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.
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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.
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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.
by Staff Reporter | Jan 15, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Residents in one Arizona city have been drinking nearly double the “safe” level of arsenic in their water for a year.
The city of Williams mailed a notice to residents in December that their drinking water levels contained an average of 17 parts per billion (ppb) of arsenic over the past year. The standard for arsenic is 10 ppb, as set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
City officials say it’s not an emergency. However, the notice did warn those with a severely compromised immune system or an infant, or those who are pregnant or elderly, should talk to healthcare providers before drinking the water.
The notice also advised that exposure over time to an excess of the maximum contaminant level (MCL) of arsenic could face nerve damages or even cancers down the road.
“Some people who drink water containing arsenic in excess of the MCL over many years could experience skin damage or problems with circulatory system, and many have an increased risk of getting cancer,” said the notice.
Recognized arsenic-linked cancers include bladder, lung, skin, kidney, nasal, liver, and prostate cancers.
The EPA recognizes non-cancer effects of arsenic to include: thickening and discoloration of the skin, stomach pain, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, numbness preceded by a tingling sensation in the hands and feet, partial paralysis, and blindness.
Arsenic is odorless and tasteless.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (AZDEQ) maintains a page dedicated to updated water compliance notices.
12 of the 15 counties presently have public notices about noncompliance with drinking water safety listed.
San Simon DWID (Cochise County) reported excess fluoride levels around September.
Payson Water (Gila County) reported excess nitrate levels in January 2024. The company pledged to resolve the issue within six to 12 months, yet their public notice remains active on AZDEQ’s site.
C.S. Verde Lee Water (Greenlee County) also reported excess arsenic levels in May 2024. Compared to Williams, their excess was much smaller: 11 ppb, one ppb over the EPA cap.
La Paz County had three water companies report excess contaminants. Cibola Mutual Water Company reported excess Total trihalomethanes, or TTHM; Cienega Water Company reported excess fluoride; and Desert Sky DWID was listed but the linked exceedance report redirected to the Cienega Water Company exceedance report.
Maricopa County had three water companies report excess contaminants: ADOT Burn Well Rest Area, Apache Lake Marina, and Grandview Water Company all reported excess nitrate.
Riverbound Custom Storage and RV (Mohave County) reported excess arsenic as well, in October. Their levels totaled 15 ppb.
Pinedale Estates (Navajo County) reported excess selenium in November 2023. Their levels were 330 ppb, far above the federal standard of 50 ppb. The company provided alternate water at a new well pending construction for a new water line.
Pinal County had six companies report excess contaminants. Desert Gardens RV Park reported excess arsenic and Kelvin Simmons Coop reported excess LCR; CS Carter Water Company, Maricopa Mountain, New Saddleback Vista, and Papago Butte all reported excess nitrate.
ADOT Border Patrol (Santa Cruz) reported excess nitrate.
Yavapai County reported seven smaller providers with excess contaminants. Beaver Creek School, Cordes Junction Motel RV Park, Manzanita Restaurant, Mountain Vu RV Courtyard, Softwinds Mobile Home Park, and White Horse Ranch Owners Association all reported excess nitrate; and Green Valley Mobile Home Park reported excess arsenic.
Several violations within Yuma County exceeded the arsenic contaminants reported recently by the city of Williams.
CS Citrus Park Water Company reported excess arsenic and fluoride in April 2024, with arsenic levels averaging 18.5 ppb. CS El Prado Water Company reported excess arsenic levels averaging 21.2 ppb in February 2025.
Other violations include the town of Wellton and Mohawk Valley School (TTHM), and CS Rancheros Bonitos and CS Tierra Mesa Estates (uranium).
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