Flags will be lowered to half-staff for the fallen La Paz County sergeant, Michael Rudd, on Wednesday.
Rudd’s end-of-watch came Monday, after he was struck head-on by another vehicle while in pursuit of a suspect near the Arizona-California border. Rudd had been promoted to sergeant earlier this year in March.
Governor Doug Ducey issued the announcement later in the day, after Rudd’s passing. Rudd is one of three officers killed over the last few weeks. Maricopa County Deputy Juan Ruiz also died Monday, after being taken off life support following an assault last week. Ruiz was beaten unconscious on Saturday by a felony suspect he was jailing. Flags will be lowered to half-staff on Tuesday for Ruiz.
Last Monday, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Group Supervisor Michael Garbo was killed in a shooting in downtown Tucson.
Ducey noted that since the annual Arizona Peace Officers Memorial Service last month, a total of three law enforcement officers have died: Garbo, Ruiz, and Rudd. The memorial had honored 17 fallen officers.
“Arizona deeply mourns the loss of Sgt. Michael Rudd. For years, he protected the people of La Paz County and made Arizonans’ safety a top priority. I recently honored 17 fallen law enforcement professionals at the Peace Officers Memorial, and it was a sobering reminder of the danger these heroes face every day. Despite the danger, Sgt. Rudd wore the badge and worked hard to keep our communities safe. We will never forget his bravery, and our condolences are with his family, the La Paz County Sheriff’s Office, and the law enforcement community. I’ve ordered flags be lowered to half-staff in honor of his service.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Since March 2020 it has become easier for federal employees to apply for benefits under the Federal Employees’ Compensation Act (FECA) if they contracted COVID-19 related to their jobs. Now, most federal employees will be able to pursue similar benefits for adverse reactions experienced due to mandatory vaccinations.
According to FECA Bulletin 2022-01, workers’ compensation benefits cover injuries that occur in the performance of duty and generally do not authorize provision of preventive measures such as vaccines and inoculations. But on Sept. 9, President Joe Biden issued an executive order making COVID-19 vaccination a requirement of most federal employment, both new and existing, by Nov. 22.
“As such, employees impacted by this mandate who receive required COVID-19 vaccinations on or after the date of the executive order may be afforded coverage under the FECA for any adverse reactions to the vaccine itself, and for any injuries sustained while obtaining the vaccination,” according to the FECA bulletin dated Oct. 1.
If a FECA claim is received for a COVID-19 vaccination prior to Sept. 9, coverage is afforded “only if the vaccine was administered or sponsored by the employing agency,” the bulletin states.
Biden’s executive order applies to any executive agency that fall under the executive branch of the government (excluding the Government Accountability Office), even if the employee is engaged in telework or works remotely.
Eligibility under FECA benefits will extend to injuries sustained as “the direct result of an employee receiving their mandated vaccination,” such as accidents while commuting to and from a vaccination site, as well as slip and fall injuries occurring at the vaccination site.
Biden’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate allows for limited accommodations for employees who cannot be vaccinated “because of a disability or because of a sincerely held religious belief, practice or observance.” There is currently no FECA coverage for booster vaccinations.
Postal Service employees are not included in the Sept. 9 executive order but are expected to be subject to a vaccination requirement under upcoming temporary orders from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for companies with 100 or more employees. There has been no announcement as to when OSHA’s rules will be announced or go into effect.
COVID-19 vaccinations are not the only pandemic related claims which FECA deals with.
In March 2020, then-President Donald Trump announced that federal employees who contract COVID-19 through their jobs would be entitled to coverage under FECA. Special case handling considerations were put in place for those engaged in high-risk duties such as members of law enforcement, first responders, and front-line medical and public health personnel. But all other employees were required to provide a factual statement and any available evidence concerning exposure in an attempt to obtain benefits.
Then in October 2020, FECA announced new procedures for approving claims of those employees whose positions were not classified as high-risk but their individual employment circumstances “are the same or similar to the circumstances for high-risk determination by position.”
This was followed in March when Section 4016 of the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 became law. It relaxed the FECA rules once again, making it easier for most federal employees diagnosed with COVID-19 to file a claim for an injury “proximately caused by employment” if their duties required contact with patients, members of the public, or co-workers, or included a risk of exposure to the virus prior to the diagnosis.
In May, the U.S. Department of Labor announced that any COVID-19 related FECA claims denied or withdrawn prior to March 12 would be eligible for review by the Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (OWCP) under the new eligibility criteria. The advisory also encouraged anyone who believed they had contracted COVID-19 “as a result of” federal employment to file a FECA claim.
Voters are reporting on social media that they’ve received multiple ballots with different names at their address. This is not to say that these issues have been widespread, but that there are instances of voters receiving three to four different ballots addressed to different individuals.
One Maricopa County voter, Anthony Massara, told the Arizona Daily Independent that he’s received mail for multiple different voters since 2017, despite notifying the post office that none of the voters lived there. This year, the multiple misaddressed ballots he received were for a special election in Scottsdale.
State Representative Leo Biasiucci (R-Lake Havasu City) tweeted pictures of those ballots after Massara reached out to him.
“So the Arizona Secretary of State and Dems say our elections are secure,” wrote Biasiucci. “Here are 3 ballots showing up to a home in Scottsdale, Arizona that has had the same single owner for 5 years. None of those names below are his.”
So the Arizona Secretary of State and Dems say our elections are secure. Here are 3 ballots showing up to a home in Scottsdale, Arizona that has had the same single owner for 5 years. None of those names below are his. pic.twitter.com/F3aP8kQ36B
The state legislature recently passed a law further refining process for resolving ballots addressed incorrectly. Voters may now check a box on a flawed ballot to reflect that the addressee doesn’t reside at their address, and then mail it back to the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
Then, USPS should return the ballot to the recorder’s office of the affiliated county. At that point, the county recorder would notify the voter that the address they’d listed was incorrect, and offer them 35 days to respond.
If the voter doesn’t respond after 35 days, their voter file would be marked “inactive” and no early ballots would be mailed to that voter until they update their registration. If the voter doesn’t update their registration after two federal election cycles, then they are removed from the voter rolls.
A Mohave County voter, Sherrie Row, tweeted that her daughter received two ballots in addition to hers.
“Arizona is just handing out ballets. Only one of these people live here. And mine isn’t one of these. My democratic daughter got hers +2,” wrote Row.
Arizona is just handing out ballets. Only one of these people live here. And mine isn’t one of these. My democratic daughter got hers +2 pic.twitter.com/7yGU76MBZ7
The Arizona Senate’s Cyber Ninjas-led audit discovered over 23,300 ballots that were voted on from a prior address, according to their report last month. Maricopa County explained that these numbers likely included those that may have cast a “federal only ballot,” those who recently moved, or those who requested a temporary address.
“EXPLANATION: 1) Military and overseas voters can cast a ‘federal only ballot’ despite living outside the U.S. The address tied to their ballot would be their prior address in AZ. 2) People are allowed to move from one house to another (or even one state to another) in October and November of an election year (yes, shocking!). If the driver’s license address matches the voter registration address, they are still allowed to vote. 3) For the November General Election Maricopa County had 20,933 one-time temporary address requests. In addition, snowbirds and college students tend to have forwarding addresses when they are out of the county. 4) Mail-in ballots are not forwarded to another address.”
CLAIM: 23,344 mail-in ballots voted from a prior address.
BOTTOM LINE: Cyber Ninjas still don’t understand this is legal under federal election law. To label it a “critical” concern is either intentionally misleading or staggeringly ignorant. AZ senators should know this too.
Dozens of organizations, government agencies, and private businesses across Arizona will benefit from more than $9.4 million in competitive grant funds awarded last week by the Arizona Office of Tourism.
The Oct. 5 announcement of the Visit Arizona Initiative Partnership grants is part of an effort to increase visitation and tourism spending in Arizona, bolster job creation, and accelerate economic recovery.
“With tourism being the hardest hit industry and still working to recover, we were really focused during this initial round on getting funds to communities that needed it most,” said Debbie Johnson, Director of the Arizona Office of Tourism. “We worked diligently through this process to provide support statewide and I’m proud to say we achieved that goal.”
The Office of Tourism reports that almost 200,000 Arizonans were employed in the tourism industry prior to COVID-19. Tourism also contributed over $3.5 billion in tax revenue to federal, state, and local economies before the pandemic.
But Arizona’s 2020 overnight visitation decreased by 31 percent and visitor spending decreased by 41 percent compared to 2019 numbers, according to Gov. Doug Ducey’s office when he announced $101.1 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds would be used to launch Visit Arizona Initiative in July.
“These grant awardees, which were selected through the Arizona Office of Tourism’s competitive process, will attract more tourism to Arizona and lead to more jobs and spending in communities throughout our state,” Ducey said last week when the funding was announced.
Those receiving grants are:
Phoenix Central Region ($3,713,558)
Arizona Basketball Coaches Association
Arizona Jewish Historical Society
Ballet Arizona
Desert Botanical Gardens/Taliesin West
Easy Dave’s
Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau
Heritage Square Foundation
International Jazz Day AZ Foundation
Musical Instrument Museum
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix Zoo
Scottsdale Fashion Square
Superior Chamber of Commerce
The Phoenix Theater Company
Town of Fountain Hills
Visit Mesa
Tucson & Southern Region ($4,670,830)
Arizona Media Arts Center
City of Sierra Vista
Graham County Chamber of Commerce
North Center Productions, Inc.
Perimeter Bicycling Association of America, Inc.
Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance
Tubac Chamber of Commerce
Tucson Bicycle Classic
University of Arizona Cycling Team
Willcox Theater and Arts, Inc.
Northern Region ($452,698)
Creative Flagstaff
Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition
Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra
Grand Canyon Music Festival
Lowell Observatory
Museum of Northern Arizona
Peak Events, LLC
North Central Region ($364,609)
Mountain Bike America, LLC
Prescott Chamber of Commerce
Sedona Arts Center
Sedona Mountain Bike Festival, LLC
West Coast Region ($235,226)
City of Kingman
Go Lake Havasu
Parker Regional Chamber of Commerce and Tourism
Yuma History Museum
In addition, the Phoenix-based event company Cloth & Flame was awarded funding under all the regions.
Governor Doug Ducey today announced the appointment of Angela K. Paton to fill a vacancy on the Arizona Court of Appeals, Division I. The vacancy on the Court of Appeals was created by the retirement of Judge Lawrence F. Winthrop, who was named to the Court in 2002.
“Angela’s extensive experience in the public sector, commitment to her community, and profound respect for the separation of powers prepare her to serve the people of Arizona,” said Governor Ducey. “I am pleased to appoint her to the Arizona Court of Appeals.”
Paton has spent the majority of her career at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office. Currently, she is a Special Assistant Attorney General, in which she is responsible for providing legal counsel and policy advice to the Attorney General’s Office’s six divisions.
Prior to her current position, she served as Assistant Solicitor General from 2017 to 2019. In this role, she was the Ethics Counsel, advising about ethics issues in her office, and the Opinions Counsel, drafting legal opinions on questions of statewide importance requested by public officials. She began her career as an Assistant Attorney General in the Criminal Appeals Section from 2010 to 2013. In 2011, she received the Attorney General’s Office’s Emerging Star Award.
Before rejoining the Attorney General’s Office, Paton worked as a policy advisor to Commissioner Bob Burns at the Arizona Corporation Commission from 2013 to 2017. There she handled complex utility regulation and constitutional law matters.
Paton is returning to the Court that she clerked for after law school. After graduating from law school, she clerked for Arizona Court of Appeals Judge Patrick Irvine.
