A Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) principal serving on the board of a prominent LGBTQ+ activist group has won principal of the year.
Pueblo Elementary School Principal Shelley Hummon won the 2023 National Distinguished Principal (NDP) from the National Association of Elementary School Principals (NAESP). The Arizona School Administrators’ (ASA) Elementary Division selected her to win. Hummon also serves on the board of one-n-ten, a Phoenix-based LGBTQ+ activist group targeting minors and young adults.
We are celebrating @PuebloSUSD Principal Shelley Hummon at the @Arizona_ASA Conference for winning the National Distinguished Principals Award!
— Scottsdale Unified School District (@ScottsdaleUSD) June 13, 2023
As part of the award, Hummon will be flown to Washington, D.C. in October for formal recognition at an NAESP event.
Like one-n-ten, NAESP supports promoting LGBTQ+ ideologies among children. NAESP expanded its focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion in recent years to include gender identity and sexual orientation.
In June 2021, NAESP featured another elementary school principal, Seth Daub of Orange County Public Schools, to argue that educators should guide children in LGBTQ+ beliefs.
“When addressing the topic of LGBTQ inclusion at the elementary school level, schools need to exhibit much more than mere tolerance,” wrote Daub. “Educators must make the conscious choice to accept, embrace, and celebrate it, and must do so without question and without hesitation.”
NAESP, like one-n-ten, also opposes the exclusion of males identifying as females from female sports and private spaces.
Another significant one-n-ten board member is Tracy Nadzieja, the first transgender judicial officer in Arizona. Nadzieja, a man who identifies as a woman, has served on the Maricopa County Superior Court bench since 2018. Nadzieja also volunteers with the women’s collegiate fraternity, Kappa Kappa Gamma (KKG). (KKG is considered a “women’s fraternity” because it was founded before the creation of the term “sorority.”)
Other one-n-ten board members are:
Rick McCartney (chair), CEO of InMedia Company and board member for the Children’s Museum of Phoenix and Gov. Katie Hobbs’ Workforce Council;
Kris Cano (vice chair), WestWorld general manager and former Scottsdale Police Department forensics director;
Scott Greenwood (treasurer), longtime ACLU general counsel, board member, and executive committee member;
David Cane (secretary), Wag! executive and former Uber program lead;
Cory Braddock, partner at Snell & Wilmer law firm;
Bev Crair, senior vice president for Oracle Corporation;
Calvin Cole, vice president of AmTrust Bank and board member for Terros Health, Keogh Health Foundation, and Boys and Girls Club of the East Valley;
Angie Dittrich, American Express senior manager and lead for the company’s PRIDE+ Colleague Network;
Darryl Embrey, Vanguard senior business technology project manager;
Valdo Figueroa, Wells Fargo senior technology operations manager and formerly Bank of America senior vice president;
Lou Goodman, retired Arizona Department of Juvenile Corrections executive and pro tem Maricopa County justice of the peace;
Floyd Hardin III, Rio Salado College’s executive officer of equity and college relations;
Manuel (Manny) Soto-Griego, health information management professional and Arizona Health Information Management Association board member;
Sima Thakkar, Raza Development Fund senior director of health & climate equity, with former roles as regional relationship manager for PetSmart Charities, and manager of the city of San Diego’s Community Development Programs on affordable housing and homelessness;
Judie Verb, U.S. Bank executive vice president, Arizona Council on Economic Education board member, and Government Relations Council member for Consumer Bankers Association;
Nate Rhoton (one-n-ten CEO), chair of the city of Phoenix’s Human Relations Commission, vice chair of Leading for Change, member of Maricopa County Community Colleges’ LGBTQ Advisory to the Chancellor, with former roles as a Human Rights Campaign steering committee member, Greater Phoenix Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce board member, and Equality Arizona board of directors co-chair.
Sponsors of one-n-ten include American Airlines, Cox, SRP, Tito’s Vodka, and Estrella Jalisco.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Governor Katie Hobbs has rejected a request made by 12 of Arizona’s 15 county attorneys to rescind her executive order taking away their authority to enforce abortion law. The county attorneys submitted a letter to the governor on Monday. The county attorneys issued a Friday deadline for her response.
The governor issued an executive order last month stripping county attorneys of their ability to enforce abortion law. Hobbs bestowed that responsibility onto Attorney General Kris Mayes, who has already said she plans on ignoring the law.
Abortion is banned after 15 weeks’ gestation in Arizona.
The letter pointed out that Hobbs’ action undermined the duty and discretion of the county attorneys to enforce the law.
“The governor’s office should not interfere with the discretion of prosecutors in fulfilling their duties as elected officials,” stated the letter. “Whether this was the intended purpose, the result [of the executive order] is an unnecessary and unjustified impingement on the duties and obligations of elected county attorneys in Arizona.”
The county attorneys also contested that Hobbs had usurped authority that didn’t belong to her.
“This executive order results in an exercise of authority not vested in the governor’s office,” read the letter. “It is a substantial overreach to suggest the governor may strip away prosecutorial discretion from local, elected officials.”
— Maricopa County Attorney's Office (@marcoattorney) July 4, 2023
Hobbs’ new communications director, Christian Slater, tweeted in response that Hobbs’ assuming control over the judiciary in an effort to undermine the current law was part of her putting “sanity over chaos.” Slater labeled those opposed to abortion as “extremists.”
“Governor Hobbs will continue to use her lawful executive authority to put sanity over chaos and protect everyday Arizonans from extremists who are threatening to prosecute women and doctors over reproductive healthcare,” wrote Slater.
We will not rescind this order. Governor Hobbs will continue to use her lawful executive authority to put sanity over chaos and protect everyday Arizonans from extremists who are threatening to prosecute women and doctors over reproductive healthcare. https://t.co/9uw1xxVtnC
Hobbs issued the executive order one day before the one-year anniversary of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization — the Supreme Court (SCOTUS) decision that overturned Roe v. Wade. Hobbs’ order revoked the authority of county attorneys to prosecute abortion-related cases, and passed that authority onto Mayes.
Hobbs called abortion a “fundamental right,” the existence of which she claimed was paramount to freedom.
“I signed an Executive Order protecting Arizonans’ reproductive freedom,” said Hobbs. “I will not allow extreme and out of touch politicians to get in the way of the fundamental rights of Arizonans.”
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma (R-LD27) told Gov. Katie Hobbs to rescind her executive order banning conversion therapy for minors.
In a letter sent on Monday, Toma advised Hobbs that the order was likely unconstitutional since it wasn’t enacted via the legislature. Toma further warned that the order could violate the Parent’s Bill of Rights as well as the Arizona Constitution.
“Although other states have enacted laws banning conversion therapy, those states have that policy choice through the legislative choice. Your executive order is an improper exercise of your authority,” stated Toma. “The far-reaching mandates of your executive order also threatens to violate the Parents’ Bill of Rights […] and Arizonans’ constitutional rights, including patients’ rights to freely speak with their therapists[.]”
Toma further criticized the governor for her definition of “conversion therapy,” which he asserted was “unprecedented, vague, unintelligible, and unenforceable.” The main reason for this, Toma asserted, was because Hobbs’ team came up with it themselves.
“[T]he executive order’s ban on ‘conversion therapy’ is a ban defined by your administration alone — bearing no resemblance to the laws of other states,” stated Toma. “State agencies directed to implement your executive order cannot even begin to understand what constituted a banned ‘conversion therapy.’”
In one of two executive orders related to LGBTQ+ issues last week, Hobbs banned state or federal resources to promote, support, or enable any conversion therapy. The governor defined conversion therapy as the following:
“‘Conversion therapy’ means any practice or treatment that seeks or purports to change an individual’s non-heteronormative sexual orientation or non-cisgender identity, including efforts to change behaviors or gender expression, under the false premise that homosexuality and gender-diverse identities are pathological. This does not include gender-affirming care.”
The states that banned conversion therapy through legislative statute are New Jersey, California, Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New Mexico, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Nevada, Washington, Hawaii, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Maine, Utah, Virginia, Michigan, Minnesota, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania enacted conversion therapy bans via executive orders.
Federal courts in Florida have twice ruled against similar bans — in November 2020 in February — as unconstitutional under the First Amendment.
In her executive order, Hobbs cited general consensus from the American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, American Counselor Association, and the National Association of Social Workers that conversion therapy poses a danger to minors.
The governor also cited a duty to use taxpayer funds on fiscally sound, safe, credited, effective, and evidence-based practices.
The other executive order expanded state employee health care plans to cover gender transition surgery.
Today, I signed two Executive Orders restoring rights and protecting LGBTQ+ Arizonans. I'm proud the State is leading by example on this issue, and we will continue working until Arizona is a place where every individual can participate equally in our economy and our workforce… pic.twitter.com/q9CuemjV2F
— Governor Katie Hobbs (@GovernorHobbs) June 28, 2023
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Vice President Kamala Harris visited Arizona on Thursday to discuss special advantages her administration has given and plans to give to Native Americans.
The trip marked Harris’ first visit to Indian country, according to the Gila River Tribal Nation’s opening remarks during the event.
Harris called the tribal nation’s reliance on a federal assistance leasing program a “symbol of sovereignty.” The vice president further declared that the federal government retains responsibility to ensure tribal members are successful.
“President Biden and I also believe that we have a duty to address the deep disparities that persist across Indian country. Disparities that are the result, and truth must be spoken,” said Harris. “Disparities are the result of centuries of broken treaties, harmful assimilation policies, displacement, dispossession and violence,. We have a duty to ensure that all Native people have the opportunity to thrive.”
Happening Now: I am live in Arizona at the Gila River Indian Community to discuss our Administration’s historic investments across Indian Country. https://t.co/LQaQ5sGWTX
Harris further said it was the federal government’s responsibility to ensure economic opportunity and success to Native communities through home and small business loans, as well as lines of credit. The vice president cited their administration’s investment of over $500 million into Native American entrepreneurs and small business, and hundreds of millions into community banks.
Harris characterized the Native Americans as “stewards” of the environment for “millennia.”
This mass characterization conflicts with certain realities, especially in recent American history. Native Americans played a role in causing the near-extinction of buffalo with their hunting practices, which included driving mass herds of buffalo off cliffs or killing hundreds at a time just to harvest small parts, like tongues.
(A widespread claim blames professional hunters wishing to eradicate Native Americans for decimating the bison population in the 19th century; however, research shows that the near-extinction was caused by mass disease, triggered by the reduction of bisons’ natural population managers: humans.)
Consequently, Harris revealed that the federal government would invest billions into “climate-resilient infrastructure projects” led only by Native American individuals.
“In order to create enduring solutions to the climate crisis, we must then rely on the knowledge and the experience of Native communities,” said Harris.
Today, I am heading to Arizona to visit the Gila River Indian Community to make clear our Administration’s commitment to uphold our trust and treaty obligations, honor Tribal sovereignty, and ensure Tribal self-determination.
Harris claimed that Native Americans’ voting rights remain in jeopardy, citing remarks made in a meeting with activist Allie Young and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
The pair alleged the threats concern the distance it takes to reach polling places, and the denial of tribal land IDs when voting. Harris called for two weeks of early voting, an increased number of dropboxes, and same-day automatic voter registration.
Harris also shared that the federal government is working to install voter registration sites in Indian Health Services locations.
The vice president also touched on the federal government’s internet infrastructure initiative. Native Americans receive a special deal on internet access through the Biden administration’s arrangement: up to $75 off per month, versus only $30 off for non-tribal households.
The Biden administration has consistently focused on equity-focused treatment of Native Americans in issuing federal funding. Last year, the administration awarded $261,000 for a regional study of 16 miles of a pedestrian and bicycle pathway, and nearly $25 million to the Colorado Indian River Tribes to reconstruct 10 miles of road.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The $60 million promised by Gov. Katie Hobbs to house the homeless in this latest budget is now being used to house, feed, and provide resources to illegal immigrants as well.
Gov. Katie Hobbs hailed the funding as a means of affordable housing for “every Arizonan” — which now apparently includes illegal immigrants.
“With the Homeless Shelter and Services Fund and the historic $150 million deposit into Arizona’s Housing Trust Fund, we are making real progress toward ensuring affordable housing for every Arizonan,” said Hobbs.
$20 million of the $60 million was deployed immediately in early June through the Arizona Department of Housing (ADOH). The agency neglected to mention in its press release that illegal immigrants would also benefit from the millions.
The funds are dispersed through ADOH’s newly-established Homeless Shelter and Services (HSS) Fund. ADOH advised applicants that it would prioritize those who served those impacted by the court order for the city of Phoenix to clean up its mass homeless encampments in Freddy Brown v. City of Phoenix, the expiration of Title 42 which enabled the expedited expulsion of illegal immigrants, and the closure of sober living homes and residential facilities.
On Wednesday, the city councils for Scottsdale and Phoenix approved their portion of ADOH HHS funding. Unlike Scottsdale, Phoenix approved their funding without discussion.
The following received a cut of this recently-allocated $20 million:
Phoenix: $13.3 million
Tucson: $2.73 million
Mesa: $1 million
Scottsdale: $940,000
Tempe: $929,000
Flagstaff: $840,000
Coconino County: $133,000
Apart from Phoenix and Scottsdale, the other city councils or boards have yet to discuss their awarding of funds during a regular meeting.
As part of their agreement to receive the ADOH funds, Scottsdale will take in the “overflow” of Phoenix’s homeless population displaced by the breakup of the mass homeless encampment known as “The Zone.”
Scottsdale will pay $500,000 to rent hotel rooms at McCormick Ranch, as well as issue $400,000 for supportive services and $40,000 for nutrition and all other “essential needs” for a year.
Up to 120 individuals will benefit from this arrangement. 30 percent of the rooms must go to homeless individuals from “The Zone” — Phoenix’s mass homeless encampment that the Maricopa County Superior Court ruled in May must be cleaned up.
Councilman Barry Graham, who voted against Scottsdale’s recent measure, expressed consternation that city leaders chose to prioritize outsiders over Scottsdale’s homeless population.
“I voted ‘no’ based on responses to my questions about vetting participants and community safety,” stated Graham. “Scottsdale residents are compassionate — however there are better ways to demonstrate compassion.”
Last night, council voted to accept nearly $1 million from AZ Department of Housing on condition to house homeless from Phoenix and border migrants—not Scottsdale homeless.
The city will rent hotel rooms in McCormick Ranch-area.
