by Staff Reporter | Jan 20, 2026 | Economy, News
By Staff Reporter |
The Republican faction of Congress’ Joint Economic Committee (JEC) reported inflation as “hold[ing] steady” in its monthly update released last week.
JEC Republicans reported in a press release accompanying the update that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) “remained relatively steady” at just under 2.7 percent year over year in December.
The coalition stated that November’s end CPI (2.74 percent) represented “the biggest [inflation] drop” since March 2025.
Food and energy prices went up by half a percent to almost three percent from 2024 to 2025, respectively; the latter by far outpacing the former.
Food price inflation hit 3.07 percent, up .56 percent year over year. Energy price inflation hit 2.30 percent, up by 2.82 percent year over year.
These price increases were felt differently based on region. Those in the Northeast were hit hardest by inflation (3.3 percent), then the West (2.9 percent), and then the Midwest (2.7 percent). The South felt it the least of all the regions, with inflation hitting 2.2 percent.
Income year over year overall saw increases: an increase in 1.07 percent for all employees and a .57 percent increase in weekly earnings. There was a “virtually unchanged” decline in hourly earnings of .01 percent.
President Donald Trump broke down this latest report as part of his address on the state of the economy in Detroit last Tuesday.
Trump said the U.S. has experienced “the greatest year in history” in terms of its finances.
“Under our administration, growth is exploding, productivity is soaring, investment is booming, incomes are rising, inflation is defeated. America is respected again like never before,” said Trump. “There’s never been numbers like this.”
Trump said the stagflation (low growth, high inflation) that took place under his predecessor, Joe Biden, was “a disaster” for the country. Trump claimed the current economy has “the highest growth” it’s ever had.
“The Trump economic boom has officially begun,” said Trump.
The president said he would work with Venezuela on oil, and aims to reduce gas prices beyond its current six-year low.
Trump called Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell “a real stiff.” He expressed a desire to have a high-performing market matched with lower interest rates, not higher — he said the former arrangement was the norm years ago.
“Our growth potential is unlimited and could be much higher if we went back to sanity,” said Trump. “We announce good numbers and we see the stock market drop. And I say ‘What the hell is going on?’”
Trump said he secured commitments for over $18 trillion in new investments into the country, compared to Biden’s under $1 trillion secured in four years.
A White House press release following Trump’s remarks maintained that the latest inflation report came in below economists’ expectations. Their statement compared Trump’s core inflation (2.4 percent) as “much lower” than former President Joe Biden’s 3.3 percent annual rate.
Their summary also emphasized that wages are “rising” on track to four percent: an estimated $1,100 real wage gain among private sector workers, and $1,300 real annual earnings gain among goods-producing workers.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 19, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A Phoenix-based progressive lobbyist organization is being accused of involvement in an “illegal” political campaign against two Democratic state lawmakers.
The campaign, “Hernandon’t,” is allegedly the handiwork of at least one lobbyist with Creosote Partners. Hernandon’t seeks to prevent the reelection of Democratic state representatives Alma Hernandez and Consuelo Hernandez this November.
The campaign accuses the Hernandez sisters of being “far-right Democrats” who align more with President Donald Trump than the Democratic Party. Specific grievances include the sisters’ votes or sponsorships of bills banning police budget cuts, enabling institutionalization of the homeless, prohibiting antisemitism in public schools, banning unauthorized encampments at public universities, and requiring age verification for online access to pornography.
The campaign is also seeking viable candidates to run against the Hernandez sisters.
The Hernandont’s website doesn’t disclose who is behind the campaign. Rather, a disclosure at the bottom of the website says, “Hernandon’t is sponsored by an individual and not by any political committee.”
Arizona law requires disclosures under certain circumstances on political advertisements:
“A person that makes an expenditure for an advertisement or fundraising solicitation, other than an individual, shall include […] disclosures in the advertisement[.]”
Statute defines advertisements as any “information or materials, other than nonpaid social media messages, that are mailed, emailed, posted, distributed, published, displayed, delivered, broadcasted, or placed in a communication medium and that are for the purposes of influencing an election.”
Earlier this week, Rep. Alma Hernandez posted on X that a sign from the Hernandon’t campaign was placed in her neighborhood, and that it lacked the “paid for by” disclosure. Hernandez accused those behind Hernandon’t of breaking the law.
Hernandez specifically accused one of the Creosote Partners, Hugo Polanco, of being behind Hernandon’t after he appeared in the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday with a Hernandon’t sticker on his laptop. Hernandez is a member of the House Judiciary Committee. She asked Hugo whether the sticker on his laptop was related to the campaign, and he confirmed it was.
“Clearly showing his direct involvement is a new level of stupid,” said Hernandez.
Later that day on the House floor, Hernandez made a public statement accusing Polanco of “deeply troubling, inappropriate, creepy, and unacceptable” behavior. Hernandez also put Creosote Partners on notice.
“To all lobbyists, I’m not here to be your friend. I’m here to work,” said Hernandez. “I don’t work for you. I work for my district who has elected me for the last eight years.”
Hugo was present at the House Judiciary Committee to deliver testimony on House Bill 2108 as a representative of Rural Arizona Action. Chairman Quang Nguyen interrupted Hugo twice for failing to speak to the bill.
Hugo strayed from the bill when he attempted to discuss the case of the Minnesota woman fatally shot after driving into an ICE agent, Renee Good. Nguyen advised Hugo that the Good incident was federal in nature.
Later, Rural Arizona Action cited Nguyen’s two corrections as part of their claim that Nguyen “cut off” Hugo mid-testimony. Hugo was allowed to finish his testimony, per the committee video.
Polanco’s coworkers at Creosote Partners are familiar with independent efforts to make and distribute campaign materials.
Jeanne Woodbury, transgender activist and fellow lobbyist at Creosote Partners, designed and posted campaign signs against Proposition 138 in 2024.
The campaign signs read “No on Prop 138, we can do the f*****g math.” Woodbury told the Arizona Agenda and the Arizona Republic in separate interviews that he put them next to campaign signs in favor of Proposition 138.
Woodbury claimed to the Arizona Republic that he wasn’t required to put a funding disclosure on his signs because he paid for them himself as an individual.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 18, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Psychology was a top major for Arizona college students this past year, per a new study.
This determination was pulled from data gathered concerning college major-related queries in Arizona and organized by monthly search volumes.
The top five college majors based on monthly searches were psychology, then music, then computer science, then communications, and then business administration.
The subsequent most-popular college majors searched were criminal justice, then accounting, then business management, then nursing, and finally social work.
The data was published by Flipsnack, a company that creates flipbooks.
Psychology ranks near the bottom for median wage early career and middling for median wage mid-career, per the New York Federal Reserve Bank’s Labor Market for Recent College Graduates.
The top but lesser popular college majors fared far better in terms of salary potential. Computer science sat at the very top, followed by a slew of engineering specialities: computer engineering, chemical engineering, electrical engineering, industrial engineering, mechanical engineering, and civil engineering. Just above miscellaneous engineering and general engineering sat physics.
Psychology’s median early career income potential was around $35,000 to $45,000 less than computer science, the major with the highest labor market outcome for early career wage. Psychology was projected to earn around $55,000 less for mid-career median wage than several of the engineering majors.
Reporting data from the state’s three public universities aligns with these findings. Psychology was a top degree for both Arizona State University (ASU), University of Arizona (UA), and Northern Arizona University (NAU), according to Niche.
ASU’s top five degrees based on the number of graduates in recent years, in order, included business and business support services, psychology, biology, computer science, and marketing.
Per their latest data published in 2024, the top majors for ASU Online were information technology, psychology, liberal studies, business administration, biological sciences, electrical engineering, software engineering, English, criminology and criminal justice, and nursing.
ASU offers over 400 undergraduate programs. They also boast an 89 percent success rate of graduates securing employment or a job offer within 90 days of graduation, with a median full-time salary of $55,000.
NAU’s top degrees include psychology, liberal arts and humanities, nursing, elementary education, and criminology.
NAU has over 150 undergraduate programs. The university reported a full-time employment rate of 45 percent, and 35 percent seeking employment. The median salary for these graduates sits at around $50,000.
UA’s top five degrees based on the number of graduates in recent years, in order, were psychology, liberal arts and humanities, intelligence, physiology and pathology, and nursing.
Likewise, UA has over 150 undergraduate programs.
UA reported a full-time employment rate of 56 percent, with a median full-time salary of $60,000. 25 percent reported continuing education or seeking continuing education, 15 percent reported seeking employment, and two percent reported part-time employment.
Grand Canyon University (GCU), a private university that consistently ranks up there with the state’s three public universities, didn’t report psychology as a popular pick among its graduating students. GCU’s most popular majors were nursing, business, human services, elementary education, and special education and teaching.
Psychiatrist and mental health services fell just outside the scope of top-five popularity for GCU graduating students.
GCU reported a 96 percent employment rate post-graduation, with a median salary of $62,000 annually.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 17, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Former U.S. Senator-turned-lobbyist Kyrsten Sinema is facing a lawsuit alleging an affair with her formerly married bodyguard, Matthew “Matt” Ammel.
Ammel’s ex-wife filed the lawsuit against Sinema based on North Carolina’s “homewrecker law” back in September with a superior court in North Carolina. The lawsuit became public after the case was moved to the District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina.
The Ammels were married for 14 years and had three children together prior to their separation in November 2024.
Ammel joined Sinema’s security detail in early 2022. The lawsuit alleged that the adulterous relationship between Sinema and Ammel began at some point between late 2023 and early 2024.
The lawsuit also accused Sinema of giving gifts to Ammel, including psychedelic treatment. Sinema was further accused of directing Ammel to bring MDMA drugs, which are illegal, on a work trip so she could guide Ammel through a psychedelic experience.
During Sinema’s last year in the Senate while their alleged affair was well underway, Sinema allegedly hired Ammel to her staff as a Defense and National Security Fellow in addition to his security guard duties.
The two were alleged to have attended multiple concerts together: U2, Taylor Swift, Green Day, were among those listed.
The lawsuit claims Sinema’s former head of security allegedly even warned Ammel about Sinema having affairs with other security members upon her resignation in the fall of 2023.
During those last two years when Ammel was on board, Sinema’s security expenditures outpaced those by her colleagues and presidential candidates: over $1.7 million.
Sinema continued spending campaign funds into summer 2025. Expenditures amounted to over $390,000 over the course of three months; much of it went to similar expenses alleged in the lawsuit: private security and jet-setting.
One unusual expenditure noted by media reports involved several hundred dollars given to a middle school PTO in North Carolina. It appears that payment may have been in connection to Sinema’s alleged affair and Ammel’s children.
Ammel, an Army veteran, served over 17 years as a paratrooper and Green Beret before leaving the service in 2020.
Last February, Sinema had Ammel testify before the House Appropriations Committee in favor of ibogaine research as part of her lobbying effort for funding psychedelic clinical studies. Ibogaine is a psychoactive compound derived from an African shrub, the iboga tree. It is not currently legal in the country and does not have FDA approval. Certain clinics within the country do use ibogaine for treatments.
After growing closer with Sinema, Ammel was appointed to a fellowship within the Office of University Affairs at Arizona State University.
Last September, Ammel was a guest speaker at the screening of a 2024 Netflix documentary about Navy SEALs treating mental illness with psychedelics, “In Waves and War.” Ammel was presented as a North Carolina Special Operations Veteran and Ibogaine VETS Grant Recipient.
It appears the psychedelic treatments weren’t having their desired effect.
Ammel was arrested in November for assaulting an officer while at a hospital in North Carolina.
Ammel was placed on psychiatric hold for allegedly strangling a medic, per documents discovered by Fox 10 Phoenix.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 16, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The divide among Republicans in Congress became apparent on Wednesday during key budget votes.
Two key Republican-led amendments to the appropriations bill failed for lack of lockstep party voting: one to end funding to the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the other to slash funding to the D.C. District and Appeals court and its chief judge.
Rep. Eli Crane (R-AZ02) introduced the failed amendment to defund NED, alleging the nonprofit has acted in hostility to U.S. interests for years.
NED issues thousands of grants annually to foreign nongovernmental groups. For the 2025 fiscal year, NED received $315 million in new appropriations and had spending power of $316 million from a balance carried over. The Trump administration failed to defund NED earlier this year.
“We’ve learned that this organization has engaged in global censorship, domestic propaganda, and regime-change politics. It has worked to crush populist movements, fuel color revolutions, and run off-the-books operations with plausible deniability,” said Crane.
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ05) accused NED of Democratic “ideological capture” undermining elected leadership, citing the 2022 incident in which NED demanded the removal of Rep. Elise Stefanik from their board for defending President Donald Trump following the 2020 election.
“If this was such a doggone great program, then why has it been unauthorized by this body for more than 20 years?” asked Biggs. “The reason is, it’s lost its moorings, it’s wandering around, it hasn’t complied with transparency requirements, it more closely resembles covert political operations designed to entangle the United States in foreign disputes and undermine diplomatic efforts than support them.”
Republican representatives on behalf of Missouri, Florida, and Pennsylvania also spoke in favor of Crane’s amendment to defund NED.
Crane challenged the Republicanism of his fellow Republicans who voted to continue NED funding.
“81 ‘Republicans’ voted with Democrats to fund this rogue organization that fuels global censorship and domestic propaganda,” said Crane.
He pledged to “keep fighting” to end funding to NED.
“The swamp is real,” said Crane. “But we did pass the Shower Act this week. I could use one after spending so much time in this awful place.”
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-AZ06) was the sole Arizona Republican to join Arizona’s Democratic representatives and the majority of the House in voting down Crane’s amendment.
The Republican-led effort to end funding to the D.C. court and its chief judge, James Boasberg, were the latest attempt to exact punishment over rulings that have undermined Trump administration policies. Texas Rep. Chip Roy led on that amendment.
Crane called his fellow representatives “weak” for voting to continue funds for Boasberg.
The amendment would have slashed the court’s funding by 20 percent and struck the salary and expense funding for Boasberg and his staff.
Last week, the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action & Federal Rights convened a hearing on accountability for “rogue judges” through impeachment. Boasberg and another judge with the Maryland District Court, Deborah Boardman were named.
Last summer, the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a misconduct complaint against Boasberg which accused him of “undermin[ing] the integrity and impartiality of the judiciary” by attempting to influence Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and about two dozen other federal judges against President Donald Trump.
Ciscomani did join his fellow Arizona Republicans in supporting Roy’s amendment.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
