The Trump administration greenlit another one of Maricopa County’s plans to incentivize clean air improvements.
The county plans to encourage the railroad and construction industries to voluntarily upgrade or replace their nonroad vehicles with cleaner emissions technologies through Maricopa County Rule 204.
The rule represents another effort to bring the county closer to compliance with the 2015 ozone standard of 70 parts per billion outlined by the federal Clean Air Act.
Maricopa County reported that it is currently designated as a moderate non-attainment area under the standard. Under the Biden administration in 2024, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) began to consider whether the Phoenix area warranted reclassification as a serious non-attainment area.
However, the EPA determined earlier this year that the county would have attained standards had it not been for international emissions, namely from Asia and Mexico.
The Maricopa Association of Governments reported that it found through modeling with the EPA that approximately 80% of regional ozone originates from natural sources or outside Arizona.
The EPA determination from this year spared the county from the burden of additional air quality regulations, which would have slowed and potentially reversed industry growth in the region.
The region has reported reduced local emissions of air pollutants by 50% since 2000. The county also reported on Tuesday that total emissions statewide have fallen by more than 70% since 1990, despite the population more than doubling.
On Tuesday, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin participated in a press conference to announce the incentives alongside Maricopa County officials, including Board of Supervisors Chair Kate Brophy McGee and Republican attorney general nominee Warren Petersen.
Zeldin remarked that Maricopa County’s approach to emissions reduction has been successful.
“They aren’t increasing emissions,” repeated Zeldin. “They are not breaking federal requirements. They are finding new, innovative ways to work within their circumstances.”
NEW: @MaricopaCounty & @EPA announce innovative plan to improve air quality and protect jobs. We appreciate this chance to work together to prove that a healthy environment and growing economy can go hand-in-hand. 1/3 pic.twitter.com/QigWcvgheM
Brophy McGee pledged that the new county rule would maintain county residents’ quality of life and would not hinder economic development.
“This plan demonstrates how a healthy environment and growing economy can work together,” said Brophy McGee. “By incentivizing rather than punishing job creators, implementing Maricopa County’s Rule 204 will improve the quality of the air we breathe while enabling key industries to continue investing in our community. I thank Administrator Zeldin and the EPA for working with Maricopa County and our business community on this innovative approach.”
Danny Seiden, president and CEO of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce, called the rule “smart policy” that ensured a win-win for the economy and air quality.
“For more than a decade, Arizona’s business community has worked to expand the tools available to reduce emissions while giving companies a workable path to invest, expand and create jobs,” said Seiden. “Rule 204 does exactly that: when businesses voluntarily replace older equipment with cleaner technology and achieve real, measurable emissions reductions, those reductions can help make continued economic growth possible.”
In April, the EPA approved Maricopa County Rule 205, another incentive which provides emission reduction credits to fleet owners and operators who upgrade or replace on-road vehicles with cleaner technologies.
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Democratic Rep. Yassamin Ansari (AZ-03) is romantically involved with a 24-year-old Democratic influencer under investigation by her committee.
Ansari is dating Jack Cocchiarella, a progressive political commentator with more than two million followers across YouTube, X, Instagram, and TikTok. Cocchiarella turned 24 last Friday, and Ansari is 34.
TMZ was first to publish their report as an exclusive, reportedly minutes after the deadline given by another reporter, Juliegrace Brufke of Sources Say News.
"Neither Ansari nor her office responded to multiple requests for comment … We sent that request this afternoon with an 8 p.m. deadline. TMZ's story posted at 8:03."https://t.co/72LswHWS6v
According to TMZ, Ansari met Cocchiarella for an interview last spring. Cocchiarella is based in Washington, D.C., and graduated from Columbia University last year.
Ansari told TMZ that her personal relationships have no bearing on her standing as an elected official, and that other political issues are of far greater importance.
“I’m not commenting on my personal life, nor is it anyone’s business,” said Ansari. “Right now, ICE is terrorizing communities across the country with zero accountability, and Trump’s reckless war in Iran continues raging on. I’m focused on helping to flip the House so we can pass meaningful legislation — that’s what we should all be focused on.”
However, Ansari’s relationship with Cocchiarella does have some overlap with congressional affairs.
Last November, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (Oversight Committee), on which Ansari sits, opened up an investigation into Chorus, a project of the Sixteen Thirty Fund which pays progressive content creators for political posts and on whose council Cocchiarella sat until recently.
Following reports of Cocchiarella’s relationship with Ansari, his profile page and inclusion on the creator council have been removed.
Chorus is alleged to have circumvented federal campaign finance disclosure requirements by paying content creators up to $8,000 per month to further Democratic messaging online in secret.
Chorus was established in the weeks following Kamala Harris’ loss to President Donald Trump in the November 2024 election. The New York Timescited Chorus charter members at length about Democratic efforts to match right-wing content creators that carried Trump to a delayed second-term victory.
Key organizers behind Chorus included Stuart Perelmuter, a Democratic operative paid by the Harris campaign; Josh Cook, former President Barack Obama’s digital strategist; Brian Tyler Cohen, another top YouTube influencer.
Chorus struggled to pull financial backing in its first few months of existence; then a report came out about these struggles last April, and the Sixteen Thirty Fund became the organization’s sponsor that same month.
In March, the Oversight Committee submitted a letter to those behind Chorus to address “a disturbing pattern of activity” to evade transparency about the Chorus project following the committee launching its investigation.
In May, the committee subpoenaed the Sixteen Thirty Fund to compel production of documents concerning Chorus.
So far, the committee’s investigation has found that Chorus-paid influencers created content advocating for candidates, ballot initiatives, and political parties.
Chorus has denied paying creators to support or oppose candidates.
The committee has not held a hearing on the investigation.
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Warren Petersen believes that Arizonans want their next chief law enforcement officer to prevent the extinction of female-only spaces, like girls sports and locker rooms.
Petersen, the Arizona Senate President and Republican nominee for attorney general, released a new, 30-second campaign ad on Tuesday featuring young female athletes declaring that “boys don’t belong in girls’ sports.”
“I work so hard. I practice every day after school. But some grown-ups think boys should be able to play against me, and use our locker rooms. That’s not right. Boys don’t belong in girls’ sports. Thank you, Warren Petersen, for fighting for me, at the capitol and at the Supreme Court, and for every girl in Arizona.”
Attorney General Kris Mayes, the Democratic incumbent, has had a “radical” and “extreme” tenure by refusing to respect the biological differences between genders and protect single-sex spaces, according to Petersen.
“Kris Mayes showed how radical she is by refusing to defend Arizona’s commonsense law to keep guys out of women’s sports and locker rooms,” said Petersen. “As Senate President I fought to protect girls. I will continue protecting girls as Arizona’s next Attorney General.”
🚨 NEW AD: I just launched my latest general election campaign ad, highlighting my proven commitment to protecting girls.
Kris Mayes showed how radical she is by refusing to defend Arizona’s commonsense law to keep guys out of women's sports and locker rooms. As Senate President…
The debate between Mayes and Petersen last month further illustrated the conflict between parties on law enforcement’s duty to define gender and police gender-based activities and spaces.
Petersen attacked Mayes for lacking the “common sense” to understand the biological differences between boys and girls.
“Talk about delusional,” said Petersen. “She thinks men can beat women, and boys are okay in girls’ sports.”
Mayes avoided the nitty-gritty of the more partisan political subjects like gender identity, instead arguing that the attorney general should be concerned with the areas where both parties could find more common middle ground, specifically naming fraud in the consumer, school choice, and Medicaid spaces; antitrust violations; environmental pollution; child support nonpayment; and drug trafficking as her examples of better office priorities.
“The primary objective of this office is to protect the people of Arizona and to make sure that corporations don’t take advantage of our state,” said Mayes.
Mayes declined to defend the Arizona Department of Education against a lawsuit filed in 2023 by the families of two transgender students challenging the state’s “Save Women’s Sports Act,” a state law passed in 2022 requiring students to play on sports teams aligning with their biological sex. That lawsuit was dropped over the summer following the Supreme Court’s June ruling in West Virginia v. B.P.J., affirming that biology, not gender identity, defines sex.
During Pride Month in 2023, several months after the transgender students sued, Mayes issued a press release condemning the Save Women’s Sports Act and all other “anti-LGBTQ bills” passed in Arizona and the nation. Mayes declared gender identity to be a civil right.
“With LGBTQ Americans – and particularly transgender Americans – increasingly targeted by extremist legislation designed to restrict their rights, I am reaffirming my office’s commitment to protecting the civil rights of all Arizonans,” said Mayes. “Federal and state civil rights laws protect the right of LGTBQ Arizonans to live, work, and freely access public accommodations without being subjected to discrimination, harassment, intimidation, or threats of violence because of who they are. My office is fully committed to enforcing these laws.”
Following Mayes’ refusal to join the case, Petersen joined the case alongside Arizona House Speaker Steve Montenegro (R-LD29) to defend the state law in the highest court through an amicus brief filed last September.
Petersen has fought in court in defense of the law for years.
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Thousands of early ballots for Maricopa County elections were mailed six days prematurely but are still valid to vote.
Runbeck Election Services, the county’s longtime vendor based in Phoenix, mistakenly mailed 3,126 early ballots on October 1, six days before the proper mailing date of October 7.
Maricopa County Recorder Justin Heap issued a press release on Sunday advising voters that they may cast their votes using these ballots. Heap disclosed that he received the go-ahead from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office.
The correct ballots were mailed to the correct voters and are therefore valid, according to Heap — just about a week too early.
“Upon consultation with the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, it was determined that the ballots remain valid and do not need to be voided or reissued,” said Heap’s office. “Voters may complete and return them normally. Any ballots received before early voting begins will remain unopened and securely stored until processing begins.”
Runbeck Election Services issued their own statement also advising the public that the ballots were correct and valid to cast a vote, just mailed out too early.
The company said it has already reviewed the release of the affected ballots at their facility and made verification steps for staged mail — presorted and prepared pallets of mail awaiting release to USPS — to prevent premature mailing in the future.
“The early delivery was a matter of timing in the release of staged mail to the USPS and did not involve the validity or production of the [Vote-by-Mail envelope mailers produced for individual voters] packets,” said Runbeck.
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has contracted with Runbeck Election Services for more than 30 years. It was about 20 years ago that the company began processing return envelopes for the county.
Rep. Abe Hamadeh (R-AZ-08) questioned Runbeck Election Services’ fitness for the job.
“This isn’t their first ‘mistake.’ One error is incompetence. A pattern is a system,” said Hamadeh. “Runbeck touches tens of millions of ballots, and Maricopa inexplicably keeps handing them the keys.”
Last summer, Hamadeh asked the Department of Justice (DOJ) to investigate Runbeck Election Services regarding claims that it breached protocols during the 2024 general election.
As of this report, the DOJ is currently investigating those claims.
Maricopa says Runbeck "mistakenly" mailed 3,126 ballots six days early.
This isn't their first "mistake." One error is incompetence. A pattern is a system.
Runbeck touches tens of millions of ballots, and Maricopa inexplicably keeps handing them the keys.…
— Office of Congressman Abe Hamadeh (@RepAbeHamadeh) October 5, 2026
In the post-2020 world of elections, news of the premature mailing of early ballots made it within the day all the way to the highest office in the nation.
President Donald Trump commented on the premature ballot mailing with criticism, claiming county officials weren’t being honest about what occurred and accusing them of conspiracy and fraud.
“Maricopa sent out thousands of ballots illegally and they got caught and now they’re saying it was an error,” said Trump. “Maricopa is a very, very dishonest county.”
President Trump on Maricopa County in Arizona sending thousands of election ballots ahead of schedule in an error: "Maricopa sent out thousands of ballots illegally and they got caught and now they're saying it was an error. Maricopa is a very, very dishonest county." pic.twitter.com/HzDPGavVY0
Kari Lake, senior advisor to the U.S. Agency for Global Media whose nomination for the Jamaica ambassadorship has stalled, also slammed Maricopa County for the premature mailing.
On Runbeck Election Services “mistakenly” sending out thousands of ballots too early—President Trump says this was “no error,” and he calls Maricopa County “very dishonest.”
A major health insurance company behind significant rate hikes has issued more campaign mailers in the Valley, this time targeting Legislative District 4.
Elevance Health financed attack mailers for Democratic State Senate candidate Aaron Lieberman against incumbent Sen. Carine Werner (R-LD4).
The mailers accused Werner of sponsoring a bill to make school board elections into partisan ones, supporting another bill to ban certain books, and bullying school staff.
“Carine Werner brought partisan bickering into our schools — and our kids are paying the price,” stated the mailer.
The first two accusations referenced Senate Bills 1441 and 1435, respectively. The former bill would have required candidates to disclose their political party affiliation on the ballot, but it was vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs. The latter bill would have made it a felony for public library employees or independent contractors to refer unemancipated minors to any sexually explicit materials in any manner. The latter bill failed to advance out of the House.
The third accusation referred to an incident last September when Werner was caught during a meeting on a hot mic criticizing a district employee. Werner observed that Patti Bilbrey, the district’s nutritional services director, was “morbidly obese.”
Along with Elevance Health, top donors behind the attack mailers also included Jackpocket Inc., a lottery courier service and subsidiary of sports betting giant DraftKings.
Campaign finance filings don’t reflect any donations from Jackpocket to Lieberman’s campaign.
State campaign finance records do reflect that Elevance Health donated $25,000 to the Arizona Democratic Party last year. They were not reported to have donated prior to that time. AZ Free News previously reported that Elevance Health was one of the top single donors last year to the heavily indebted Arizona Democratic Party.
Elevance Health has not been reported as a donor to the Arizona Republican Party, but it has been subjected to widespread coverage this past year for raising its rates by double digits.
Elevance Health recently raised premium rates by 24% across its Affordable Healthcare Act and Medicare plans, and requested another 17% increase for 2027. It also exited what it classified as underperformance programs, beginning with Louisiana and then the Washington, D.C. markets.
Elevance Health has appeared as a top funder on campaign mailers for other Democratic candidates, but usually alongside Arizona Public Service. The exception on this mailer may be due to Lieberman’s primary campaign promise to lower utility costs.
Apart from utilities, Lieberman’s primary campaign message has focused on improving the quality of public schools through increases to funding.
Lieberman was a state lawmaker from 2019 until 2021, when he resigned to run for governor. He dropped out of the race ahead of the Democratic primary. Lieberman’s victory would have made him Arizona’s first Jewish governor.
Lieberman is one of the 17 Arizona candidates backed by the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, which is focused on flipping seats to undo the Arizona Republican Party’s majority in the state legislature.
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