

JUAN CISCOMANI: These are all real things for real people, putting real money back in their pockets. That’s what’s the core of this bill that we passed. It’s about people, the working class.

MARK BRODIE: And joining me to talk about Gov. Hobbs’ potential pick for lieutenant governor, a candidate who wants to stop running with Clean Elections and more, are Christina Corieri with Concilium Consulting. Christina, good morning.

CHRISTINA CORIERI: Good morning. Great to be here.

MARK BRODIE: Good to have you. And Mike Haener of Lumen Strategies. Mike, good to have you here, as well.

MIKE HAENER: Morning.

MARK BRODIE: So let’s start with some reporting from the New York Times that suggested that Gov. Hobbs is picking, has made her pick for lieutenant governor, and that pick is former Mesa Mayor John Giles. Giles has, of course, endorsed Hobbs. He’s endorsed a number of Democratic candidates over the past couple of years, but was a Republican as the mayor of Mesa.

Mike, I’m not going to ask for like, you know, if he is or is not, but what do you make of the fact that the governor, neither the governor nor her campaign have really commented on this at all? And it’s been almost a week now since the Times reported this.

MIKE HAENER: I don’t make anything of that. The governor and her campaign have a plan on when they want to roll out their lieutenant governor choice, just like the Republican candidate did, just like the other candidates are. And so they’re going to do it when they feel like they want to actually make the announcement and go from there.

MARK BRODIE: Is there, does it hurt at all that actual rollout, the fact that — if, in fact, it is Giles — that it’s sort of been out for some amount of time?

MIKE HAENER: I would argue no, because you’ve now had everybody talking about it for a full week, and then if you make an announcement a week from now, people are going to talk about it again. So I think if this was the strategy, it’s been a great strategy to do it this way, because you’re going to get multiple bites at the apple.

MARK BRODIE: Christina, obviously we don’t really know the answer to this question, because this is the first time we’ve had a lieutenant governor here. But do you get the sense that the pick itself matters in who voters vote for?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: You know, I, we don’t know. I think it’s a lot like the vice presidential pick where you’re following the “first, do no harm” principle. And I think they both followed that. I think you can appoint somebody to that position that can hurt the ticket.

I don’t know how much at the end of the day that they’ll help the ticket. But I think both of these choices make sense for the type of campaign that the principal is running.

MARK BRODIE: OK, so let’s assume, just for argument’s sake, that John Giles is the pick from the governor to be her lieutenant governor. Christina, is this a, you mentioned this is a safe pick. Do you think it helps the governor?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: You know, the governor has to run as a a centrist, somebody who can work across the aisle. The Democrats lag behind both the Republicans and the party not declared independents in terms of voter registration. So the only way the governor wins is with a a sizable amount of those independents and some level of disaffected Republicans. And I think by picking somebody that is seen as more of an independent, that’s how she’s appealing to the group that she absolutely has to win.

MARK BRODIE: Do you think it works? Like, do you think that moderate Republicans might vote for Gov. Hobbs knowing that John Giles is on the ticket?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: I think she’s going to be relying more on the independents than the Republicans.

MARK BRODIE: OK. And Mike, is there a danger, potentially — again assuming that Giles is the pick, we haven’t gotten confirmation of that — is there a danger that the left side of the governor’s base might not be thrilled with having somebody who, until recently, was a Republican on the ticket?

MIKE HAENER: I don’t think that that matters either, because at the end of the day, if you’re a progressive, if you’re a far-left Democrat, and your choice is Gov. Hobbs and whoever she picks for the lieutenant governor versus Andy Biggs, you better vote for Gov. Hobbs, because that’s your only choice. Going with Biggs gets you a whole lot of other things that you probably don’t want.

MARK BRODIE: But there’s also the choice of just not voting, right? Which in theory would not be great for the governor.

MIKE HAENER: Which is just like voting for the Republican candidate.

MARK BRODIE: OK. We also this week, Christina, Gov. Ducey, your former boss, came out and endorsed Andy Biggs, the rest of the GOP ticket. And normally this would not be such a notable thing, but in this case, it kind of is, because four years ago, he did not endorse the person who was running to succeed him. So obviously, Gov. Ducey and Andy Biggs have worked together. They crossed paths at the State Capitol. Significance of this endorsement?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: You know, I think it signifies that they are serious candidates that Gov. Ducey is quite familiar with and has worked with. Andy Biggs was one of the chief budget negotiators during Gov. Ducey’s first term. He also endorsed Sen. (Warren) Petersen, (Arizona Senate) President Petersen, for the AG position.

He’s worked with Sen. Petersen on key pieces of legislation. In fact, one of Gov. Ducey’s signature bills was the universal recognition of occupational licenses. President Petersen was actually the legislative sponsor of that bill.

So in both cases, he’s worked with these guys, he knows that they are dealmakers, he knows that they have serious policy chops. I’m not sure that was true of Kari Lake.

MARK BRODIE: Mike, one of the things that we’ve seen already is an attempt to compare Andy Biggs to Kari Lake, both from the Hobbs campaign and others. Does this make it a little harder to do that, the fact that the last Republican governor has endorsed this Republican candidate?

MIKE HAENER: Not at all. I mean, they’re very similar in their policy positions. The difference is that Kari Lake was much more bombastic in how she talked about things, but she and Andy Biggs are very much on the extreme end.

Gov. Ducey has to endorse Andy Biggs, because they worked together and all of that. But frankly, endorsements really don’t matter. They don’t move the needle on who you’re going to vote for at the end of the day.

Doug Ducey’s not on the ticket. It’s Andy Biggs, who is an extreme candidate.

MARK BRODIE: So you don’t think it was necessarily a signal four years ago when Ducey did not endorse Kari Lake to Ducey Republicans that he doesn’t support this person, so maybe you shouldn’t, either?

MIKE HAENER: Not really. Again, I don’t think people really care about who the former elected official endorses in this race. It’s about what they bring to the table and how they’re going to govern. And endorsements are not all that important.

MARK BRODIE: Christina, we talked about whether or not a lieutenant governor would matter. Do endorsements matter in this kind of race?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: I think they can. I think especially when the endorser is coming from perhaps a different wing of the party, it can signal to that specific wing. So in Congress, Andy Biggs has been part of the Freedom Caucus and really appeals to that MAGA base.

I think Gov. Ducey was seen as more of an establishment type of Republican than a MAGA or a Freedom Caucus one. And so an endorsement like that tells that wing of the party that they would be safe with a Gov. Biggs.

MARK BRODIE: OK. One more thing on the governor’s race before we move on. There was a poll released just yesterday from AARP, which found Gov. Hobbs leading Andy Biggs pretty substantially, 52 to 44%. It also showed Kris Mayes leading Warren Petersen by 5 points in the race for AG, although neither was above 50%. Mike, last time, the governor won by what, 17,000 votes? Eight points right now — obviously it’s right now, snapshot in time, long time away from the election — but eight points is a lot.

MIKE HAENER: Yeah. Again, unfortunately, this poll only had two candidates in it. There are going to be four on the ballot — a Green Party and a No Labels Party. It’s, as you mentioned, we’re 90 days from the election, so there’s a long time. A lot of things are going to happen, a lot of ads, a lot of discussions, and so we’ll have to see.

But I think the governor has been, has put herself in a very good position from the centrist policies that she’s pushed on water, on the border, on economic development. And so I think it’s going to be very difficult for Biggs to close that gap at the end of the day.

MARK BRODIE: How much do you think that those the third- and fourth-party candidates end up taking in November?

MIKE HAENER: I think a couple of points, total, anywhere from 2 to 5. It’s not going to be a lot. I mean, the Green Party candidate, I think, for governor in the primary got a little over 300 votes. You’re not going to take a lot of votes away in that, but you will take some.

MARK BRODIE: Right. Well, and Christina, to the point of the governor winning by 17,000 votes, like the consensus seems to be, the conventional wisdom seems to be this is going to be another really close race, one that’s potentially won on the margins. So, four candidates on the ballot, maybe a few hundred votes here or there could make a difference.

CHRISTINA CORIERI: I tend to think they’re not going to get that many votes. There’s the hardcores that aren’t going to vote. What I took away from this poll is it is really hard to unseat an incumbent governor. In Arizona, it hasn’t happened since the 1970s. So I think anybody has to say she starts ahead. She also has been up on the air, so she has been getting her message across in a way that Biggs is going to have to come back and do.

But I wouldn’t say that this poll is all cherry for everything for the Democrats. One thing that stuck out to me is that when they polled favorability of the parties, the only thing that voters viewed as less favorable than the Republican Party was the Democrat Party. So I do think that there is still time for these numbers to change.

MARK BRODIE: Right. Well, would you assume also, as a lot of folks tend to, that this race will tighten as it gets closer, that it will not be an eight-point margin at the end?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: Oh, it will tighten. I think in that poll, it had 10% of Republicans voting for Gov. Hobbs. It is not going to be 10% at the end of the day. There’ll be some tightening in the independents, as well.

MARK BRODIE: One of the things, Mike, that I thought was kind of interesting was that there are only 4% undecided. Which, again, for a race in the margins, 4% is a big deal, but 90 days out, a lot of people maybe over the summer weren’t paying that much attention, the governor didn’t have a contested primary, that seemed like an awfully low number of undecideds for a poll this far out. Do you take any significance from that?

MIKE HAENER: No, again, you have to look at what the methodology is that they used and all of the kind of components that go into making a good poll. And so not having that information, it’s hard to speculate on why there was such a small amount of undecideds.

MARK BRODIE: OK. And assuming also that the race will tighten, if you are the Hobbs campaign, is eight points, at this point, is that a wide enough margin to feel comfortable, understanding that it will get closer as we get closer to November?

MIKE HAENER: Eight points is fantastic in August. I don’t think that there was ever an eight-point lead on Kari Lake, and obviously the governor still won. So having a lead now, even though the race will tighten, being up eight points is certainly better than being down eight points.

CHRISTINA CORIERI: Being up eight is better than being down eight at this point. But it feels like right now, with the constant changes coming from Washington, that every single day is like a week in the news cycle. And you should not count your chickens before they hatch. Eight points now is not eight points in November.

MARK BRODIE: Right. A lot can and probably will change between now and November.

MIKE HAENER: And I will say that generally nothing good is coming out of Washington, D.C., and Andy Biggs is responsible for a lot of that bad stuff.

MARK BRODIE: Well, certainly according to the Hobbs campaign, for sure. All right, that is Mike Haener. I’m also joined by Christina Corieri. I’m Mark Brodie in Phoenix. The Friday NewsCap continues in just a moment.

MARK BRODIE: Good morning, it’s the Friday NewsCap on KJZZ 91.5, I’m Mark Brodie. My guests this week are Mike Haener of Lumen Strategies and Christina Corieri with Concilium Consulting.

Christina, let me start with you on Ralph Heap. He’s a Republican candidate for Corporation Commission, has been running as a Clean Elections candidate, but no longer wants to.

There’s been a pretty big kerfuffle about who paid for signs of his when he did not yet get Clean Elections money. The commission rejected his request to withdraw from the program. So where are we with this right now?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: Well, I think I would sum it up with saying he’s in a heap of trouble. And he’s in quite a conundrum for trying to decide what to do.

He’s in a position where he hasn’t been allowed out of Clean Elections. He can’t get the Clean Elections money unless he signs a document stating that his financial papers are accurate, something he’s been unwilling to do at this point. And because he’s still clean, he can’t go raise money elsewhere.

So I don’t see this ending anywhere else but in court. I mean, his choice is to leave the race and allow somebody else to be on there, or to file an emergency action in court and try to see if the court will let him out of Clean Elections so he can raise money.

MARK BRODIE: Let him out of Clean Elections. And is there talk in Republican circles about trying to get him to withdraw, because there is a deadline coming up when ballots have to be printed, where if Republicans want to get another candidate on, like it’s got to be done by a certain time?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: I think if you take a look at political Twitter in Arizona, there is a lot of talk about this.

MARK BRODIE: So, Mike, how big of a problem — let’s assume that Heap stays in the race — how big of a problem is it for him that he’s not getting Clean Elections money and can’t raise his own? I mean, clearly he already has signs up, like people seem to know who he is. If he doesn’t withdraw, his name is going to be on the ballot with an R next to it.

MIKE HAENER: Yeah, I don’t see this as a major problem for him, frankly. The Republicans have won the Corp Comm races, I think, unanimously, all five seats for the last couple of cycles. He’s on the ballot. His signs are already up. No one is saying that you have to take them down. So he can campaign and go to forums and do other things while those signs remain up without any money and would probably do pretty well in the election.

MARK BRODIE: So I have to point out that you kind of smirked a little bit when we heard from Nick Myers in the montage at the beginning when he talked about name ID — Nick Myers, current corporation commissioner who lost to Ralph Heap in the primary — talking about how name ID or signs are such a big component in downballot races, which the Corporation Commission is. It sounds like you don’t agree with that assessment.

MIKE HAENER: Well, I don’t think signs are overly helpful at the end of the day. And if you’re Nick Myers and you lost your race after you ran a race and won, you’ve been the corporation commissioner for four years and you lose in the primary, that’s probably not because the other guy had signs.

MARK BRODIE: Christina, do you think it comes down to really just comes down to party affiliation in this kind of thing? And that if Heap stays on the ballot, he still has a decent chance of winning?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: I think that party affiliation matters more the further down the ballot you go. I do think with all of the scandal and all of the reporting, if he stays on the ballot, it puts that seat in jeopardy. You’ll have some Republicans who will choose to single shot, and it’ll give the Democrats a better chance for taking a seat on the Corporation Commission.

MARK BRODIE: So there are two seats up for election. Is it two or three?

CORIERI: Two.

MARK BRODIE: I think it’s two. There’s one: Republican, Kevin Thompson, who is an incumbent who made it through the primary; and then Ralph Heap and two Democrats running. Do you really do think there’s a chance for Democrats to take at least one of those seats if Heap stays on?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: I think you will see some Republicans choose to vote for only one when they can choose to vote for two, and I think you will see independents who have heard the name on TV in a way that is not flattering and not helpful who will also potentially choose not to vote for him. So I think Republicans will have a better chance with a different candidate that has a clean record.

MARK BRODIE: Mike, do you think that if he stays on, that Democrats could take one of those seats?

MIKE HAENER: I think there’s a possibility, but it’s a very low possibility.

MARK BRODIE: OK. So Christina, obviously crystal balls are often cloudy. Sitting here right now at 9:27 on Friday, the 7th of August, what do you think the odds are that Ralph Heap stays on the ballot, stays in this race?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: You know, I couldn’t answer that for you. It’s going to be a decision that he has to make, and it’s going to be based, I think, on what are the potential personal outcomes in this? And that includes potential fines that might be coming from the Clean Elections Commission, and the willingness to bear those.

MARK BRODIE: OK. Mike, do you think he stays in?

MIKE HAENER: Yes. And the fines don’t matter, because he can put off paying them back, he can do a variety of things. So he stays on the ballot. I don’t think that there’s any issue there.

MARK BRODIE: OK. Guys, this week ... Gov. Hobbs is asking the Homeland Security Department for reimbursement over border security costs, asking for nearly $1 billion. This is not something new. Gov. Napolitano did this back when she was governor. And she didn’t get any reimbursement then, and so far none of her successors have gotten any reimbursement, either.

MIKE HAENER: Correct. And the difference now is in HR 1, there was money appropriated in a bill that the president signed that allocates money to border states for the cost of border security. I know that Gov. Hobbs had included this in her State of the State in 2026. This is now a formal application as part of that bill or that law.

And so the question becomes how is the administration going to administer that fund? Will all the dollars go to Texas?

MARK BRODIE: Which has a Republican governor.

MIKE HAENER: Which has the only Republican governor between Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California. So again, this administration has shown that they’ve done nothing but play politics with all of these things, but you still have to ask on behalf of all of the dollars that Arizona taxpayers have spent in securing the border.

MARK BRODIE: Safe to say the governor’s not holding her breath on this?

MIKE HAENER: I don’t think anybody in Arizona is holding their breath on it, but again, you have to do it, and it’s something that she should do.

CHRISTINA CORIERI: Spoiler alert: No money is coming. All four of the past governors have asked for it, none of them have gotten it. It might be an official application this time, but they are going to look at the actions, and I don’t think that the Trump administration is going to view whatever actions Hobbs has taken as sufficient enough to merit federal funding, and I would be surprised if the state sees a penny.

MARK BRODIE: Do you think the money all goes to Texas?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: I think a lot of the money will be going to Texas.

MARK BRODIE: All right. So I mentioned Kris Mayes, so let’s talk about her. She sued the Trump administration again over the new tariffs that President Trump announced not that long ago. We saw the Supreme Court ruled in the favor of the states, including Arizona, that sued the last time.

I am not a lawyer, so far be it for me to say, but Christina, any reason to think the outcome here might not be different here? Is there a reason to think that these new tariffs are any more legal in the eyes of the Supreme Court than the last round?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: I don’t think that they’re any more legal, and I think that the Trump administration would do well to rethink their tariff strategy. I mean, if you look at the poll we talked about earlier, the number one issue across Republicans and Democrats is affordability, and tariffs add to the cost of goods.

I know there’s a lot of Republicans who don’t like to hear that. I’m in the Ronald Reagan mold. A tariff is a tax, and it is paid for by the individual who purchases the good. And so my hope would be that the Trump administration would reconsider these even before the lawsuit makes it to court, but if it has to go to court, it has to go to court.

MARK BRODIE: How much of a talking point do you think these new tariffs and this new lawsuit make tariffs in terms of the campaign? Because there was some thought that when the Supreme Court ruled on the last round, that maybe the idea of tariffs wouldn’t be as big of an issue come November. But do you think that this all changes that?

CHRISTINA CORIERI: You know, I don’t think that tariffs are necessarily going to play into Arizona’s elections, because none of the people that we are electing — save maybe the House of Representatives — have a say on tariffs. We’re not electing a U.S. senator, we’re electing a governor and state positions, and they do not impose tariffs. And so tying that to the office that they’re running for I think is a little bit more difficult.

MARK BRODIE: Mike, what do you make of this new lawsuit?

MIKE HAENER: Well, first of all, I totally disagree with that. Andy Biggs supports the tariffs, he thinks that they’re good, he doesn’t think that they’re impacting inflation or affordability. So Andy is very much in favor of the tariff today, and he will be tomorrow, and I think it will be a large part of this campaign talking about all of that.

I do think that Christina’s right. At the end of the day, the Trump administration doesn’t care about the law, and so they’re just going to do whatever they want to do until a court tells them no, again. And this will happen, you know, a year from now.

MARK BRODIE: Right. Perhaps notably, after the election, right? We’ll find out, because court appeals and all that, it takes time to get all that stuff through. All right. Christina Corieri, Mike Haener, thanks so much for the conversation, guys. Really appreciate it.

MIKE HAENER: Anytime.

CHRISTINA CORIERI: Thanks.

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, a road trip unexpectedly commemorates an arrival and a departure.

But first, the social media world of influencers promoting the great outdoors is vast. They camp, they hike, they find great swimming holes in summer, and they make it all look idyllic on Instagram. Well, our next guests this morning certainly do all of that, but they also are willing to show the not-so-glamorous side of the outdoors in Arizona. From pushing a Leave No Trace message to showing the real impacts of wildfire across the state, Lauren and Owen Steinwall, a.k.a. the AZ Hike-a-Holics, do it a little differently. They came into our studios recently to talk more about it with my co-host, Lauren Gilger.

LAUREN GILGER: Is there a first hike that you remember, either of you, where you were sort of floored by the beauty of this place?

OWEN STEINWALL: Oh. I think we’ll probably have the same answer, but Chiricahua National Monument. We did the Big Loop, which kind of takes you through the entire monument. And we weren’t expecting, you know, what we saw. Absolutely gorgeous hike. Highly, highly recommend if you can do that.

LAUREN GILGER: And that’s one of the like less visited places in the state. That’s an interesting answer. Would you agree there, Lauren?

LAUREN STEINWALL: Yeah, I would agree with that. I think we fell in love with the Sky Islands when we did that hike. That was early on. I think 2021 we did that hike, and it’s just so beautiful down there, southern Arizona, just very underrated part of the state.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, it definitely is underrated.

OK, so you both have mentioned this a little bit already, but I want to talk to you about how you’ve sort of turned this social media project also into sort of an advocacy project. You’re big advocates for public lands, for, you know, outdoors, for Arizona, I think in a way, for Leave No Trace. You’re like official Leave No Trace ambassadors, right?

I think it sounds like it’s gone beyond social media influencing for you both.

OWEN STEINWALL: Yeah. We get our clean air, we get our clean water from these natural places. So a lot of advocacy and keeping these places, you know, protected from, you know, pollutants and and things that can disturb them. The more time we spend outside, we’ve seen a lot of wild animals, and that is like so heartwarming. And thinking about their home and habitat being, you know, either destroyed or reduced dramatically, you know, we think about the impacts on them.

And, yeah, we also want these places to be around for future generations, right? I think, you know, Americans before us, right, you know, that set aside these lands, you know, had that intention for for future generations to enjoy it, and we want future generations to experience the same thing. It’s really cool to go somewhere like, you know, the Grand Canyon, for example, and think about, you know, Teddy Roosevelt stood in this same area and saw the same thing and not much has changed, and it’s pretty epic, so.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, and not much has changed. That’s an important thing.

OWEN STEINWALL: Definitely motivated. And I think part of what we’re doing is trying to show off how amazing Arizona is in the Southwest and, you know, encourage people to go experience these things for themselves.

LAUREN GILGER: One of the reasons I wanted to talk to you both on the show is because I noticed this video that you posted where you showed the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, a video kind of driving down the road there before the Dragon Bravo Fire in the fall. It was beautiful.

And then afterward, and it’s so stark, like the impact of that wildfire was so destructive.

I wonder, because you’re influencers, right, like part of your job is, as you’re saying, to sort of promote the state and and say like, "This is a beautiful place to be and to be outdoors in," but it’s interesting to me that you’re willing to post stuff like that, that’s not necessarily rosy, but is sort of the reality of the Southwest right now.

OWEN STEINWALL: Yeah, that is a tough pill to swallow to, you know, drive through that, but partially, we were curious ourselves what it looked like. It was closed for such a long time, so we really wanted to see how bad the destruction was.

We saw pictures, you know, being sent in, you know, news and other people, so it was kind of curious, and wanted to show people, right, the impact of fire, and and I know that one was lightning-caused, but fire can still be very destructive, you know, no matter who starts it. So, yeah, that was part of it.

LAUREN STEINWALL: Yeah. I think it was really sad to drive through. I think the North Rim of the Grand Canyon’s one of our favorite places in the state. It’s so much different than the South Rim of the Grand Canyon.

You know, the aspens when you drive into the into the park. It was very sad to see. It was a not human-caused fire, but I still think, you know, the impacts of climate change definitely play a part in the fires that we see in the Southwest. Very dry and little rain that we receive. So I think it’s still an important conversation to have and to show the impacts of.

LAUREN GILGER: What kind of reaction do you get when you post stuff like that or when you talk about wildfire prevention, Leave No Trace stuff, these sort of, you know, serious messages?

OWEN STEINWALL: I’m laughing because we get a a surprisingly mixed response on social media. A lot of people support, a lot of people, you know, reposting, sharing, you know, emphasizing the message, and then we get people that deny, you know, that it’s a real problem or, you know, that these massive wildfires are natural, and we know fire is a natural part of, you know, the ecosystem, but to the size and scale that they are, that that’s not natural. And so, yeah, it’s shocking.

We also had a video last year that we posted about people leaving their fire still smoking hot in Sequoia National Park.

OWEN STEINWALL [in video]: It is boiling. Are you kidding me?

LAUREN GILGER: One of the, you know, prime things you do not want to do when you’re camping somewhere, yeah.

OWEN STEINWALL: Yeah, especially in Sequoia, they had a really bad fire the year prior, so we thought, you know, OK, people are going to, you know, be open, you know, to us sharing this, and we were shocked at how many people, you know, fighting in the comment section about putting out your fire at a campground. So, yeah, honest answer, it’s it’s mixed, but we we do think there’s more good people out there than than there are bad.

LAUREN GILGER: And you’re willing to to put those out there anyway.

OWEN STEINWALL: Yeah, oh, for sure, for sure.

LAUREN STEINWALL: Yeah. I think there’s a lot of education to be had. You know, when I moved here from Ohio, I didn’t know about Leave No Trace, I was unfamiliar with a lot of things, and I’ve, you know, I’ve educated myself, I’ve learned, and I think maybe people don’t know about Leave No Trace or don’t understand the impacts that like a fire, you know, if you don’t put your fire out all the way, what could happen?

So I think there’s a lot of education. I’m hopeful that, you know, people do want to learn. There’s always going to be people who maybe disagree or, you know, it’s social media, but I’m hopeful.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. How much have you seen the impacts of climate change out in the state when you’re out and about? I mean, you’re you have a unique point of view, because you two are out there more than the rest of us, I think. I mean, it’s heat, it’s fire, it’s the lack of water, the drought that’s ongoing. What’s it look like?

OWEN STEINWALL: Yeah, it’s scary sometimes. I think some of the places where we’ve seen the most dramatic change is, you know, Lake Powell, Glen Canyon area. Water levels are really low there. This past winter, really low snowpack through the Rockies and even Arizona, and and we’ve seen that play out in our forest lakes.

Even we’ve been in the White Mountains the past couple weekends, and there’s a bark beetle infestation that is partially because of the the lack of precipitation in the area, and that, you know, allows them to reproduce, and that’s, you know, the perfect climate for them. So, yeah.

LAUREN GILGER: It’s eating up trees fast, yeah.

OWEN STEINWALL: We’re seeing a lot of brown trees out there, and it’s it’s really sad and and devastating.

You know, I think nature is naturally resilient, and we’re hopeful that, you know, nature will hopefully recover, but I think humans have a have a lot to play in that natural recovery, as well.

LAUREN GILGER: Let me ask you both lastly what you really still love about this place and about the outdoors here, even as it’s tough right now, like it’s not, you know, perfect out there by any means. But it sounds like you both are still very passionate about being in the outdoors in this state and and the state itself.

OWEN STEINWALL: I love how peaceful it can be out there. Like, we can get two hours out of the the Valley and just sit there in pure silence.

LAUREN GILGER: Lauren?

LAUREN STEINWALL: The diversity of state, I just love it. And when I’m in Ohio, you can’t drive two hours and have a 20- to 30-degree difference in temperature, but, you know, in Arizona, you can, and I think a lot of people don’t realize that. You can drive two hours and it’ll be a completely different climate than Phoenix. It’s just, it’s just incredible.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. Lauren and Owen Steinwall, the AZ Hikeaholics, joining us. Thank you both so much for coming in. I really appreciate it.

LAUREN STEINWALL: Thank you.

OWEN STEINWALL: Thank you.

MARK BRODIE: Good morning, it’s The Show on KJZZ 91.5, I’m Mark Brodie. Tempe officials are looking to design an area on the north bank of Tempe Town Lake. The expectation is that it’ll be done in phases and include a few distinct parts. There have been public meetings to gather input. The last one will be held later this month.

Craig Hayton is Tempe’s community services director and joins me to talk about this project. And Craig, you’re talking you’re taking community input input on what to do on this land on the north side of the lake. Does the city have any ideas of what in a perfect world you would like to do there?

CRAIG HAYTON: We absolutely do. We’ve, first off, just coming off of the second round of public input, it’s great to see not just on the survey level the engagement from the community, but also we’ve hosted two public meetings, one back in March, the second one in June, that had great turnout in person with some great engagement with our our staff, with the project team, but also with the materials that we had, and just seems to be some great excitement around that.

We’ve got a wonderful planning document that really helps guide the larger Rio Salado, so 135 acres of park space in and around the town lake itself. This is city-owned property that we have the challenge and opportunity to steward, and we’ve got about 20 acres on the north shore that is kind of in a state of under- or undeveloped, which is kind of unique for a landlocked city, so there’s a great opportunity with that.

And that planning document from 2018, we’ve fortunately got the the same design architect on that project as we have currently. And with that, we really have a great opportunity to engage with the public to see what is possible.

MARK BRODIE: What have you heard from residents about what they would like to see in that area?

CRAIG HAYTON: Yeah, the the community, both folks who live in Tempe, but also it’s one of our two regional parks within Tempe, so we it’s also a gathering space for folks in the region itself within the Phoenix metro area. Folks are real excited for a myriad of different things.

We’ve tried to enter this planning phase trying to strike a balance between active recreational opportunities and passive. You know, what opportunities do you have to come down and just connect with people in a bit more of a relaxed fashion, but also if you want to connect on a court or potentially in a unique recreational menu that what we built, there’s an opportunity with that. So finding a balance there.

But also we’ve had a great history for the past, hard to believe the town lake’s turning 27 this year in November, we’ve got a great history of special events in Tempe, and we know that Tempe Beach Park tends to be the epicenter for events in and around the Rio Salado. How is it that we can kind of pull off of some of that energy on the north side, but also strike the balance with drop-in and everyday recreational uses, and ultimately we want folks who may never have been at the town lake or Rio Salado to come out because they’ve seen something that they would like to enjoy. But equally important would be folks who normally maybe roll through on a bike, have a chance to skateboard through, or just walk in a run, find a new reason to actually stop and enjoy the north side of the town lake.

MARK BRODIE: Well, so is the thinking then that this particular area of the North Shore will be less development, like less offices, apartments, those sorts of things that we’ve seen in other parts, especially on the the south side of the lake, and more open space or recreational places?

CRAIG HAYTON: Absolutely. It’s city-owned property, and it’s something that we would develop recreationally within. There’s, give or take, about 20 acres in three kind of distinct activity zones. So think of like a living a different living space within your home. You have different rooms for different purposes. But we want to make sure that there is that diversity between those zones, but also continuity and unity between that entire space, city-owned property.

We do want to make sure that it’s available for the public recreationally to utilize, it’s a transportation network for folks to get east and west. And then as we zoom back out, especially with the Rio Reimagined initiative, it’s a great opportunity for folks to get to the river and then along the river laterally, as well, regardless of community. And within that, though we will look at developing spaces for city property use and for, you know, city responsibility for development and maintenance, we also want to look creatively, are there some business opportunities for us to provide really unique, whether it’s a support amenity like a restaurant, kiosks, or even maybe a recreational amenity on city-owned property that we’d partner with private business.

We’ve actually had some quite a lot of success on different properties that we’ve managed, actually in and around not just the town lake, but the city of Tempe, just in providing some partnership opportunities with local business. Tempe Boat Cruisen has been operating for this earlier this year was their first season where they’re providing on-water recreational opportunities, and we just see there’s an opportunity to partner with business to provide really creative opportunities, but we see this as mostly a city-developed space focusing on recreation.

MARK BRODIE: So are you thinking things like walking or running paths, or maybe basketball court or pickleball court, or some other kind of sport activity space in that area? Is that kind of the thinking here?

CRAIG HAYTON: Absolutely. Within the we have the activity zones, we have an adventure zone that is kind of between the Elmore Bridge and the railroad bridge is where we see an opportunity for connections with nature. It’s probably our largest space out of those 20 acres, maybe about half of that. But then there’s an opportunity for some sport courts, as well.

We have an existing pathway that’s part of a transportation network. How is it that we can build off of that? We have some unique site constraints. Folks want to get down to the water. Can we provide a promenade along the water where folks can connect, kind of laterally along that water’s edge, that may not be an opportunity currently. Keep that levee path that maybe acts as a bit more of a transportation network for folks that want to go through on a bike that may be just coming from, you know, in Mesa, or coming down from Indian Bend Wash in Scottsdale, or using that full loop.

But then also providing some connection pathways into different nodes recreationally that would give folks opportunities to stop, especially within kind of the sloped areas that we’d have further up on the north side.

MARK BRODIE: Where are some of the possible sources that the money to do this will come from?

CRAIG HAYTON: Yeah, we want to we want to look as creatively as possible. We have our existing capital improvement program that come through GO bonds, specifically. We also have grant opportunities. There are some unique funding opportunities that may come from the federal government through local organizations that we can seek for grants.

And then we’re really going to be looking to our consultant team to to find out what additional opportunities that they think that we could be be looking at. But public-private partnerships, I think, are a great opportunity, but really in measured ways so that we keep the project as a public project and really limit the opportunities to a few within that 20-acre space of something that could be a potential pay-for-use for the public. But it would be unique, and we want to see business thrive, but it just in a way that supports the overall, you know, open recreational access to the space.

MARK BRODIE: So you kind of alluded to this, but I want to ask you more specifically. Like, when you think about this piece of land, how big of an opportunity is this for the city? I mean, Tempe is, of course, landlocked. You’re not expanding anywhere. It seems like it’s not that often that a big piece of land like this is just available for development. Like, I wonder if the city sees this as like a real opportunity, maybe one of the last opportunities in the city to really do something like this.

CRAIG HAYTON: Absolutely. We we are very fortunate as a 40-square-mile, landlocked municipality to have a very diverse recreational system. So we see this as really some of our last un- or undeveloped space. We’ve had an amazing commitment by our mayor and council at redeveloping some of our existing park infrastructure, looking at assets by assets as playgrounds age, adding in ramadas.

But this really is, it’s far from a blank slate, but it’s probably one of the more blank slates that we have. It has some unique site constraints with levees, topography on site, land ownership, we’ve got water right up to it. But this is really a great opportunity for us as an organization.

I think that’s why there has been not just great staff interest and mayor and council interest, but also there’s been just great community interest with that. And I think this is our opportunity for 20 acres to collaboratively come up with a plan and then keep the momentum going so that we can actually deliver some pretty amazing improvements, and then hopefully look at other spaces in and around the town lake and make some really targeted improvements that would hopefully match the look and feel of what we’re trying to provide here.

MARK BRODIE: All right, that is Craig Hayton, Tempe’s community services director. Craig, thanks so much, appreciate it.

CRAIG HAYTON: Thank you, Mark.

MARK BRODIE: And it’s time now for the next installment of our summer Soapbox series. For Phoenix-based artist Kathy Cano-Murillo, a memorable girls’ trip came with an unexpected guest.

KATHY CANO-MURILLO: Sitting in a cozy SUV, I knew this Phoenix to Los Angeles road trip would be worthy of a double-page art journal spread.

Our Latina art collective, the Phoenix Fridas, was invited to participate at ConchaCon — a festival dedicated to the beloved hot pink Mexican pastry. An entire day consisting of a fashion show, art vendors, food demos and more.

Who cares if it was Mercury in Retrograde? We chose to ignore the cosmic warning.

Before I loaded my luggage in the hatchback, I recited a power prayer for safety, epic memories, and to embody a dash of my car mates’ youthful, infectious energy!

Turns out, the energy was a bit too infectious.

At 54, I was the eldest of our traveling crew, and I embraced being the wise one to lead us, even if my slow driving demoted me to passenger princess. In between spilled iced coffees and tajin-covered mango slices, our safe space delivered the best conversations. Luisa warned me about the boy my daughter crushed on. Sabrina took the wheel while divulging the antics of her three little boys.

Anna said she wished to become a mother one day.

Thania admitted she didn’t, while moaning in pain about her period arriving.

Coasting on the last leg of my reproductive highway, but I could still relate. So much, I even felt a phantom cramp in my abdomen!

“I’m such an empath,” I thought. Thank God I don’t have to deal with the monthlies anymore.

However, my internal lady parts had a different plan. Thania’s sacred center most certainly sent a biological glittery high-five to mine. All that female magical millennial energy jump-started my body clock.

“Woo-hoo! This party is not over!” I imagined my hormone factories shouting from my insides. “Come on, babes, encore! Encore! Let's go out in style, at ConchaCon with the Phoenix Fridas!”

By that evening, in our single hotel room, I lay curled up on the couch, groaning and cussing. Feeling tricked and betrayed by biology, my fingers angrily tapped into DoorDash on my phone as I ordered my former usual.

What was it again?

A box of ultra super-duper maximum overnights with wings and super glue? Oh — and a jumbo milk chocolate Symphony Bar with toffee. And a bottle of Pamprin. Do they even make that anymore? Better make it a double batch of everything.

The Fridas stayed up all night painting glittered concha art as I slept.

There are so many “my first period” stories. They usually involve a grade school bathroom or a family vacation. But where are the tales of a woman’s last cycle?

They are just as monumental and meaningful. My generative grand finale was among women I love dearly on a road trip celebrating creativity, friendship and Mexican pastries.

And that — more than worthy of an art journal spread.

MARK BRODIE: That was Phoenix artist Kathy Cano-Murillo. You can hear her story again and find more Soapbox essays at 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.