by Staff Reporter | Mar 20, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Congressman Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ-08) successfully convinced the FDA to reverse its decision to remove desiccated thyroid medications from the market.
The congressman issued a press release last week detailing this latest development in the ongoing battle between patient autonomy and federal oversight. Hamadeh explained that the FDA won’t take action to pull DTE medications from the market while companies work toward formal FDA approval.
The usage of DTE in medications predated the creation of the FDA; they were grandfathered in due to their safety and efficacy. Conservative government estimates placed DTE users at 1.5 million in 2024.
Hamadeh clarified that DTE patients will be able to continue getting their prescriptions without interruption, but that the FDA course reversal doesn’t constitute a permanent approval. The FDA noted in an update last week that it changed course to a “risk-based enforcement approach” rather than a blanket removal, and pledged to issue formal draft guidance on compliance priorities by this August.
“As I have said before, it was clear to me based on the feedback that I have received from countless constituents that the FDA’s action against these medications was likely not science-based,” stated Hamadeh. “So, I did not hesitate to question the FDA’s action that many of my constituents believe would negatively impact their quality of life.”
Certain hypothyroid patients rely on these natural thyroid medications, or desiccated thyroid extract (DTE), due to inefficacy or adverse reactions to the synthetic, FDA-approved alternative. DTE medications are made from dried, ground animal thyroid glands (usually porcine).
Most medical practitioners default to the prescription of the synthetic thyroid drug levothyroxine, approved by the FDA in 2000. These and several other synthetic thyroid drugs approved by the FDA provide only one of the two main hormones produced by the thyroid gland, T3 and T4. Unlike their synthetic counterparts, DTE medications provide both T3 and T4.
Last August, the FDA announced it would make DTE medications unavailable within a year at the direction of Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) Director George Tidmarsh. Tidmarsh had assumed leadership of CDER just one month before the enforcement action — his very first on the job.
Three months later, in November, Tidmarsh resigned following allegations in a lawsuit that he used his CDER power to harm a former associate, Kevin Tang, by taking enforcement actions against certain drugs — including several DTE medications.
According to the lawsuit, Tidmarsh was accused of attempting to extort American Laboratories, in which Tang was board chair, shortly after the FDA announced its enforcement action.
American Laboratories manufactures Armour Thyroid and NP Thyroid, two of the top brand names for DTE medications. The two drugs constitute their core product line.
Over a month later, Tidmarsh turned his attention to a different drug manufactured by another company chaired by Kevin Tang, Aurinia Pharmaceuticals. In a since-deleted LinkedIn post, Tidmarsh made various accusations against the company’s nephritis drug, voclosporin, which the company alleged were false and defamatory.
LinkedIn appears to be a means by which Tidmarsh would put his former associates on notice. In the months leading up to his appointment as CDER director last July, Tidmarsh warned in another LinkedIn post that his first course of action would be to ban DTE medications.
“The new FDA needs to remove harmful, useless drugs from the market. Let’s start with desiccated thyroid extract,” said Tidmarsh. “An unapproved, crude pig tissue extract that is proven worse than synthetic thyroid hormone and harmful. Working with the new FDA to remove it permanently from the market.”
Following public reporting on Tidmarsh’s resignation and the accusations against him, Hamadeh urged FDA Commissioner Makary to withdraw or indefinitely suspend enforcement actions against DTE medications.
Despite Tidmarsh’s exit, the FDA maintains its claim that its concerns with DTE medications originate not with the personal vendettas of its former director, but with patient complaints and reports of adverse events. The FDA didn’t provide further detail on these alleged complaints or reports.
The FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) reflected DTE medications having over 3,000 cases from 1970 to 2026. Less than 400 complaints were of the drugs being ineffective and less than 60 reports were of death as a reaction. AZ Free News included all available top name-brand and generic naming of DTE medications in our search: Armour Thyroid, NP Thyroid, Thyroid, Nature-Throid, and porcine thyroid.
Conversely, levothyroxine and its name-brand counterpart, Synthroid, alone accumulated over 46,000 cases of suspected adverse events since 2000, of which nearly 4,000 complaints were of the drugs being ineffective. The synthetic drugs have over 1,000 reports of death as a reaction.
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by Staff Reporter | Mar 19, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The honor colleges at all three of the state’s universities are mandating courses educating students on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI).
The Goldwater Institute detailed two of the three colleges in a newly released investigatory report, “Desert Brain Drain.”
The three honors colleges in Arizona are Barrett Honors College at Arizona State University (ASU), which has about 7,500 students enrolled; the Honors College at Northern Arizona University (NAU), which has about 1,500 students enrolled; and the W.A. Franke Honors College at University of Arizona (U of A), which has about 4,500 students enrolled.
The Goldwater Institute found through public records that one of ASU Barrett Honors College’s required courses, The Human Event, hid a majority (85 percent) of its syllabi from the online catalog. ASU waited nearly a year to respond to Goldwater’s records requests on the hidden spring 2025 syllabi, and in its response, it redacted the names of the professors associated with the courses with the hidden syllabi.
Those records did reveal that 70 percent of the hidden syllabi from the spring 2025 catalog contained DEI content focusing on the alleged systemic oppression of certain identities related to race, gender, and sexual orientation.
Among the topics advanced by these hidden syllabi were the critical race theory concept of anti-racism, land acknowledgements, explorations of sexuality, decolonization, secularization, globalization, and transgenderism — with some content being graphic.
The W.A. Franke Honors College at U of A requires students to choose among the courses offered within its Honors Seminar, many which focus on DEI subjects similar to those presented by ASU Barrett Honors College required courses. Several courses focused on deconstruction of personal identity within the context of social justice, breaking down the idea of the self through the recognition of personal identities — race, gender, religion, class, and “social violence” — and recontextualizing the fractured and rebuilt self on political activism.
Although NAU Honors College was not included within the Goldwater Institute’s report, their primary required course (HON 190: Honors Colloquium) contained similar explorations of identity-based systemic oppression.
The spring 2026 semester came with two class options for the mandatory course, taught by professors Perry Davidson and Dina Yordy.
Davidson’s class requires students to read three novels challenging religion and embracing secularism: the classic work, “The Great Gatsby,” “Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit,” in which a lesbian leaves the Pentecostal community she grew up in, and “So Far From God,” in which characters serve to display criticisms of Catholicism and patriarchal structures while exploring decolonization and political activism.
Yordy’s class requires students to read three works as well: “The Piano Lesson,” a play about a Black family’s history with slavery and systemic racism, “We Have Always Lived in the Castle,” a novel about the persecution of a family by the intolerant religious townspeople, and “Home,” a novel advocating for the social justice understanding of homes through discussions of homelessness and immigration.
Timothy Minella, Goldwater Institute’s Director of Higher Education, argued in a press release that DEI shouldn’t be a requirement for Honors degrees at public universities.
“This isn’t just an Arizona problem,” he said. “Taxpayers and lawmakers across the country should pay attention to what’s happening in their universities and not sit idly by while activist professors indoctrinate our next generation of leaders on the public dime.”
Although the Arizona legislature has not been successful in its attempts to ban DEI in higher education, President Donald Trump did issue a series of executive orders last spring to cut off federal funding for entities advancing DEI. Those orders have been challenged and even struck down in court.
In an effort to circumvent these judicial challenges, the General Services Administration recently announced a proposed rule change blocking federal funding for schools implementing DEI.
Goldwater’s full report can be found here.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Mar 18, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Gov. Katie Hobbs fired an Arizona State Board of Education (ASBE) member following pressure from a public school activist group, email records revealed.
The emails obtained and published by FOIAzona revealed that Hobbs heeded a demand from Save Our Schools Arizona (SOSAZ) to fire former ASBE member Jenny Clark due to her general support for school choice.
SOSAZ led a ballot initiative in 2022 in an attempt to overturn the legislation that universalized Arizona’s school choice within the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program. The effort was unsuccessful after SOSAZ far overestimated their signature numbers when they turned in their signature sheets.
SOSAZ lobbyist Beth Lewis emailed Hobbs chief of staff Chad Campbell and deputy chief of staff Lourdes Pena in January of last year with the demand to fire Clark and another board member, Katherine Haley. Lewis alleged the pair were “anti-public school” due to their school choice affiliations.
Lewis recommended Hobbs replace Clark with an ESA parent of a special needs student, suggesting Kathy Boltz, a member of the SOSAZ board. Haley’s recommended replacement was Alison Bruening-Hamati, an administrator with the Tempe Elementary School District.
Three days after that initial email, Lewis sent a follow-up email to stress the urgency of both Clark and Haley’s removals, citing an upcoming (at the time) ASBE meeting to update the ESA Parent handbook.
Pena responded that they had “a plan in place to replace Clark,” and that they were holding “more ongoing convos” about Haley. Not much later, the former would be given the boot. For unknown reasons, the latter was permitted to remain on the board.
A little over three weeks later, Clark announced on social media that Hobbs’ office ignored her refusal to resign and notified her of a forthcoming letter confirming the end of her term. When that letter hadn’t arrived six days later, Clark again posted online to notify of the absence of the letter. Within hours, the governor’s office sent a letter notifying Clark that she had been replaced since her term had expired.
Several other members of the board were serving on expired terms when Hobbs ousted Clark. However, in a letter last March announcing the appointment of Lupita Hightower to replace former ASBE board member Anna Tovar, Hobbs’ office claimed no other ASBE members were serving expired terms. However, that was not true.
Haley, now the president, had her term expire last January. Both vice president Scott Hagerman and Jason Catanese had their terms expire in January 2024.
At the time of Hobbs’ letter last March, Karla Phillips-Krivickas and Jacqui Clay had unexpired terms. However, both of their terms expired this January.
Hightower did not replace Clark. Kathleen Wiebke, whose term was set to expire in 2029, replaced Clark last March but passed away in December.
ASBE also has two vacancies at present, one seat for a public member and one seat for a charter school administrator.
In all, five of the 11 board members are serving on expired terms and two are vacant.
Lewis, the author of the emails, responded that the publishing of her emails was “hilariously stupid” and accused the women she sought to remove from ASBE as “working to destroy public education.”
“[Y]all are just pearl clutching — take luck!” said Lewis.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Mar 17, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A Pima County judge sentenced an illegal alien to less than three years in prison for a fatal hit-and-run.
Superior Court Judge Danielle Constant sentenced illegal alien Alexis Eduardo Ibarra-Guerrero, 18, to 2.5 years in prison for the hit-and-run death of Sally Alcaraz Rodriguez, 75, in Tucson. At the time of the crime, Ibarra-Guerrero was already living in the U.S. on an overstayed visa.
Ibarra-Guerrero earned 100 days credit for his time in jail. He will be on a supervised release following his imprisonment.
Ibarra-Guerrero, who doesn’t have a driver’s license, struck Rodriguez with his vehicle last November. He drove for several blocks with her body atop his vehicle, dropped it off, and then left her to die on the road. Rodriguez was walking through her neighborhood, heading to a bus stop to go to work. Ibarra-Guerrero turned himself into police 10 days after he fled the scene.
Police said Ibarra-Guerrero was driving a 2010 Chevrolet Camaro on the scene.
Rodriguez’s family shared that she was the “matriarch” of their family: a beloved grandmother, devoted member of her church, and a caregiver to a 100-year-old patient. The family is still raising funds to cover Rodriguez’s funeral and burial expenses through GoFundMe.
Her daughter, Mary Rodriguez Romero, said Ibarra-Guerroro advocated for stronger responses to crimes like the one Ibarra-Guerro committed.
“The choices people make have real consequences, and our children, our future, must learn responsibility,” said Romero.
Police charged Ibarra-Guerrero with leaving the scene of an accident. They said they could find no other evidence indicating the hit-and-run was anything more than an accident.
Arizona law classifies leaving the scene of an accident as a class 2 felony. This felony carries a mitigated sentence of three years, minimum sentence of four years, presumption sentence of five years, maximum sentence of 10 years, and aggravated sentence of 12.5 years.
If Ibarra-Guerrero had a driver’s license, he would have also lost it for 10 years.
Rodriguez’s family expressed their disappointment in the lack of charges for her death, and the low sentencing.
Judge Constant was appointed to the Pima County Superior Court in October 2022 by Governor Doug Ducey following the retirement of former judge Deborah Bernini.
Prior to coming to the superior court, Constant was the managing partner of the Jennings Strouss & Salmon Tucson office going back to 2017.
Last summer Constant issued the controversial sentencing in the case against Malyn Christine Pavolka, the 34-year-old who killed five people in Pima County in 2024. Pavolka received up to 30 years in the state mental health facility instead of prison for reckless driving that caused a massive car wreck. She had declined to take medication for her bipolar disorder.
A Facebook page that appears to belong to Ibarra-Guerrero (spelled without the dash) indicated that he came to the United States from Sonora, MS, Brazil and went to Sahuaro High School. Among his few “liked” pages on the platform were the Mexican consulate and a Mexican street racing page called Street Racing Cuu.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Mar 16, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona Department of Education (ADE) accused a major media outlet of misrepresenting the amount of fraud that occurs within the state’s school choice program.
Per ADE, 12News claimed the Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) Program had fraud totaling 20 percent. ADE said this figure was false, and that the true fraud rate sits at 0.3 percent.
The 20 percent claim originated from a risk-based audit — an audit of limited scope — which targeted specific higher-risk participants and accounts. It does not account for the entire ESA Program population, says ADE.
ADE presented the 0.3 percent figure from a study by Stanford PhD on a random sample to obtain a more accurate assessment of the entire ESA population. That study, which reviewed 3,000 random ESA orders between July 2025 and February 2026, also concluded that unallowable spending amounted to less than two percent of the total.
ADE Superintendent Tom Horne demanded 12News issue a retraction.
“A ridiculous figure of 20 percent fraud has been circulating concerning ESA purchases which resulted from a total misinterpretation of data provided to Channel 12. The 20 percent figure represented program participants that ADE had selected for risk-based auditing,” said Horne in a press release. “Continued use of the 20% fraud allegation is an outrageous misrepresentation to the public that must stop.”
By comparison, Horne noted, other government programs have higher rates of improper spending: Medicaid totals over seven percent, food stamps total over nine percent, and unemployment insurance totals over 14 percent.
Horne clarified that the unallowable purchases rate doesn’t constitute fraud necessarily. The superintendent said “most” of those purchases were confirmed as “innocent mistakes” such as improper form completions or viewing certain unpermitted educational items as permitted, like backpacks or lunch boxes.
Horne said ADE promptly recovers misspent funds, and has recovered over $1.2 million.
The disputed 20 percent figure was mentioned in multiple articles by 12News, including one of the latest pieces of coverage published on Wednesday.
“According to state records obtained by 12News Investigates, nearly 20% of ESA parents or at least 18,000 ESA account holders, have misused voucher funds,” read Wednesday’s article.
The original 20 percent figure by 12News stemmed from a report on public records reviewed by the outlet which estimated that misspending “could” amount to 20 percent of all purchases in the ESA Program. The report stated that over 18,600 out of the 102,000 ESA account holders had at least one unallowable purchase over the course of a year.
Horne said at the time that the percentage provided wasn’t totally representative of fraud; rather, the superintendent said “most of it” was attributable to mistakes by the parents.
While critics of the program highlight the millions ADE is forced to recover, mainly from misspending and marginally from fraud, supporters of the program highlight the millions saved by children entering the ESA Program rather than their designated public district school system.
Goldwater Institute director of education policy, Matt Beienburg, said in a press release that wrongful spending occurs just as much, if not more, in the public school district system.
“It’s also worth observing that just 52 cents of every dollar sent to Arizona district schools now makes it to classroom instruction according to the state auditor general,” said Beienburg. “Among the many uses of those funds outside the classroom: a $500,000 trip to Las Vegas by a school district that promptly cut bus services for students; a district spending $4,000 per person to send staff to Napa, California for a conference featuring wine tastings, a district spending $18,500 on ‘membership dues and for staff to attend golf tournaments,’ and more.”
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