by Staff Reporter | Apr 30, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The Arizona Republican Party’s former treasurer and GOP candidate for the 2026 state treasurer’s race warned lawmakers against Governor Hobbs’ nominee for the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions (DIFI).
In a letter to Arizona state senators, state treasurer candidate Elijah Norton said that Hobbs’ DIFI nominee, Barbara Richardson, not only displayed troubling behavior during her two Director Nominations (DINO) committee hearings but had a poor performance record as director of DIFI. Norton owns multiple insurance and insurance-related businesses regulated by DIFI — some of which he says have been targeted by Richardson in the past.
Norton alleged that Richardson retaliated against him for testifying before DINO against her by asking the agency she formerly led — the Nevada Department of Insurance (NDI) — to investigate him. Norton said that one week after his DINO testimony, his company received an email from NDI demanding an National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) biographical affidavit.
“I believe that Ms. Richardson contacted a mid-level sympathetic bureaucrat in her old office and asked them to do this in retaliation for the well-documented part I played in bringing several issues to light that resulted in her failing the DINO confirmation vote,” said Norton.
Norton further attested that one day after he went public to Arizona lawmakers and political leaders about the NDI request he believed was prompted by Richardson, NDI called him to retract their request and ask instead for his Social Security number — information which NDI has had on file for over a decade, per Norton.
“The person on the phone sounded very nervous, and it appeared to me they were trying to ‘cover their tracks,’” said Norton.
According to Norton, this retaliation wasn’t new to him — or others. Norton also alleged Richardson targeted not only him but Barry Goldwater Jr. (son of late Senator Barry Goldwater) in the past with “regulatory retaliation.” According to Norton, Richardson banned him from calling the NDI while she was the Nevada Insurance Commissioner because he challenged a certain regulation. Goldwater Jr. allegedly faced similar problems after he voiced his opposition to Richardson to Arizona Senate leadership.
“[I] pushed back on a ridiculous minor change on a form that was going to cost my company over $10,000 and over 100 hours of time due to one of her unreasonable bureaucrats wanting me to underline one immaterial sentence — that would require me resubmitting the form to all of the various states. The requested change wasn’t even contained in the statute, rather the bureaucrat relied on the ‘promulgation clause’ (resembling the way she abused SERFF in Arizona),” stated Norton. “She retaliated by sending me a letter saying I was ‘banned’ from calling the Nevada DOI (despite paying them over $1,000 per year in regulatory fees), simply because I pushed back against an unreasonable regulation – violating my constitutional rights. This is the only time in my entire career this has occurred before and since.”
Norton also alleged Nevada lost its NAIC accreditation under Richardson, but available records reflect the state maintained its accreditation.
Norton also revisited key points of concern raised by Republican lawmakers over Richardson’s time as DIFI director during the first DINO hearing last month. Hobbs appointed Richardson to the DIFI position in March 2023.
In the first DINO hearing, Richardson was questioned about her service as chairwoman to a NAIC committee which considered variable insurance pricing based on race. The committee dissolved a day before her first DINO hearing last month.
That first hearing also revealed that, under Richardson’s directorship, System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing (SERFF) abuse occurred, significant increases to licensing times piled on, and services rendered decreased continually — of note, DIFI was found to have restricted its licensing hotline to voicemail only at certain times under Richardson’s tenure.
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by Staff Reporter | Apr 26, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Prescott residents are citing concerns over what they believe to be a progressive slant directing the city’s 2025 General Plan.
The latest draft of the general plan was rolled out for last month’s city council meeting. State law requires cities and counties to introduce growth-related plans every decade. These plans must include maps, diagrams, objectives, principles, standards, and plan proposals pertaining to land use, circulation and transportation, open space, growth areas, environmental planning, public services and benefits, and water resources.
Communities with populations over 50,000 persons must also include plans for conservation, recreation, extensive transit, public services, public buildings, housing, rehabilitation and redevelopment, public safety, bicycles, energy, and neighborhood preservation and revitalization.
The plan focuses on five “livability” goals: resiliency and sustainability (fire, environmental planning, water resources, climate, and energy); community connection (circulation or transportation, open space, wildlife corridors, and digital connectivity); great places and neighborhoods (land use and growth areas, historic preservation, recreation, dark skies, tree city USA, and bike and pedestrian paths); economic competitiveness and prosperity (economic development, tourism, growth and cost of development, housing, and the Prescott Regional Airport); and community quality (police, education assets, library, community center, healthcare assets, childcare and youth programs, and arts and culture).
Certain strategies of concern (out of over 300 proposed) outlined in the plan include developing and funding a transit system, changing wood burning stove and fireplace standards, redeveloping stormwater infrastructure to be “green” and more sustainable, changing new development ordinances, eliminating emissions in city-owned buildings, establishing electric vehicle infrastructure, redesigning local streets for lower speeds and multimodal use, and establishing a “Dark Sky” lighting code.
Some of these strategies hinged on the initial or continued reliance on local and federal funding.
A group of concerned, longtime citizens, “Prescott Pulse,” say the general plan would not only adopt California-esque policies, but jeopardize millions in housing, transit, airport, and water federal funding due to likely conflicts with the Trump administration’s prohibitions on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
Specifically, the group cited concerns over the inclusion of language expanding discrimination or harassment protections to sexual orientation and gender expression or identity.
The group also cited concerns over the plan’s extensive focus on enacting climate change policy, as well as the costs for proposed “Vision Zero” speed humps and cameras, lighting retrofits, bike lanes, tree mandates, and the additional property taxes connected with environmental reforms.
“We’ve watched as skewed narratives and incomplete information leave most residents unaware of what’s truly happening in our city council until decisions hit home and it’s too late to act,” said the group in a statement. “Today, our city stands at a crossroads. The divide between low-growth advocates and those who see the need for strategic expansion has never been clearer.”
Prescott Pulse also claims the proposed general plan goes beyond its intended scope of planning land use decisions (land, roads, water, and city growth) by introducing new property rights regulations and taxpayer burdens.
The general plan will appear on the November 4 ballot this year. The city council is scheduled to make a decision on the general plan during their meeting on May 27.
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by Staff Reporter | Apr 25, 2025 | Education, News
By Staff Reporter |
Scottsdale Unified School District (SUSD) parents are attempting to reverse the relaxation of the district’s dress code.
SUSD surveyed Scottsdale Parent Council (SPC) members about the district’s dress code, which parents criticized for failure to indicate a requirement for students to cover their midriffs.
The survey, shared by Scottsdale Unites For Educational Integrity (SUFEI), only included “genitals, buttocks, chest, and nipples” in its description of “private body parts” in a question to parents about appropriate student clothing.
SUFEI urged parents to respond to the survey in opposition to the question of appropriate student clothing and to leave a comment explaining their support for qualifying the midriff as a private body part.
Current SUSD dress code does not require students to cover their midriffs. However, the dress code does prohibit students from wearing anything deemed “hate speech,” along with any clothing depicting profanity, nudity, or pornography.
In 2022 emails reported by the Arizona Daily Independent last fall, the governing board’s then-vice president Libby Hart-Wells reportedly pressured SUSD administration to override the district’s Code of Conduct to allow girls to wear clothing that exposed the midriff.
Hart-Wells, who presided over the board last year, no longer serves on the board.
Most other districts around the Valley do not allow midriffs and have maintained the traditional set of dress codes, but several have begun to loosen their dress codes as well.
In 2023, Higley Unified School District (HUSD) removed policy language prohibiting clothes which “immodestly exposes the chest, abdomen, midriff, genital area, or buttocks,” instead reducing the prohibition to clothing exposing “undergarments [or] undergarment areas.”
Last year, Tucson Unified School District revised its policy citing concerns of sexism and equity, effectively allowing students to expose most of their breasts along with their entire torsos and buttocks.
Scottsdale parents concerned with the relaxed dress code are also coming off of other, more significant concerns with the district. Last year, the governing board approved a bonus to Superintendent Scott Menzel despite lower test scores. Menzel earned the bonus based on meeting several nonacademic achievement goals over the course of a year, not any of the academic ones: increased attendance rate, increased student extracurricular and cocurricular activity participation, increased certified staff retention, an established baseline for work-based learning opportunities and hours, and the production of a decision making matrix and proposal.
Under Menzel’s leadership for the past four years, SUSD enrollment dropped by over 1,500 students and science scores dropped 24 percent. Less than 50 percent of 8th grade SUSD students were proficient in math, despite 94 percent of students graduating.
Menzel has been a proponent of more progressive ideologies, such as those behind critical race theory and LGBTQ+ lifestyles. Menzel has defended the inclusion of sexualized discourses and subject matter on campuses as protected under Civil Rights law.
Menzel came to SUSD in July 2020 amid the racial reckoning sweeping the nation following George Floyd’s death in police custody. The year before, while still a superintendent in Michigan, Menzel gave an interview calling the white race “problematic” and meritocracy “a lie.”
“[White people] should feel really, really uncomfortable, because we perpetuate a system by ignoring the realities in front of us, and living in a mythological reality,” said Menzel. “In this country it’s about meritocracy. ‘Pull up yourself by your bootstraps, everybody has the same opportunity.’ And it’s a lie.”
The discovery of these past remarks prompted Scottsdale lawmakers to advocate for Menzel’s removal.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne also advocated against Menzel’s contract renewal last fall.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | Apr 24, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A New Mexico man detained by Arizona immigration enforcement after he falsely claimed he was an illegal immigrant has stirred up media coverage critical of the Trump administration.
Jose Hermosillo, a 19-year-old from Albuquerque, remained in border detention for nine days earlier this month until his family brought proof of his citizenship.
In a sworn affidavit released by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Hermosillo claimed he was a citizen of Mexico who had no claim to being a citizen of the United States and no documents issued by a legal authority permitting him to be in the United States. Hermosillo also claimed to the immigration officer that he had entered the country illegally “in the desert” for the purpose of obtaining work in Tucson over the next 20 years.
DHS issued a statement clarifying Hermosillo approached Border Patrol in Tucson and made these false statements.
“Mr. Hermosillo’s arrest and detention were a direct result of his own actions and statements,” said DHS.
Hermosillo’s family claimed to Arizona Public Media that Hermosillo “got lost” while walking near the Border Patrol facility in Tucson. At the time of the incident, Hermosillo was visiting family in Tucson with his girlfriend and their infant child. The family’s account conflicts with the DHS affidavit, in that the family maintained that Hermosillo told Border Patrol agents that he was a U.S. citizen.
Governor Katie Hobbs called Hermosillo’s detention “unacceptable” in a post on X and promised to receive answers from DHS.
“I will be in contact with @DHSgov and expect immediate answers for their wrongful detention of an American citizen,” said Hobbs.
Likewise, Attorney General Kris Mayes said on X that she contacted ICE for answers on Hermosillo’s detention.
“It is wholly unacceptable to wrongfully detain US citizens,” said Mayes.
Mayes’ post was issued about an hour after DHS assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin issued a statement detailing Hermosillio’s false confession of illegal immigration, and Hobbs’ post was issued hours after DHS released the sworn affidavit revealing Hermosillo’s remarks pertaining to his citizenship.
A court dismissed Hermosillo’s case without prejudice last week.
Hermosillo’s case wasn’t the only false confession of immigration status to make national news this week.
Two college-aged German women claimed they were deported after arriving in Hawaii to begin a trip exploring several states and Costa Rica. DHS dismissed these claims as reported by multiple outlets, revealing the two women were denied entry into the country for admitting their unlawful intention to work in the United States after falsely claiming they were only there to tour California under a Visitor visa and the Visa Waiver Program, respectively.
The response from DHS prompted the New York Post to delete their coverage portraying the women as victims of wrongful detention and deportation.
“Another false narrative. These travelers weren’t deported—they were denied entry after attempting to enter the U.S. under false pretenses,” stated DHS.
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by Staff Reporter | Apr 22, 2025 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona’s prisons are now under investigation by lawmakers following multiple inmate murders in a Tucson prison.
The chair of the Senate Public Safety Committee, Kevin Payne, announced the investigation Monday into the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry (ADCRR) over the recent murders of three inmates at the Arizona State Prison Complex-Tucson: Saul Alvarez, Thorne Harnage, and Donald Lashley. Alvarez was serving time for first degree murder, Harnage was serving time for sexual conduct with a minor, and Lashley was serving time for sexual conduct with a minor and molestation of a child.
Payne said in a statement the murders were “inexcusable and incredibly troubling,” and expressed concern for the safety of prison staff and officers. Payne also extended prayers to the families of the murdered inmates and said ADCRR had “failed” the three men.
“I fear for the lives of the correctional officers and staff who are reporting to duty every day and risking their safety in a facility that has proven it cannot prevent dangerous criminals from inflicting violence,” said Payne. “Director Thornell has some explaining to do, and the more time that passes by before we can determine the missteps that lead to these murders, the longer our law enforcement will be in danger of losing their own lives at the hands of inmates.”
The sole suspect in the murders, Ricky Wassenaar, was one of two men behind the two-week-long prison hostage crisis in 2004 — the longest in the nation’s history. At the time, Wassenaar was serving time for armed robbery and assault. The prison hostage crisis earned Wassenaar 16 life sentences.
Wassenaar previously claimed to prison officials and advocates that he murdered his cellmate, 81-year-old Joseph Desisto, last November. ADCRR ruled the cause of Desisto’s death as “undetermined” but clarified the medical examiner’s report didn’t find traumatic injuries supportive of Wassenaar’s alleged method of murder (strangulation).
Last week, ADCRR announced two other prisoners died from potential homicides while in facilities in Buckeye and Florence, respectively.
Then, last Friday, ADCRR acknowledged the uptick of inmate on inmate violence. ADCRR attributed the violence to its close custody units, including: Eyman’s Running Unit; Lewis’s Buckley, Morey, and Rast units; Tucson’s Cimarron unit; Winslow’s Kaibab unit; and Yuma’s Dakota unit.
These close custody units house the most high-risk prisoners with “histories of institutional violence, significant behavioral problems, [and] long-standing disciplinary issues.” Those categorized as “high-risk” account for about 5,000 of the over 35,000 inmates statewide.
ADCRR rolled out a series of immediate and forthcoming protective measures for staff and inmates, such as restricted movement with indefinite closed visitation. ADCRR assured the public that affected prisoners will still maintain access to showers, phones, mail, tablets, legal visits, mental and physical health appointments, medication, and in-unit work.
ADCRR Director Ryan Thornell condemned the uptick in violence as unacceptable.
“Violence is not, and should never be an acceptable part of incarceration,” said Thornell. “We will not allow continued negative behavior to disrupt our orderly operations or jeopardize the security of our institutions.”
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