Hundreds of Arizona’s children underwent sex change procedures from 2019 to 2023, according to data compiled by watchdog Do No Harm.
According to the organization’s database, there were nearly 80 total surgery patients, nearly 170 total hormone and puberty blocker patients, and over 1,400 prescriptions written for those patients: all amounting to over $1.7 million in charges.
At least 86 children underwent their sex change procedures at Phoenix Children’s Hospital: one received surgery and 86 received hormone and puberty blockers (HPB), all for the estimated price of over $121,700.
Phoenix Children’s Hospital didn’t make Do No Harm’s top 12 in terms of sex change procedures for minors. Those were, in order from number one to twelve: the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Connecticut Children’s Medical Center, Children’s Minnesota, Seattle’s Children’s, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Boston Children’s Hospital, Rady Children’s Hospital (California), Children’s National Medical Center (Washington, DC), USCF Benioff Children’s Hospital Oakland (California), Children’s Hospital Colorado, UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center.
The following are the 42 medical facilities and providers that reportedly provided the sex change procedures to Arizona children (not including the categorization of an “independent facility” which covered 22 HPB patients). This data was pulled from the healthcare organization’s National Provider Identifier (NPI) record in the National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES):
Tucson Medical Center: 6 surgery patients, 31 HPB patients
HonorHealth Scottsdale Shea Medical Center: 23 surgery patients, 1 HPB patient
Scottsdale Surgical Partners: 23 surgery patients
HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center: 14 surgery patients, 1 HPB patient
Mission Hospital Memorial Campus: 7 HPB patients
Northwest Tucson Surgery Center LP: 6 surgery patients
Banner University Medical Center Phoenix: 2 surgery patients, 3 HPB patients
Arizona Community Surgeons PC: 4 surgery patients
Northwest Medical Center: 2 surgery patients, 1 HPB patient
HonorHealth Deer Valley Medical Center: 2 HPB patients
HonorHealth John C. Lincoln Medical Center: 2 HPB patients
Saint Alphonsus Regional Medical Center: 2 HPB patients
Yuma Regional Medical Center: 2 HPB patients
Abrazo Arrowhead Campus: 1 HPB patient
Abrazo Central Campus: 1 surgery patient
Arizona Urological Surgeons LLC: 1 surgery patient
Banner Del E. Webb Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
Banner Desert Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
Banner Ironwood Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
Banner Thunderbird Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
Banner University Medical Center Tucson: 1 HPB patient
Camp Lowell Surgery Center LLC: 1 surgery patient
Cobre Valley Regional Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
IU Health Methodist Hospital: 1 HPB patient
Jason Daniel Johnson PLLC: 1 surgery patient
La Paz Regional Hospital: 1 HPB patient
Long Beach Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
Maui Memorial Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
Mayo Clinic Hospital Arizona: 1 surgery patient
Mercy Gilbert Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
Neurosurgical Associates LTD: 1 surgery patient
Phoenix Indian Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
Sagewest Riverton: 1 HPB patient
Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital: 1 HPB patient
Santa Cruz Valley Regional Hospital: 1 HPB patient
Sina Inc.: 1 surgery patient
St. George Regional Hospital: 1 HPB patient
St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
St. Mary’s Hospital: 1 HPB patient
Dr. Steven H. Turkeltaub: 1 surgery patient
Valley Anesthesiology Consultants Inc.: 1 surgery patient
White Mountain Regional Medical Center: 1 HPB patient
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) administers NPPES. NPIS are 10-digit numeric identifiers for provider transactions.
Per Do No Harm’s data, total procedures hit a peak in 2022 and declined slightly last year.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
The Democratic candidate for the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office (MCAO), Tamika Wooten, filmed a video for her campaign in the courtroom while on the clock.
Wooten filmed the video last month on September 21, posted to her campaign Facebook page as “A Day in the Life of Tamika Wooten!”.
Wooten explained in her video that she had spoken with LD3 voters at Black Mountain Democrats earlier that morning, and that she was now about to hear the cases of individuals arrested the night before and that morning. Wooten then told viewers that she would speak at Sun City Grand.
“It’s my honor to serve, and it’s all in a day’s work,” said Wooten.
Yikes 🚨
Democrat Tamika Wooten filmed a campaign video in the courtroom … in her judge's robes … while she was on the clock.
As a progressive candidate, Wooten has promised to not prosecute abortionists or criminalize abortions, limit mandatory minimum sentencing, and expand diversion sentencing for the mentally ill and drug addicted who commit crimes or abuse drugs openly. Wooten stated on her campaign website that she would only be prosecuting “serious crimes.”
“I’ll prioritize alternatives to incarceration for minor offenses so we can: reduce prison populations, save millions in taxpayer dollars, [and] give hurting Maricopa County communities a chance to heal,” says Wooten’s campaign website.
In an interview earlier this year, Wooten said that she would treat crimes committed by the mentally ill or drug addicted as “health issues” instead of punishable crimes.
“I want to treat mental illness and substance abuse as a health issue not criminal justice issue and by reallocating our money and creating diversion programs for those who are charged or those who have mental illness,” said Wooten.
Wooten also said she would work to expand programs to end recidivism, such as providing education to prisoners.
MCAO currently engages in diversion programs and prioritizes heavier prosecution for violent crimes. One of the newest programs concerns felony diversion for parents or guardians charged with child abuse, neglect, endangerment, or a related offense whose circumstances of offense relate to substance use, particularly opioid use.
During that interview, Wooten also indicated that she wouldn’t prioritize illegal immigration crimes, instead focusing on “higher-level crimes.”
In a more recent campaign video posted last month, Wooten said that she would refuse to prosecute abortions at all. Wooten said as much during last month’s debate with her Republican opponent, current Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell.
“As your next county attorney, I will always defend your right to choose and our doctors’ right to provide healthcare,” said Wooten in her campaign video.
“A prosecutor does have judicial discretion. I will focus my efforts overall on keeping communities safe, rather than policing a woman’s womb,” said Wooten during the debate.
As AZ Free Newsreported last month, Wooten has a history of erring on the side of criminals. Prior to serving as a judge, Wooten defended human traffickers and pleaded down their cases to reduced sentencing.
In that same reporting, Wooten made remarks in a closed-door meeting promising to not prosecute under the controversial ballot proposal HCR 2060, the “Secure the Border Act.” If approved by voters this November, that proposal would make illegal immigration a state crime, which would allow local law enforcement to make arrests and local judges to order those convicted to leave the country.
“We don’t need to patrol our citizens,” said Wooten.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
The Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) Governing Board approved a bonus of nearly $16,000 to its superintendent during an August board meeting, despite lower test scores. And during last week’s meeting, it approved another performance pay plan for the 2024-2025 school year.
Superintendent Scott Menzel will receive a bonus of over $15,700, despite not achieving any of the academic achievement goals for the 2023-2024 school year. Menzel has a base salary of $225,000, a $16,000 stipend, and opportunity for a 20 percent bonus (around $43,200).
That full 20 percent bonus hinged on accomplishing the 11 key performance indicators the board set for the 2023-2024 school year. Menzel accomplished five of the 11 goals, none of which were academic: increased attendance rate to 92.5 percent or better, increased percent of students participating in extracurricular and cocurricular activities by four percent; increased certified staff retention; established a baseline for work-based learning opportunities and hours completed using Major Clarity; and produced decision-making matrix and at least one proposal for action by June 30.
The academic-based performance pay goals that Menzel didn’t meet concerned increasing scores for third-grade English-Language Arts (ELA) students to 68 percent passing, eighth-grade math students to 53 percent passing, and ninth-grade science students to 41 percent passing. During the 2023-2024 school year, only 60 percent of third-grade ELA students passed, 46 percent of eighth-grade math students passed, and 34 percent of ninth-grade science students passed.
The governing board was divided over the new performance pay plan. Board President Libby Hart-Wells and members Zach Lindsay and Julie Cieniawski voted in favor, while members Amy Carney and Carine Werner abstained.
During the meeting, Carney questioned why there was no board discussion prior to Menzel’s proposed performance plan pay raise being included as an action item on last week’s agenda.
“Last [year] we had a lengthy discussion [and] came to a collaborative result, and then we had an action item later,” said Carney.
Hart-Wells didn’t deny that the procedure for proposing a superintendent pay raise plan had changed from last year, but said that Carney and other members were free to discuss the action item and propose changes.
“It has always been the case that the superintendent has drafted the goals based on the information provided by the board and the goals that were set related to the key performance indicators for the district, then that comes forward to the governing board for review,” said Menzel.
During that same meeting last week, the board’s budget presentation revealed that SUSD spending on classrooms and teachers would hit a historical low again for the 2024-2025 school year: 54 percent versus nearly 64 percent exactly 20 years ago per the auditor general. That is one percent away from the lowest fiscal year: 53 percent in 2017.
As the parent watchdog group Scottsdale Unites For Education Integrity said in a recent press release, “This 9.2 percent decrease means that, out of a $438 million budget, over $40 million has been redirected away from supporting students’ academic achievement.”
Correction: A previous version of this story said thatMenzel’s bonus was approved last week. It was approved in August while the performance pay plan was approved last week. The story has been corrected.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
It seems that Arizonans are keenly aware of their position as a major swing state for the upcoming election just one month away.
Arizonans ranked the third-highest in Google searches for voter registration following the vice presidential debate on Tuesday between Democratic running mate Governor Tim Walz and Republican running mate Senator JD Vance.
The discovery of these search ratings was made by Final Round AI, which analyzed Google Trends data for the impact the Walz-Vance debate had throughout the country.
The company’s CEO, Michael Guan, said in a press release that the vice presidential debate was less impactful on search spikes than the presidential debate last month.
“With the vice-presidential debate between Governor Walz and Senator Vance on Tuesday, we wanted to see how this affects interest in voter registration topics. We found the debate had caused the third-highest spike in searches so far, behind the spike on September 10 after the presidential debate between Vice President Harris and former President Trump. The largest spike on September 17 came in the wake of the second assassination attempt on Donald Trump,” said Guan. “We also found that Georgia looked up voter registration the most, and Atlanta was the most interested metro area in the wake of the debate.”
The data from Final Round AI doesn’t traditionally align with the company’s purpose: their company provides an AI copilot for interviewees to land their desired jobs. Guan said that they applied their technology to bring awareness to misinformation spread by AI impacting politics.
“Voters must be wary of potential misinformation in this intense period, with the advent of AI making it much easier for people to make fake news,” said Guan. “AI has advanced to such a degree that convincing audio and video recordings can be easily made. We urge voters to take care and check that their information comes from trusted, unbiased sources. If news hasn’t come through official channels yet, it is better to wait rather than risk accidentally spreading misinformation.”
As for metro locations, Tucson ranked the fourth highest and Phoenix tied for ranking the eleventh highest.
The top ten metro areas for searches concerning voter registration were, in order: Atlanta, Georgia; Austin, Texas; Fairbanks, Alaska; Tucson; Columbus, Ohio; San Antonio, Texas; Waco/Temple/Bryan, Texas/Lafayette, Indiana; Wilmington, North Carolina; and Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina.
Georgia was ranked first, and Ohio was second. After Arizona, the top ten searches occurred in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, Texas, Arkansas, Indiana, and Nebraska/Pennsylvania tied for ninth.
However, Arizona didn’t rank as a state or by metro areas in terms of searches for “who won the debate.”
In order, those top ten states were Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine, Vermont, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Iowa.
The top ten metro areas who topped search engines for asking who won the debate were, in order: Duluth, Minnesota/Superior, Wisconsin; Alpena Michigan; Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota; Bend, Oregon; Wausau-Rhinelander, Wisconsin; Rochester, Minnesota/Mason City, Iowa/Austin, Minnesota; Juneau, Alaska; Mankato, Minnesota; La Crosse/Eau Claire Wisconsin; and Ottumwa, Iowa/Kirksville, Missouri.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
Are you registered to vote, and is your voter registration correct? If not, then it’s time to make a plan.
The deadline to register to vote in Arizona is Monday, October 7 by close of business day in person at your local election office, by 11:59 pm MST online, or postmarked by that day for mail-in registration.
Arizonans with a valid driver’s license or state ID may register to vote online, in person, or by mail.
In order to be eligible to vote a full ballot (not federal elections only), you must provide proof of citizenship by mail with your voter registration form by 5 pm MST on the Thursday before Election Day, which falls on Halloween (October 31) this year. Proof of citizenship includes your driver’s license or state ID, birth certificate, photo ID page of U.S. passport or passport card, U.S. certificate of naturalization or alien registration number, or Bureau of Indian Affairs or Tribal ID card.
If you need to register to vote through mail, you may print off the voter registration form online or request the registration form be mailed to you by your county recorder.
Voter registration cards may take 4-6 weeks to appear in the mail.
Absentee ballot deadlines are October 25 by 5 pm MST for requesting ballots, November 5 by 7 pm MST for returning your ballot by mail or in person. The last day to mail your ballot in is October 29.
Early voting begins October 9 — which is also the day ballots will be mailed and drop boxes for mail-in ballots will be made available — and ends November 1.
All in-person voting requires voters to show proof of identity before receiving a ballot. Voters must provide their name and place of residence to the election official and either:
Provide one form of the following ID options: valid Arizona driver’s license, valid Arizona non-operating ID card, tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal ID, valid U.S. federal, state, or local government-issued ID;
Provide two different forms of the following ID options: utility bill of the elector that is dated within 90 days of the date of the election (a utility bill may be for electric, gas, water, solid waste, sewer, telephone, cellular phone, or cable television); bank or credit union statement that is dated within 90 days of the date of the election; valid arizona vehicle registration; indian census card; property tax statement of the elector’s residence; tribal enrollment card or other form of tribal identification; arizona vehicle insurance card; recorder’s certificate; valid united states federal, state, or local government-issued identification, including a voter registration card issued by the county recorder; any mailing to the elector marked “official election material”;
Provide a mix of the following ID options: Any valid photo identification from the first list in which the address does not reasonably match the precinct register accompanied by a non-photo identification from the second list in which the address does reasonably match the precinct register; U.S. Passport without address and one valid item from the second list; U.S. Military identification without address and one valid item from the second list.
Members of federally recognized tribes aren’t required to have an address or photo on their tribal ID in order to cast a provisional ballot.
Election Day is Tuesday, November 5.
Military and overseas voters’ ballots were mailed on September 21. These uniformed and overseas voters may use their own designated portal through the secretary of state’s office to request to register to vote and/or request a mail-in ballot, as well as upload their voted ballot. These voters may also fax their completed ballots to 602-364-2087 before the Election Day deadline of 7 pm MST.
Check the status of your mail-in ballot or early ballot;
Check the status of your provisional ballot;
Submit a public records request;
Submit a petition request;
Or, respond to notice.
Ballot tracking for 13 of Arizona’s 15 counties is offered through the Ballot Trax. Maricopa and Pima counties offer their own ballot tracking and notification services through their own recorder’s website.
Others to utilize the tracking tool are California, Nevada, Colorado, Utah, North Carolina, Rhode Island, and Washington, D.C. Select counties in other states (Oregon, Alaska, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Florida, Virginia, New Jersey, and Maryland) also use this ballot tracking service.
Should your mail-in ballot be lost or damaged, you may request a replacement ballot by mail or in person. If through the former, you must contact your county recorder’s office no later than 11 days prior to Election Day, which would be Friday, October 25 this year. If through the latter, you may visit a voting location on or before Election Day to cast your vote in person.
