This week, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen delivered a clear message: Arizona will not stand by while abortion providers try to dismantle the protections that defend women and children in our state. At the center of the lawsuit Isaacson v. Arizona is a basic truth: our laws were written to protect the vulnerable, not to support the bottom line of the abortion industry.
President Petersen made it plain that this case is about one fundamental question: will women keep their right to informed consent before an abortion? In every other area of medicine, informed consent is a non-negotiable standard of care. Women deserve the right to know their medical situation fully, to see an ultrasound, and to hear their baby’s heartbeat before making a life-altering decision. To deny them that right is not empowerment, it is exploitation.
But the stakes go even further. Arizona’s Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act makes it illegal to end a child’s life simply because of their race, sex, or disability. Just as America rejected slavery and other injustices that denied whole classes of people their humanity, we must not allow a new form of discrimination to take root in the womb. Every life has value, and no child should be targeted for elimination simply for who they are.
President Petersen is a champion for life, and he is willing to speak on hard truths and act to defend laws that reflect the dignity of every human being. His courage stands in sharp contrast to our current Attorney General Kris Mayes, who has made “reproductive rights” one of her central causes and even gone so far as to file consumer fraud reports against pregnancy resource centers that offer help and hope to women.
As Petersen runs to be Arizona’s next Attorney General, voters will have a choice between two very different paths. One leads toward a state where the powerful and profitable abortion industry writes the rules. The other leads toward a state that defends women’s health, protects children, and affirms that equality must extend to every human life, born and unborn.
Discrimination in the womb is still discrimination. Arizona must not go backwards. We must continue to stand on the side of life, justice, and truth. President Petersen has shown he is ready to fight that battle, and Arizona’s future depends on it.
Here’s where the case stands: on September 15th, there will be a motion to dismiss certain aspects of the lawsuit without even needing a hearing. And a trial is scheduled for November 5th through 7th.
Katarina White serves as Board Member for Arizona Right to Life. To get involved and stay informed, visit the Arizona Right to Life website.
The Fredonia Fire Department has been awarded a $10,000 grant through the Good Neighbor Firefighter Safety Program, a national initiative from State Farm and the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC).
The program, now in its second year, distributed a total of $1.5 million to 150 volunteer fire departments in 44 states. The announcement came on August 18, which is recognized as Volunteer Firefighters Recognition Day.
Volunteer firefighters make up about 65 percent of the U.S. fire service and often serve in rural or small-town communities with limited budgets. The grants are designed to help departments purchase equipment that enhances safety and emergency response capabilities, including protective gear, medical and rescue tools, and communication devices.
“Firefighting and rescue equipment is expensive, and many departments struggle to find the funding they need,” said NVFC Chair Steve Hirsch. “These grants from State Farm enable small departments to secure equipment they need to be better prepared to serve their communities and protect their responders.”
Rasheed Merritt, State Farm’s corporate responsibility assistant vice president, emphasized the company’s commitment to public safety. “We are proud to support volunteer firefighters – the ultimate good neighbors who risk their lives daily,” Merritt said.
In addition to the financial awards, State Farm provided free NVFC memberships to the first 2,000 eligible applicants, offering volunteer responders access to training, resources, and support services.
Since launching in 2024, the Good Neighbor Firefighter Safety Program has distributed $2.5 million to 250 departments nationwide. This fall, State Farm and the NVFC will participate in community engagement events with 10 of the grant recipients, which could include fire prevention activities, parades, or open houses.
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
A letter from Solicitor General of the United States D. John Sauer to the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson has revealed that the Department of Justice is prepared to defend the removal of former Voice of America (VOA) Director Michael Abramowitz from his position. Abramowitz’s removal was ordered by Acting Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) Kari Lake.
Solicitor General Sauer explained the restriction against Abramowitz’s termination writing, “The head of Voice of America, an inferior executive officer, is appointed by the Chief Executive Officer of the United States Agency for Global Media. See 22 U.S.C. 6205(e)(l). A federal statute provides that the Chief Executive Officer may remove the head of Voice of America only with the approval of the Independent Broadcasting Advisory Board.”
The Solicitor General then laid out the legal position of the administration that the DOJ “will file in defense of the removal of Michael Abramowitz from that office.”
He wrote:
“Under Article II, inferior executive officers must be removable at will by the President or by a department head acting on the President’s behalf. See Seila Law LLC v. CFPB, 591 U.S. 197, 215 (2020).
“The Supreme Court has recognized only one narrow exception to that ‘general rule.’ Ibid. That exception extends, at most, to certain domestic inferior officers ‘with limited duties and no policymaking or administrative authority.’ Id. at 218.
“The head of Voice of America falls outside that exception. Among other things, he exercises significant policymaking or administrative authority in supervising Voice of America, and Voice of America’s activities implicate the President’s authority to manage foreign affairs.”
Sauer added that this opinion is supported by the precedent set in Seila Law LLC v. CFPB, 591 U.S. 197, 215 (2020) in which the Supreme Court ruling penned by Justice Robers is clear: “In our constitutional system, the executive power belongs to the President, and that power generally includes the ability to supervise and remove the agents who wield executive power in his stead. While we have previously upheld limits on the President’s removal authority in certain contexts, we decline to do so when it comes to principal officers who, acting alone, wield significant executive power. The Constitution requires that such officials remain dependent on the President, who in turn is accountable to the people.”
In short, it is the Solicitor General’s legal opinion that because of the unique, Congressionally-mandated duty of Voice of America to carry out foreign policy objectives and the significant authority the VOA Director has over them, the President and his appointed Acting Chief Executive Officer, Kari Lake, must have the power to appoint and remove personnel from the agency at will to satisfy the President’s duties under the Constitution as vested by Congress: “the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments.”
As previously reported by AZ Free News, Abramowitz was informed of his dismissal after he declined reassignment to the agency’s Edward R. Murrow Transmitting Station of the International Broadcasting Bureau in Greenville, NC, and that the USAGM maintains “the Chief Executive Officer, acting on the President’s behalf, may lawfully remove the Voice of America Director, an inferior officer.”
When they first announced their original Clean Energy Commitment in 2020, APS boasted about their plans to decarbonize. According to their own release, they weren’t doing what they described as the “easy thing” other utilities were doing–developing resource plans that still allow you to produce some carbon emissions, so long as you offset them elsewhere. No, they were committing to go “carbon free,” which means shutting down every single source of baseload power beside nuclear and replacing it entirely with solar, wind, and battery storage.
But late last week, APS announced a modification to their climate commitment. Instead of going carbon free, APS is switching to carbon neutral by 2050.
How is the new commitment different than the old one? For ratepayers worried about skyrocketing utility bills, it doesn’t change much…
Lawmakers on the Arizona Senate Health and Human Services Committee held a tense hearing Monday as state officials faced questions over one of the largest Medicaid fraud scandals in state history, a scheme that exploited the American Indian Health Program and cost taxpayers an estimated $2.8 billion.
Committee Chair Sen. Carine Werner (R-LD4) opened the hearing by describing the fraud as “staggering” and said it exposed major lapses in licensing, monitoring, and fiscal safeguards. She noted that while corrective actions have been taken, the state’s response has sometimes harmed legitimate providers through delayed payments and abrupt regulatory shifts.
Officials from the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS), the state’s Medicaid agency, outlined how fraudulent providers recruited vulnerable Native Americans into unlicensed sober living homes. Investigators reported that some individuals were lured with alcohol or drugs, their Medicaid identification numbers used to bill the state for services never provided. In many cases, patients were moved repeatedly between facilities, deprived of food and basic necessities, and in some instances locked inside rooms. The schemes often involved “ghost billing,” duplicate charges, and shell companies.
Marcus Johnson, a deputy director at AHCCCS, told senators the abuse centered on the American Indian Health Program, a fee-for-service system that was exploited between 2020 and 2023. Spending through the program jumped from $84 million to $372 million in just three years, with average monthly costs per patient tripling. Johnson said the agency has since suspended payments to 327 providers and instituted stricter verification of tribal status to prevent non-eligible individuals from being enrolled.
Inspector General Vanessa Templeman detailed the human toll of the fraud. Her teams encountered patients living out of trash bags, denied medical choice, and stripped of personal belongings by facility operators. “Most disturbingly,” she said, “we have seen patients denied informed consent and locked in unsafe conditions.” Templeman emphasized her office has referred multiple cases to law enforcement and continues to work seven days a week investigating suspected abuse.
In response, AHCCCS described reforms that include pre-payment claim reviews, new documentation requirements, temporary provider enrollment moratoriums, and technology upgrades designed to detect suspicious billing patterns more quickly. Officials said the agency has fielded more than 36,000 calls through a dedicated victim hotline and provided emergency lodging to thousands displaced by fraudulent operators.
Despite these efforts, lawmakers pressed for answers on accountability. Chair Werner repeatedly asked who signed off on payments, including $650 million allegedly funneled to an individual in Pakistan. Johnson declined to provide specifics, citing ongoing litigation. Senators voiced frustration, with Werner warning that unanswered questions were unacceptable to taxpayers, providers, and patients still suffering the consequences.
Some members also raised concerns about the impact of heightened scrutiny on legitimate behavioral health providers. Senator Shope noted that reimbursement rates have not been updated in a decade, even as costs have risen, and questioned whether the appeals process for suspended providers is fair. AHCCCS officials maintained that due process is in place, pointing to 104 suspensions that were later rescinded after providers demonstrated compliance.
As the hearing closed, Werner pledged continued oversight, stressing that Arizona must both restore public trust and ensure that fraud prevention measures do not destabilize access to care. “We owe it to the people of Arizona,” she said, “to break the cycle of harm and build a behavioral health system that is transparent and resilient.”
Jonathan Eberle is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
