The third largest owner of radio stations in the U.S. is getting bigger with the announcement that it is expanding into Arizona and Utah by acquiring Cherry Creek Broadcasting LLC.
New York-based Townsquare Media confirmed last week it has agreed to pay $18.75 million to add Colorado-based Cherry Creeks’ 43 stations in 9 markets to Townsquare’s holdings The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, pending regulatory approval.
Townsquare is a community-focused digital media and digital marketing solutions company with 321 stations in 67 markets focused outside the top 50. Its only stations in the southwest U.S. have been in Texas, but that changes with the Cherry Creek deal.
Three stations based near the border in Sierra Vista -KTAN Thunder 98.1 (1420 AM and 98.1 FM), KWCD Country 92.3 FM, and KZMK All Hits K101.(100.9 FM)- are part of the deal, as well as three stations in southern Utah.
“Folding Cherry Creek’s quality brands and digital platform into Townsquare is the natural next phase in our growth journey and offers Cherry Creek employees access to a deep bench of resources and guidance to continue their shared mission.” said Jonathan Brewster, Cherry Creek CEO.
“As we’ve grown with the help of partners like Bain Capital Credit, we have maintained our focus on serving small-to-midsize communities and leveraging this platform to build a robust digital-solutions business that advertisers desperately seek.” Brewster added.
Kalil & Co. Inc. acted as exclusive broker for Cherry Creek.
A last minute bill which could give voters the chance to significantly increase the pay for Arizona’s 90 lawmakers and double the length of terms for state senators is set to be heard Monday.
The Arizona Legislature is in session at least 100 days each year starting in early January. Under current law, voters have the final say in setting the annual salary for the state’s 30 senators and 60 representatives.
That rate is $24,000 a year which has not changed for nearly 25 years.
However, Sen. David Gowan and Rep. Regina Cobb are supporting legislation under Senate Bill 1180 which would ask voters in November to set legislators’ pay at 60 percent of the governor’s salary. The governor’s annual pay is currently $95,000, meaning lawmakers would be paid $57,000 a year starting in January 2023.
But it is not only pay that would double for a state senator like Gowan, who represents all of Cochise and Greenlee counties, as well as southern Graham County and a portion of Pima County.
SB1180 includes language asking voters to change the length of Senate terms from two years to four years. And although state representatives would still serve two-year terms, all lawmakers would be allowed to serve up to 12 years in each chamber, for a total of 24 years if a lawmakers runs between the two chambers.
The current limit is eight years in each chamber, or 16 years total as a lawmaker.
To get the bill heard at this point in the session, Cobb has introduced an amendment to strike all the language of Gowan’s current SB1180, which was a COVID-19 expenditure reporting bill already passed by the Senate. The “strike everything amendment” is 25 pages that if cleared by the Legislature would put the provisions in front of voters in November as Senate Concurrent Resolution 1018.
Among the provisions is an overhaul the reporting system for lobbyists who make campaign contributions or expenditure on behalf of a state lawmaker.
According to SB1180, the current quarterly reporting of such expenditures would be replaced with a new mandate that those expenditures be reported within five business days. It also significantly increases the type of gifts to a state officer or employee or a member of the officer’s or employee’s householdwhich would have to be publicly reported.
Currently there is a long list of exemptions to the gift rule, allowing some public officials and employees or their families to accept travel, lodging, and speaking engagement fees without the “gift” ever being reported to the public.
The new transparency rules related to lobbyist activity would also require a new web-based digital platform application to allow for real-time entry of information and public accessibility. SB1180 would allocate $10 million to the Arizona Secretary of State to cover that cost.
On Monday, Cobb’s House Appropriations Committee will hear SB1180’s strike everything amendment. If it passes, the new version of the bill would go back to the Senate for approval because the language varies from what the Senate passed last month.
Gowan has been a strong advocate for ensuring more Arizonans can afford to run for the Legislature, particularly those who live hours away from Phoenix.
In the 2021 legislative session, he spearheaded a bill to change the per diem rates for lawmakers from outside Maricopa County. Those rates -which had equaled $60 a day for housing and food since 1984- were raised to $207 a day for the first 120 days of session.
Future rates will be adjusted based on the federal winter per diem rates set annually by the U.S. General Services Administration. Per diems are separate from pay or travel reimbursement.
The per diem bill became law when Ducey utilized a rare procedural maneuver to allow the legislation to take effect without a governor’s signature.
Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law a bill which raises the passing score of the Arizona Civics Test from 60 to 70 percent while noting that Arizonans have “a real responsibility to equip the leaders of tomorrow with knowledge of our nation’s founding principles.”
House Bill 2632 was among several pieces of legislation the governor signed on Thursday and Friday. It allows students to take the mandated test as early as middle school and requires that schools make test score data publicly available online. The enhancements to the test become effective with the graduating class of 2026.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Quang Nguyen, said HB2632 is important to ensure future generations understand our government, history, and principles.
“There are far too many Americans who aren’t equipped with this vital information to make decisions,” said Nguyen (R-LD1). “We must have an appreciation of our federal structure, separation of powers and fundamental respect for natural rights.”
In 2015, Arizona became the first state in the country to pass the American Civics Act which requires high school students to pass a basic civics test before graduation. It was the first bill Ducey signed after becoming governor.
And in 2020, Ducey signed legislation to establish Sandra Day O’Connor Civics Celebration Day, a day in which most classrooms across the state devote to civics education.
Then on Friday, the governor signed 17 more bills into law, including one which extends the temporary licenses of more than 2,000 health care workers until the end of the year.
Senate Bill 1309 was sponsored by Sen. Nancy Barto, who called it a simple, but necessary move to provide licensing boards with time to process full licenses or reissue licenses of health care workers. About 1,200 of those temporarily licenses have been given to nurses, who are in high demand.
“If these licenses were to expire, our critical health professionals would need to scramble to get relicensed,” said Barto (R-LD15). “This proactive bill ensures a timely renewal process to keep more people employed.”
Ducey’s signing of SB1309 was also welcomed by Dawna Cato, CEO of the Arizona Nurses Association.
“With an existing shortage of nurses, now is not the time to let temporary health professional licenses expire,” said Cato. “The Arizona Nurses Association fully supports the signing of this bill into law, as it helps the board process license renewals and will keep more of our frontline nurses where we need them – taking care of us.”
The other bills signed by Ducey on Friday were:
HB 2053 Department of Environmental Quality; continuation (Rep. Griffin)
HB 2057 Water Supply Development Fund; revisions (Rep. Bowers)
Jason Bowling will become Chief Executive Officer of Sulphur Springs Valley Electric Cooperative (SSVEC) on May 31, the date longtime CEO Creden Huber retires, it was announced Wednesday.
According to SSVEC President Curtis Nolan, Bowling’s selection came after a nationwide search initiated last October when Huber announced his intent to retire this year. The National Rural Electric Cooperative Association assisted SSVEC in recruiting industry professionals and other management leaders interested in helming the 40,000-member, not-for-profit company which serves much of southeastern Arizona.
“I’m pleased with the diligence of our board members in identifying Jason Bowling as the best candidate to take over a position that has benefited from 27 years of great leadership under Creden Huber,” Nolan said of Bowling’s selection. “I’m also confident that this transition will be smooth, and that the Cooperative will continue to serve the best interests of our members.”
SSVEC is the largest of the six electricity distribution cooperatives across Arizona.
Bowling, a 16-year employee, has served the last five years as the company’s Chief Administrative Officer. His position with the company prior to that was as Human Resources Manager.
Bowling, a University of Arizona alumnus, hold an MBA from Southern New Hampshire University. He said he is humbled and excited for the opportunity to serve SSVEC’s members as CEO at a time when the industry is facing unique challenges.
“We have phenomenal employees at SSVEC,” Bowling said. “They are experienced, dedicated, and hard-working professionals. This gives me great confidence.”
In addition to his work for SSVEC, Bowling serves as a board member for the Sierra Vista Area Chamber of Commerce and also Arizona@Work.
Created in 1938 to serve 266 members in rural northeast Cochise County, SSVEC’s 5,700 square mile service territory now covers most of Cochise County as well as parts of Graham, Pima, and Santa Cruz counties, including the communities of Benson, Bowie, Elfrida, Huachuca City, Patagonia, Pearce-Sunsites, St. David, San Simon, Sierra Vista, and Willcox.
Huber has served as SSVEC’s CEO since 1995. He added his endorsement of Bowling’s selection.
“I’m confident that the organization will continue to meet and exceed the expectations of our members and the industry under Jason Bowling’s leadership,” Huber said.
SSVEC covers its expansive service area with more than 4,100 miles of energized line supported by 32 substations. The company recently achieved 51 percent equity for its members, installed a state-of-the-art metering infrastructure, and improved its financial standing with an “A” rating from an established Wall Street ratings firm.
The Arizona Senate has passed legislation which would prohibit a hospital or health care provider from imposing any treatment for COVID-19 or a variant but the bill has stalled in the House where Speaker Rusty Bowers has not scheduled it for its First Reading.
According to sponsor Sen. Nancy Barto, the legislative intent of Senate Bill 1393 is to confirm that public policy makes it “a fundamental right” to refuse any COVID-19 treatment or vaccination. Yet despite clearing the Senate on March 15, House Speaker Rusty Bowers has yet to allow the bill to have its First Reading in that chamber.
SB1393 would allow health care providers to ask a patient to specify in writing the circumstances under which the patient would accept a COVID-19 treatment if the patient cannot later express his or her consent. For purposes of the proposed legislation, a health care provider is defined as a licensed physician, a licensed nurse practitioner, or a licensed physician assistant.
The bill also requires a hospital or health care provider to ensure a patient who refuses a COVID-19 treatment is counseled and given information on other treatment options. No treatment could be mandated without a patient’s informed consent.
In addition, a patient orimmediate family of the patient would have to be advised of the patient’s right to leave a hospital; immediate family is described as a patient’s spouse, parent, child, sibling grandparent, or legal guardian.
Barto’s co-sponsors on SB1393 were Senators Sine Kerr, David Livingston, and Warren Petersen. The bill was supposed to be heard by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday morning, but without a First Reading that could not occur.
The Arizona Medical Association and most of the state’s hospitals oppose the bill.
