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.
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.
More illegal immigrants from Uzbekistan were discovered crossing the Yuma, Arizona border.
Townhall reporter Julio Rosas discovered this less-common variant of illegal immigrant while visiting the Yuma border on Thursday.
“This family that just crossed the Colorado River told me they’re from Uzbekistan, that’s a first one for me,” wrote Rosas. “Three adult males who illegally crossed into the US here in Yuma showed me their Uzbekistan passports. They turned themselves in to the BP [border patrol] agent who was by the gap in the border wall.”
This family that just crossed the Colorado River told me they’re from Uzbekistan, that’s a first one for me. pic.twitter.com/YPzfQdcP87
A small portion of Uzbekistan is bordered by Afghanistan in the south, while a majority of the country is bordered by Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan. A majority of the population are Uzbek, nearly all of whom are Sunni Muslim. The Taliban are also considered Sunni Muslim.
Reportedly, the Uzbek government has kept up strict border policies with Afghanistan historically. The Taliban’s advances leading to the takeover in August caused Uzbekistan and neighboring countries to increase their border security greatly.
It is unclear why there would be an influx of Uzbek illegal immigrants. Uzbekistan is one of the more prosperous and safe countries in Central Asia. From November to early spring of this year, protests broke out across the country as it faced power supply shortages aggravated by intense winter storms. However, these protests didn’t reach the severity of the 2005 Andijan Massacre, in which hundreds were shot to death during a protest to release 23 businessmen imprisoned over accusations of Islamic extremism.
Uzbek illegal immigrants aren’t an entirely new development for the border crisis. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) reported in January an uptick in Uzbek illegal immigrants. CBP officials explained that those caught earlier this year were escaping persecution for homosexuality. Uzbeks that engage in homosexual relations can face up to three years in prison.
Under the Taliban, punishment for homosexuality includes being stoned to death, crushed under a wall, or thrown off a tall building.
Arizona’s Refugee Resettlement Program doesn’t have any data on Uzbek resettlement since 2015.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
In March, the Arizona Department of Education’s (ADE) Social Studies newsletter advertised grant funds for teachers who would implement the 1619 Project. The Pulitzer Center offered a $5,000 grant to 40 educators; applications were due in March. The 1619 Project is an exercise of critical race theory, which holds that race is a socially-constructed idea created by white people to exploit and suppress anyone who isn’t white, and that all social, political, and economic institutions in this country were created by and operate on racism.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper series was debunked by historians roundly and subsequently edited significantly without any editor’s notes from its publisher, The New York Times. The initial goal of the project was to “reframe the country’s history” by establishing the year 1619 as the United States’s “true founding,” while focusing “the consequences of slavery and contributions of black Americans” as the lens through which to view past and present American society.
Parent and co-founder of West Valley Parents Uniting, Heather Rooks, resurfaced ADE’s newsletter promoting 1619 Project grant funds.
“Social Studies Newsletter back from January 2021, Arizona Department of Education to the Peoria Unified School District,” wrote Rooks. “Pulitzer Center offering grants to teachers to help implement the 1619 project ? So @azedschools is clearly using incentives to push CRT is AZ schools!”
Social Studies Newsletter back from January 2021, Arizona Department of Education to the Peoria Unified School District….Pulitzer Center offering grants to teachers to help implement the 1619 project ? So @azedschools is clearly using incentives to push CRT is AZ schools! pic.twitter.com/7195dTl7lK
In February, ADE’s Office of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion also suggested that the 1619 Project podcast was an appropriate educator resource for Black History Month.
In a statement to AZ Free News, Rooks questioned how ADE could be trusted with educating Arizona’s students if they promoted such unacademic materials. She urged parents to up their vigilance.
The Arizona Department of Education sends out newsletters to school districts across the valley. You would think the Department would have resources to help students with loss of learning. But instead, there’s a newsletter from January 2021 showing a promotion from Pulitzer Center giving out grant money to teachers who implement the 1619 project in their classrooms. I am a parent who wants the best education not only for my children, but for all children in Peoria Unified School District. Finding this newsletter through public records in emails of the curriculum team with the Peoria Unified School District was incredibly sad and shocking to say the least. If we can’t trust The Arizona Department of Education, how do we trust the Districts? Parents need to be aware of these newsletters coming to school districts from the Arizona Department of Education. Offering incentives to push Critical Race Theory into schools is completely wrong. West Valley Parents Uniting stands for transparency for parents and academics for students. Apparently the Arizona Department of Education doesn’t stand for Truth.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Maricopa County officials admitted that they deleted election files from equipment after purportedly archiving them prior to fulfilling the Arizona Senate’s subpoena for that equipment. Chairman Jack Sellers and Vice Chairman Bill Gates made this admission during the House Oversight Committee hearing on the Cyber Ninjas-led audit on Thursday. The supervisors’ main defense for deleting the records had to do with freeing space for future election files – but Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) pointed out that files from prior elections were on the equipment obtained by the subpoena.
Biggs’ line of questioning prompted the admission from Gates and Sellers. He first asked the Arizona Senate’s liaison to the election audit, Ken Bennett, if it was standard practice to delete files off a server after an election. Bennett said he “hoped not.” Gates initially attempted to characterize the deletion as mere maintenance.
“I would say that it is appropriate to maintain files, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Gates. “The deleted files had been discussed. They were archived.”
When Biggs asked Gates to clarify if those “maintain[ed]” files were deleted off servers after the election, Sellers nodded and added that the files were “archived.” Biggs then asked whether the Arizona Senate was given the archives as part of the subpoena.
“When you released these servers and this information to the auditors to begin with, they didn’t have access to those archives at first – is that fair to say?” asked Biggs.
“They did not subpoena those, that’s correct,” responded Gates.
Gates’ response prompted laughter from Biggs.
“Okay, so – you didn’t feel obligated to turn [the archives] over then, to them?” asked Biggs.
“We responded to the subpoena,” repeated Gates.
At that point, Bennett stated that it was “laughable” that the county essentially created a loophole in the subpoena by archiving files from the materials explicitly subpoenaed.
“I find it frankly laughable to suggest that a county in response to a subpoena could say ‘We will delete files from the hard drives and materials that we give to the auditors because we have those files archived on data that we did not give to the auditors when the subpoena said give all those records to the election,’” responded Bennett.
Maricopa County’s Twitter account stated that deleting files that have been archived is a standard practice after all elections. Biggs asked Gates to confirm this. Neither Gates or Sellers said they could confirm immediately.
“I just know that because there is limited space on these servers, when you have to run that election, you have to make room for the additional election data,” said Sellers. “I do think it’s important [to note] that our recorder will be answering every question in a timely fashion.”
“That’s the same recorder that campaigned that [previous county recorder] Adrian Fontes was incompetent and called him a criminal, and he’s the guy that was running the 2020 election – and you actually hired someone to oversee Mr. Fontes. Because you guys didn’t trust Mr. Fontes as well – is that the same Stephen Richer?” asked Biggs.
Sellers said he disagreed with Biggs’ characterization.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
