As Maricopa County voters begin casting ballots in the off-year election, Supervisor Debbie Lesko is raising concerns about Proposition 409 — a $898 million bond proposal to fund major upgrades for Valleywise Health, the county’s public hospital system.
“I’m not a fan of Prop. 409, the Valleywise Health ballot measure,” Lesko wrote on X. “This is a new tax in addition to their existing tax. If this passes, we’ll be paying for two Valleywise bonds on our property taxes.”
I'm not a fan of Prop 409, the Valleywise Health ballot measure. This is a new tax in addition to their existing tax. If this passes, we'll be paying for 2 Valleywise bonds on our property taxes.
The measure, now appearing on ballots mailed to voters this week, would allow the county to issue bonds backed by property taxes to improve and expand Valleywise facilities across the region. The hospital system says the funding would be used to construct a new 200-bed behavioral health facility, expand emergency services, and replace aging community health centers.
If approved, Prop. 409 would raise property taxes by 11 cents per $100 of assessed limited property value. Valleywise leaders and public health advocates argue the investment is essential to meet growing mental health needs across the Valley. Supporters say the measure reflects the community’s commitment to improving access to behavioral health services and modernizing the hospital’s aging infrastructure.
The Arizona Public Health Association and Maricopa County Medical Society have also endorsed the proposal, calling it a nonpartisan issue with long-term benefits for residents. However, Lesko’s opposition highlights lingering taxpayer concerns about rising costs. Critics argue that approving the new bond would result in residents paying for two concurrent Valleywise property tax levies — the existing one from an earlier bond and the new one under Prop. 409.
Mail ballots were sent out on October 8, and voters have until October 24 to request one by mail. Ballots should be mailed back by October 28 to ensure timely delivery or dropped off at a designated county drop box. Election Day is November 4, when all ballots will be counted. As debate continues, voters will decide whether the benefits of expanding Maricopa County’s public health system outweigh the costs of another property tax increase.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
House Speaker Mike Johnson scolded Arizona’s Democratic congressional leaders for their recent “publicity stunts” for fellow Democrat and Rep.-elect Adelita Grijalva.
“It is no surprise that another Democrat politician from Arizona is trying to publicity stunt,” said Johnson. “I’ve explained this a thousand times: we are going to swear in Grijalva as soon as we get back to legislative session. So my advice to all the Democrats in Arizona is to tell their two senators Kelly and Gallego to do their job and open the government so we can do business.”
Senator Ruben Gallego issued a response that took offense, primarily, with Johnson not knowing his name. Gallego accused Johnson of being a “pedophile protector,” alluding to the push to release the Epstein files.
“It’s Gallego, not Gallegos or Gallegos, it’s Gallego,” said Gallego. “The fact is, you’re a pedophile protector. You’re protecting the pedophiles on the Epstein list, there’s just no denying that. And your idea that somehow us trying to make sure that 24 million Americans do not have their insurance rate premiums doubled is stopping you from doing your job is just pathetic bulls***.”
Gallego asked why Johnson wouldn’t swear Grijalva in when he swore in Republican representatives outside of session.
Kelly said Johnson’s reason for not swearing in Grijalva — requiring Democrats to end the shutdown — was a “lame excuse.”
“He doesn’t like losing the one-seat majority,” said Kelly.
We’re tired of Speaker Johnson’s lame excuses. It’s well past time to swear in Rep.-Elect Grijalva so Southern Arizona can have someone fighting for them in Congress. pic.twitter.com/PcCvNvyvMK
Johnson has stated publicly that he supports the release of the Epstein files, but has voted against measures that would potentially expose the identities of victims.
Grijalva would provide the vote needed to release the Epstein files under a bipartisan discharge petition that would release the files with limited redactions.
The government shutdown has gone on for over two weeks now and is quickly headed for three weeks.
On September 25, six days before the government shut down, the Arizona Chamber issued a statement urging Congress to pass a continuing resolution.
Chamber President and CEO @dbseiden: Congress must act swiftly to avoid a shutdown and protect economic momentum. Full statement ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/ExAWyJPCkx
Likewise, five days before the government shut down, state legislative leaders issued a letter urging the U.S. Senate to pass a short-term continuing resolution.
The White House maintains a government shutdown tracker that includes estimated losses over time.
The projected impact to GDP for Arizona amounts to about $300 million per week, totaling $1.3 billion per month. At over two weeks into this government shutdown, projected GDP loss has swelled to over $600 million.
The estimated unemployment increase amounts to about 1,000 workers. Around 58,000 federal workers are working without pay or furloughed, which accounts for nearly two percent of the state workforce.
Once 30 days hits, the SNAP benefit losses (federal food assistance) will impact nearly 890,000 enrollees, of which 344,000 are children.
Small Business Administration loan delays amount to about $76 million. The federal contract spending cut amounts to around $560 million.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
A rising array of threats to the public and environment stemming from the boom in “green” energy technologies and the batteries they use means the time for virtue signaling by regulators and policymakers must come to an end.
In every boom time involving any type of energy source, governments at all levels inevitably find themselves behind the curve when it comes to developing an effective set of regulations designed to minimize impacts on the public and environment.
In the early years of the 21st century, Americans witnessed this phenomenon play out when it came to the oil and gas Shale Revolution, which saw its first success in the Barnett Shale region, which happened to lie in the midst of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in north Texas. For the first time in decades, oil and gas companies found themselves struggling to drill wells and install pipelines in and adjacent to highly populated areas, leading to an array of conflicts and tensions with the public that the pre-existing regulatory structure had not been designed to resolve.
More recent years have given rise to the same societal dynamics related to boom times for the wind and solar industries. In state after state, governments have found their legacy regulations lacking when dealing with public concerns over major projects condemning large swaths of arable lands and wildlife habitats, the dumping of aged-out solar panels and wind blades in public landfills, traffic, and other impacts. Even today, 25 years into this heavily subsidized renewable energy expansion, few if any states have implemented proper regulations governing the dismantling and disposal of these often-gigantic industrial projects.
Similar concerns are now rising related to the dangers posed by lithium-ion batteries, whose use is rapidly expanding across the U.S. to power electric vehicles and provide backup for intermittent power generation provided by wind and solar. The major threat from these rechargeable batteries is their tendency to overheat and spontaneously combust under certain conditions. The problem has resulted in a proliferation of photos and videos of burning passenger and school buses, major conflagrations in large battery storage facilities, and of burned-up commercial freight ships foundering and sinking into oceans around the world.
The AP reported on Oct. 4 on rising opposition from local communities to a proposed installation of large stationary backup battery projects in or adjacent to their cities and towns. The report focused on Long Island, which could become home to an array of such installations to provide back up to multiple offshore wind projects in the coming years.
Industry proponents say the installations are perfectly safe, just as the makers of electric buses have assured city councils and school boards in recent years, only to see some of those buses erupt in flames while on their routes or in crowded bus barns with predictable results. But Michael McGinty, mayor of Island Park, is reluctant to assume the risk. “We’re not guinea pigs for anybody … we are not going to experiment, we’re not going to take risk,” he said.
An Oct. 11 report by The Epoch Times details rising concerns over the risks to airlines and travelers posed by lithium-ion batteries brought on board. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reported 89 incidents during 2024 in which “lithium batteries emitted smoke, fire, or extreme heat on board planes, and up until the end of August 2025, there have been a further 61.” This troubling fact led the FAA to update its guidance on proper care and storage of such batteries on airlines in September.
In January, an Air Busan passenger jet carrying 170 passengers and six crew members was completely destroyed by a battery-caused fire on a runway in Busan, South Korea. Luckily, everyone on board was evacuated and survived, though three suffered serious injuries.
These and other significant, rising concerns surrounding wind, solar, and the batteries they use show that what proponents like to call “green” energy is neither as friendly to the environment nor as safe and benign as advertised. They also point to the very real need for public officials prone to signaling their green virtues to gullible voters to take these issues seriously and develop regulations needed to protect the public and the environment. Doing anything else is simple malpractice.
David Blackmon is a contributor to The Daily Caller News Foundation, an energy writer, and consultant based in Texas. He spent 40 years in the oil and gas business, where he specialized in public policy and communications.
Over 80 of the top University of Arizona (U of A) professors pushed leadership to reject President Donald Trump’s higher education compact.
At the beginning of this month, the Trump administration sent universities across the country the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education to encourage certain reforms in exchange for preferential federal funding. One major contentious point of the proposed compact would prohibit hostility to conservative viewpoints.
“To advance the national interest arising out of this unique relationship, this Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education represents the priorities of the U.S. government in its engagements with universities that benefit from the relationship,” read the compact. “Institutions of higher education are free to develop models and values other than those below, if the institution elects to forego federal benefits.”
The proposed reforms touch on improving equality in admissions, stabilizing the marketplace of ideas and civil discourse on campuses, ensuring nondiscrimination in faculty and administrative hiring, enforcing institutional neutrality on societal and political events, raising and standardizing student academic performance standards, establishing equal treatment of students, reducing the educational costs, and reducing foreign influences.
In response, 80 Regents Professors at U of A issued a letter to university President Suresh Garimella requesting denial of the compact. The professors said the compact contained “significant legal and practical flaws” which would threaten U of A’s academic freedom, institutional independence, and legal integrity.
The Regents Professor designation is an exclusive honoring of “faculty scholars of exceptional ability” with both national and international distinction in their respective fields. It is a recognition of the highest academic merit for faculty members who gave unique contributions to U of A through teaching scholarship, research, or creative work.
Their letter questioned the compact’s ambiguity, specifically the vagueness of the alleged benefits and preferential federal funding universities would receive. The professors stated multiple times that the compact offered no insight on how it would be operationalized and enforced.
“Without clarification, UA thus could be ceding authority over internal operations and academic policies for no enforceable, concrete new benefits,” said the professors.
U of A was one of nine institutions to receive the proposed compact, and the only one in Arizona. The others were Brown University, Dartmouth College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Pennsylvania, University of Southern California, University of Texas at Austin, University of Virginia, and Vanderbilt University.
These nine universities received the letter because the Trump administration judged them “good actors” based on their having “a president who is a reformer or a board that has really indicated they are committed to a higher-quality education,” per senior White House advisor May Mailman.
The Tucson City Council sent a similar message to U of A. The council passed a resolution urging the university president to reject the compact.
Garimella said in statements to the media that he and the Arizona Board of Regents are reviewing the compact together to determine a response.
These are the following Regents Professors who signed the letter opposing the compact (not listed: two anonymous signers):
John J. B. Allen, Distinguished Professor of Psychology, Cognitive Science, and Neuroscience;
Sama Raena Alshaibi, art professor; co-director of the Racial Justice Studio, and Regents Professor;
J. Roger P. Angel, Regents’ Professor of Astronomy and Optical Sciences, Steward Observatory astronomer, director of Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab;
Neal Armstrong, director of SPECS, Regents Professor (Emeritus) for Chemistry and Biochemistry, Regents Professor (Emeritus) for College of Optical Sciences;
Victor Baker, Regents Professor of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, Geosciences, and Planetary Sciences;
Carol Barnes, Regents’ Professor of Psychology, Neurology and Neuroscience; Evelyn F. McKnight Chair for Learning and Memory in Aging; Director, Evelyn F. McKnight Brain Institute; Director, Division of Neural Systems, Memory and Aging;
Chad Bender, Astronomer, Steward Observatory;
Thomas Bever, Regents’ Professor, Linguistics, Psychology, Neuroscience, Cognitive Science, BIO5; Co-Director, Center for Consciousness Studies; Director, Cognition and Language Laboratory;
Ronald Brieger, Regents Professor and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Arizona; Interdisciplinary Program in Applied Mathematics; Interdisciplinary Program in Statistics & Data Science; School of Government and Public Policy;
David D. Breshears, Regents Professor Emeritus of Natural Resources and the Environment;
Judith L. Bronstein, University Distinguished Professor; Joint Professor (Ecology and Evolutionary Biology);
Judith K. Brown, Regents Professor, Plant Sciences; Research Associate Professor, Entomology; Professor, Entomology / Insect Science – GIDP;
Gail Burd, Senior Vice Provost; Office of Academic Affairs, Teaching & Learning; Distinguished Professor, Molecular & Cellular Biology;
Hsinchun Chen, Regents Professor of MIS; Thomas R. Brown Chair in Management and Technology; Director, Artificial Intelligence Laboratory; Director, AZSecure Cybersecurity Program;
Peter Chesson, Regents Professor, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology;
Albrecht Classen, University Distinguished Professor of German Studies;
George H. Davis, Regents Professor (Emeritus) of Structural Geology; Provost Emeritus;
Alison H. Deming, Regents Professor of English; Agnese Nelms Haury Chair of Environment and Social Justice;
Celestino Fernandez, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Sociology;
Price V. Fishback, Regents Professor; APS Professor of Economics;
Robert B. Fleischman, Professor of Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics;
Robert Glennon, Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor Emeritus;
John Hildebrand, Regents Professor Emeritus of College of Neuroscience;
Malcolm K. Hughes, Regents’ Professor Emeritus for the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research;
Chris Impey, Distinguished Professor of Astronomy; Astronomer, Steward Observatory; Associate Co-Department Head;
Takeshi Inomata, Regents Professor for the School of Anthropology;
Josephine D. Korchmaros, Director of the University of Arizona’s Southwest Institute for Research on Women (SIROW);
Mary Koss, Regents’ Professor in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health;
Etta Kralovec, Regents Professor of Teaching, Learning and Sociocultural Studies;
Diana Liverman, Regents Professor for the School of Geography, Development, and Environment;
Sallie Marston, Regents Professor Emerita for chool of Geography, Development, and Environment; Co-Founder and Consultant, School Garden Workshop;
Oscar Martinez, Regents Professor Emeritus, History Department;
Toni M. Massaro, Regents Professor of Law Emerita; Milton O. Riepe Chair in Constitutional Law and Dean Emerita; Executive Director of the University of Arizona Agnese Nelms Haury Program;
William (Bill) McCallum, mathematics professor;
Daniel McDonald, Director, Take Charge America Institute for Consumer Financial Education and Research; Extension Specialist, Financial Literacy;
Alfred McEwen, planetary geologist and director of the Planetary Image Research Laboratory;
Juanita L Merchant, Associate Director, Basic Sciences, Cancer Center; Chief, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, College of Medicine; Regents Professor of College of Medicine;
Pierre Meystre, Regents Professor Emeritus of Optical Sciences;
Roger L Miesfeld, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry;
Barbara Mills, Regents’ Professor Emeritus of Anthropology; Curator Emeritus of Archaeology, Arizona State Museum; Professor Emeritus, American Indian Studies;
Lynn Nadel, Regents Professor Emeritus of Psychology;
Alan C. Newell, Mathematics professor;
Mimi Nichter, Professor Emerita of Anthropology;
Janko Z. Nikolich, Professor, Basic Biomedical Sciences; Associate Dean for Research and Partnerships; Regents Professor; UA College of Medicine-Phoenix;
John W. Olsen, Research Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies;
Jeanne E. Pemberton, Regents Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry;
Ian Pepper, Director, WEST Center; Regents Professor, Environmental Science;
David A. Pietz, Regents Professor; UNESCO Chair in Environmental History; Director, School of Global Studies;
George Rieke, Regents Professor for Lunar & Planetary Laboratory;
Marcia J. Rieke, Professor, Astronomy; Regents Professor; Astronomer, Steward Observatory; Endowed Chair, Dr Elizabeth Roemer – Steward Observatory;
Robert Robichaux, University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology;
Jerzy W. Rozenblit, University Distinguished Professor; Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Raymond J. Oglethorpe Endowed Chair; Professor of Surgery; Professor of the BIO5 Institute;
Steven Schwartz, Regents Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry;
Beverly Seckinger, Distinguished Outreach Professor in the School of Theatre, Film & Television; former director of the School of Media Arts; Executive Committee of the Human Rights Practice graduate program; founded U of A LGBTQ+ Institute;
Chris Segrin, Regents Professor, Steve and Nancy Lynn Professor of Communication;
Thomas E. Sheridan, Professor Emeritus of Anthropology; Research Anthropologist, Southwest Center;
Kathy G. Short, Regents Professor, Teaching, Learning & Sociocultural Studies;
Kelly Simmons-Potter, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs, College of Engineering; University Distinguished Outreach Professor; Director AzRISE, the Arizona Research Initiative for Solar Energy; Professor of: Electrical and Computer Engineering, Optical Sciences, Materials Science and Engineering, and Indigenous Food, Energy and Water Systems Graduate Interdisciplinary Program;
Marvin Slepian, Regents Professor and Associate Department Head, Clinical & Industrial Affairs, Biomedical Engineering; Director, Arizona Center for Accelerated Biomedical Innovation; Regents Professor of Medicine, Division of Cardiology; Regents Professor of Medical Imaging, Department of Medical Imaging; Regents Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
David H. Soren, Regents Professor of Anthropology and Classics;
Sally J. Stevens, Distinguished Outreach Professor in Gender and Women’s Studies; Research Professor with the Southwest Institute for Research on Women;
Mary Stiner, Regents’ Professor Emeritus, Anthropology; ASM Curator Emeritus, Zooarchaeology; Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences;
Peter A. Strittmatter, Regents Professor Emeritus of Astronomy;
Tom Swetnam, Regents’ Professor, Emeritus of Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research;
Bruce E. Tabashnik, Regents’ Professor & Department Head of Entomology;
Vicente Talanquer, University Distinguished Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry;
Leslie Tolbert, Regents Professor Emerita of Neuroscience;
Rebecca Tsosie, Regents Professor and Morris K. Udall Professor of Law;
Todd Vanderah, Co-Director, MD/PhD Dual Degree Program; Department Head, Pharmacology; Director, Comprehensive Pain and Addiction Center; Professor of: Anesthesiology, BIO5 Institute, Neurology, Neuroscience – GIDP, Pharmacology and Physiological Sciences – GIDP;
Marcela Vásquez-León, Professor, Anthropology; Research Anthropologist, Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology; Director, Center for Latin American Studies;
Donata Vercelli, Regents Professor, Cellular and Molecular Medicine; Director, Arizona Center for the Biology of Complex Diseases; Associate Director, Asthma and Airway Disease Research Center; Professor of BIO5 Institute and Genetics GIDP;
Robert A. Williams, Jr., Regents Professor, E. Thomas Sullivan Professor of Law;
Rod Wing, Director of Arizona Genomics Institute; Professor, Plant Science; Bud Antle Endowed Chair For Excellence, Agriculture & Life Sciences; Professor of BIO5 Institute and Ecology & Evolutionary Biology;
Connie Woodhouse, Regents Professor Emerita of Geography, Development, & Environment;
Jiang Wu, Regents Professor of East Asian Studies;
Dennis Zaritsky, Deputy Director, Steward Observatory; Regents Professor, Astronomy;
Ofelia Zepeda, Professor, American Indian Studies and Linguistics; and
Lucy M. Ziurys, Regents Professor, CBC and Astronomy
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
The Biggs for Arizona campaign announced a strong Q3 fundraising haul of $564,075, marking the strongest quarterly total of the campaign cycle to date. This significant increase from the previous quarter brings the campaign’s 2025 fundraising total to over $1.2 million.
With more than 4,000 new donors added in Q3, the campaign ended September with $630,187 cash on hand, demonstrating strong financial momentum heading into the critical stages of the 2026 Arizona gubernatorial race.
“As I continue to travel across Arizona and share my vision of freedom for our state, more and more voters are coming on board to show their support,” said Rep. Andy Biggs. “It’s clear we deserve better than the weak leadership and petty vetoes Katie Hobbs has built her office around, but it will take someone with the relationships and experience at the State Capitol and beyond to lead our state from Day One. Our campaign is making this case to voters every single day, and the results show we are on the right track. There’s no doubt we will be well-equipped to defeat Katie Hobbs in November 2026.”
Representative Andy Biggs (AZ-05) has garnered endorsements from key conservative figures, including President Trump, the late Charlie Kirk, and Turning Point CEO Erika Kirk. Congressmen Eli Crane and Paul Gosar, as well as Maricopa County Supervisors Debbie Lesko and Mark Stewart, also support his campaign. Recent polls show that Rep. Biggs is leading the Republican gubernatorial primary with a commanding 22-point advantage over Karrin Taylor Robson and a 37-point lead over Rep. David Schweikert. This substantial lead shows Biggs’ strong support among Arizona voters and his position as the frontrunner in the race.
Arizona State Representative Leo Biasiucci echoes this sentiment, saying, “Whether it’s at Republican events across Arizona or at the State Capitol, I’m hearing the same thing: Arizonans are ready for Andy Biggs as our next Governor. This strong quarter shows Andy is putting in the work and exceeding expectations on the fundraising front, which will only boost the momentum he has with grassroots conservatives across the state.”
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
