by Corinne Murdock | Feb 29, 2024 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
State Rep. Alex Kolodin (R-LD03) is urging the Arizona Senate to do away with a bill allowing the export of the Valley’s emergency water reserve.
The bill, HB2201 sponsored by State Rep. Tim Dunn (R-LD25), passed the House with bipartisan support, 33-23, on Monday. Kolodin said that such a measure would inevitably raise utility bills.
“HB2201 allows part of Scottsdale’s emergency water supply to be transferred to out-of-county users, raising our utility bills,” said Kolodin. “I voted no. Needs to die in the Senate!”
Kolodin told AZ Free News that HB2201 will serve as a detriment to suburban ratepayers and force cities to compete for the dwindling supply.
HB2201 enables the interbasin transport of cities’ emergency groundwater supply from within the Harquahala Irrigation Non-expansion Area (INA) to any location within La Paz County. Dunn explained during last month’s hearing on the matter in the Natural Resources, Energy, & Water Committee that the bill would allow La Paz County to grow their existing water resources.
The Harquahala INA covers approximately 766 square miles within La Paz and Maricopa counties in the west-central portion of the state. Currently, Harquahala INA water supply may only be withdrawn and transported by the state and political subdivisions to the following initial Active Management Areas (AMAs): Phoenix, Tucson, Santa Cruz, Pinal, and Prescott.
AMAs rely heavily on mined groundwater and therefore come with higher levels of management than INAs. INAs regulate wells in rural farming areas where groundwater overdraft — the removal of too much water — is less severe. There are two other INAs in the state: Hualapai Valley and Joseph City.
These distinctions are outlined by Arizona’s Groundwater Management Act (GMA), passed over 40 years ago, which restricts interbasin water transportation for the state’s 51 groundwater basins in order to ensure AMAs maintain a 100-year water supply, also known as an assured water supply.
Healthy interbasin water transport hinges on a concept known as safe-yield: ensuring a safe balance between groundwater withdrawals and the natural and artificial recharging of water to AMA aquifers. Overdrafting can damage aquifer structure and limit future water storing capacity, increase the costs of drilling and pumping, and reduce the water quality.
Harquahala INA is considered an emergency savings account of sorts for water, saved in the event of prolonged drought: no groundwater has been transported out of the basin since 1990, according to the latest report from the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), the authority on water management. Yet, ADWR also reported that in almost all years from 2004-2022, the Harquahala INA had more water leaving the basin than entering mainly due to agriculture, which have made up 98 percent of the INA’s demand.
ADWR projected that annual supply would be insufficient for annual demand under any projected scenario over the next 50 years.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 29, 2024 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
While going to or from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, travelers may now make a pit stop at a new nearby marijuana shop.
The store is one of 16 locations in the state owned by Curaleaf, a marijuana dispensary company with 147 locations across 17 states. There are three other marijuana stores near the airport as well: JARS Cannabis, Local Joint by Zen Leaf, and Sunday Good Dispensary.
Marijuana remains illegal under federal law. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) lists marijuana as a Schedule I drug under the Controlled Substances Act: the highest classification shared by some of the most addictive and dangerous illicit drugs, like heroin and crack cocaine. The DEA describes Schedule I drugs as those with high potentials for abuse and creation of severe addiction.
Current DEA data reports that long-term, regular use of marijuana can lead to both physical and psychological dependence and withdrawal, as well as health problems such as bronchitis, emphysema, bronchial asthma, and suppression of the immune system.
The DEA’s take on marijuana may be subject to change in the near future. Last month, the DEA confirmed it was conducting a review to reschedule marijuana. Days later, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) released hundreds of documents outlining its recommendation to DEA to reschedule marijuana to a Schedule III drug.
In the meantime, current DEA scheduling means that marijuana products may not be transported over state lines, even between two states that have legalized marijuana — the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) technically prohibits the inclusion of marijuana in checked and carry-on bags. Officially, passengers may only bring products with .3 percent THC or less on a dry weight basis, or those approved by the FDA.
However, the TSA does disclose that its officers don’t actively look for marijuana during bag checks, and that it’s ultimately up to the officers to determine whether the passenger may proceed to travel with marijuana items.
“TSA’s screening procedures are focused on security and are designed to detect potential threats to aviation and passengers,” states TSA. “Accordingly, TSA security officers do not search for marijuana or other illegal drugs, but if any illegal substance is discovered during security screening, TSA will refer the matter to a law enforcement officer. The final decision rests with the TSA officer on whether an item is allowed through the checkpoint.”
That room for personal judgment appears to be in active use at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, according to travelers.
In recent months, some online users out of Phoenix claimed in a Reddit forum that they traveled successfully in and out of the airport with marijuana products.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) data, there are 200 marijuana facilities and nearly 20,000 providers in the state.
The state legalized recreational marijuana use in 2020. The ballot measure, Proposition 207, ensured that adults over the age of 21 may possess up to an ounce of marijuana legally.
The state imposes both a transaction privilege tax and a 16 percent excise tax on marijuana sales.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Feb 29, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Arizona State University requires employees to complete inclusiveness training every two years.
This includes three modules: Inclusive Communities, preventing harassment and discrimination, and Title IX duty to report.
Mandatory training videos include “Fighting Gender Bias at Work,” and “Understanding Intersectionality.”
“The view here is actually an expansive view of inclusion, not a very narrow one,” said Bryan Brayboy, vice president of social advancement at ASU in an introduction video.
The stated goal of training on inclusive communities is to “help create awareness, develop skills to meet the needs of diverse students and develop teams of people capable of working together to advance the ASU mission,” according to the webpage with the training modules.
Other available trainings at ASU include:
- Affirmative action
- Age discrimination
- Americans with Disabilities Act
- Diversity in the workplace
- How to strategically address social justice matters in the workplace
- Implicit bias and microaggressions
- Implicit bias in recruitment
- Tackling implicit bias and microaggressions
The webpage says ASU has more than 80,000 students on its campuses and more than 90,000 learners online. ASU is home to students from all 50 states and nearly 150 different countries.
“That creates a rich blend of backgrounds, making ASU highly inclusive and socioeconomically diverse,” the site says.
Arizona’s three public universities all promote diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, according to a Goldwater Institute report.
In the fall of 2022, ASU began requiring diversity statements from approximately 81% of job applicants.
Northern Arizona University required diversity statements from almost 73% of job applicants, and the University of Arizona required diversity statements from almost one third of job applicants.
The universities also encouraged applicants to incorporate critical race theory in written portions of their applications.
In August 2023, all three universities eliminated the use of diversity statements for job applicants after the Goldwater Institute’s report.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Feb 28, 2024 | Economy, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona legislative Republicans are working to lower gas prices for Arizonans at the pump.
Last week, the Arizona Senate approved SB 1064, sponsored by Senator Justine Wadsack, which “adds gasoline fuel reformulation options for all gasoline sold or offered for sale for use in motor vehicles in a county with a population of 1,200,000 or more persons and any portion of a county contained in outlined areas,” according to the purpose provided by the chamber.
The bipartisan vote in the Senate was 17-11 (with two members not voting) in favor of the legislation.
“From gasoline to groceries, electricity, housing, and every other basic necessity, Arizonans are paying thousands of dollars more per year to maintain the same quality of life they had just before Joe Biden took office. While we can’t prevent his implementation of the reckless policies that are hurting hardworking families, senior citizens, and young adults, we can help Arizonans keep more of their hard-earned dollars through commonsense solutions like SB 1064. I’m hopeful this legislation will be signed into law because it is the right move to make to improve the lives of our citizens.”
According to the press release from the Arizona Senate, the state is “currently required to provide drivers in Maricopa County [with] a specific fuel blend for cooler season months and a different fuel blend specific for warmer season months.” SB 1064, if signed into law, would “establish a free market solution by allowing as many fuel blends as possible.” Republicans have “identified eight comparable blends.”
Earlier this month, the bill passed out of the Senate Committee on Natural Resources, Energy and Water with a 4-1 tally. Two members on the panel did not vote.
Arizona Republicans have long been working on solutions to the state’s high costs for energy– especially since spring 2023. It was then that they learned the Governor’s Office was convinced by the EPA not to submit a waiver for an “alternative fuel type to provide an adequate supply for drivers and preventing a hike in gas prices,” despite oil companies warning state officials of significant refinery shutdowns and past Arizona Governors applying for and receiving that opportunity. According to Senate Republicans, “this catastrophe reduced the supply of the CBG (fuel blend)” produced for the state during the spring and summer.
Last year, Senator Jake Hoffman unleashed a blistering rebuke of Hobbs’ reported failure “to do the right thing by requesting this waiver to allow prices at the pump to drop.” Hoffman’s statement followed the aforementioned accounts of a letter that had been sent to Hobbs in March by independent petroleum refiner HF Sinclair, warning the state’s chief executive “of a critical supply shortage in Arizona due to an unexpected equipment failure stopping the production of CBG required by the Biden Administration in Maricopa County, as well as parts of Pinal and Yavapai Counties.”
At the time, Hoffman said, “Katie Hobbs’ incompetence as Arizona’s Governor continues to take center stage, and hardworking Arizonans are paying the price for it. The average price for a gallon of gas right now in Maricopa County is a full $1 higher than the national average. This is extra money that could help with groceries, medications and other necessities many of our taxpayers are having a difficult time affording because of the Biden Administration’s reckless policies leading to historic inflation.”
On the Arizona Legislature’s Request to Speak system, a representative from the Arizona Chamber of Commerce signed in to oppose SB 1064, while representatives from the Modified Motorcycle Association of Arizona and Americans for Prosperity Arizona endorsed the proposal. Representatives from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and the Arizona Petroleum Marketers Association registered their neutrality on the bill.
SB 1064 now heads to the Arizona House of Representatives for consideration.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Feb 28, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Smugglers continue to exploit the crisis at America’s southern border.
Earlier this month, the Chief Patrol Agent of the U.S. Border Patrol’s Tucson Sector, John R. Modlin, reported that members of his team had discovered the existence of two cloned Border Patrol vehicles in the field. He revealed that both vehicles were “intercepted by Three Points Station agents,” and he applauded “our vigilant agents for their unwavering dedication.”
Chief Modlin’s post followed one from Jason Owens, the 26th Chief of the U.S. Border Patrol, who had disclosed that one of the vehicles was involved in “a human smuggling event.” Chief Owens stated that “one agent was assaulted during the arrest of the USC driver & 11 undocumented subjects,” and that “criminal prosecution for the assault is being pursued.”
The “X” account for the Arizona Trooper’s FOP Lodge 32 weighed in on the news, writing, “The cartels are cloning Border Patrol vehicles AND assaulting Border Patrol Agents. This is beyond partisan talking points and virtue signaling. This is full blown anarchy and it has to stop.”
Arizona State Senator Janae Shamp took notice of the announcement. She posted, “Every state is a border state.”
The crisis at the border continues to overwhelm Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement, as cartels and smugglers exploit the lawlessness for their benefit. The Tucson Border Sector, where the cloned vehicles were found, has been the epicenter of the border crisis, leading the nation in border apprehensions month after month.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Corinne Murdock | Feb 28, 2024 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Phoenix resident Brian Anderson received a surprise last week when he checked the contents of his newly-registered UPS mailbox: a mail-in ballot made out to a woman who has lived in Fulton County, Georgia for the past decade.
“This person appears to have been living (and voting!) in Fulton County, Georgia since at least 2015,” said Anderson. “Yet her Maricopa ballots presumably have been mailed to this UPS box every election for the past decade?”
Anderson later reported that he marked the ballot as invalid and returned it to USPS.
Registered voters may obtain a mail-in ballot by either joining the Active Early Voting List (AEVL) or making a one-time request for such a ballot. Under AEVL, voters may receive early ballots by mail indefinitely, so long as they vote at least once every two election cycles, or four calendar years.
Anderson shared with AZ Free News what he’d discovered through public records: the woman named on the ballot had moved out of Arizona around 2013, and has voted in Georgia elections since at least 2016.
“I just don’t understand how no one has marked this lady as inactive after a decade,” said Anderson.
The continued mailing of ballots to ineligible voters doesn’t necessarily mean that those voters have voted in recent past elections.
Under a law passed in 2021 turning the Permanent Early Voting List (PEVL) into AEVL, SB1485, voters are supposed to be removed from AEVL if they haven’t cast an early ballot over the course of two consecutive federal election cycles and fail to respond within 90 days to a mailed notice from the county recorder. Such a response would have to include a written confirmation of that voter’s desire to remain on AEVL, along with their address and date of birth.
Removal from AEVL doesn’t cancel a voter’s registration, and doesn’t preclude the voter from rejoining AEVL.
The law is under ongoing litigation launched by progressive activists currently: Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes. They allege that the laws violate the First, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments along with the Voting Rights Act by imposing a greater barrier to vote that disproportionately impacts non-white individuals.
The implementation of AEVL is also under the subject of another lawsuit from Arizona’s GOP legislative leaders challenging Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ Election Procedures Manual (EPM). They alleged that Fontes’ EPM contradicts the implication of SB1485.
Instead of county recorders issuing notices to AEVL members who didn’t cast an early ballot over the 2022 or 2024 election cycles in 2025, Fontes’ EPM directs county recorders to send notices to AEVL members who didn’t vote by early ballot in the 2024 or 2026 election cycles. The GOP leaders argued that the scope of SB1485 included the 2022 election cycle, though Fontes contended that the cycle predated the law’s passage since the cycle began on Jan. 1, 2021.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
