A Republican State Representative is being recognized for his leadership.
Last week, Arizona State Representative Quang Nguyen, the Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that he was “among a select group of Republican legislators nationwide chosen for GOPAC’s 2024 Class of Emerging Leaders, an honor which recognizes a member’s strong sense of service, purpose, and effective leadership in the State Legislature.”
State Representative Quang Nguyen Named Among Nation’s Emerging Leaders
“In my time as a legislator, I’ve dedicated myself to addressing the challenges that our state and communities face,” said Representative @QuangNguyenAZ. “I very much look forward this unique opportunity… pic.twitter.com/9CRYvcMS3J
— Arizona House Republicans (@AZHouseGOP) April 16, 2024
In a statement to commemorate the news, Representative Nguyen said, “In my time as a legislator, I’ve dedicated myself to addressing the challenges that our state and communities face. I very much look forward to this unique opportunity presented with the Emerging Leaders Program and will seek to apply what I learn to my legislative efforts and serve the people of Arizona.”
According to the press release issued by Nguyen’s Office at the Arizona House of Representatives, the GOPAC Emerging Leaders Program “is an annual initiative designed to develop the next generation of Republican leadership. Candidates are nominated by their state’s legislative leaders and chosen by GOPAC for their potential to effect positive changes in their states and rise within Republicans ranks.”
Representative Nguyen serves Yavapai County in Legislative District 1.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
On Monday, the Arizona Superior Court declared a mistrial in the case of George Alan Kelly, 75, the rancher who shot and killed an illegal immigrant trespassing his property.
The jury was unable to reach a verdict in Kelly’s case (CR-23-0026). Judge Thomas Fink scheduled a status reading for next Monday, April 29, to allow the state to determine whether it would request a retrial.
Fink read aloud a note from the jurors insisting that further deliberations wouldn’t resolve their deadlock.
The Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office initially charged Kelly with first-degree murder for killing an illegal immigrant, 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, trespassing Kelly’s property in Nogales last January. Cuen-Buitimea had previously been convicted and deported several times. The attorney’s office later lowered the charge to second-degree murder.
According to court documents, discovery of Cuen-Buitimea’s remains occurred after Kelly had called law enforcement twice: once in the early afternoon to report illegal immigrants possibly firing shots on his property, and once that evening to report the discovery of Cuen-Buitimea’s remains. Cuen-Buitimea was found unarmed.
Kelly’s co-counsel, Kathy Lowthorp, told NewsNation post-verdict that the jury was 7-1 for a “not guilty” verdict. Only one juror believed that Kelly was guilty of second-degree murder. Their defense team unsuccessfully fought the mistrial ruling and supported extending jury deliberation. The prosecution supported the declaration of a mistrial.
The jurors opted to maintain their deadlock over a unanimous decision on either reckless manslaughter or negligent homicide, which Fink suggested.
The Arizona Superior Court posted all videos of the 18-day trial to their YouTube page; they have also posted relevant case documents to their website, which includes the minute entries outlining the main events in the trial. The trial began exactly a month ago.
During court proceedings, Kelly’s other co-counsel, Brenna Larkin, testified that Cuen-Buitimea was one among a group of five men trespassing his land with large backpacks and rifles. Larkin clarified that Kelly shot in the sky above the men to ward them off after hearing a shot fired, ostensibly by the group of men.
Larkin stated in closing arguments that Cuen-Buitimea posed a very real threat to Kelly and his wife.
“Long story short, this is simply not somebody who’s looking for the American dream,” said Larkin. “There’s no evidence that this person is here for those kinds of benign purposes.”
The prosecution’s key witness against Kelly — Daniel Ramirez, another in the group that trespassed Kelly’s land on that fateful day — has falsely told the court he had no prior drug-related convictions, though he was previously convicted of drug smuggling nearly a decade ago.
Kelly’s counsel further claimed that the prosecution had coached, editorialized, and mistranslated Ramirez’s testimony.
“It is particularly disturbing that the State either failed to review the witness’s criminal history prior to putting him on the stand, or the State concealed the witness’s criminal history,” stated Kelly’s counsel.
AP News reported that Nogales’ consul general of the Mexican consulate, Marcos Moreno Baez, waited with Cuen-Buitimea’s daughters on Monday after the verdict to meet with prosecutors.
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The largest Christian university in the U.S., Grand Canyon University (GCU), defended itself against “disturbing and defamatory” public comments made by the U.S. Department of Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.
“Mr. Cardona’s inflammatory comments, which are legally and factually incorrect, are so reckless that GCU has no choice but to demand an immediate retraction,” the statement says. “He is either confused, misinformed or does not understand the actions taken by his own agency.”
At the House Appropriations Committee hearing last week, Cardona said “we are cracking down not only to shut them down, but to send a message to not prey on students.”
The Goldwater Institute filed a lawsuit on behalf of GCU in February due to the Biden administration imposing a $37 million fine on the school. The conservative think tank claims the administration has refused to provide documents that explain why it fined GCU.
“GCU has been asked repeatedly why it believes it is being targeted by federal agencies of the Biden Administration,” the school’s statement reads. “Here’s what we can tell you: Mr. Cardona’s inflammatory comments make very clear the Department of Education’s intentions and their disdain for institutions that do not fit their ideological agenda. What’s also clear is that ED has no lawful grounds to carry out those intentions based on their disingenuous and factually unsupportable allegations.”
The Education Department’s conduct extends normal regulatory activity, the statement says.
“It epitomizes the weaponization of federal agencies’ power against a private Christian university,” according to the statement.
GCU is confident an impartial court of law would exonerate it from the allegations.
“GCU’s intent is to fight these accusations all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary,” the statement says. “The Department of Education’s intent, based on the frivolous nature of its accusations and defamatory statements from ED officials, seems to be to damage the university’s reputation, use its ‘findings’ as a rationale to seek loan forgiveness for students under the borrower’s defense to repayment program and impose unprecedented fines and legal fees. In other words, regardless of the inevitable legal outcomes in GCU’s favor, the process becomes the punishment.”
GCU has more than 118,000 students. The Phoenix university says it will continue to thrive.
“With 118,000 students and growing, GCU is thriving and will continue to thrive. In an industry that is struggling and slow to change, GCU has created a model that has allowed it to freeze tuition on its ground campus for 16 straight years, increase diversity and social mobility by ensuring that higher education is affordable to all socioeconomic classes (over 40% of GCU’s ground campus student body are students of color), maintain lower student loan default rates than the national average and lower student debt levels than other private universities, and produce nearly 30,000 graduates in each of the past three years.”
The statement continued, “If a government-run institution produced those kinds of outcomes, it would be applauded. At the largest private Christian university in the country, it draws unwarranted threats from the Secretary of Education and the ire of the federal government.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
A Democratic Arizona congressman waved a Ukrainian flag on the House floor after the approval of additional Ukraine aid, though the Grand Canyon state is facing a crisis of its own.
Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Phoenix, waved a Ukrainian flag on the floor of the U.S. House on Saturday as members of his Democratic Party chanted “Ukraine.” Stanton joined a minority of Republicans in approving $60 billion in additional military aid for the Ukrainian government.
Phoenix radio personality, James T. Harris, raised questions about Stanton’s priorities. Arizona is currently the number one hotspot for illegal border crossings.
“Why [is] Congressman Greg Stanton from AZ waving a Ukrainian flag? What about the invasion on his Southern border?,” Harris said on Twitter.
Why Congressman Greg Stanton from AZ waving a Ukrainian flag? What about the invasion on his Southern border? pic.twitter.com/jzB1l1mUE2
During the first four months of fiscal year 2024, Border Patrol recorded more than 250,000 migrant apprehensions in the Tucson sector, the most of any region patrolled by the agency, according to federal government statistics.
Even House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who pushed the aid bill, denounced the flag waving.
“These are not normal times here in the House or around the world, as we all know and we saw a disturbance on the House floor just a bit ago,” Johnson said of the demonstration. “I just want to say simply that I think most people around the country understand and agree we should only wave one flag on the House floor, and I think we know which flag that is.”
The bill, tying military aid to Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan with humanitarian assistance for Gaza, was a victory for Johnson after he brought the proposals to the floor despite objections from his party. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., is leading a movement to oust the speaker.
The aid package passed on a 311 to 112 vote, with Arizona Republicans Juan Ciscomani and David Schweikert joining Ruben Gallego and Stanton in approving the measure. Gallego reportedly held a Ukraine flag but did not wave it.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
Arizona is the state with the third best economic climate, according to a new report from the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).
“Arizona’s high ranking is a direct result of significant pro-growth income and property tax reform that has supercharged our economy,” President of the Arizona Free Enterprise Club Scot Mussi told AZ Free News. “In the last decade we have slashed our income tax rates in half, cut taxes on capital gains, and significantly reduced the property tax burden on small businesses.”
Utah and Idaho surpassed the Grand Canyon state for best economic climates. New York, Vermont, and Illinois placed in the bottom three.
Arizona has moved up from 13th place in 2021 to third in 2024. Arizona’s population increased by 115,900 from July 1, 2022, to July 1, 2023, estimates from the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity show. This translated into 1.6% growth, much faster than the U.S. at 0.5%.
Arizona ranks third for tax expenditure limits, first for being a right-to-work state with the option to join or support a union, first for estate/inheritance tax levied, and first for remaining tax burden.
It also ranked second for public employees per 10,000 of population and eighth for average worker compensation cost.
Mussi said Arizona is on track to continue its route of economic growth.
“As long as we keep these reforms in place, Arizona will remain a destination for both families and entrepreneurs,” he said.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
One Arizona Republican lawmaker is cheering on the success of her efforts to protect children in her state this legislative session.
Earlier this week, Senator Janae Shamp issued a press release to highlight two of her bills that were recently signed into law by Democrat Governor Katie Hobbs. Those bills were SB 1236 and SB 1404.
🚨 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Senator Shamp Champions Legislation to Protect Arizona’s Children pic.twitter.com/JowWIL4vKy
According to the legislative fact sheets for both proposals, SB 1236 would “modif[y] offender age thresholds that require the Department of Public Safety to include offenders of specified offenses on the Internet Sex Offender Website;” while SB 1404 would “require registered sex offenders with legal custody of a child to provide name and enrollment information on the child and expand mandatory community notifications to include level-one sex offenders of a dangerous crime against children.”
Hobbs signed SB 1404 on March 29, and SB 1236 on April 16.
“This session, I made it my goal to be a living nightmare for sex offenders,” said Senator Shamp. “I introduced several bills, including SB 1236 and SB 1404, to protect our state’s most innocent and vulnerable, while increasing consequences for criminals who commit these horrific crimes. DCACs include sex trafficking, mutilation, prostitution, and commercial sexual exploitation. These crimes have lifelong, and potentially deadly effects on a child. Every parent and every school deserves to know who these criminals are in order to better protect their children.”
Both laws will go into effect in the State of Arizona 90 days after the legislature adjourns for the 2024 session.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
