Scottsdale’s new City Manager Greg Caton has drawn heavy criticism following the resignations of former City Manager Jim Thompson, former Public Works Director Dan Worth, former Transportation, Assistant City Manager Bill Murphy, and Streets Director Mark Melynchenko. As reported in the Scottsdale Progress, former City Councilwoman Linda Milhaven accused Caton of “creating chaos,” and added that “it’s uncharacteristic for an interim city manager to be letting people go or making changes.”
“(Caton) got to work pretty fast firing people,” Milhaven speculated. “It had to be at the direction of the City Council.”
Concern over turnover seems to be consistent in members of the previous left-leaning City Council, with incumbent Councilwoman Solange Whitehead expressing as much saying, “This year under the new council majority, we’ve lost 100-plus years of experience. These are the people who have delivered for Scottsdale. And people are continuing to leave. For me, this is a top concern.”
Both Whitehead and Councilwoman Maryann McAllen voted against the conservative majority when they approved Caton’s appointment on April 15th.
Scottsdale's divided City Council hired Greg Caton in a contentious April vote. He has built a reputation as an aggressive changemaker, exactly what the new council majority wants. But now Caton has a test: Can he win over the minority side too? https://t.co/LRkEzcTVB1
Councilman Barry Graham, one of the newly elected conservative members, denied the notion outright telling the Progress, “That’s not true. I only discuss city performance and results” with the city manager,” Graham clarified. “I don’t discuss people.”
When asked during an interview with the Progress, Caton told the outlet that “Dan Worth retired, ” adding, “I did not ask him to submit his resignation.” He continued, “I did not ask anyone to retire or resign.” However, Dan Worth contested this, telling the publication that Caton “directed me to resign or retire,” and declined to comment when asked if the move was “politically motivated.”
Vice Mayor Jan Dubauskas also expressed support for Caton saying, “Greg makes independent decisions. I happen to agree with many of them.” Dubauskas noted to the Progress, “Cost overruns and road diets were high profile issues in the community, so I’m not surprised Greg had concerns about them.”
Explaining the staffing turnover, Caton told the outlet that he discussed plans for ‘flattening’ the city’s organization. “In conversations with (Worth and Melynchenko), I discussed future plans to make changes to the organization – the ‘flattening’ we have referred to,” he said.
“Given that those future changes would affect their positions, both Dan and Mark opted to retire,” he added. “The agreements we signed are evidence of our mutual desire to determine what that transition would look like.”
Caton is remembered by Southern Arizonans as the Town Manager for Oro Valley from 2012 until he stepped down from the role to take a City Manager role in Colorado in 2016.
Australia-based energy firm Woodside announced Monday plans to invest $17 billion in a new liquefied natural gas export facility to be sited in south Louisiana. Company CEO and Managing Director Meg O’Neill said the Louisiana LNG facility represents the single largest greenfield energy project investment, and the largest foreign direct investment in the state’s history.
In a release, the company said the project will support 15,000 jobs during the construction phase and, when completed, will sport a total export capacity of more than 27 million tons per annum of LNG. Originally named the Driftwood LNG project by previous owner Tellurian, Woodside acquired the project in 2024 for just $900 million.
The timing of Woodside’s announcement on Monday, which represented the 99th day of President Donald Trump’s second administration, serves to symbolize the impressive success the President and his senior appointees have had in completely changing the energy and climate policy debate in the U.S. across their first 100 days. Nowhere has this sea change in policy been more obvious than as it relates to the LNG export industry.
When Trump was sworn into office on January 20, America’s LNG sector had spent the previous 358 days as a target of demonization by former President Joe Biden and his senior officials. That stemmed from the decision by the White House to implement a so-called “pause” in permitting of new LNG facilities like Louisiana LNG on January 27 last year. Prior to last November’s election, that pause appeared destined to become a permanent feature of federal policy had Kamala Harris won the presidency.
President Trump canceled the Biden pause with a Day 1 executive order, and the industry has since resumed the pace of rapid expansion that had made it one of America’s great growth industries prior to Biden’s irrational move last year.
The resumption of the LNG industry’s rapid growth path is just one of many success stories which Trump’s energy team of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin can point to at the end of this first 100 days time period.
At Interior, Secretary Burgum can point to his efforts to return the federal oil and gas leasing program to normal order both onshore and offshore after four years of its being held hostage by Biden’s Interior Secretary Deb Haaland. He can also highlight last week’s announcement detailing efforts to speed up permitting approvals related requirements under the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, and the National Historic Preservation Act.
Zeldin is able to point to his effort to freeze $20 billion in highly questionable grants awarded by his predecessor, Michael Regan, during the final days of the Biden presidency, and claw them back a major savings. He has also embarked on a study focused on the potential reversal of the Obama EPA’s endangerment finding on greenhouse gases, a finding that classifies carbon dioxide, the fundamental building block for all life on Planet Earth, as a pollutant which can be regulated under the Clean Air Act. A successful reversal of that finding could lead to the restoration of honesty in air quality regulation and a focus on elimination of real pollution, which was the intent of the law as it was passed by congress.
Secretary Wright has less ability to directly impact regulatory polices to the nature of his job, but he has become the most effective spokesman for commonsense energy policies to ever hold the Energy Secretary position. He has not shied away from taking on controversial topics, like the need to revitalize the nation’s coal industry to take advantage of America’s enormous wealth of that resource. Wright has also been very blunt and effective in highlighting the role the wind industry has played in forcing consumer utility costs up to all-time highs under the Biden administration.
Taken as a whole, it is hard to imagine a more impactful 100 days related to energy and climate policy than this administration has achieved. Trump’s legion of critics won’t agree with the direction he and his appointees have taken, but they can’t honestly claim they aren’t producing major results. For Trump and his team, it is a simple case of promises made, promises kept.
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.
President Donald Trump issued an executive order on Monday ordering an end to in-state college tuition for aliens — the very policy endorsed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson.
Robson advocated for the passage of Proposition 308 in 2022: the proposition extending in-state tuition rates to illegal aliens protected from deportation by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, usually referred to as “Dreamers.”
Robson was featured in a commercial by “Yes on 308” advocating for Proposition 308’s passage. Robson argued Dreamers provided a fiscal benefit to the state.
“It will improve Arizona’s economy by keeping skilled workers here in Arizona – kids we’ve already invested in for years, with zero tax increase,” said Robson.
Robson also signed onto a letter alongside over 50 Arizona Republican leaders advocating for aliens as critical members of the workforce.
Proposition 308 passed narrowly thanks to millions in dark out-of-state funds.
Trump’s executive order ordered an end to these college tuition benefits, claiming these and other similar policies qualified as unequal treatment of Americans. Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to end state and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices which favor aliens over American citizens.
The Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and appropriate agency heads, shall identify and take appropriate action to stop the enforcement of State and local laws, regulations, policies, and practices favoring aliens over any groups of American citizens that are unlawful, preempted by Federal law, or otherwise unenforceable, including State laws that provide in-State higher education tuition to aliens but not to out-of-State American citizens that may violate 8 U.S.C. 1623 or that favor aliens in criminal charges or sentencing.
Of note, Trump endorsed both Robson and her Republican primary opponent, Congressman Andy Biggs. Dual endorsements aren’t rare for the president, though Trump’s endorsement of Robson occurred prior to Biggs entering the race.
Arizona Republican leadership opposition to Robson’s campaign prompted Robson to unregister as a lobbyist earlier this year.
Shortly after Trump’s executive order, Biggs backed the move to end in-state tuition for Dreamers. The congressman also cited his support for a bill by Congressman Paul Gosar to prevent illegal aliens from receiving benefits restricted to American citizens.
“President Trump is right – US citizens shouldn’t pay more for college tuition than illegal aliens,” said Biggs. “I stand with President Trump on securing the border and ending policies that incentivize illegal immigration.”
President Trump is right – US citizens shouldn’t pay more for college tuition than illegal aliens.
I have supported legislation sponsored by @DrPaulGosar to clarify federal law and ensure illegal aliens don’t get benefits that Americans don’t.
Arizona’s legalization of in-state college tuition for illegal aliens resulted in the increased influence of dark money operations. These opaque cash flows have funneled into scholarship programs offered by the state’s universities.
Arizona isn’t the only state to grant this privilege to aliens. About half of the country and the District of Columbia also allows illegal aliens to pay in-state tuition for public colleges and universities including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Washington.
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According to the Mesa Police Department, a man has been taken into custody in connection with a suspected arson at a Mesa Tesla dealership earlier this week. On Monday, officers were summoned to the scene following reports of an explosion where they found a flaming Cybertruck. Mesa PD told reporters that “additional callers reported smoke and flames coming from an area near the building, which ultimately was found to be a brand-new Tesla Cybertruck.”
The Fire Department arrived soon after and found the fire was limited to the vehicle. “As crews began their attack on the vehicle fire, additional crews made entry to the building to check the interior for smoke and heat,” police said. “The fire was contained to the vehicle on the exterior of the building.”
The outlet also reported that the misspelled word “thief” was also spraypainted on the side of the building.
Mesa officials stated the fire is being investigated as possible arson. The Mesa PD announced later in the day that they had arrested a 35-year-old male suspect identified as Ian Moses who is facing charges of arson of a structure and property.
Detectives noted that during the course of their investigation, a suspicious van was observed parked nearby near the intersection of Southern and Rowan, not far from the dealership. Investigators noted a bicyclist, identified as Moses, approached the van and opened its door.
Surveillance footage from the dealership was able to capture an image of the suspected arsonist and police were able to match the image to Moses, police said.
No injuries were reported in the incident, and investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives is investigating alongside the Mesa Fire and Medical Department, Gilbert Fire and Rescue, and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
For the past decade, our organization has been fighting the Green New Deal agenda in Arizona, working to score a decisive victory for reliable and affordable energy. Thanks to President Trump, that decisive victory now appears within reach.
Earlier this month, President Trump released three new executive orders and one proclamation, all aimed at unleashing American energy abundance. These executive actions are all part of a coordinated White House effort to initiate a tidal shift in the ever-steady march toward the Net Zero nightmare being pursued by radical environmentalists, the green industrial complex, and public utilities across the nation.
For years, energy regulators have forewarned of the impending grid crisis due to the overreliance on costly renewable energy, yet the previous administration only accelerated the catastrophe. The new Trump Executive Orders, coupled with his declaration of a National Energy Emergency, will directly address this crisis by ending the regulatory discrimination against coal, empowering the domestic mining of coal resources, encouraging the development of coal energy generation, and allowing for these activities to take place on federal lands.
Reigniting the American coal industry couldn’t happen soon enough. While China and India are building new coal plants at unprecedented rates to power their economic growth, we have been aggressively shutting our plants down…
