Category: Arizona

Arizona State Senator TJ Shope to Probe If Gov. Hobbs’ Dark Money Security Funding Violated Campaign Finance Laws

Tom Pappert

Arizona Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope (R-Florence) intends to probe how Governor Katie Hobbs (D) had a private security guard during the 2022 elections without disclosing how he was paid. Hobbs, who was serving as Arizona’s secretary of state in 2022, did not disclose how the security guard was paid in her campaign finance reports.

Though it remains unclear exactly how former security guard J.M. “Jesse” Torrez was employed to protect Hobbs, The Arizona Republic notes the governor appointed Torrez to head the Arizona Governor’s Office of Highway Safety, where he will earn $115,000 per year, after taking office.

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Parents Protest ‘Pornographic’ Books at Arizona Public Library Meeting

Rachel Alexander

Several parents and children attended a meeting of the Chandler Public Library Board Tuesday night to protest “pornographic” books geared to children located in the children’s section of the Basha branch library. The board, which met at that branch, let each attendee speak for two minutes, who used their time to read from the offending books and describe what was contained in them. 

A young woman named Audrey, who said she was the 2021 class president of the adjacent high school, read from a book for 10-year olds that discussed masturbation and abortion. A book about “genderqueer” discussed “strap-ons” and “blow jobs,” she said.

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Arizona Lawsuit to Disqualify Trump from 2024 Ballot Begins October 23

Tom Pappert

A lawsuit aimed at disqualifying former President Donald Trump from the 2024 ballot in Arizona is set to be heard by a federal judge on October 23.

The lawsuit was filed in Arizona federal court by John Anthony Castro, who Arizona’s Family describes as a “long-shot Republican presidential candidate from Texas.” Castro, who claims to be mounting a nationwide write-in campaign, argues that Trump’s alleged role in the civil unrest on January 6, 2021 should preclude him from running for office.

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Arizona State University Releases Report over Conservative Event Backlash

The Center Square

After Arizona State University released a report suggesting there was “no evidence” of a campaign to smear an event featuring conservative speakers, one Republican state senator is not satisfied with the outcome.

The T.W. Lewis Center at the school hosted an event in February with conservative media personalities Dennis Prager and Charlie Kirk, as well as financial author Robert Kiyosaki. The event sparked backlash from some faculty at Barrett, the Honors College, and some students. Following the intense backlash, Tom Lewis pulled funding for the center and its executive director, Ann Atkinson, lost her job, alleging she was fired.

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Kari Lake Files Opening Brief with Arizona Court of Appeals in Election Lawsuit Containing New Evidence and Alleging Crimes

Rachel Alexander

Kari Lake’s appeal of the second dismissal of her lawsuit by the trial court judge is winding its way back up through the courts.

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Arizona Expected to Receive Over $800 Million in 2024 Political Advertising, Most of Any Battleground State

Tom Pappert

Arizona is projected to be the recipient of nearly $1 billion in political advertising during the 2024 cycle, meaning the Grand Canyon State will receive the highest share of spending of any battleground state, and the second highest of any state in the union, should the projections be correct.

The state is expected to see about $821 million in advertising over the 2024 political cycle, according to a new report published by AdImpact. Arizona will receive almost $100 million more than the second highest battleground state, Pennsylvania, which is estimated to receive $725 million.

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TSMC Reportedly Delays Equipment Deliveries to Arizona Semiconductor Factory

Tom Pappert

The Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is reportedly asking vendors to delay deliveries of major equipment to its facility in Arizona. This comes after TSMC delayed the opening of its Arizona chip facility until 2025, and amid reports the company will not manufacture complete semiconductors in the United States.

TSMC is asking manufacturers of high-end semiconductor equipment to hold off on deliveries to its Arizona facility, according to a report released Friday by Reuters. The Taiwanese semiconductor giant is reportedly concerned about decreasing costs, and is “increasingly concerned” about cooling consumer demand, though the company referred to the report as a “market rumor” in a statement to Reuters.

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Commentary: Will a Three-Way Race in Arizona Deliver the U.S. Senate to Republicans?

Arizona Sun Times Staff

Of all the low-hanging senatorial fruit in 2024 — see red states with blue senators in West Virginia, Montana, and Ohio, to name three — if not the ripest for conservative pickup, then at least the juiciest might be the three-way contest that is liable to heat up in the Arizona desert.

There, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Democrat-turned-independent incumbent, if she decides to defend her seat, will face an extreme progressive challenger on the left and, possibly, one of the Trumpiest of Trumpists on the right, Kari Lake, who may find herself in a primary battle with a slightly lesser Trumpist in Blake Masters, who lost the other Senate seat in 2022 to Mark Kelly.

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Report: COVID Learning Loss Could Cost Arizona 18,000 High School Grads by 2032

The Center Square

Arizona students have been majorly impacted long-term by virtual learning throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

A new report from the Common Sense Institute Arizona estimates a possible 18,419 fewer high school graduates by 2032 and 26,281 fewer college graduates in 2026 in Arizona stemming from poor standardized testing scores in the aftermath of the pandemic.

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Georgia Election Integrity Expert Confounds Bar Attorney in Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Former Attorney John Eastman

Rachel Alexander

The fifth week of the disbarment trial of former President Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, ended on Friday, featuring more testimony by Garland Favorito, co-founder of Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA).

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Arizona Officials Share Outcry in Mass Release of Migrants

The Center Square

Counties in Southern Arizona have seen a sudden influx of busloads filled with processed asylum-seeking immigrants released into towns, and local officials are calling for answers.

County sheriffs began alerting the public this week to the increased number of migrant releases, which indicate a surge of immigrants seeking entry into the U.S. larger than federal facilities and local nonprofits can contain.

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Testimony from Georgia Election Integrity Expert Continues in Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman

Rachel Alexander

The fifth week of the disbarment trial of former President Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, is winding down with direct and cross-examination of Garland Favorito, co-founder of Voters Organized for Trusted Election Results in Georgia (VoterGA), who has extensive experience with electronic voting machines and investigating election fraud in Georgia.

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Arizona Senate Committee Rejects Gov. Hobbs’ Nominee for Housing Department, Cites ‘Systemic’ Plagiarism

Tom Pappert

An Arizona State Senate panel rejected the nomination of Joan Serviss to run the Arizona Department of Housing in a 3-2 vote on Thursday, with Republican senators highlighting alleged “systemic” plagiarism by Serviss in letters she wrote to the federal government while working in advocacy. Arizona State Senator Jake Hoffman…

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Georgia Election Fraud Expert Testifies at Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman, Casts Doubt on Biden’s Win

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of former President Donald Trump’s former attorney and constitutional legal scholar, John Eastman, continued on Tuesday into its fifth week.

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Arizona County Pressured to Return $80 Million in Ill-Gotten Revenue to Taxpayers

The Center Square

After years of inaction, taxpayers are asking a judge to force a southern Arizona county to return millions of dollars in transportation tax revenue ruled unconstitutional by the state’s Supreme Court.

Harold Vangilder – a former candidate for state Senate – along with Dan Neidig and the Arizona Restaurant Association have asked the state’s Superior Tax Court for an injunction forcing Pinal County and the Arizona Department of Revenue to rebate taxpayers the $80 million in infrastructure excise taxes collected on transactions below $10,000.

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Arizona Republicans Sound Alarm After Flagstaff Considers Firearm Ad Ban on City Property, Including Airport

Tom Pappert

Three Republicans in the Arizona House of Representatives signed a letter questioning Flagstaff’s plan to see firearm advertisements banned from public buildings and facilities. The letter came after Flagstaff city leaders received a draft of new advertising guidelines that explicitly ban any mention of firearms or ammunition, even though the previous policy focused on banning “violence” and “antisocial behavior” in the advertisements.

Arizona State Representatives David Marshall (R-Snowflake), Leo Biasiucci (R-Lake Havasu), and Quang Nguyen (R-Prescott) warned the draft policy “raises a host of constitutional concerns, including viewpoint discrimination, and very likely violates state law,” urging the city leaders to “postpone your consideration” until the new policy adheres Arizona law and the U.S. Constitution.

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Arizona GOP Signals They’ll Sue Biden Administration over Grand Canyon Monument

The Center Square

The Arizona Senate is inching closer to a lawsuit with the federal government after a national monument was declared in northern Arizona last month to limit mining in the area.

President Joe Biden visited the state in August to speak about the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument, which is nearly 1 million acres.

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Arizona TSMC Factory Will Ship Incomplete Semiconductors to Taiwan for Final ‘Packaging’: Report

Tom Pappert

A new report claims the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) will only complete part of the chip manufacturing process at its controversial Arizona facility. The company reportedly intends to ship incomplete products made in Arizona to Taiwan, where they will be finished and sold to major electronics manufacturers in the West.

The report, published Monday by New Information, claims sources close to the company and its new facility in Phoenix have already been informed that the plant will be used to create partially complete products. As a result, the outlet explained, TSMC’s Arizona factory will do little to create an independent supply of semiconductors based in the United States.

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Expert to Arizona Legislature: Kari Lake Would Have ‘Won Easily’ If Google Hadn’t Interfered in the 2022 Election

Rachel Alexander

State Representative Alex Kolodin (R-Scottsdale), chair of the Arizona House Ad Hoc Committee on Oversight, Accountability, and Big Tech, held the first of a series of hearings last week investigating the impact of Big Tech’s election interference.

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Arizona Empowerment Scholarship Accounts Will Use AI to ‘Scale Up’ After 50,000 Students Join in One Year

Tom Pappert

The new director of Arizona’s Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) program announced plans to use artificial intelligence (AI) to “scale up” the program’s operations after 50,000 students joined the school voucher program.

Arizona now has nearly 62,000 students enrolled in the ESA program, according to Arizona Capitol Times, including about 12,000 students who enrolled in the last three months. The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) previously estimated another 50,000 students could join over the next year.

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Arizona Supreme Court Petitioned to Change Who Can Vote on Certain Judges

The Center Square

Even though appellate court judges deal out precedent-setting rulings statewide, those judges are elected only by those in their areas.

With the aid of former Supreme Court Justice Andrew Gould, the Goldwater Institute is representing four Arizonans in Knight, et al. v. Fontes. The case, brought directly to the state Supreme Court, seeks to make appellate court judicial retention elections a statewide matter instead of split into divisions.

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Google Breaks Ground on New Data Center in Arizona

The Center Square

Google broke ground on its new data center in Mesa on Wednesday, as Arizona continues to bring in businesses to the outskirts of the Phoenix metropolitan area.

The $600 million facility will create an estimated 1,200 construction jobs, but it’s unknown how many jobs it will have once the facility is up and running.

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Explosive Testimony from Former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice at Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s attorney John Eastman is in its fourth week, and on Thursday the State Bar of California rested its case and Eastman’s attorney began putting on witnesses, beginning with former Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Michael Gableman. Gableman was directed by the Wisconsin Legislature to conduct a minimal investigation of the 2020 election, and he revealed numerous instances where he believed the law was broken, and had election officials referred for prosecution.

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Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman Features Testimony by Progressive Michigan Secretary of State’s Spokesman

Rachel Alexander

The disbarment trial of constitutional legal scholar John Eastman, who advised former President Donald Trump on challenging election fraud in the 2020 presidential election, continued on Wednesday featuring cross-examination of Eastman by the State Bar of California’s attorney Duncan Carling and testimony from Jake Rollow, who was progressive election official from Michigan.

Rollow was the communications director for the Michigan Secretary of State during the 2020 election.

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Court Rules Arizona’s Ballot Signature Verification Guidance Doesn’t Have Force of Law

Just the News

A court in Arizona ruled that the Secretary of State office’s ballot signature verification guidance does “not have the force of law,” dealing a blow to the state’s Democrat leaders.

The ruling in the Superior Court of Yavapai County came after an election integrity group challenged Arizona’s new Elections Procedures Manual (EPM). 

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Phoenix Approves Backyard Casitas, or Accessory Dwelling Units, Inside City Limits

Tom Pappert

On Wednesday the City of Phoenix approved casitas, or accessory dwelling units (ADUs), to be built in back yards of existing homes, in a move aimed at shoring up the amount of affordable housing in the city.

Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and city council members approved the change to the city’s zoning to help address the 270,000 housing unit shortage in Arizona, reported ABC 15.

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Week Four of the Disbarment Trial of Trump’s Attorney John Eastman Brings Out Reasons Judges Dismissed Election Cases

Rachel Alexander

The fourth week of the disbarment trial of Donald Trump’s attorney John Eastman resumed on Tuesday, with State Bar of California attorney Duncan Carling continuing his cross-examination of the constitutional scholar.  The bar is trying to take away his license to practice law due to advising Trump that Vice President Mike Pence may have had the authority to reject electoral slates from states suspected of election fraud.

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Arizona to Spend $40 Million on Tutoring to Combat COVID-Era Learning Loss

The Center Square

Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced a tutoring program with hopes to combat the negative consequences of learning loss during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The $40 million program intended to pay public school teachers an additional $30 an hour if they take part in the program starting Oct. 2. According to a news release, private tutoring companies will also be allowed to take part.

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State Senator Justine Wadsack Victorious After Recall Petition Fails, Reports Zero Signatures in Four Months

Tom Pappert

State Senator Justine Wadsack (R-Tucson) emerged victorious after the recall petition against her failed, with activists returning zero petitions to the government. Wadsack, speaking to The Arizona Sun Times, thanked her supporters in Legislative District 17 for becoming her surrogates through the process.

Wadsack said in a press release that “the far left so-called ‘recall effort’ in LD17 has failed” to return “a single signature” by the September 5 deadline, and said their failure “amounts to a third electoral victory after being nominated in 2022 and then elected in November.” She added that the recall “was never a serious effort” but rather “a 4-month social media campaign with little to no ground game.”

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Arizona State University Psychology Professor Teaches That ‘White Guilt’ Can Be Used to Transform Students into Social Justice Activists

Rachel Alexander

Dr. Lisa B. Spanierman, a faculty member in the psychology department of Arizona State University, teaches that “white guilt” can be used to coerce students into social justice activism. The counseling and counseling psychology professor, and associate dean for academic personnel and faculty success in ASU’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, is developing a reputation for pushing this in higher education.

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Moms for Liberty to Hold Arizona Town Hall Next Week with Four State Legislators, Superintendent Tom Horne

Tom Pappert

Parental rights advocacy group Moms for Liberty announced a public town hall event in Mesa, Arizona, on September 14, with confirmed attendees including State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne, four Republican state legislators, Moms for Liberty co-founder Tina Descovich, and award-winning musician and actress Mary Millben.

Described as an “honest discussion on the state of education and parental rights in Arizona,” Moms for Liberty revealed on X, formerly Twitter, that State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek), State Senator Justine Wadsack (R-Tucson), State Representative Justin Heap (R-Mesa), and State Representative Barbara Parker (R-Mesa) are also scheduled to attend as members of a panel.

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Lawmakers Continue Push to Hold Mayorkas Accountable for Uzbekistan Nationals Smuggled into the U.S. Through Mexico

Hannah Poling

U.S. Congressman John Rose (R-TN-06) is leading a group of U.S. House Republicans demanding that Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas keep Congress updated while the government searches for illegal immigrants from Uzbekistan who allegedly crossed the Mexican border into the U.S through a global trafficking network.

This follows the National Security Council (NSC) confirming to Fox News last week that U.S. officials are aware of “a human smuggling network working to facilitate the travel of Uzbekistan nationals to the United States.”

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Arizona GOP Says There Will Be No Change in Administration of 2024 GOP Presidential Primary Election

Michael Patrick Leahy

Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jeff DeWit said on Friday in an email to the members of the Arizona GOP Executive Committee the party will not change the method of election administration for the party’s March 2024 GOP Presidential Primary, rejecting a proposal made to the state party six days earlier by the Maricopa County Republican Party to replace the state government administered primary election with a “firehouse primary,” one administered by the party itself rather than the state government.

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Biden Releases New Arizona Ad Touting ‘Manufacturing Boom’ Despite Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Delay

Tom Pappert

President Joe Biden launched a new ad in Arizona on Labor Day touting a “manufacturing boom” as part of a $25 million advertising campaign in battleground states, even after the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) recently delayed its new Phoenix microchip plant claiming the state lacks skilled talent.

The 30-second ad features Phoenix resident Bill Ruiz, according to The Hill, who brags that “we’re building some of the biggest tech factories in the world right here” in Arizona, and specifically lists new semiconductor factories as an example, ultimately crediting “the laws that Joe Biden got passed” for making their construction possible.

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Elections Expert Gina Swoboda Discusses Maricopa County Officials’ Missteps in the 2022 Election

Rachel Alexander

Gina Swoboda, executive director of Phoenix-based Voter Reference Foundation (VRF) discussed election problems and what to do about them recently on the Jenny Beth Show. Jenny Beth Martin was an early leader in the Tea Party movement as co-founder of Tea Party Patriots. In this third part of a three-part series from the interview, Swoboda delved deeper into the problems that occurred during the 2022 election, many which were caused or exacerbated by election officials, and the hurdles to fixing them.

She observed that switching from precinct voting to vote centers did not increase turnout as election officials claimed it would, which they did in order to convince voters the switch would be beneficial. Republican legislators ran bills that would have made precinct voting easier, she said, like holding voting on a school holiday so the schools could be used as voting locations, but the bills were unsuccessful. 

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Most Arizona Voters Now Registered Independent, Unable to Vote in Presidential Preference Election

Tom Pappert

More Arizona voters have continued to change their party affiliation to independent, making it the state’s largest voting bloc. This means more than 1.4 million voters will be unable to cast a ballot in the state’s 2024 presidential primary contests.

The Arizona Secretary of State released new data this month dating from July 2023, revealing that 1,450,697 Arizonans, or 34.55 percent of the state’s voters, are now registered independent.

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Scottsdale Short-Term Rental Restriction Proposals Gain Powerful Ally

The Center Square

Scottsdale, Arizona, officials have enlisted one of the state’s most powerful advocacy organizations in proposing numerous changes to crack down on short term rental properties.

Scottsdale, which is popular for tourism, is pushing for three changes at the state level backed by the League of Arizona Cities and Towns 2024 Legislative Agenda. The organization, headed by Yuma Mayor Douglas Nicholls, represents the state’s municipalities in lobbying for changes at the state level.

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Blake Masters to Enter U.S. Senate Race, Will Face Kari Lake and Sheriff Mark Lamb in GOP Primary

Rachel Alexander

According to The Wall Street Journal, Blake Masters is about to announce a run for the U.S. Senate, potentially as soon as next week. Masters lost the Arizona senate race last year to incumbent Democratic Senator Mark Kelly and will join a Republican primary field that includes Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb. Kari Lake is expected to announce her run in October. Incumbent Kyrsten Sinema, who switched her party registration from Democrat to Independent and is now seen as vulnerable, has not announced whether she is running for re-election. State Representative Ruben Gallego (D-AZ-03) is widely expected to obtain the Democratic nomination, challenging her from the Left.

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State Senator Calls for Arizona Board of Regents to Investigate Arizona State University Athletic Director

Hannah Poling

Arizona Senate President Pro Tempore T.J. Shope (R-Florence) this week called on the Arizona Board of Regents to investigate Arizona State University (ASU) Athletic Director Ray Anderson for the “raft of improprieties and frankly embarrassing issues” that have occurred under his tenure.

In a letter sent to the board of regents, the agency that oversees state universities, Shope details that Anderson’s actions have troubled him for some time now, so he is calling on the board to investigate these actions and possibly hold someone accountable.

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110,000 Pima County Residents’ Personal Data Exposed After Hackers Breach COVID-19 Contact Tracing Firm

Tom Pappert

Russian hackers accessed the personal information of 110,000 residents of Pima County, Arizona whose data was held by Maximus Health Services, who was contracted by the county for contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The government contracting giant acknowledged between 8 and 11 million people had their information breached by hackers in a July filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and this week confirmed about 110,000 Pima County residents were affected, according to KJZZ, which added that the county “contracted with Maximus” for contact tracing during the pandemic.

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Arizona House Speaker’s Brother Buys Majority Interest in Runbeck Election Services

Rachel Alexander

Runbeck Election Services (RES) confirmed this week that Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma’s (R-Peoria) brother, Mihai Toma, purchased a majority stake in the company on August 18. 

RES is the private company that processes Maricopa County’s mail-in ballots.

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Hobbs Rolls Back Ducey-Era Orders, Allows for Public Employee Vaccine Requirement

The Center Square

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is cleaning up old executive orders from the COVID-19 pandemic under former Gov. Doug Ducey. 

The governor announced Tuesday afternoon that she’d rescinded 14 orders that were largely moot because of subsequent legislation or measures her administration had taken. 

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Arizona Free Enterprise Club Gives 17 Arizona State Politicians 100 Percent Ratings in Its 2023 Scorecard

Rachel Alexander

The Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AFEC) issued its annual ratings of legislators this month, with four state senators and 13 state representatives receiving perfect scores. The scorecard analyzed 25 bills in the House and 30 in the Senate during the 2023 session that addressed priority issues for AFEC. Many legislators scored well since “[f]or most of the legislative session, the caucuses in the House and Senate were unified, and there was less bad policy that made it onto the floor for a vote in either chamber.”

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Arizona State Representative Wants Arizona Department of Transportation to Fix Third-Party Service Providers

Hannah Poling

Arizona State Representative and House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman David Cook (R-Globe) urged the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) to take immediate corrective action to address critical public safety risks.

This follows a new Arizona Department of Transportation performance audit conducted by the Arizona Auditor General, finding alarming issues with Motor Vehicle Divisions’ (MVD) oversight of third-party service providers.

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State Representative Promises New COVID-19 Mask Mandates ‘Won’t Be Happening in Arizona’ Thanks to GOP-Backed Laws

Tom Pappert

As national media outlets warn of a new wave of COVID-19 and suggest pandemic-era responses, State Representative Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale) highlighted two Arizona laws that will prohibit face mask mandates in businesses and schools.

In a press release from the Arizona House of Representatives, the legislator noted that CNN, CBS, and The Washington Times have published articles that either encourage or note “the return of mask mandates” across the country. Chaplik added, “The good news is that mandates won’t be happening here in Arizona.”

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Maricopa County GOP Demands Arizona GOP Withdraw from a Government-Run 2024 Arizona Presidential Preference Election

Hannah Poling

The Maricopa County Republican Committee Executive Guidance Committee (MCRC EGC) demanded on Saturday that Arizona Republican Party Chairman Jeff DeWit withdraw the Arizona GOP from a government-run 2024 Arizona Presidential Preference Election by Friday.

The Presidential Preference Election (PPE) is an election in which voters can choose who they would like to be their presidential candidate in the upcoming General Election. Party winners of the Arizona PPE are officially determined at the party’s national convention.

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Jury Selection Begins in Backpage Prostitution Trial of Former Phoenix New Times Owner

Rachel Alexander

Jury selection in the second trial over the facilitation of prostitution by former Phoenix New Times owner Michael Lacey and some of his former associates began on Tuesday in federal court. Co-owner Jim Larkin, who was also being prosecuted, killed himself on August 1. Both were accused of facilitating the sex trafficking of minors through their site Backpage, but since the pair were charged with facilitating prostitution and money laundering instead, an earlier trial ended in a mistrial since a judge concluded prosecutors had too many references to child sex trafficking. Lacey and Larkin owned the Phoenix New Times for years, known for its scathing attacks on conservative Republicans.

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Feds to Drop Shipping Container Border Wall Lawsuit After $2.1 Million Payment from Arizona Taxpayers

Tom Pappert

A lawsuit launched by the Department of Justice against Arizona over a makeshift border wall made of shipping containers is set to be dismissed following a final payment of $2.1 million from the state to the U.S. Forest Service, even after Governor Katie Hobbs (D) dismantled the barrier and put the containers up for sale.

The shipping container wall was constructed under former Governor Doug Ducey (R), whose administration argued the hastily constructed barrier was necessary until the Biden administration resumed construction on the southern border wall started by former President Donald Trump. A lawsuit was launched by the federal government just weeks before Hobbs took office.

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Audit Finds Unqualified Arizonans Received Driver Licenses, Including at Least One Foreign National

Tom Pappert

A new report from the Arizona Auditor General reveals that private companies authorized by the state’s Motor Vehicle Division (MVD) have issued credentials or documents to people who were unqualified, including at least one foreign national.

The Auditor General warned that “consistently” allowing vehicle titles, driver licenses, and identification cards to unauthorized individuals or entities will increase numbers of “unsafe drivers, vehicle and identity theft, fraud, and terrorism.”

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