On Tuesday, Arizona Christian University (ACU) announced that it had “achieved record enrollment and surpassed 1,200 total students for the first time.”
ACU President Len Munsil championed the news of his university’s enrollment prowess, saying, “As one of the few higher education institutions in the nation that is conservative and committed to biblical truth, we are finding more and more students and families are looking for what we are offering. For Christians who are tired of paying tuition to institutions where their faith is ridiculed, mocked and canceled, ACU is becoming an increasingly popular alternative.”
The release from ACU highlighted its blossoming recruitment and enrollment efforts, that have largely taken place since Munsil assumed control of the university in 2010, sharing, “After graduating its largest class ever in May, ACU is excited to welcome nearly 500 new students this fall, including nearly 400 first-time freshmen. ACU attracted more new students this year than its entire campus population during Munsil’s first year as ACU president in 2010. For the past decade, ACU has been one of the fastest-growing universities in America.”
Munsil shared his thoughts on ACU’s future and the importance of holding true to the university’s values and mission, adding, “Ultimately, we believe ACU will continue to grow – and must continue to grow – because of its conservative, biblical mission and uncompromising stand for the truths of the gospel. But that growth will never come at the expense of our mission – or our commitment to the small college experience and the unique, caring community we have developed.”
The new year for the university comes after a rather challenging spring, when ACU garnered media headlines over its legal battle with a local school district. In May, the Arizona-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) announced a settlement between ACU and the Washington Elementary School District after the District “decided to terminate its (eleven-year) relationship with Arizona Christian and its students solely because of their religious status and beliefs on biblical marriage and sexuality.”
ADF revealed that “the district’s board voted…to enter a new agreement allowing ACU students to teach in the district once again” – in addition to covering $25,000 in attorneys’ fees. That motion from the District’s Governing Board passed with a 4-1 vote.
After the settlement was brokered, ACU and Munsil took a conciliatory approach to recognizing their legal victory. Munsil said at the time, “We look forward to a continued beneficial partnership that serves ACU student-teachers and the students, faculty, and staff of the WESD.”
According to the university, “ACU’s mission and vision are to transform culture with truth by educating and equipping Christian leaders of influence and excellence. Recent ACU graduates have gone on to excel in seminaries, prominent graduate schools, medical schools and law schools including Harvard, the University of Virginia, and ASU’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law. Other recent graduates have started businesses and non-profits, become teachers, counselors, worship leaders and pastors. ACU has continued to rise in U.S. News & World Report’s national ‘Best College’ rankings, including being ranked in the category of ‘Best Value’ due to its tuition being 25 percent lower than average for private colleges.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona’s top Republican legislators are coming to the aid of Abraham Hamadeh’s legal bid at the state Supreme Court.
Last week, Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma filed an amicus brief in support of Hamadeh’s latest endeavor to have the top court in Arizona’s judicial branch adjudicate the aftermath of his 2022 election for Arizona Attorney General. Hamadeh, the Republican nominee, ran against Democrat Kris Mayes, who won the contest by 280 votes after a mandatory recount.
In their brief, Petersen and Toma made three arguments for the state’s high court to consider. First, that “the Legislature has designed a robust process to uncover and correct material mistakes in election administration.” Second, that “the trial court abused its discretion by denying the contestants sufficient time to inspect all ballots and conduct discovery.” Finally, that “the petition presents questions of statewide importance requiring an expeditious resolution.”
Hamadeh issued a statement after the filing, thanking the lawmakers for their brief, saying, “I want to thank…the Arizona Legislature with the leadership of House Speaker Ben Toma and Senate President Warren Petersen for filing amicus briefs in support of our efforts to ensure the will of the people is honored. I made a promise to the people of Arizona to ensure that every legal vote is counted – I intend to keep it.”
The lawmakers’ brief answers Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ opposition to the contestants’ efforts, accusing the Democrat election chief of “escalating rhetorical histrionics to fevered heights.” The outlined “histrionics” were “traducing the Contestants with charges of ‘weaponiz[ing] our Courts, sow[ing] unfounded distrust in our election processes, malign[ing] our public servants, and undermin[ing] our democracy – all for the purpose of trying to overturn the People’s will and topple an election.”
Petersen and Toma present two reasons why the Court should be bothered in their attempt to dissect Fontes’ “ad hominem incentive.”
The first reason given is that the Secretary’s attack is “unfounded.” The second is that “the Secretary’s rhetorical assault is gratuitous and abusive.” The brief highlights that “the churlish imperiousness with which the Secretary reflexively greets even responsible and narrow questions surrounding the administration of the 2022 general election suggests he has forgotten that he serves all Arizona electors, including Mr. Hamadeh and his supporters.”
Hamadeh’s efforts to bring transparency to his razor-thin election result have continued long after his Democrat opponent, Kris Mayes, took office in January. Mayes has continued to show little public interest in the case, allowing her attorneys to handle matters in the courtroom while she continues to revamp the Arizona Attorney General’s Office from the policies of her predecessor, Republican Mark Brnovich.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona mothers, who are concerned about the future of their children, have a new website to visit.
Last week, Moms for America gave the green light to MomsforArizona.com, which “is designed to provide moms with the information and resources they need to defend their rights and stand up for their children’s well-being.” Moms for America was started in 2004 and is a “national, non-profit 501c3 educational corporation rooted on the principles of liberty and virtue our nation was founded on, and focused on promoting these principles, values, and virtues in the home and family, particularly through the women and mothers of America.”
According to a press release for the announcement, “the leadership team includes grassroots director Shiry Sapir, a small business owner; state outreach coordinator Shelli Bogg, a former educator; and state director Mayra Rodriguez, a former Planned Parenthood director and whistleblower.”
Kimberly Fletcher, the founder, president, and CEO of Moms for America said, “This new website will be an invaluable resource for moms in Arizona who want to fight back against the radical indoctrination of our children and work toward restoring sanity to our education system. The people targeting our kids depend on moms being isolated and ignorant, because they know they don’t stand a chance against moms who are united and informed.”
Shiry Sapir added, “My own experience with the failures of public education – especially the disastrous school closures of 2020 and 2021 – inspired me to take matters into my own hands and fight for my kids. Not all moms have the time or the resources to engage in this fight on their own, which is why I’m excited to work with Moms for America to mobilize an army of moms to take back our rights and give our children the quality education they deserve.”
On the Moms for America website, its leaders outline a three-part mission, which is to “Empower Moms, Promote Liberty, and Raise Patriots.” The group vows to “fulfill our mission by providing educational resources, programs, and events to support moms in nurturing a love of liberty in the home, advance freedom in their communities, and protect it with their vote.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Glendale voters might soon have the future of a billion-dollar resort in their hands.
Worker Power Institute, a nonprofit and social welfare 501(c)(4) organization, announced that it had obtained the necessary signatures to refer the city’s and resort’s Government Property Lease Excise Tax (GPLET) arrangements to the ballot.
Over 5,500 signatures were collected, and both Glendale and Maricopa County notified parties that this referendum was eligible for the ballot. The 60-acre VAI Resort and Mattel Adventure Park is expected to be completed in 2024 and to add 1,800 jobs.
The Glendale City Council will now decide when its municipality’s voters will see this referendum on the ballot.
Before the news of the successful signature drive, Brendan Walsh, the Worker Power Institute’s Executive Director, said, “If there is one thing all developers hoping to build in Arizona should know, it’s that Arizona voters believe in fairness. And the unrestrained and unnecessary use of GPLETs is not playing fair. If developers want property tax breaks, then voters will want to see that they are getting real community benefits. I see the work we are doing as allowing voters the opportunity to have a say in how the cities they live in are built.”
GPLET agreements have been fairly common in the state – and increasingly controversial as more attention comes to these respective arrangements. Last year, the Arizona-based Goldwater Institute fought one of these episodes in the City of Phoenix with the Hubbard Street Group and plans for private real estate development.
As explained by Goldwater, “Utilizing the GPLET abatements provisions of Arizona law, the City has agreed to accept title to the Hubbard Project so that the property becomes ‘government property,’ and thus excluded from the tax rolls. Under this arrangement, the City then leases the property back to Hubbard, who controls and manages the property during the lease just as the developer would any other private business. Yet through use of the GPLET, Hubbard will pay no property taxes on the private development for eight years, while other Arizona taxpayers – in Phoenix and beyond – will be forced to shoulder the difference. At the end of the 8-year lease, the City conveys the property back to the developer. In other words, under this arrangement, private property is conveyed to the government while in reality being owned and operated by a private party for the sole purpose of evading property taxes that would otherwise be owed and to which other taxpayers are subject.”
The Goldwater Institute added, “This arrangement results in tax shifts from the private party receiving the subsidy to other taxpayers who do not. It also creates unfair competitive advantages for Hubbard, who can compete with similar businesses not only with its own resources but with those of Phoenix taxpayers.”
The differing GPLET agreements vary in size and length. While the Phoenix-Hubbard arrangement was for eight years and $7.9 million, the Glendale resort project is likely to be significantly larger. According to a report, “the previous agreement with the developer’s former owners had a valuation of $30 million in exchange for $240 million in tax revenue over the term of the incentives.” The term for Glendale would be 25 years.
The Worker Power Institute was previously credited with helping to take down the Arizona Coyotes’ move to Tempe and the proposed $2.1 billion entertainment district. In this rejected scenario, there appeared to be two GPLETs – one for eight years and one for 30 years, in order to make the hockey team’s move a reality.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The 2023 Arizona legislative session may be in the state’s rearview mirror, but one lawmaker is championing one of her bills that was signed into law earlier this summer.
Republican Representative Barbara Parker issued a press release last week, lauding the passage and signing of her bill, HB 2651, which “requires the Department of Child Safety to fulfill additional notification and reporting requirements relating to cases involving missing, abducted or runaway children.” The legislation was signed into law by Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs on June 19.
✅FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE✅ State Representative Barbara Parker Transforms Department of Child Safety Requirements for Reporting Missing, Abducted, or Runaway Children
According to the release from Representative Parker, “ARS 8-810, the Child Safety statute, had no time frame requirement listed to report when a child in state custody went missing. In 2014, Congress passed the Preventing Sex Trafficking Act, which required states to develop policies and procedures for ‘expeditiously locating any child missing from foster care’ and ‘determining the child’s experiences while absent from care, including screening the child to determine if the child is a possible sex-trafficking victim.’ Tragically, audits from the federal Inspector General’s Office and the State Auditor General proved that Arizona’s Department of Child Safety, was not in compliance with either state or federal standards.”
“I did not expect to run this bill, but on January 21, 2023, just 12 days after I was sworn into office, two teen girls were found dead in a water-filled retention basin in my legislative district just blocks away from their group home,” said Representative Barbara Parker. “There was no media coverage of their disappearance until their bodies were found 15 days later. The community where they lived was never given the opportunity to look for them, and it was then that a constituent and foster care advocate, Anika Robinson, reached out to me regarding serious issues regarding the reporting standards of DCS.”
The bill first passed the House on March 1, 31-28 (with one member not voting). It was amended in the Senate and passed unanimously in that chamber on June 12, 30-0. The House concurred with the Senate’s changes, passing it on June 13, 56-2 (with two members not voting).
Representative Parker added, “The state should have done more for Sitlalli Avelar and Kamryn Meyers. The vulnerable teens’ disappearance could have been reported to the media in the first 24 hours. Both were on medication for behavioral needs and were at risk for sex trafficking or harm due to their acuity. The National Foster Youth Institute estimates that sixty percent of child sex- trafficking victims are often found to be in state-controlled foster care or child welfare systems. This new law will change this terrible statistic, requiring mandatory 24-hour reporting with detailed deliverables and protocols for each situation of missing, abducted, or runaway children, along with treatment, training, legislative audit oversight, and a detailed checklist explaining how all of this will be communicated to the proper authorities in a timely manner.”
The President of ASA Now and Jacob’s Mission Community Center, Anika Robinson, also weighed in on the success and significance of this legislation, saying, “This bill signing not only brings renewed hope to foster parents but also establishes a strong framework that acknowledges the significance of collaborative efforts between state agencies, foster parents, and the community in protecting and finding missing foster children. By prioritizing the prompt reporting of missing foster children in accordance with federal requirements, engaging the public through the media package, and having proper training for state personnel, Arizona sets an exemplary standard for other states to follow, reaffirming its commitment to the well-being and safety of foster children.”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
