Kari Lake, Mark Finchem Appeal Their Case Seeking to Ban Electronic Voting Machine Tabulators to the U.S. Supreme Court, Add New Evidence Including ‘False Statements’ by Defendants

Kari Lake and Mark Finchem

Kari Lake and Mark Finchem filed a Petition for Certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, appealing the dismissal of their lawsuit against Arizona officials to stop the use of electronic voting machine tabulators. The 210-page petition added new allegations stating that the defendants lied to the court and that new evidence had surfaced exposing the vulnerabilities of the machines to bad actors.

“New evidence from other litigation and public-record requests shows defendants made false statements to the district court regarding the safeguards allegedly followed to ensure the accuracy of the vote, on which the district court relied,” the petition asserted. 

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Inflation in Phoenix Area Slows Down

Grocery Shopper

Inflation in the Phoenix metropolitan area appears to be calming down, according to new Consumer Price Index data from February.

The CPI saw an uptick of 2.2% year-over-year from last February, and a 0.7% increase between December 2023 and this February. That’s lower than the nationwide year-over-year rate of 3.2%.

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Arizona Election Official Who Fought Against Hand Counting Ballots Hired as State’s Elections Director

Lisa Marra

An Arizona election official who resigned from her former position in Cochise County over her refusal to hand count ballots in the 2022 elections is now the statewide election director after a promotion from Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.

Lisa Marra was appointed by Fontes to become the Arizona Elections Director and will oversee equipment testing, candidate filings, election night reporting and canvassing during the 2024 elections.

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Mayes Issues Consumer Alert on Crisis Pregnancy Centers; Republicans Want Retraction

Arizona Republican lawmakers are asking Attorney General Kris Mayes to retract a consumer alert on crisis pregnancy centers.

A news release from Mayes’ office on Wednesday said that the centers, which are meant to assist pregnant women as an alternative to Planned Parenthood or other abortion facilities, are masked as “legitimate healthcare clinics” but have the intent of encouraging women not to have abortions. 

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Progressive Election Lawyer Marc Elias Attacks New Election Integrity Lawsuits in Arizona, Claims Republicans Want to Cheat

Republicans have filed five election integrity lawsuits recently in Arizona, attracting the ire of election fraud denier and progressive attorney Marc Elias.

Elias issued a video last week analyzing some of the lawsuits, which he described as “anti-voting lawsuits” that seek to make it “harder to vote and easier to cheat,” part of a “plan Republicans have to undermine elections and suppress voters.”

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Sedona Designates ‘Safe Place to Park’ for Homeless Arizonans Living in Vehicles

Sedona City Council

The Sedona City Council voted on Tuesday to designate an area for homeless Arizonans who live in their vehicles to park overnight.

In a decision proponents presented as a partial solution to the city’s housing crisis, the city council voted to allow residents to park and stay overnight in an unpaved parking area that formerly served Cultural Park, which closed in 2004.

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Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs Asks Congress for over $750 Million for Illegal Immigration After Vetoing Border Invasion Act

Gov. Katie Hobbs

Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs asked Congress on Wednesday to support a request by Senators Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Mark Kelly (D-AZ) to provide more than $750 million in funding to support the southern border.

While Hobbs urged the U.S. Congress to take action on the border, her letter came after she vetoed a Republican-backed bill that would have made it a state crime to enter Arizona outside official ports of entry.

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Pinal County Left to Address Reportedly ‘Toxic’ Garbage Created by Homeless Campers After Feds Restrict 1,000 Acres in Arizona

Homeless Camp

Officials in Pinal County are reportedly working to address toxic garbage caused by illegal camping by the homeless after the Bureau of Land Management displaced them by closing 1,000 acres of public land in Apache Junction and the Tonto National Forest to create a new recreation area.

Pinal County Supervisor Jeff Serdy confirmed local authorities are left to confront the numbers of “boondockers,” “nomads” and “truly homeless” who were displaced after BLM closed the acreage to build a recreation area in remarks to ABC 15.

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Former Maricopa Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan Makes Bid for Sheriff, Vows to Restore Trust and Leadership to the Office

Jerry Sheridan

The Maricopa County Sheriff’s race has started heating up, due to former Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead entering the race, where he faces former Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan. Sheridan, who ran unsuccessfully in 2020 for the office, took a break from shooting in the desert with his grandson to be interviewed.

Sheridan grew up in a law enforcement family in Queens, where both his dad and two uncles served as officers with the New York Police Department. He intended to enter college immediately after finishing high school, but his family moved to Arizona, and he admired his father and uncle so much that it wasn’t difficult deciding to go directly into law enforcement instead. 

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Chilean Nationals Allegedly Behind String of Arizona Burglaries Came to America Using Tourist Visa Waiver

Scottsdale Police Department

Three Chilean nationals arrested by the Scottsdale Police Department (SPD) over a string of burglaries in Arizona and California were originally allowed to enter the United States as tourists.

Scottsdale Police Chief Jeff Walther confirmed in a Tuesday press conference that three Chileans the department arrested Sunday entered the country using the U.S. State Department’s visa waiver program, which allows citizens of other countries to remain in the United States for 90 days if the purpose for their travel is business or tourism.

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42 Percent of the 1,764 Refugees Resettled in Arizona So Far in FY 2024 Are from Congo

Joe Biden Refugees

According to a report on refugee resettlement, Arizona has settled almost 1,800 refugees in the past four months alone.

The 1,764 refugees that have been sent to the state are represented by people from some of the most brutal and war-torn nations on earth.

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Key Democrats Endorse Gallego After Sinema Retirement

Rep. Ruben Gallego

U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., now has the backing on Gov. Katie Hobbs and U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly in his bid for U.S. Senate.

The endorsements come after Independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced last week she’s retiring at the end of the year and not seeking re-election. If she decided to run, it would have set up an unusual three-way race between two major parties and an incumbent. Sinema left the Democratic Party in December 2022.

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Arizona U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs Sat Out State of the Union Address: ‘I Do Not Respect Joe Biden’

Rep Andy Biggs

U.S. Representative Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) confirmed in a Monday appearance on C-SPAN that he was not in attendance for the joint session of Congress to hear the State of the Union address delivered by President Joe Biden last week, citing his lack of respect for the 81-year-old president.

Asked about the State of the Union address Monday on The Washington Journal, Biggs characterized Biden’s remarks as “a campaign speech” before revealing he watched from his office and did not attend in person.

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Feds Give $4 Million in Grants to University of Arizona for LGBTQ+ Mental Health

University of Arizona - Old Main Building

Nearly $4 million in grants to the University of Arizona for LGBTQ+ mental health services is raising concerns among some students.

The UA Southwest Institute for Research on Women recently received $3.7 million in federal grants, according to a university news release late last month. The two grants came from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

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Audit of Grand Canyon University Fails to Find Wrongdoing amid the Institution’s Legal Battle with the Biden Administration

A recent risk-based audit of Grand Canyon University conducted by the Arizona State Approving Agency (SAA) for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs did not “show any findings” related to the institution’s doctoral disclosures, which have been targeted by the Biden administration’s Federal Trade Commission (FTC) through a $37.7 million fine.

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Maricopa Community Colleges District Library Provides Critical Race Theory Resources for Students

People on Computers

The Maricopa Community Colleges District (MCCCD) library houses an online collection of Critical Race Theory articles, videos, and guiding questions about white privilege, social justice, and racism that are made available for community college students.

The materials are not labeled as Critical Race Theory (CRT) curriculum but as “Cultural Diversity Resources.” In a statement on the Arizona Department of Education’s website explaining Critical Race Theory, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne said, “Critical Race Theory is real, no matter what it’s called.”

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Former Arizona Department of Public Safety Director Frank Milstead Enters Race for Maricopa County Sheriff

Frank Milstead

The Republican primary for Maricopa County Sheriff just became a lot more interesting, with a second heavy-hitter entering the race, former Arizona Department of Public Safety (DPS) Director Frank Milstead. Jerry Sheridan, who served as chief deputy under former Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is already in the race, along with several lesser known candidates. Current Democratic Sheriff Paul Penzone is not running for reelection. 

Milstead told The Arizona Sun Times that the reason he is running is because as a police officer, he saw how bad the crime is in Maricopa County and felt he needed to do something about it. “I live by the rule that if I’m going to complain about something, I’d better step up and do something about it,” he said.

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Leader of Human Smuggling Organization that Held Illegal Immigrants in Phoenix Sentenced to Four Years Prison

The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday the sentencing of a Phoenix man who led a human smuggling ring which moved illegal immigrants from Central America and held them in Arizona before driving them to destinations across the United States.

Tony Cardenas, a 36-year-old man from Phoenix, was sentenced to four years in prison and three years of supervised release earlier this month for his role as “the leader of a Phoenix-based human-smuggling operation” involving a total of at least 19 criminals, the DOJ announced. Cardenas is of no known relation to U.S. Representative Tony Cardenas (D-CA-29).

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Kari Lake’s Attorney Bryan Blehm Encounters Hostility Dealing with the State Bar of Arizona’s Disciplinary Proceedings

Kari Lake’s attorney, Bryan Blehm, is encountering pushback defending himself against the State Bar of Arizona’s disciplinary proceedings.

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Saudi Company Officially Stops Using Arizona Water

Farming

The Saudi Arabian-backed company Fondomonte Arizona is officially no longer using the state’s water resources. 

According to the governor’s office, the State Land Department inspected the company’s land leases in western Arizona’s Butler Valley on Feb. 15, which determined that it was no longer irrigating. The company was estimated to have pumped over 5.3 billion gallons of groundwater in 2022, according to Arizona’s Family. 

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Less than Half of Arizona School Districts and Charters Affirm They Teach Students About the Holocaust

Teacher Students

Only 322, or 43 percent, of the roughly 750 Arizona school districts and charters surveyed confirmed that they are teaching students about the Holocaust and other genocides.

The completed survey, due to the Arizona Department of Education by January 24, 2024, asked schools to show evidence that students were receiving the required Holocaust education. “We surveyed districts and charters to find out if they are following the law, but more than half did not respond,” said Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne in a statement on Monday. He believes new legislation could help.

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Ruben Gallego’s Campaign Says It Raked In over $1 Million Following Kyrsten Sinema’s Retirement Announcement

Ruben Gallego

Democratic Arizona Rep. Ruben Gallego’s 2024 Senate campaign announced raising $1 million on Thursday since independent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema announced her retirement.

Gallego and former Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake have been vying for Sinema’s seat while the senator weighed whether to seek a second term in the upper chamber. In the 24 hours since Sinema declined to run on Tuesday, Gallego attracted nearly 24,000 donations, making it the campaign’s “most prolific fundraising day,” according to a press release obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Arizona Prosecutors Reportedly Sought Answers About Trump, Presidential Involvement in 2020 Election Contest

Mayes Trump

Following the Wednesday news that an Arizona grand jury issued subpoenas regarding the 2020 election contest, reports now claim prosecutors working under Attorney General Kris Mayes reportedly asked witnesses about former President Donald Trump and his direct involvement in the effort to challenge the election results in Arizona.

Subpoenas were sent on Wednesday by the grand jury investigating the challenge to the 2020 election results in Arizona. Multiple reports now confirm the grand jury targeted those involved with the effort to create an alternative slate of Electoral College electors in a bid to preserve the former president’s legal standing in various court cases.

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Navajo County Confirms Five Men Behind Alleged Arizona Train Robbery Are Illegal Immigrants

Handcuffs

The Navajo County Sheriff’s Department (NCSO) confirmed on Monday that five men who allegedly robbed a train in Joseph City are illegal immigrants and are being held on a federal immigration hold.

Law enforcement confirmed in a news release that five men were arrested in Joseph City for robbing a BNSF Railway train as it was parked, explaining police received a call reporting suspicious activity and found the suspects in a vehicle containing tools that could be used to break into a train car.

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Hobbs Announces Up to $30 Million in Taxpayer Dollars Aimed at Tackling Medical Debt

Katie Hobbs

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs launched a program on Monday aimed at “buying back” medical debt with taxpayer dollars distributed by the federal government.

The program is called “Affordable Arizona: Tackling Medical Debt for Working Families” and it is a public-private partnership between the state of Arizona and RIP Medical Debt, a national nonprofit.

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Past Support by Ruben Gallego for Illegal Immigrants in Military Highlighted by Kari Lake as Bill Would Trade Service for Citizenship

Ruben Gallego

Arizona U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake highlighted the previous support by Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) for legislation that would have allowed illegal immigrants who entered the United States as children to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Lake noted Gallego’s previous support for the legislation after Tucker Carlson posted a discussion of a bill currently in the U.S. House that would allow illegal immigrants to serve in the military in exchange for an expedited path to citizenship.

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Arizona Legislature and Runbeck Election Services Reach Election Integrity Agreement, Including 2022 Election Footage

Runbeck Ballot Production

A memorandum of understanding (MAU) between the Arizona Legislature and Runbeck Election Services on Monday, with Representative Alex Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) and Senator Wendy Rogers (R-Flagstaff) declaring it will significantly strengthen election integrity.

The legislature and Runbeck, which processes the mail-in ballots for Maricopa County, reached four key areas of agreement that include the release of some 2022 election video, and the lawmakers explained in a press release that the MAU marks “the culmination of an extensive examination of the company’s election processes.”

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Greater Phoenix Area Receives $46.5 Million in Federal Funds for Homeless as Arizona Spending Reportedly Nears $1 Billion

homelessness in Arizona

The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) announced last week the federal government awarded over $40 million to supplement programs supporting the homeless. The federal money was announced as state spending on homelessness reportedly nears $1 billion per year.

MAG announced in a press release that “more than $46.5 million in federal funding” will be provided by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to “help fund dozens of local homelessness programs.” The figure is also $10 million higher than the previous year’s federal commitment, MAG explained.

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Federal Court Upholds Most of Arizona’s Two New Election Integrity Laws Regarding Proof of Citizenship, Found No ‘Discriminatory Purpose’

Register to Vote

Both sides are calling a federal district court’s ruling a win, which upheld most of two new Arizona election integrity laws. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton struck down parts of HB 2492, which requires proof of citizenship in order to register to vote, and HB 2243, which requires quarterly reporting of the number of Arizona voters who did not list their citizenship status.

State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), the primary sponsor of both bills, expressed his disappointment to The Arizona Sun Times. “Bolton’s ruling is potentially the most intellectually dishonest, schizophrenic legal determination in the last half century. Bolton has shown a clear disdain for legislative authority, while simultaneously weaponizing the court against common sense. The idea that a person wouldn’t need to produce documentary proof of citizenship to vote in U.S. elections is lunacy. I can only hope that this case ultimately works its way to the U.S. Supreme Court where there still remains a semblance of sanity thanks to President Trump’s justices and the great Clarence Thomas.”

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Arizona Representative Bill Aims to Help Protect Synagogues

David Schweikert

Arizona Congressman David Schweikert is introducing legislation on Friday that would loosen regulations on the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Nonprofit Security Grant Program to allow for places of worship to get more protection.

The House bill dubbed the “Warranting of Religious Spaces to Handle Increased Protection (WORSHIP) Act” would allow an increase from 50% to 75% to use the grant funds for personnel-related expenses and allow the hiring of “public safety personnel” to be permitted under the grant as part of “covered expenses.” 

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Report: Arizona Homelessness Spending near $1 Billion, Mostly on Housing

A new report from the Common Sense Institute of Arizona determines that spending on homelessness in the Grand Canyon State is roughly $1 billion.

The think tank analyzed data from both the public and private sectors to see how much was going toward the issue, and the vast majority of the spending, $678-807 million, was directed toward Maricopa County in recent years.

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Bill to Protect Arizonans from Border Invasion Approved by State Legislature Awaits Governor Hobbs’ Signature

Illegal Immigrants

The Arizona State Legislature has approved SB 1231, known as the Arizona Border Invasion Act.

Senate Republicans celebrated the Legislature’s passage of the bill meant to “protect Arizona citizens and communities from the crime and security threats associated with the current border invasion caused by the Biden Administration’s refusal to enforce immigration laws.”

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State Representative Justin Heap Enters Race for Maricopa County Recorder, Cites 300,000 Disenfranchised Republican Voters in 2022

Justin Heap

State Representative Justin Heap (R-Mesa) announced at the State Capitol during a press conference on Wednesday that he will enter the Republican primary race for Maricopa County Recorder, challenging incumbent Stephen Richer.

Richer has come under extensive criticism for maintaining that there were only minor problems during the 2022 election, fighting back through the courts against attempts to obtain public records about the election and other related election integrity lawsuits.

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Arizona GOP Raises Nearly $250,000 in 30 Days Following Election of Chair Gina Swoboda

Gina Swoboda

The Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) on Tuesday reported that it raised nearly $250,000 in the 30 days after Gina Swoboda’s election as the party’s new chair.

A post by the AZGOP to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, attributed the fundraising haul to Swoboda, writing that the party chair raised nearly a quarter of a million “in her first 30 days on the job.”

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Kari Lake Leads Rep. Ruben Gallego, Senator Kyrsten Sinema in U.S. Senate Race, Poll Shows

Arizona Senate Candidates

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is leading both Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) and Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) in the 2024 Arizona U.S. Senate race, according to a new telephone and online survey conducted by Rasmussen Reports and The Bull Moose Project.

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Arizona Could Have Six Presidential Candidates in November After RFK Jr. Gains Ballot Access

Arizona RFK JR

Arizona could have six presidential candidates on the ballot in November after a super PAC supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. claims to have obtained enough signatures for the independent presidential candidate to qualify.

The American Values 24 super PAC confirmed on Tuesday it “met the signature requirements” for Kennedy to get “on the ballot in Arizona and Georgia.”

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Cochise County Supervisors Fight AG Kris Mayes’ Prosecution Over Delaying Vote Certification; File Motions to Dismiss, Request New Grand Jury

Cochise County Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd

Cochise County Supervisors Tom Crosby and Peggy Judd are fighting back against Attorney General Kris Mayes’ prosecution of them for voting to delay certification of the 2022 election by three days. The pair filed motions last week requesting that the case be dismissed and challenging the grand jury’s finding of probable cause against them. 

In Crosby’s Motion to Dismiss, which Judd joined later, Crosby’s attorney Dennis Wilenchik said, “The criminal statute involved is vague and ambiguous and overbroad, and unconstitutional as applied here to a member of a Board of Supervisors of a County voting in his official capacity. The case was brought purely for political purposes by the Attorney General and is an egregious abuse of her powers.”

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Phoenix Approves Over $1 Million for Homeless Shelter amid Concern ‘The Zone’ Could Reemerge

The City of Phoenix last Wednesday approved just over $1 million to Central Arizona Shelter Services (CASS), which operates the city’s largest homeless shelter.

Phoenix made the payment using leftover federal funds originally earmarked for COVID-19 recovery, but CASS warned the organization still has a shortfall of around $500,000 that could threaten its ability to provide shelter services, explaining that it filed three state grant requests that were denied by Arizona.

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Fentanyl Death Murder Charge Bill Passes Arizona Senate

Although Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs could end up making the final call of the legislation, making some fentanyl-related deaths a felony murder charge is one step closer to becoming law in Arizona.

The bill passed the Senate 18-10-2, with Democratic Sens. Christine Marsh and Catherine Miranda voting in favor of the legislation on Thursday.

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Bill to Ban Sale of Lab-Grown Meat Passes Arizona State House

medical science laboratory

A bill to ban the sale of lab-grown meat to consumers, even for consumption by animals, narrowly passed the Arizona State House on Thursday.

HB 2121 by Representative David Marshall (R-Snowflake) passed the Arizona House with 31 votes in favor and 28 votes against, with one lawmaker absent. If passed by the Arizona Senate and signed into law by Governor Katie Hobbs, the legislation would ban any “cell-cultured animal product” from being sold to Arizona consumers for “human or animal consumption.”

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Maricopa County Judge Recuses Himself from Election-Related Case Due to Activist Brother’s Social Media Posts Denigrating Republican Election Lawsuits

Judge

Opposition is increasing to the judges assigned to handle election related lawsuits in Arizona, as their biases are being revealed. After Arizona Senate Majority leader Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) and House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) requested that Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Tim Ryan recuse himself from their lawsuit challenging the state’s Election Procedures Manual (EPM) because of his progressive activist older brother’s posts on X, Ryan voluntarily recused himself. 

The Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus issued an announcement praising the recusal. “His brother, Tom Ryan, is a liberal attorney who plagues social media with his contempt for the Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature with an incessant number of juvenile posts,” the statement said. “There is no way anyone who has witnessed the antics of Judge Ryan’s brother, which included case-specific criticisms and commentary, can credibly believe that Judge Ryan could give the Legislature a fair trial.”

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Bill Allowing Cheaper Blends of Gasoline Passes Arizona Senate

A bill aimed at lowering gas prices by allowing more types of gasoline to be sold in Arizona passed the Arizona State Senate on Thursday. 

In Maricopa County, environmental regulations allow for only two blends of gas to be sold to consumers, one winter blend and one summer blend, referred to as Cleaner Burning Gasoline, according to a news release. 

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Lake Holds 33-Point Lead in Arizona GOP Senate Primary, Statistically Tied with Gallego Among All Voters If Race Includes Sinema

Kari Lake Senate Candidate

Kari Lake holds a commanding, 33-point lead in the race to secure the Arizona Republican Party (AZGOP) nomination to run for U.S. Senate, according to a poll released Wednesday.

Pollsters additionally found Lake statistically tied with Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03), who is poised to secure the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, when Senator Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) was included in the survey.

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Catholic Charity Aiding Illegal Immigrants in Arizona Fires Staff After Republicans Rebuke Border Bill

Illegal Immigrants

An Arizona affiliate of Catholic Charities USA has reportedly notified 30 of its employees that they will be terminated on March 30 after Republicans in the U.S. Senate successfully blocked a controversial border bill.

News that Catholic Community Services (CCS) of Southern Arizona now plans to reduce its apparent “temporary sheltering and transportation assistance” of illegal immigrants who were released into the United States by government officials surfaced through a memorandum written by Pima County Administrator Jan Lesher to the Board of Supervisors on February 16.

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