On Wednesday Governor Doug Ducey announced Arizona Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ will leave her position on August 27 for another leadership role as chief medical officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona.
Christ has led the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) as director since May 2015 after serving as chief medical officer, licensing director and deputy director of public health for the department since 2008. She will be the longest-serving director in the history of the department as of August 13, before her departure from the position.
Christ, an Infectious Disease Epidemiologist, earned a Bachelor and Master of Science in Microbiology from Arizona State University. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Arizona College of Medicine in Tucson.
“When Cara Christ became a doctor, she did it to help others and save lives. That’s exactly what she’s done,” said Ducey. “She dedicated countless hours to protecting millions of Arizonans from the COVID-19 pandemic — and she’s done it with grace, stability and confidence. She implemented effective statewide testing and internationally-recognized mass vaccination sites, established the national model Arizona SurgeLine, worked hard to increase vaccinations for communities in need, and so much more.”
“Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, my number one priority has been protecting the health of Arizonans all across our state,” said Dr. Christ. “When the pandemic hit, the entire state came together to contain the spread and protect one another — and I’m grateful to everyone who worked with our team at the Arizona Department of Health Services to protect fellow Arizonans. It has been an honor to lead ADHS and work to keep Arizonans of all ages, backgrounds and unique needs healthy and safe. I’m so proud to have been a part of this administration, and I thank Governor Ducey for entrusting me with responsibility for public health in Arizona and for working with me closely in the state’s response to COVID-19.”
Twelve hours after announcing his plans to step down as the liaison for the Arizona Senate’s audit, Ken Bennett says he is back in the good graces of the audit team and will be provided full access so he can assist in review of any reports to the Senate.
Bennett told KFYI’s James T. Harris on Wednesday morning he had become “liaison in name only” and may not even be involved in the preparation of the final audit report into how Maricopa County handled the 2020 General Election because he was locked out of the audit premises by other team members at the directive of Senate President Karen Fann.
But by Wednesday evening, Bennett told colleagues that Fann had agreed to meet several demands to keep Bennett actively involved through the end of the audit. Details of the agreement are to be announced Thursday.
Bennett, a former Arizona Secretary of State, was chosen by Fann to act on her behalf with Cyber Ninjas, the company she contracted to conduct the audit. There have also been several subcontractors.
However, last week Fann became upset that Bennett released some unconfirmed audit data to an election expert, from whom it was released to the media. In addition to the lockout, Fann issued a statement Tuesday scolding Bennett for his actions even though he had publicly apologized several times.
Fann also noted in her statement that Bennett would continue his involvement in the audit which is now in the analysis phase leading up to preparation of final reports. Audit observers say those reports need to have Bennett’s blessing in order for the public to accept any of Cyber Ninjas’ findings.
Bennett, however, told Harris his continued involvement, particularly with any reports, was would not be feasible if he continued to be frozen out of the audit process. “I cannot put a rubber stamp on a product that I am being locked out of its development,” he said.
Fann and Bennett were reportedly finalizing the terms and conditions of Bennett’s continued participation with the audit on Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan announced Wednesday that more than $5.7 million was donated toward the cost of the audit. The funds came from five groups, including one co-founded by OANN reporter Christina Bobb and another connected to Sidney Powell, who served earlier this year as one of former President Donald Trump’s attorneys.
According to Logan, $3.25 million was received from Florida-based The America Project. There was also nearly $977,000 from America’s Future, a non-profit organization chaired by Lt. Gen. Michael T. Flynn, (USA Ret.), along with $605,000 from Bobb’s Voices and Votes.
Another $550,000 was received from Defending The Republic, whose board of directors include Powell, Flynn, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, and others who support claims that former President Donald Trump actually won the 2020 election. And $280,000 is reported as coming from the combined Legal Defense Funds for the American Republic and the Election Integrity Funds for the American Republic.
Logan’s company was contracted earlier this year by Fann contracted for a total payment of $150,000. The contract did not preclude Cyber Ninjas or any of the subcontractors from seeking or accepting private funding toward the true cost of the audit, which has involved more than 1,500 workers and volunteers
PHOENIX, AZ — Governor Doug Ducey urged Arizona’s Congressional Delegation to oppose federal legislation that will jeopardize critical funding the state’s public charter schools receive and put thousands of students at risk.
“I am writing to bring your attention to a hugely problematic section of the Fiscal Year 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Funding Bill. Section 314 of this legislation could have catastrophic effects on public charter schools in Arizona and throughout the nation,” Ducey wrote to Arizona’s two U.S. Senators and nine U.S. Representatives.
The legislation singles out public charter schools and threatens them with the potential loss of all of their federal funds if they contract with private companies for any services, with language stating: None of the funds made available by this Act or any other Act may be awarded to a charter school that contracts with a for-profit entity to operate, oversee or manage the activities of the school.
“This means that many of Arizona’s more than 230,000 public charter school students could be at risk of their school shutting down,” Governor Ducey states in the letter. “They educate over 21% of all public K-12 students in Arizona, the highest percentage in the country. It is unthinkable that support for public charter schools could be put at risk at all, much less as we are emerging from over a year’s worth of academic disruption brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The Arizona Charter Schools Association, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and members of the Arizona State Legislature have also voiced concerns regarding Section 314 of the Fiscal Year 2022 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Funding Bill.
A longtime Phoenix city politico calls Monday’s arrest of nearly 40 people -including Reverend Jesse Jackson and State Sen. Martin Quezada- outside U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s office “performance art,” as it was arranged ahead of time by protest organizers.
Sam Stone, chief of staff for Phoenix Councilman Sal DiCiccio, told KFYI’s James T. Harris on Tuesday that the protesters’ sit-in at Simena’s office on East Camelback was “an optical joke” intended to garner local and national media headlines “screaming up and down that Rev. Jackson was arrested” for not following police commands.
The truth, Stone told Harris, was that “Rev. Jackson arranged to be put in handcuffs for a few minutes for the photo.”
Stone also said police officers were forced by city officials to standby outside Sinema’s office until the protesters “were ready to leave on their own.” Only then were officers allowed to issue citations to the protestors and instruct them to disperse, he said.
“They actually went and communicated with our police department and were like ‘we going to come out there and protest and we would like you to arrest us cuz we’re going to break the law, but we don’t actually want to go to jail,’” Stone told Harris.
Those arrested were cited on suspicion of criminal trespassing, a Class 1 misdemeanor, the lowest level of criminal conduct in Arizona. Stone predicted all charges “will be thrown out before they ever see any type of court or fee or fines or anything of the sort.”
More than 200 people started the protect event by rallying at a local city park. Many of the protesters then marched several blocks to Sinema’s office, where about 40 engaged in the sit-in. Their purpose, according to protesters, was to draw attention to Sinema’s position on the filibuster, a Senate rule which requires at least 60 votes from the 100 senators to cut off debate on most non-budgetary measures in order to bring a matter to vote.
With 50 Democrats and 50 Republicans, getting partisan legislation to a vote is nearly impossible, so there is a growing push to change the filibuster rule. Sinema, a Democrat, has held firm on her belief that the rule should stay as is, at least for now.
Stone, a Republican, also used the interview to praise Sinema for “holding the line” on the filibuster.
“We have these norms for a reason to provide some balance, some moderation, so that D.C. doesn’t go completely off the rails every time you have a different party take control of the Senate,” Stone told Harris. “I applaud her for that.”
It is unknown how much Monday’s three-hour event cost taxpayers in terms of manpower. Eight city blocks of Camelback were closed at various times, leading to restricted access to businesses and residences.
And that did not set well with Stone, who noted the impact on emergency responders and residents alike. “People don’t understand the reason we have laws on not blocking streets is not to stifle protest – it’s to protect people,” he said.
Stone is the founder and managing partner of Caim Consulting, a political consulting firm with offices in Phoenix and Washington, DC. One of his clients is Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, a former Phoenix-area news anchor.
PHOENIX, AZ – The Arizona Attorney General Office is asking the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to grant an emergency injunction pending appeal, requiring federal agencies to return to “normal removal operations” and follow existing federal immigration law and resume deportations.
Arizona and Montana are suing the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and federal officials over the February 18, 2021 Interim Guidance that halts nearly all deportations and ICE arrests. After the Interim Guidance was issued, deportations outside of the “priority categories” dropped by 98 percent in Arizona (only 7 out of 325 “other priority” cases were deported). Additionally, immigration-related arrests have dramatically decreased. ICE officers average just one interior arrest every 2.5 months.
The Arizona Attorney General Office claims that the Interim Guidance is in direct violation of federal law for removals of aliens with final orders of removal. 8 U.S.C. § 1231(a)(1)(A), requires that ICE “shall” remove an alien, who has received a final deportation order, from the United States within 90 days unless another exception in § 1231 applies. Late last month, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in a separate case (Johnson v. Guzman Chavez) that “shall” means “must,” i.e. it is mandatory language.
Monday’s filing comes as June numbers show the border crisis is only getting worse. More than 188,000 individuals were encountered along the southwest border in June 2021. DHS has not publicly released removal numbers for several weeks.
