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.
A bill to help increase transparency for Arizona school board elections was vetoed by the state’s Democrat governor.
On Wednesday, Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed SB 1097, which would have “require[d] school district governing board election ballots to include each candidate’s partisan designation as specified beginning January 1, 2025” – according to the purpose from the State Senate.
In her veto letter to Senate President Warren Petersen, Hobbs explained that she had made her decision because the bill “will further the politicization and polarization of Arizona’s school district governing boards whose focus should remain on making the best decisions for students, [and that] partisan politics do not belong in Arizona’s schools.”
Senator Justine Wadsack, the bill’s sponsor, was outraged by the governor’s veto. She released a lengthy statement to call out Hobbs’ action, writing, “In her veto letter, Governor Katie Hobbs stated the school district governing boards’ focus should remain on making the best decisions for students. How can we ensure we’ve elected members that will make the best decisions for students if we don’t know where they stand on important issues? For example, Democrats have voted for things like detrimental mask mandates, extreme social distancing, calling children by different names and pronouns while withholding that information from their parents, and exposing our kids to inappropriate and vulgar content. In the past, we’ve also had Arizona school boards vote to ban educators based on their conservative Christian beliefs. Republican values, on the other hand, lie in protecting our children from harmful mandates, inappropriate content, and woke ideology, while empowering parents to take an active role in their child’s education. By vetoing this bill, Governor Katie Hobbs is conveniently pushing to protect the radical Left ideology infiltrating our schools.”
Wadsack added, “School boards are some of the most important elections we have in our communities. They’re the closest to our children, and our local school boards govern issues that impact the education and well-being of our families. We should be able to access this information without having to dig and deduce.”
— AZ Senator Justine Wadsack (@Wadsack4Arizona) April 18, 2024
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, representatives from the Arizona Free Enterprise Club, Opportunity Solutions Project, A For America, and Arizona Department of Education, had signed in to support the proposal. Representatives from Arizona Association of County School Superintendents, Arizona School Administrators, Southern Arizona Leadership Council, Arizona Education Association, and Save Our Schools Arizona, opposed the legislation.
The bill had first passed the Arizona Senate in February with a 16-10 vote (with four members not voting). It then was approved by the Arizona House earlier this month with a 31-28 vote (with one seat vacant).
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Democratic Congressman and Senate candidate Ruben Gallego was characterized as having “walked out” on his wife and unborn child in a new attack ad from GOP forces.
The ad, created by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), said Gallego left his former wife, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, for a “D.C. lobbyist”: his current wife, Sydney Barron, a lobbyist for the National Association of Realtors.
“If deadbeat dad Ruben Gallego would abandon his own family, he won’t be there for Arizonans when it matters most,” stated the ad.
A press release accompanying the attack ad pointed out that Gallego continues to champion women’s rights and prioritizing women on issues like abortion and higher pay, yet walked away from the closest woman in his life.
I grew up in a house with four strong, independent Latinas. They made me the man I am today.
To the women who made their impact and the ones paving the way for generations, this #WomensHistoryMonth, we celebrate you!
NRSC spokesman Tate Mitchell emphasized the timing of the Gallegos’ divorce as a disqualifier for Gallego serving in the Senate.
“Arizona women can’t trust a man who divorced his wife when she was weeks away from having their child,” said Mitchell.
Gallego once believed that divorce wasn’t an option, writing in a 2012 Twitter post that his Catholicism prevented him from ever seeking it. It’s unclear what changed for Gallego in the span of a few short years.
“I am Catholic [and] don’t believe in divorce,” said Gallego.
I am Catholic don't believe in divorce. Sorry Pakistan you are stuck with me #debate
Gallego and Barron didn’t begin dating until several years after the divorce. The pair wed in 2021.
Ruben and Kate were married from 2010, the year Gallego joined Congress, to 2017, when Kate was still part of the city council. The pair divorced shortly before the birth of their son, Michael.
Kate became mayor of Phoenix in 2018, after then-Mayor Greg Stanton announced his run for Congress.
According to Gallego, he met Barron in 2018. Gallego and his second wife welcomed their first child, a daughter named Isla, into the world last July.
Five years ago, I met Sydney at the Congressional baseball game, and now we’re getting ready to welcome our daughter into the world any day.
The Phoenix mayor doesn’t publicly appear to hold hard feelings against her ex-husband. She endorsed him last December.
“I’m proud to endorse Ruben because I know first-hand his commitment to building a brighter future for Arizona,” said the mayor. “We have real challenges facing our state that require a leader who is dedicated to fighting for working families and the most vulnerable. He’ll do an excellent job working for all of us as our next senator.”
However, Gallego has excluded the mayor’s endorsement from his official endorsement page. The only Phoenix official he’s featured under his lengthy list of Arizona official endorsements is former vice mayor Yassamin Ansari, who is now running for Congress.
The GOP attack line on Gallego’s love life and fatherhood record wasn’t a new concept rolled out recently. The NRSC released a similar ad last November with the characterization of Gallego as a “deadbeat dad.”
.@RubenGallego abandoned his wife when she was nearly 9 months pregnant, then married a DC lobbyist. @kyrstensinema is a liberal Democrat.
Gallego has posted about his son from his personal, now campaign account nearly every single month last year, with a sporadic array of posts in the years prior.
Becoming a dad was the best thing that ever happened to me. Michael brought me strength, humility, and so much love. Just a few weeks until i’m a dad of two.
