by Matthew Holloway | Jun 20, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Near the Arizona-Mexico border, just inside Mexican territory, a joint operation between U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Tucson Sector and Mexican authorities located and raided a cartel safe-house which stored military-grade machine-guns, ammunition, heavy ordinance, stolen vehicles, and drugs.
In a release to social media on Monday, U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks described the May 23rd raid in cooperation with Mexican federal officers. Banks wrote in a post, sharing images of the seized weapons and drugs, “USBP agents in Tucson shared intel with the Government of Mexico (GoM) that led to a successful raid south of the border.” He added that the Mexican authorities seized “4 AK-47s, 3 mortar grenades, 3 stolen vehicles, 3,250 rounds of ammo, 62 magazines, 27 tactical vests, [and] 16 sacks of marijuana.”
Banks assessed the raid saying, “This joint effort dealt a serious blow to cartel operations—removing weapons, resources, and mobility from criminal hands.”
Chief Patrol Agent (CPA) of the U.S. Border Patrol Tucson Sector Sean McGoffin commented on the raid as well, crediting the CBP’s Casa Grande International Liaison Unit for contributing to the raid in a statement posted to X. He wrote, “Government of Mexico officials acting on information from the Casa Grande Border Patrol station found and dismantled a cartel ‘Rip Crew’ in Mexico during a mirrored or parallel patrol just south of the border.
“Four rifles, tactical gear, a dodge truck, and ammunition were seized from two criminal operatives. These cartel bandit factions are known to victimize migrants near the border region.
“Historically, the exploitation of migrants by cartels is multi-faceted, by stealing from people that aim to illegally cross into the U.S, or by targeting other competing cartels and their human ‘Cargo’. Great job Casa Grande International Liaison Unit for getting info to our partners in Mexico.”
In a subsequent post to X, McGoffin again praised an International Liaison Unit (ILU), this time from the Sonoita Border Patrol Station, for “forging new alliances to combat organized crime in the #border region.” He explained that two agents from the unit “have fostered relationships with Government of Mexico officials from the Municipality of Santa Cruz, Sonora, Mexico, to increase law enforcement presence south of the border.”
The chief said, “The area south of #Sonoita, Arizona has been exploited by criminal organizations in the past due to its remoteness from other Mexican towns. The newly appointed Mexican officials of the area have pledged to increase patrols and collaboration with Border Patrol to ensure safety and security for the ranching communities on both sides of the border.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Jun 20, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Only weeks after refusing to comply with an Executive Order to reactivate the Cholla Power Plant in Northern Arizona, Arizona Public Service (APS) has filed documents with the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) requesting an increase in the state-regulated electrical utility’s revenue of $579.5 million. That equates to a jump in residential electrical rates of approximately 14.5%. The hike would represent a 30% increase in residential rates since 2023.
The utility is also seeking permission from the Commission to unilaterally adjust prices annually using “rate design schedules.” APS justified this request to the ACC in the 2,323-page application docket claiming, “The costs to ensure reliable service to customers have rapidly increased due to high rates of inflation, persistently high interest rates, and continued supply chain and trade policy volatility.”
The utility alleged that a “significant revenue deficiency … based on the 12-month period that ended on December 31, 2024 (Test Year), demonstrates that APS’s current rates do not recover sufficient revenue to ensure reliable service.”
Notably, APS and its parent company, Pinnacle West Capital Corp., did have enough revenue to give Governor Katie Hobbs $250,000 for her inauguration and even bankrolled her legal battle with Kari Lake to the tune of $100,000.
“The tremendous growth across APS’s service territory shows no sign of letting up, with the Company’s infrastructure and reliable energy supply providing the backbone of this historic expansion,” APS said. “And yet, with high rates of inflation, persistently high interest rates, and continued supply chain volatility, the costs to serve current APS customers (let alone prepare for growth) are substantially higher than when the test year concluded in the Company’s last rate case.”
Just one year ago, the ACC approved a rate increase for residential customers of approximately 8 percent. That was followed by significant turnover in the commission with Republican newcomers Rachel Walden and Rene Lopez joining incumbent Lea Márquez Peterson to defeat the Democrat nominees and lock down all five seats for the GOP.
In the upcoming 2026 election, Arizona Reps. David Marshall and Ralph Heap are challenging incumbent commissioners Chairman Kevin Thompson and Vice Chairman Nick Myers. During a Tuesday presser, Marshall and Heap accused the commissioners of excessive price hikes and blocking President Donald Trump’s energy agenda.
“We have some families now who have to make a decision. Do I buy less groceries so I can pay my power bills? Or just deal with it or go without power,” Marshall told reporters.
“The Corporation Commission may not always make the headlines,” he added. “But the decisions made there affect every one of us every single day.”
In a statement responding to the primary challenge from Reps. Marshall and Heap, Commissioners Thompson and Myers defended their record saying, “We’ve taken steps to ensure our utilities are planning responsibly and not chasing costly, agenda-driven energy mandates. That’s why we required APS to prove in its 2023 Integrated Resource Plan that it has enough reliable and dispatchable generation to replace retiring plants. And it’s why we initiated the termination of Kris Mayes’ Renewable Energy Standard, which was an outdated mandate that artificially inflated utility costs by forcing ratepayers to subsidize unreliable, high-cost sources like wind and solar.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Jun 19, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Republican Congressman Abe Hamadeh (AZ-08) has issued a request for a full investigation into credible allegations that election security protocols in Arizona were breached during the 2024 General Election, putting the integrity of the election into question.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi, Congressman Hamadeh requested an investigation to specifically examine the handling of ballots from multiple states throughout the west by Runbeck Election Services.
Hamadeh cited credible reports that large stores of printed blank ballots from several western states were “improperly mixed in a warehouse with returned voted mail ballots that were in the process of being prepared for tabulation.”
He wrote, “This alarming situation raises serious questions about the security and integrity of the election process in Maricopa County and potentially beyond. The comingling of blank ballots with live ballots poses a significant risk to the accuracy and fairness of election results. It is crucial that we have confidence in the integrity of our elections, and any potential mishandling of ballots must be investigated to ensure that the will of the voters is accurately reflected.”
Hamadeh has requested that DOJ investigators determine:
1) The circumstance surrounding the mixing of blank ballots with voted ballots in the Runbeck warehouse.
2) The security measures in place to prevent such incidents and whether they were followed.
3) The potential impact on the accuracy of election results in Maricopa County and any other affected areas.
4) Any other relevant factors that may have comprised the integrity of the 2024 election. The Congressman also pointed to an announcement by FBI Director Kash Patel that the bureau has “turned over documents to Sen. Chuck Grassley involving an intelligence report in which China is alleged to have mass-produced fake U.S. driver’s licenses as part of the CCP’s effort to rig the 2020 election with fake mail-in ballots in favor of President Joe Biden.”
“These include allegations of plants from the CCP [Chinese Communist Party] to manufacture fake driver’s licenses and ship them into the United States for the purpose of facilitating fraudulent mail-in ballots–allegations which, while substantiated, were abruptly recalled and never disclosed to the public,” Patel revealed. “In accordance with Chairman Grassley’s request for documents, I have immediately declassified the material and turned the document over to the Chairman for further review.”
In a statement following his request for an investigation, Hamadeh said, “We have known for years that our election processes in Arizona are flawed and ripe with opportunities for nefarious forces. There appears to be a clear pattern and practice of security breakdowns, system failures, and outright manipulation that must be investigated and remedied.”
He concluded, “Now is the time for our Department of Justice to investigate credible allegations and offer sound recommendations to ensure that the integrity of our elections is restored in full.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Jun 18, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Corporation Commissioners Nick Myers and Kevin Thompson responded to reports of an upcoming primary challenge from State Representative Dr. Ralph Heap and running mate Rep. David Marshall with a surprising attack against both candidates and two of the most prominent conservative organizations in the state. After Heap confirmed his 2026 candidacy for the Commission in a call with the Arizona Republic, incumbents Thompson and Myers reportedly blasted Heap and Marshall as “special interest proxies who have been recruited to return politics into ratemaking.”
Myers would even go as far as to claim that the two GOP challengers are in the service of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club (AZFEC) and Turning Point USA (TPUSA), telling the Republic that both want “good puppets” on the Corporation Commission.
Responding to the remarks, Arizona Free Enterprise Club President Scot Mussi told the Republic that Myers and Thompason were “pretty on brand,” and added, “They always resort to attacks and attacking whoever they can to avoid having to address the substance of what’s being brought to them.”
Turning Point Action spokesman Andrew Kolvet told the outlet, “We have no idea what the commissioner means by ‘puppet,’ as we have had zero contact with any current commissioners since they have taken office.” He stated that TPUSA considers AZFEC to be “an ally.”
Although the Corporation Commission came fully under Republican control in January, the stakes for Arizona voters are high given that APS has requested yet another rate increase on top of the 8% increase it was given in 2024.
Commissioners Thompson and Myers have also drawn the ire of many Republicans by echoing the talking points of APS and Tucson Electric Power (TEP), when both utilities refused to comply with President Trump’s Executive Order to reactivate the Cholla and Springerville coal-fired power plants. As previously reported by AZ Free News, Thompson claimed that doing so would “jeopardize the grid and burden ratepayers with millions of dollars in short-sighted costs.” He also criticized the President’s intervention saying, “The Commission must hold utilities accountable and ensure that we have reliable and dispatchable generation to meet the load demands of the future. We also have to make sure we accomplish that goal in a manner that doesn’t jeopardize the grid and burden ratepayers with millions of dollars in short-sighted costs that fail to meaningfully address our long-term energy needs.”
He added, “Managing highly intricate systems like our electrical grid is far more complicated than a slogan on a bumper sticker. Continued calls from certain elected officials to reopen Cholla does nothing more than promote financially reckless solutions.”
The Commission’s refusal to follow the Trump administration’s energy agenda and pushback toward efforts to eliminate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies has placed it at odds with the Republican-controlled state legislature—along with the Arizona Freedom Caucus, AZFEC, and the Goldwater Institute.
Speaking to reporters, Myers accused AZFEC and TPUSA of “making things up,” claiming, “They’ve basically been trying to run us through the mud for every little thing they can drum up.”
However, Mussi explained that the Free Enterprise Club has had “a multitude of issues,” with the Commission. “There’s been a multitude of issues that they have shown no interest in working on,” he said. “And when these issues are brought up, rather than engaging on them, they have usually gone and attacked not just us, but whoever is bringing the policies that they disagree with addressing.” In particular he pointed to APS and TEP’s integrated resource plans, which lean heavily on wind and solar generation as opposed to coal, natural gas and nuclear, and AZFEC’s drive to terminate “California-style, Green New Deal policies.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Matthew Holloway | Jun 17, 2025 | Economy, News
By Matthew Holloway |
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes faced a setback last week in her legal challenge against President Donald Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ Tariffs. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a favorable ruling for the President, allowing the tariffs challenged by Mayes’ and eleven other state Attorneys General to remain in effect pending appeal.
The appeals court blocked an order from the U.S. Court of International Trade, which struck down the tariffs on May 28th in State of Oregon, et al., v. Trump, et al. The appeals court acknowledged the Trump tariffs’ raise “issues of exceptional importance” and agreed to expedite the case. It will hear arguments before the entire court on July 31st. In the ruling, the court found that “both sides have made substantial arguments on the merits” and stated, “The court also concludes that these cases present issues of exceptional importance warranting expedited en banc consideration of the merits in the first instance.”
Responding to the ruling, President Trump wrote on Truth Social, “A Federal Appeals Court has just ruled that the United States can use TARIFFS to protect itself against other countries. A great and important win for the U.S.”
The May 28th ruling against the President resulted from two separate lawsuits, one brought by the Liberty Justice Center on behalf of five small U.S. businesses which depend on foreign imports and the second from a coalition of 12 states including Arizona.
Mayes claimed in a post to X that “The president does not have the authority to implement tariffs unilaterally.”
White House spokesman Kush Desai responded to the ruling saying, “The Trump administration is legally using the powers granted to the executive branch by the Constitution and Congress to address our country’s national emergencies of persistent goods trade deficits and drug trafficking. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ stay order is a welcome development, and we look forward to ultimately prevailing in court.”
At issue in the case are the discounted reciprocal tariffs that the Trump administration announced on April 2nd, which apply a 10% minimum tariff across the board, particularly in Europe, while applying more punitive tariffs, as high as 49%, in the case of Cambodia which charges the U.S. a 97% tariff or 34% initially for China, which at that point charged 67% on U.S. imports.
Through subsequent negotiations with China and a ratcheting upward of the tariffs, the U.S. duties on China stabilized at approximately 55% and will remain there under a new trade deal, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told CNBC.
Despite the legal imbroglio with leftist State AGs, President Trump announced Wednesday that China’s duties on U.S. goods will remain at 10%, where they paused in May when both sides agreed to a 90-day reprieve, and he provided a glimpse into the new agreement pending with Beijing.
In a post to Truth Social, Trump wrote, “OUR DEAL WITH CHINA IS DONE, SUBJECT TO FINAL APPROVAL WITH PRESIDENT XI AND ME. FULL MAGNETS, AND ANY NECESSARY RARE EARTHS, WILL BE SUPPLIED, UP FRONT, BY CHINA. LIKEWISE, WE WILL PROVIDE TO CHINA WHAT WAS AGREED TO, INCLUDING CHINESE STUDENTS USING OUR COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES (WHICH HAS ALWAYS BEEN GOOD WITH ME!). WE ARE GETTING A TOTAL OF 55% TARIFFS, CHINA IS GETTING 10%. RELATIONSHIP IS EXCELLENT! THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER!”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
