by Staff Reporter | May 4, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Candidate Gina Godbehere criticized her opponent, incumbent Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell, for not heeding the extradition request of a murder suspect from Alvin Bragg, Democratic district attorney in New York.
Mitchell refused to extradite murder suspect Raad Almansoori, 26, expressing concern over Bragg’s ability to properly prosecute Almansoori. Almansoori was arrested in Arizona after stabbing two women; he was also the suspect in the New York murder of another woman, 38-year-old Denisse Oleas-Arancibia. Mitchell said she could guarantee Almansoori would be imprisoned for an appropriate amount of time, whereas she felt that he would not be under Bragg.
“We have two very violent crimes here, we have two women that were stabbed and he is facing a lengthy mandatory prison sentence here. And even though there’s a homicide in New York, we can guarantee that he’s going to stay in custody here,” said Mitchell. “Let me be clear, my heart goes out to the next of kin in New York, and I’m not casting aspersions on the NYPD either, they did a hard job in putting this case together, but we have a case here and we have him in custody.”
Godbehere told KFNN last month that Mitchell lacked the authority to refuse Bragg’s request.
“I have a real problem of what she did by calling out Bragg on that issue — because unless my opponent was running for governor, she has no say or no role in any of that,” said Godbehere.
Bragg’s tenure has been marked with a drop in conviction rates, due to a decline in the number of cases his office has chosen to prosecute. When the Manhattan DA first came into office in 2021, he swore to not prosecute low-level crimes such as traffic infractions, resisting arrest, obstructing governmental administration, subway-fare evasion, or prostitution.
The DA also pledged to not imprison mentally ill individuals who committed crimes.
In one of the numerous times Bragg’s office made headlines in 2022, his team dropped multiple larceny charges against an alleged gang member with a lengthy rap sheet — 46 prior arrests — instead opting to require the member to attend a handful of social worker counseling sessions.
Godbehere is campaigning as a Republican. As reported by The Arizona Daily Independent, Godbehere’s campaign staffer has also been critical of mainstream Republican candidates and stances, and reportedly indicated that he voted for President Joe Biden.
Godbehere previously challenged Mitchell in the 2022 election. Ahead of that year’s primary election, Godbehere issued a retracted comment erroneously advising voters on the Active Early Voting List that ballots dropped off on the deadline day would be rendered provisional.
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by Staff Reporter | May 2, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona Department of Education Superintendent Tom Horne advised K-12 schools to look to Arizona State University (ASU) and University of Arizona (UArizona) for how to respond to Gaza protesters.
In a press release issued on Monday following a long weekend of higher education protests against Israel in Arizona and nationwide, Horne praised ASU and UArizona leadership — specifically presidents Robert Robbins and Michael Crow — for their handling of the mass protests compared to other universities, which he characterized as antisemitic.
“Robert Robbins and Michael Crow deserve exceptional praise for standing up to antisemitism on their campuses. This stands in stark contrast to how many colleges, universities and ideological faculty members have kowtowed to disruptive pro-Hamas demonstrations,” said Horne. “It is also an excellent template for K-12 schools in Arizona to follow should any attempt be made by students to copy the type of protests that have shut down portions of college campuses and caused Jewish students to feel unsafe.”
Horne warned that history would repeat itself, should those in leadership not be proactive with handling protests. The superintendent cited several incidents of violence that broke out at other campuses nationwide, including rocks reportedly thrown at Jewish students at Columbia University and a pole with a Palestinian flag being stabbed into the eye of another Jewish student at Yale University.
“Our DNA is no different from the DNA of Germans in the 1930s, and Nazis started with young thugs attacking people on the street,” said Horne. “We need to be vigilant.”
Law enforcement for both campuses were swift to deter and move out protesters as they attempted to establish encampments.
Of the two institutions, UArizona had the calmer turnout in terms of protestors. At ASU, over 70 arrests were made, 15 of whom were students, after protesters set up an illegal encampment as part of their protest.
UArizona protesters also set up an encampment on Monday, but later dispersed. After those protesters left, officials barricaded the campus mall to prevent further encampments.
Law enforcement had to drive out the protesters and relied on assistance from fraternity members to assist in cleanup.
However, by Tuesday protesters returned to encamp again elsewhere on campus.
A majority of the Gaza protests were concentrated along the upper east coast. The following higher education institutions have experienced Gaza protests over the last few weeks:
- California: California State Polytechnic Institute, Stanford University, University of Southern California Los Angeles;
- Colorado: Auraria Campus;
- Connecticut: University of Connecticut, Yale University;
- D.C.: George Washington University;
- Delaware: University of Delaware;
- Florida: Florida State University;
- Georgia: Emory University, University of Georgia;
- Illinois: Northwestern University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign;
- Indiana: Indiana University Bloomington;
- Massachusetts: Emerson College, Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Tufts University;
- Michigan: Michigan State University;
- Minnesota: University of Minnesota;
- Missouri: Washington University.
- North Carolina: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill;
- New Jersey: Princeton University;
- New Mexico: University of New Mexico Albuquerque;
- New York: City College of New York, Columbia University, Cornell University, Fashion Institute of Technology, the New School, New York University, University of Rochester;
- Pennsylvania: Swarthmore College, University of Pennsylvania;
- Ohio: Ohio State University;
- Rhode Island: Brown University;
- South Carolina: University of South Carolina;
- Texas: Rice University, University of Texas at Austin;
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by Staff Reporter | May 2, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A new poll from Emerson College and The Hill found that former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in Arizona and six other key swing states.
The poll, released on Monday, reflected a consistency in swing state preferences since last November, according to the pollsters. Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a press release that the main differences concerned a diminishment in undecided voters and increase in support for Biden in Georgia and Nevada.
“The state of the presidential election in swing states has remained relatively consistent since Emerson and The Hill started tracking them last November,” said Kimball. “The share of undecided voters has reduced and Biden gained ground in Georgia and Nevada, narrowing the gap, while Trump has maintained a slight edge on Biden in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
Trump leads Biden by four percent in Arizona (eight percent undecided), three percent in Georgia (nine percent undecided), one percent in Michigan and Nevada (11 percent undecided), five percent in North Carolina (10 percent undecided), and two percent in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (eight percent undecided).
Last November, the pollsters found that Trump led Biden by two percent in Arizona among both registered and likely voters (16 percent and 11 percent undecided, respectively).
In this latest poll, Trump won over more independent voters than Biden in Arizona (48 percent compared to 38 percent), as well as Michigan (44 to 35 percent), Nevada (43 to 37 percent), Pennsylvania (49 to 33 percent), and North Carolina (41 to 38 percent). Georgia and Wisconsin independent voters favored Biden, at 42 to 38 percent and 44 to 41 percent, respectively.
Biden had a 51 percent disapproval rating, compared to 40 percent approval in Arizona. The other swing states had similar dismal disapproval ratings for the president: 52 percent disapproval in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin; 53 percent disapproval in North Carolina; and 51 percent disapproval in Pennsylvania.
Third party candidates reflected a bigger hurt than help for the incumbent president in most swing states, save for Arizona and Michigan, where Biden and Trump came up even for voter support.
The poll found that a plurality of voters in all swing states believed that the New York criminal trial against Trump was appropriate, and not a “witch hunt,” as the pollsters described.
13 percent of Arizona Republicans polled said they would be less likely to vote for Trump if he received a guilty verdict in the trial. Overall, a majority of Republican respondents said they would be more likely to support the former president should he be found guilty.
Independent voters said they would be 32 percent more likely to vote for Trump if he is found guilty, 43 percent said the ruling would have no impact, and 25 percent said they would be less likely to support him.
The poll also asked voters about their U.S. Senate candidates and sentiments of their governors.
In Arizona, 45 percent supported Democrat Ruben Gallego to replace outgoing Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema, compared with 43 percent in support of Kari Lake. Gallego had a marginal gain of one percent compared to Lake’s three compared to the pollsters’ previous data from March.
Governor Katie Hobbs received a 42 percent disapproval rating, with 38 percent approving and 20 percent neutral. Hobbs was the only swing state governor on the poll that had a majority disapproval rating.
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by Staff Reporter | May 1, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The state declined to retry the case of George Alan Kelly, 75, the rancher charged with the deadly shooting of an illegal immigrant on his property.
Kelly faced the possibility of a retrial after a deadlocked jury resulted in a declared mistrial last week. As he walked out of the Superior Court building, Kelly said that he had faith God would protect him from those upset over the prosecutors’ decision.
“The nightmare’s over,” said Kelly. “God’ll look after me, like he always has.”
A small group of protestors awaited Kelly’s exit from the courthouse on Monday. A few shouted after Kelly as he walked away. Some of the protestors’ signs likened the shooting to a hate crime.
That illegal immigrant, Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, was found dead by Kelly last January after the rancher had allegedly fired warning shots above Cuen-Buitimea and the other illegal immigrants he was trespassing with on the property.
Accounts of Cuen-Buitimea crew differ, depending on who gave testimony. Authorities characterized the group as illegal immigrants evading Border Patrol during a typical illegal crossing. Kelly claimed the group’s presence was marked by a gunshot, and that the men were camouflaged and carrying assault rifles, one of which Kelly said was pointed at him.
Cuen-Buitimea had been deported for illegal entry into the U.S. at least three times from 2011 to 2016. According to a friend’s account to The New York Times, Cuen-Buitimea lived with his two adult daughters in Nogales. The pair met with the Mexican Consulate in Nogales and prosecutors after the declared mistrial last week.
One of Cuen-Buitimea’s travel companions, Daniel Ramirez, later served as the key witness against Kelly; Ramirez was imprisoned for drug smuggling nearly 10 years ago, though he falsely told the court that he had no prior drug-related convictions.
Ramirez’s testimony was later scrutinized for alleged editorialization and coaching by prosecution.
Santa Cruz County Attorney George Silva released the following statement after their decision to not retry Kelly:
“Because of the unique circumstances and challenges surrounding State vs. George Alan Kelly, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office has decided not to seek a retrial in this matter. However, our Office’s decision in this case should not be construed as a position on future cases of this type. Our office is mandated by statute to prosecute criminal acts, and we take that statutory mandate seriously. We will review all the facts of each case as they are presented to our office, and we will continue to prosecute all criminal acts that occur within our jurisdiction when a factual and legal basis exists for prosecution. Nothing follows.”
Following a similar statement from the county attorney’s office in court on Monday, Judge Thomas Fink said the court would schedule a hearing to determine whether to dismiss Kelly’s case with or without prejudice.
The Arizona Superior Court declared a mistrial last week after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Seven wanted to find Kelly not guilty, but one wanted to sentence him on the charge of second-degree murder.
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by Staff Reporter | Apr 29, 2024 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Peoria Unified School District (PUSD) parents expressed their displeasure over plans to reduce the privacy in several high schools’ bathrooms during this week’s regular board meeting.
The district is planning to remodel one set of male and female restrooms at Cactus High School and Ironwood High School, with the main goals of providing clearer visibility into the restrooms and increasing ADA compliance.
In presenting the proposed plans, Acting Superintendent Kevin Molino explained that students felt uncomfortable with other students using the bathrooms as private hangout spots.
“As we gather feedback, we’ll find a balance between privacy and safety,” said Moleno.
In order to remedy this, the entrances to the new bathrooms would provide a direct line of sight into the main gathering space between the sinks on one wall and the private bathroom stalls on the other.
Corky Haynes, a community member, expressed concern that the students’ privacy wouldn’t be respected — especially the girls.
Teddy Todd, another community member, asked that there be more privacy given to the girls’ restrooms: a narrower entryway view, and a wider and taller divider for the sinks (for washing out garments). Todd also suggested adding doors to the urinals, and transforming the service closet into a private, lockable single-stall bathroom with a sink and the water tank closeted off.
Trina Berg, an Ironwood High School and Peoria Education Association (PEA) President, said that the increased visibility would make teachers’ jobs easier in managing students congregating in bathrooms. Currently, Berg says teachers either have to yell or go into the bathrooms to remove students.
“As a teacher, the restrooms are a big source of behavior issues, because our kids are congregating in there,” said Berg. “Yes, privacy is a thing, but the doors are there, they’re shut.”
Mikah Dyer, an Ironwood High School senior and PUSD board candidate, said that the proposed renovations would improve safety and usability.
“The number one problem I hear about bathrooms in Ironwood is the vaping that’s happening and the overcrowding that’s happening during passing periods during lunches,” said Dyer. “Teachers need accessibility and visibility.”
The proposed bathroom renovations include vape sensors in each stall.
Jeff Toby, a parent of three female PUSD students, said his daughters were uncomfortable with the proposal.
Tiffany Benson, a community member, expressed concern that the bathroom remodels were another step to ending gendered bathrooms. Benson also said that the schools needed to be more proactive in addressing the students who were repeat offenders for bad behaviors in the bathrooms.
Wendy Rose, mother of two current PUSD students, said that the female students she asked were uncomfortable with the lack of privacy in the bathrooms.
Christina, mother of two PUSD students, wondered at the lack of urinals and, like others, the lack of privacy presented by noise issues.
Board member Bill Sorensen said there needed to be a way of gathering more student feedback on the proposal before the district moves forward.
Board member Heather Rooks objected to the policy as another alleged step toward getting rid of gendered spaces.
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