by Staff Reporter | Sep 18, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Republican lawmakers are investigating Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs for allegedly securing a unique rate increase from the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) for one of her top donors, Sunshine Residential Homes, a group home operator.
Sunshine Residential Homes, its CEO Simon Kottoor, and his wife Elizabeth contributed more than $500,000 to Hobbs and the Arizona Democratic Party.
Attorney General Kris Mayes cleared Hobbs of wrongdoing last month.
Arizona State Senator Jake Hoffman (R-LD15) has called on Mayes to release the documents from her investigation.
Arizona Senate Republicans claim that “the underlying evidence remains hidden” in Hobbs’ case.
Hoffman said that the evidence presented so far has created a clear appearance of pay-to-play corruption. Hoffman accused Mayes of having a political alliance with Hobbs that compelled her to decline to charge the governor of wrongdoing.
“The money, the favors, and the secrecy form a pattern that cannot be ignored,” said Hoffman. “The confluence of events here renders these allegations extremely credible and worth investigating.”
Lawmakers have subpoenaed materials concerning donations to Hobbs’ inaugural or legal defense funds by Sunshine Residential Homes, the Kottoors, or any executive of the group home operator.
Sunshine Residential Homes and both Kottoors were also subpoenaed, along with Abi Saifi, the director of programs at Sunshine Residential Homes.
They also requested materials concerning contracts or agreements between any state agency and Sunshine Residential Homes, and changes to compensation or reimbursement rates, formulas, or amounts paid by any state agency to Sunshine Residential Homes.
The Senate Government Committee also subpoenaed:
- Christian Slater, Hobbs’ communications director;
- Nicole DeMont, Hobbs’ campaign manager;
- The Katie Hobbs Inaugural Fund; a
- The Katie Hobbs Legal Defense Fund;
- Dan Barr, Mayes’ chief deputy attorney general;
- Bill Mundell, Mayes’ chief deputy of police and administration;
- Nicholas Klingerman, Mayes’ criminal division chief;
- Michael Faust, former director of DCS and current city manager for the city of Peoria;
- Shalom Jacobs, former deputy director for DCS and current director for CGI;
- Alex Ong, deputy director for DCS;
- Matthew Stewart, Hobbs’ nominee for DCS director;
- Robert Navarro, former deputy director for DCS; and
- David Lujan, former DCS director.
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by Staff Reporter | Sep 17, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Chandler Unified School District (CUSD) narrowly approved a land acknowledgment statement for Native Americans during its regular meeting last week.
The board approved the land acknowledgment statement 3-2. The governing board will read a land acknowledgment statement at every meeting and at all graduation ceremony programs.
Board President Patti Serrano, donned in a pro-Palestine keffiyeh scarf and MEChA t-shirt, joined Member Claudia Mendoza and Vice President Barb Mozden in voting to require the land acknowledgment statement. Members Kurt Rohrs and Ryan Heap voted against the measure.
Serrano said this land acknowledgement statement was necessary to make Native American students feel “safe” to show up and learn at CUSD schools.
Serrano also claimed that a land acknowledgment statement did not mean that the district would be required to accept requests for acknowledgments for other identity groups.
CUSD has posted a land acknowledgment statement and accompanying video on its Indigenous Education Program page since 2025.
That land acknowledgment statement reads that the district exists on lands previously occupied by the Piipaash, Akimel O’odham, Gila River, Salt River, Pima, Maricopa, and Yaqui tribes.
Board member Rohrs questioned whether there would be future efforts to expand the requirement to read a land acknowledgment statement throughout other aspects of district activities, such as student functions like football games, CUSD staff meetings, and the beginning of classes.
Rohrs also said that land acknowledgement statements signaled bias and favoritism toward certain groups. He warned that the board’s approval would lead to demands by countless other identity groups: Holocaust recognition for Jewish students, acknowledgments for the various religious groups, or commemorations of veterans for students in military families.
Rohrs contended that the statement was rooted in “identity politics” that would further cause division in the CUSD community.
“Despite denials, this is clearly a political statement that reveals a preferential and exclusive bias towards a certain point of view of a certain identity group. The district must remain neutral in these matters,” said Rohrs. “For practical matters, this unnecessarily politicizes our board meetings. It has no real purpose in addressing our primary mission of improving academic performance for our students. This statement is an empty performance gesture of wokeness which really doesn’t accomplish anything and distracts from our core mission.”
Board member Heap remarked that the district faces much more pressing matters concerning student outcomes, citing an example of two more students who left the district for homeschooling due to the district ignoring or dismissing requests to curtail teacher and student usage of vulgar language. Heap also remarked that reading scores have declined to the lower 50th percentile.
Heap expressed doubt that the lack of a land acknowledgment statement was having negative impacts on the district, especially the current pressing issues of declining enrollment. According to the board, less than 2% of students will be directly impacted by the land acknowledgement statement.
Heap questioned why there were acknowledgments for certain identity groups but not others, which prompted laughter from the pro-land acknowledgment statement audience in attendance.
“Any time when we choose to highlight a group of students only based on their identity, nationality, heritage, we indirectly eschew — that means, you ignore — other people. We have a Hispanic heritage month. Do we have an Irish month? Do we have an Anglo-Saxon month?” asked Heap. “I don’t think that it’s appropriate for us to engage in that activity, either, because we are now wandering in areas that even if it’s right or wrong, I believe this statement ends up [having] a political connotation. Anytime you do that, you show bias, and that’s going to end up driving away students.”
Mendoza said that the statement was necessary for respecting diversity and belonging.
“By doing this, we are demonstrating that every story matters and every voice has value,” said Mendoza.
Mozden predicted the statement would improve Native American students’ academic performance.
“We have to start somewhere to try to raise our academic performance for some of our subgroups,” said Mozden.
The land acknowledgment incited some community members to call on Serrano to step down from the board, since Serrano led on the effort of its adoption.
Serrano has been accused of imposing a land acknowledgment without board concurrence at board meetings and graduation ceremonies.
Serrano has historically declined to participate in recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance, and took her oath of office on a fiction book written by Arizona State University professor David Boyle describing the gay sexual fantasies of a boy and his peers and the boy’s rejection of the values held by his conservative, Christian parents.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Sep 17, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The federal government may withhold Medicaid payments to Arizona for failure to comply with annual audit requirements.
Arizona failed to file its Fiscal Year 2025 Single Audit Report by the March 31 due date. As of this report, the audit report has yet to be filed.
The Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) sent a letter to Gov. Katie Hobbs in mid-July notifying her of the state’s noncompliance.
As mentioned by HHS Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources Gustav Chiarello in that notification letter, Arizona has failed every year under the Hobbs administration to file its annual audits on time. The fiscal year 2024 report was filed more than a year late, and the fiscal year 2023 and 2022 reports were both filed nearly nine months late.
“These substantially late submissions leave Arizona’s Federally funded programs with significant gaps in oversight, heightening the risks to program integrity and to the individuals and families who depend on these critical health and human services programs,” stated Chiarello.
HHS gave Hobbs until July 31 to either provide proof of the audit report submission or a proposed corrective action plan. The latter would require HHS approval in order for the agency to release payments.
The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) manages Medicaid in the state. AHCCCS has operated without stable leadership since Hobbs took office. Hobbs appointed Carmen Heredia to serve as director shortly after she took office, but Heredia resigned in April 2025 amid a legislative dispute over her appointment.
Lawmakers accused Heredia of mismanaging AHCCCS regarding Medicaid contracts. Hobbs maintained that Heredia’s directorship was a success, citing nearly $1 billion in Medicaid fraud recoveries in addition to years of cost savings.
Hobbs appointed Virginia “Ginny” Rountree late last September, but Rountree resigned just five months later in early February of this year.
AHCCCS is led currently by interim director Roberta Harrison.
AHCCCS has undergone intense scrutiny by lawmakers regarding Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as testimonies of program disruptions impacting providers and services since Hobbs took office.
State Sen. Janae Shamp, former senate majority leader who has focused heavily on oversight of Arizona’s Medicaid program, questioned the history of audit report delays under Hobbs and whether the governor had submitted an acceptable action plan to HHS.
Shamp hosted a press conference last summer warning of Medicaid waste, fraud, and abuse under the Hobbs administration. Shamp revealed that only 23% of enrollees in recent years underwent proper eligibility vetting. One-third of that 23% failed verification, and more than 49,000 enrollees were also enrolled in other states’ programs.
“More than three-quarters of Arizonans enrolled to receive this public benefit did not get the necessary review to determine if they were qualified to receive it,” said Shamp.
In a statement, Shamp said that her three years of Medicaid scrutiny relating to the state budget have only incurred ire from the Ninth Floor.
“Last time I pressed it during budget discussions, I was accused of trying to sabotage the budget process even though a whistleblower confirmed billions in improper payments in the same programs these audits are supposed to oversee,” said Shamp.
Last week, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced that its Financial Crimes Enforcement Network had identified approximately $17.5 billion in potential healthcare fraud spanning all 50 states as well as Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Virgin Islands.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Sep 16, 2026 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) is contemplating more school closures as enrollment continues to decline.
The SUSD governing board discussed their options going forward during Tuesday’s meeting. Superintendent Scott Menzel said “some very, very difficult decisions need to be made.”
Since 2010, SUSD enrollment has declined by 6,000 students and the district has only closed one school. SUSD also reported rising costs, competition against school choice programs for students, and underutilized facilities as key pressures on district conditions.
“We have far more physical space than we have students to fill that space,” said Menzel.
As part of Phase I of restructuring for “full and thriving schools,” SUSD decided to close Pima Elementary School and Echo Canyon School. The district is now in Phase II, where it will decide the fate of the Desert Mountain Learning Community and Copper Ridge School.
Capacity is below 50% at Laguna Elementary (43%), Desert Canyon Elementary (37%), and Cheyenne Traditional (11%).
SUSD is facing an open meetings violation complaint pertaining to these closed-door Phase II proceedings to determine closures and consolidations.
SUSD’s Phase II Design Advisory Team doesn’t permit the public to attend its meetings under its classification as a Superintendent Advisory Committee, but the complaint against the district contends that the team was formed at the direction of the governing board.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO) is now handling the complaint after the Arizona Attorney General’s Office cited a potential conflict of interest.
The MCAO told AZ Free News that they just recently received the complaint from the attorney general on July 17, though it was filed back in April. Their office also told us that it couldn’t provide any additional details at this time since it is an open investigation.
The Phase II Design Advisory Team presented three options for further restructuring, in the following order of greatest to least preferences:
First-most preference: close Copper Ridge K-8 and Laguna Prep, redistribute boundaries, and a possible Desert Canyon K-8 merger. This option would impact 773 to 872 students and provide more than $2.7 million in savings.
Second-most preference: move Cheyenne Traditional K-8 to Copper Ridge, move Laguna Prep and Redfield to Cheyenne campus, and a potential Desert Canyon K-8 merger. This option would impact 2,126 to 2,232 students and provide nearly $2.6 million in savings.
Third-most preference: merge Desert Canyon schools into K-8 at Copper Ridge, close Laguna Prep, repurpose Desert Canyon campuses and Laguna Prep. This option would impact 2,132 to 2,153 students and provide nearly $2.7 million in savings.
Impact was measured beyond students moving into schools to include certain students at receiving schools.
All three options were presented with multiple potential models for restructuring boundaries.
Member Amy Carney attempted to explain that she believed closing schools was the “easy option,” to which she objected, but was interrupted multiple times by Governing Board Vice President Mike Sharkey and counsel with cautions that she shouldn’t express opinions about what the board should and shouldn’t do prior to community debate on the options.
Member Carine Werner urged agendizing a board discussion about the options before them prior to the board meeting in October in which they are scheduled to make a vote.
Member Matthew Pittinsky expressed caution against exploring other options beyond what the Phase II Design Advisory Team had presented to them; he characterized Carney’s position as “a very slippery slope.”
The district said it has not yet determined how it would repurpose any closed schools.
SUSD scheduled a special session to receive additional community input on September 22.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Sep 15, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Two candidates are accusing the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission (CCEC) of issuing threats that forced a stop to their campaigns.
Risa Lombardo, the Green Party nominee for governor, and DuWayne Collier, the Green Party nominee for secretary of state, filed the lawsuit in the Maricopa County Superior Court against CCEC last week. CCEC Executive Director Tom Collins was also named in the lawsuit.
Lombardo and Collier were both qualified by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes as having enough signatures and donations to become Clean Elections candidates, meaning they were eligible to receive public funding for their campaigns.
In order to qualify as a Clean Elections candidate and receive that public funding, candidates must collect a specific number of $5 donations from individual donors and then agree to forgo other funding sources once qualified. Any candidates who receive Clean Elections funding may not withdraw from the organization.
Lombardo and Collier alleged in their lawsuit that Collins threatened them with consequences if they continued spending their Clean Elections funding, four months after they were approved for the funds.
Collins told Lombardo and Collier in separate letters that they would be required to repay the funds — $2.8 million in Lombardo’s case, and $739,000 in Collier’s case — pending the outcome of his investigation.
Collins sent the letters on the same day that the Arizona Mirror published an article outlining similar claims of fraud. The media reporting cited six individuals who were listed as donors but claimed they never donated to Lombardo, Collier, or a third candidate for governor, Scott Neely, and that the three candidates contained a significant share of donors that had no other donor history.
Collins accused Lombardo and Collier of falsifying voter identities to manufacture the $5 contributions they needed. His letters to Lombardo included references to a bank statement reflecting a nominal balance around the time she should have had thousands in qualifying contributions, and that those contributions only appeared later in a lump-sum deposit. The lump-sum deposit accusation was also raised in Collins’ letter to Collier.
Collins also told Lombardo that her secretary of state certification had been in error because of sampling requirements: Lombardo had not submitted more than 4,400 qualifying contributions, which would have been the minimum required to meet the statutory 110% qualifier for certification.
Collins advised that he would ask CCEC to initiate repayment order proceedings at their virtual meeting on August 27.
CCEC didn’t issue a repayment order, but did direct Collins to investigate Lombardo and Collier further. CCEC requested that Collins deliver his findings sometime between September 24 and their next meeting, which is not scheduled to occur until October 29 — five days before the general election.
Lombardo and Collier claim these looming threats from Collins spanning the remainder of the months leading up to the election have left them unable to continue their campaigns and therefore violated their free speech rights.
“Restrictions that burden spending for political speech, whether candidate spending or independent spending, get strict scrutiny and usually fail,” stated their lawsuit. “Defendants are trying to bully and intimidate Plaintiffs into effectively dropping their campaigns, campaigns the Commission disapproves of, by depriving them of Commission funding, or threatening to subject each to hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in repayment obligations.”
Lombardo and Collier also alleged that Collins and CCEC were acting beyond their statutory authority.
They claimed that the secretary of state, not CCEC, certifies a candidate’s qualification for Clean Elections funding.
“The Commission is without power to subsequently declare, months after the Secretary of State’s certification has been completed, that a candidate should not have qualified for Clean Elections funding in the first instance and must repay their funds back to the Commission,” stated their lawsuit.
Lombardo and Collier are asking the court to enjoin CCEC from decertifying them and undertaking further actions effectively suspending their campaigns.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
