by Staff Reporter | Feb 6, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
It’s taken the better part of a year for vigilant Scottsdale parents, but the vulgar books they discovered will no longer be in their district’s libraries.
Last July, Scottsdale mom Jill Dunican wrote to the Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) governing board about 17 books allegedly containing “vulgar or educationally unsuitable content.” Dunican wrote on behalf of several advocacy organizations and individuals: Scottsdale Unites for Educational Integrity, Arizona Women of Action, Restore Parental Rights in Education, Protect Arizona Children Coalition, A Legal Process, Not In Our Schools, Shiry Sapir, Dan Kleinman (SafeLibraries), EZAZ, Save CFSD, Kids First, Mom Army, and Moms For Liberty.
The contested books were “A Stolen Life” by Jaycee Dugard; “Doomed” and “Haunted” by Chuck Palahniuk; “Lucky” by Alice Sebold; “PUSH” by Sapphire; “Sold” by Patrick McCormick; “Tricks,” “Perfect,” “People Kill People,” “Identical,” and “Smoke” by Ellen Hopkins; “Icebreaker” by Hannah Grace; “A Court of Frost and Starlight” by Sara J. Maas; “Anatomy of a Boyfriend” and “Anatomy of a Single Girl” by Daria Snadowsky; “Breathless” by Jennifer Niven; “Me and Earl and the Dying Girl” by Jesse Andrews; and “Lawn Boy” by Jonathan Evison.
Most of these books were only available at the various high schools within the district. One contested title — “Sold” — was available at the Desert Canyon K-8 school.
In her letter to the board, Dunican claimed these books violated Arizona’s laws on furnishing harmful items to minors and Arizona’s parental bill of rights.
“The negative impacts of vulgar material on children include: ‘greater acceptance of sexual harassment, sexual activity at an early age, acceptance of negative attitudes to women, unrealistic expectations, skewed attitudes of gender roles, greater levels of body dissatisfaction, rape myths, and sexual aggression,’ as well as sexual risk taking, mental health problems, decreased academic performance and detachment from family and friends,” wrote Dunican.
SUSD agreed. Following a temporary pull of the books and investigation by a review committee, SUSD found that nearly all of the contested books needed to be kept out of circulation permanently — meaning these texts violated Arizona laws on furnishing harmful materials to minors.
Last Friday, SUSD advised Dunican of the removal of 15 of the 17 contested books. The district determined the other two books — “Sold” and “Stolen Life” — may remain in circulation under the condition of parental consent for checkouts.
In a response email to Dunican, SUSD director Kim Dodds Keran added that the 15 books to be removed from circulation had “very limited circulation,” meaning they were checked out five or fewer times over the past three years.
In an email shared with AZ Free News, Dunican asked SUSD to adopt a policy complementing Arizona law prohibiting public schools from referring students to or using sexually explicit material in any manner.
This law maintains exemptions for works that possess “serious educational value” or “artistic, literary, political, or scientific value.” In those cases, schools must obtain written parental consent on a per-material basis.
Dunican suggested the proposed SUSD policy could have librarians rely on rating services to review book ratings ahead of book purchases.
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by Staff Reporter | Feb 5, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Election volunteers will be allowed to observe signature verification processes in Maricopa County up close for the first time.
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap announced the “common-sense” policy change on Monday. The recorder said the observers won’t have access to the party affiliation of voters.
“This change allows bipartisan election observers into the Signature Verification room to more directly observe the Signature Verification process,” said Heap. “This is one of the first of many commonsense improvements to make Maricopa’s election processes more trustworthy and transparent.”
In order to protect the party affiliation of voters, Maricopa County won’t display political parties or any “personally identifying data” on the signature verification screen. This change will take effect with the May 2025 elections, per the recorder’s office.
Heap revealed in Monday’s press release containing the policy change announcement that previous recorder administrations hadn’t been fully honest about election workers’ abilities to access voters’ party affiliations and personal identifying information. Per Heap, all election workers had to do to access that information was scroll down on their screens during signature verification processes.
“Previously, voters were assured by election officials that no party or personally identifying data was available to signature verifiers,” said Heap. “In my review of our election processes I have discovered this was not the case. Signature verification workers who scrolled down the page would still see this information on the scans of older ballots.”
Prior to Heap’s administration, election volunteers weren’t permitted to observe signature verification processes. In the accompanying press release issued on Monday, the recorder’s office claimed that the previous policies requiring signature verification observation to take place from an adjacent hallway some distance from the work “made meaningful observation of the process impossible.”
“Removing that data will accomplish two important things: it brings bi-partisan observers back into the room to scrutinize the process and ensures that verifiers do not know the party affiliation of the voters whose signatures they are verifying. This will be the first of many commonsense improvements we will be making to ensure that future elections in Maricopa County are run in a trustworthy, transparent, and efficient manner,” concluded Heap.
Ahead of the presidential election last year, the state established the first legally binding signature verification rules as part of necessary modifications to election dates made to comply with the shortened electoral count deadline.
Those signature verification rules (contained within HB 2785) require the rejection of early ballot envelopes bearing signatures that don’t match the voter’s registration or records. Beginning next year, voters may bypass the signature verification requirement by showing their ID while returning their early ballot in person. Other Republican-led aspects ensuring stricter signature verification were stripped from the bill following negotiations with Democratic lawmakers and Governor Katie Hobbs.
Improving signature verification processes was a top priority for Heap during his campaign to oust then-incumbent Stephen Richer. Heap attested during his campaign that the county’s standards for signature verification were too lax based on his personal experiment with the process.
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by Staff Reporter | Feb 4, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Attorney General Kris Mayes wants to hire the federal prosecutors behind former President Joe Biden’s January 6 investigations.
On Sunday, Mayes put out an offer to hire those prosecutors, as well as any other federal agents that may be terminated in the Trump administration’s newly-launched review of all involved in January 6 investigations.
“My message to all FBI agents and federal prosecutors who are being wrongfully fired by Trump: come see me about a job,” said Mayes. “We are hiring at the AZ Attorney General’s office and we actually support law enforcement.”
Last Friday, Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership sent a memo ordering the immediate firing of all federal prosecutors who oversaw the January 6 cases.
Emil Bove — the acting deputy attorney general — also ordered acting FBI director Brian Driscoll to hand over the names of all FBI employees involved in the January 6 cases.
“I do not believe that the current leadership of the Justice Department can trust these FBI employees to assist in implementing the President’s agenda faithfully,” explained Bove in his correspondence.
However, Driscoll refused per The Washington Times. Driscoll said the request pertained to himself and “thousands” of other employees within the agency. Driscoll’s refusal occurred over the weekend as FBI agents involved in the case against Trump over the Mar-a-Lago classified documents were removed from field offices in New York, Miami, and Washington, D.C.
This wouldn’t be the first instance of Mayes’ office scouting of those ousted for their work in the Biden administration. Their offices are also considering law school graduates whose offers of employment from the Biden administration were rescinded by the Trump administration.
Chief Deputy Attorney General Daniel Barr announced Mayes’ interest in hiring those sought out by the prior Democrat-led administration on LinkedIn last week.
“Plenty of opportunities at the Arizona Attorney General’s Office for recent law school graduates whose job offers were recently rescinded by the Department of Justice,” said Barr. “We do vital and interesting work in protecting, and pursuing justice for, the state of Arizona and its people.”
Another key player caught up by the Democratic Party’s unsuccessful bid for a consecutive presidential term has already found a soft landing within Mayes’ office.
The attorney general’s office recently hired the Arizona communications director for Kamala Harris’ campaign, Delaney Corcoran; she is now serving in a similar deputy communications position.
Although Mayes has indicated an eagerness to hire those ousted by the Trump administration, she is also fighting to keep them within the federal government.
On Monday, Mayes joined 11 other Democratic attorneys general in urging the two million-plus federal employees tapped by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) for a “deferred resignation program” to contact their unions for guidance.
The deferred resignation program would enable the tapped employees to receive their regular pay and benefits through the end of September — but only if they enter by voluntarily resigning ahead of the Thursday deadline. Otherwise, OPM warned, they may be part of the next administration purge and not be eligible for the extended pay and benefits period.
Mayes called the program “completely unreliable” and possibly “unenforceable” in a press release.
“My office will do everything in our power to protect Arizona workers and we urge you to follow your union’s guidance,” said Mayes. “This so-called buyout offer is yet another attack that will cripple the critical federal services Arizonans rely on.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Feb 2, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
A Tucson high school is short one less physics teacher after he challenged Donald Trump’s denial of the existence of more than two genders.
Les Beard, a physics teacher at Marana High School, taught his students that a certain intersex disorder, androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS), actually caused some males to be females.
Independent journalist James O’Keefe posted a recording of Beard’s lecture on AIS captured by a student, and later reported Beard’s suspension.
Beard claimed in his lecture that those with AIS were women with both female and male sex organs. Beard included a brief remark challenging the premises of President Donald Trump’s public stance and recent executive orders on gender identity.
“But usually all of these women have female sex organs, they do have male sex organs as well. So if you take an x-ray of them, you’ll see what guys have. But if you look, if you were to look at them, they look quite ordinary. So what are they? Are these guys? Mr. Trump says so,” said Beard. “And [the doctors] tell you, ‘Well, you’re really a guy,’ but none of them really believe it because they’ve been women all their lives.”
One of Trump’s first executive orders upon taking office last week declared the existence of only two genders: male and female.
All individuals with AIS have XY chromosomes, which means the biological sex of all AIS individuals is male. Contrary to Beard’s assertion, those with AIS don’t have “female sex organs.” AIS individuals don’t possess a female reproductive system: no ovaries, fallopian tubes, or uterus. Menstruation, ovulation, and pregnancy are impossible.
AIS is one of 30-odd intersex genetic disorders. Intersex disorders are conditions characterized by atypical sexual or reproductive anatomy. AIS concerns a defective bodily response to androgens, the hormones responsible for male development.
AIS mens’ bodies are unable to properly respond to androgens, such as testosterone (the primary androgen). This inability to respond to testosterone causes the underdevelopment or lack of any development of a penis as well as fully or partially undescended testicles.
As a result of their androgen insensitivity, AIS men may have genitals that appear female, but they are not female genitals. Additionally, AIS individuals may develop breasts because their bodies aren’t able to respond to androgens: the male sex hormones. For these reasons, some AIS men are raised as females — this does not make them female, however. Biologically, they are men with a genetic disorder.
In a report corresponding to the leaked audio, O’Keefe Media Group (OMG) included the following statement from Marana High School District spokeswoman Allison Benjamin:
“We are proud to provide our students with challenging academics, full extracurricular offerings, and experiences that enhance their personal growth and development. To help provide optimal learning environments for all students, we have adopted policies that provide guidance and expectations for teachers and staff, including: 1. Teaching to the state standards that are focused on course content. 2. Providing a learning environment where teachers remain neutral and refrain from sharing their personal beliefs and opinions. Our district is committed to making sure these policies are clear and honored by all staff. The administration will follow appropriate guidelines detailed in district policy to ensure all staff fulfill these expectations.”
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Feb 1, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
After Tuesday’s blunder from Arizona’s chief executive, those across the state are again questioning the competency of Governor Katie Hobbs and her staffers.
Hobbs submitted an error-ridden letter to the Arizona Congressional Delegation on Tuesday afternoon requesting their assistance in resisting the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze.
Hobbs’ letter failed to include two of Arizona’s congress members: Congressmen Abraham Hamadeh and Paul Gosar. Her letter also incorrectly claimed Trump’s federal funding freeze extended to federal assistance programs providing individuals with healthcare, public safety, veterans’ services, and financial assistance.
“Without these programs, Arizonans will be denied healthcare, families will struggle to stay housed, and communities will become less safe. The effects of this funding freeze will have impacts across the state, and weaken Arizona’s ability to care for its residents,” said Hobbs. “Congress must act. These actions directly violate the Constitution’s delegation of power of the purse to Congress and the Impoundment Control Act of 1974. Courts, including the Supreme Court, have made it clear that presidents cannot unilaterally withhold the funding appropriated by Congress for these services.”
Hobbs also threatened to sue the Trump administration over its funding freeze.
As the White House and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) clarified in a memo and other public statements preceding Hobbs’ letter, the federal funding freeze doesn’t affect programs providing direct benefits to individuals. The OMB supplemented its memo with a Q&A on the guidance.
“This is not a blanket pause on federal assistance and grant programs from the Trump Administration. Individual assistance that includes […] Social Security benefits, Medicare benefits, food stamps, welfare benefits […] will not be impacted by this pause,” said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during Tuesday morning’s White House press briefing.
The following executive orders pertain to the federal funding freeze: “Protecting the American People Against Invasion,” “Reevaluating and Realigning United States Foreign Aid,” “Putting America First in International Environmental Agreements,” “Unleashing American Energy,” “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing,” “Defending Women from Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government,” and “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment.”
An OMB memorandum meant to offer guidance on those executive orders, M-25-13, prompted an eleventh-hour federal court injunction on Tuesday. The federal funding freeze was scheduled to take place at 5 pm on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Leavitt confirmed that the OMB rescinded its memo to “end any confusion” created by the injunction. In effect, this provided the administration with a workaround to the court order. A follow-up OMB memo advising of its rescission directed agencies to contact their general counsel for implementation of Trump’s executive orders.
“The President’s [Executive Orders] on federal funding remain in full force and effect, and will be rigorously implemented,” said Leavitt.
As first reported by the Arizona Daily Independent, other leaders took the effort to clarify the scope of the federal funding freeze — among them, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin.
“I’ve spoken to senior officials at the White House and confirmed the temporary pause by OMB does not impact individual assistance and will not interrupt disaster recovery efforts, school and childcare funding, healthcare for seniors or low-income families, funding for our roads, meals and lunches, or any of the other misinformation that has spread,” said Youngkin. “The partisan stunt to disseminate knowingly misleading information is dangerous fearmongering and completely wrong.”
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