by Elizabeth Troutman | Jan 23, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Arizona State University’s McCain Institute hosted a discussion on the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2023.
The organization, which claims to be nonpartisan, invited CBS News Chief Washington Correspondent Major Garrett and left-leaning election law advocate David Becker to discuss their 2022 book, “The Big Truth: Upholding Democracy in the Age of ‘The Big Lie,’” with Executive Director of the McCain Institute Evelyn Farkas.
“This book, although it was written in 2022, is incredibly timely… because right now… we have the former president of the United States in D.C.’s court of appeals sitting there listening to an argument about whether he should have immunity for actions that he took, things that he said in the 2020 election,” Farkas said.
In 2020, the election process was “placed under more pressure than ever since the Civil War” and “was carried out with the highest turnout ever, the most diverse populace ever to participate in a presidential election in our history,” according to Garrett.
“Those things are signs of success, not failure,” Garrett continued.
The discussion fell on the third anniversary of the Jan. 6, 2021, breach at the U.S. Capitol and focused on “what actually happened in the 2020 election.” The speakers discussed the “misinformation” designed to “con and beguile Americans into chasing phantom allegations of election crimes.”
“People who spread disinformation don’t necessarily have to convince you of the lie, they just have to convince you that nothing is true,” Becker said at the event.
The election “was an impressive example of democracy at work, despite attempts to overshadow its success,” according to the McCain Institute.
The McCain Institute has a history of dwelling on the 2020 election years after the fact. The ASU center hosted a panel discussing “election denialism” and former President Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” about the 2020 election in February.
Inspired by Senator John McCain and his family, the McCain Institute is part of Arizona State University and based in Washington, D.C. The book discussion was part of the institute’s Authors and Insights book talk series, which started in 2020.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Jan 23, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Western Maricopa Education Center reported high attendance and academic achievement scores in the fall 2023 semester.
West-MEC is a career and technical education school district with 45,000 students across its four campuses and 49 high schools in the West Valley.
“West-MEC provides students with the technical and professional skills to realize their career dreams and achieve economic independence,” West-MEC Assistant Superintendent Stephen Weltsch said. “This responsibility is too important to leave to chance; the district’s learning system includes sophisticated metrics to track continual student progress.”
More than two-thirds of central program students earned at least one industry-recognized certificate for a total of 2,812 credentials. This marks an increase of more than 35% as compared to last year at this time.
More than half of the credentials earned are required or preferred by employers of each program’s respective fields. One-hundred percent of students enrolled in programs at West-MEC’s central campus earned credit during the fall semester, and 99% achieved a C or higher.
“Even though we are only halfway through the school year, these are phenomenal achievements by West-MEC’s students,” Weltsch said.
West-MEC also reported high attendance rates, with 95% of students having less than ten absences, 71% less than five, and 15% of students with zero absences.
“These high attendance rates are a true testament to West-MEC’s staff and its students’ engagement, commitment, and passion for the program they are in,” the Jan. 19 news release reads.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 22, 2024 | Economy, News
By Daniel Stefanski |
The Grand Canyon State is one of the best in the country for starting a business.
According to a recently released report from WalletHub, Arizona ranked sixth in the nation for entrepreneurs looking to start a business. The 2024 Best & Worst States to Start a Business report had Utah as the number-one ranked state in the country and Rhode Island as the last-ranked. Two of Arizona’s other neighbors, Nevada and Colorado, came in at fifth and seventh, respectively.
Cassandra Happe, a WalletHub Analyst, said, “Starting a business is a difficult and risky process, but where you live can highly influence your chances of success. Before establishing a business in any location, make sure to do research to ensure it’s an ideal place for your customer base, has enough labor and supplier availability, and suits your needs when it comes to financing.”
Happe pointed to Utah’s great “access to loans” and “largest annual employment growth in the country” as two major indicators for its first place showing in the report.
The report factored average growth in number of small businesses, labor costs, availability of human capital, average length of work week (in hours), and cost of living. Arizona ranked sixth and seventh in small business growth and human capital, respectively; yet fell to twenty-fifth in both labor costs and work week hours, and twenty-seventh in cost of living.
In a separate WalletHub study, Best Large Cities to Start a Business, Scottsdale and Phoenix appeared in the top-30, at twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth, respectively. Three east valley cities, Gilbert, Chandler, and Mesa, clocked in at thirty-first, thirty-fifth, and thirty-eighth, respectively. Glendale and Tucson were noted at forty-sixth and fifty-first, respectively.
WalletHub gave several tips to men and women contemplating a business start-up. Those suggestions were as follows:
- Thoroughly Research Your Market
- Create a Solid Business Plan
- Focus on a Unique Value Proposition
- Choose a City that Fits Your Needs Well
- Manage Finances Wisely
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 22, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona Republican legislators continue to work alongside state attorneys general in significant legal fights in federal court.
On Friday, the Arizona State Senate Republican Caucus announced it had joined an amicus brief to the Supreme Court of the United States in Trump v. Anderson, defending the former president’s right to remain on the ballot in Colorado – and every other state – for the upcoming election. This action follows a similar effort, where legislators, led by Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma, signed their names to a brief that successfully petitioned the nation’s high court to hear the case.
This latest amicus was led by the States of Indiana and West Virginia and co-signed by twenty-three additional states. Notably, the legislative leadership of North Carolina also joined the coalition of attorneys general and the Arizona Legislature in the filing. As with Arizona, North Carolina has a Democrat attorney general and a Republican-led legislature.
Senator Jake Hoffman championed the newest sign-on from the state legislature, writing, “With a Leftist AG in Arizona who refuses to stand up for the rule of law, the conservative-led Legislature has stepped up to defend not only the laws of our state, but the very fabric of our republic. Proud to stand with Warren Petersen and the Arizona Senate Republicans on these legal battles.”
Representative Alexander Kolodin added, “Democrats are trying for a Chinese style election where only their presidential candidate appears on the ballot. The Arizona House and Senate Republicans are stepping up to defend democracy against this threat!”
In their brief, the attorneys general and legislators warn that “if the Court endorses what happened in Colorado, then the chaos can only be expected to worsen. No doubt a political tit-for-tat will ensue, in which competing parties will find new avenues to disqualify their opponents. And elections could then come down to small variations among state elections laws and the political composition of state administrations. In short, indulging challenges of this sort and in this posture will ‘sacrifice the political stability of the system’ of the Nation ‘with profound consequences for the entire citizenry.’ At a minimum, it will ‘expose the political life of the country to months, or perhaps years, of chaos.’”
The legislators’ sign-on to this brief marks yet another time they have joined Republican attorneys general on their legal filings over the past couple months. At the start of the year, the Arizona Legislature joined an amicus brief in federal court to help challenge California’s Assault Weapon Control Act. That brief was led by the attorneys general of Idaho, Iowa, and Montana, and co-signed by almost two dozen additional states.
In December, Petersen and Toma joined a public comment letter to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to address its newly proposed rule, Definition of “Engaged in the Business as a Dealer in Firearms.” That letter was led by the States of Kansas, Iowa, and Montana, and co-signed by 22 other attorneys general.
Over the past month, the two Republican legislative leaders have signaled a more aggressive shift in taking the reins from Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to defend the law and Constitution. Attorneys general are not usually joined by outside parties on their amicus briefs, yet multiple coalitions of Republican state prosecutors have included Petersen and Toma on these major filings. In previews for the 2024 legislative session, both the House and Senate Majority Caucuses indicated more of these efforts are to be expected throughout this year.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | Jan 21, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A surprisingly controversial bill from 2023 cleared its first hurdle this week at the Arizona Legislature.
On Wednesday, HB 2042 (“The Tamale Bill”), sponsored by Representative Travis Grantham, passed the House Regulatory Affairs Committee with a 6-0 vote. According to the overview from the Arizona House, this bill would “expand the foods that meet the exemption for cottage food products if requirements are met, and establish program guidelines and requirements.”
The Arizona Department of Health Services (AZDHS) oversees the cottage food program. Its website states this program “allows individuals to make homemade products that are neither potentially hazardous nor Time or Temperature Control for Safety Foods, and offer them for commercial sale.” According to AZDHS, the law was amended twice – once in 2011 and another in 2018. The 2011 change “allow[ed] residents to produce non-potentially hazardous baked and confectionery products in their homes and offer them for commercial sale within the state.”
In a statement to AZ Free News, Grantham said, “I’m glad it passed committee unanimously and I hope the governor will sign it into law this time.”
Grantham’s reference to the governor’s future action harkens back to the 2023 legislative session, when Katie Hobbs vetoed the bill after overwhelmingly bipartisan support in both the House and Senate. In her April 18th veto letter to Speaker Ben Toma, Hobbs gave several reasons for her decision, including that the proposal “would significantly increase the risk of food-borne illness by expanding the ability of cottage food vendors to sell high-risk goods.” After the governor’s veto, the Arizona State Legislature attempted to override the action, but fell five votes short in the House of Representatives.
The President of the National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators (NHCSL), Nellie Pou, wrote a letter to Senate President Warren Petersen and Speaker Toma after Hobbs’ decision last year, supporting the “efforts to override the Governor’s veto.” Pou expressed disappointment in Hobbs’ veto, writing, “By signing this bill, the Governor had an opportunity to support the Hispanic community and personal freedom that should be accessible to everyone. Our community should not fear legal repercussions for selling their homemade foods.”
Democrat State Representative Alma Hernandez also made clear her disappointment over the spring 2023 veto. Hernandez said, “As a public health professional, I am VERY disappointed to see that a bipartisan bill allowing Arizonans to make an honest living by selling things like tamales, tortillas, and sweets legally was vetoed by Gov. Katie Hobbs. It makes no sense.”
After Senate Democrats released a statement to announce that they would not provide “the required votes needed to override” the governor’s veto of the bill, Arizona Republic columnist Laurie Roberts took the legislators to task, saying, “Senate Democrats’ change of heart on the tamale bill isn’t about protecting the people from imagined illness. It is all about protecting a governor from embarrassment.”
Hobbs may now get a second chance at “redemption” if the bill were to clear both chambers for the second year in a row. The 2024 version does include some changes in hopes that the Governor’s Office will be more receptive this time around.
Representatives from the Institute for Justice – AZ Chapter, Barry Goldwater Institute for Public Policy Research, Arizona Free Enterprise Club, Arizona Craft Producers, North Phoenix Chamber of Commerce, and Americans for Prosperity – AZ, indicated their organizations’ support for The Tamale Bill as it commences another legislative journey. The Arizona Restaurant Association remains neutral on the proposal.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | Jan 21, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
A bill proposed by Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., would require abortion providers to show pregnant women their unborn baby on an ultrasound before proceeding with the abortion.
The Ultrasound Informed Consent Act provides pregnant women an opportunity to review ultrasound imaging before ending their baby’s life.
“The Biden Administration’s heinous pro-abortion policies continue to incentivize women to end the lives of innocent, unborn American children. My legislation provides pregnant women a safe and intimate opportunity to rethink their abortion,” Biggs said in a news release. “This subtle but important process change can potentially save millions of unborn lives.”
Under the proposed legislation, the abortion provider must provide an ultrasound, explain what it depicts, display the images to the woman, and provide a complete medical description of the unborn child’s dimensions, cardiac activity, external members, and organs.
The woman is allowed to turn her eyes away without penalty if she does not want to see the image. The bill does not apply to medical emergencies.
Studies show that about 80% of abortion-minded women choose life after viewing their ultrasound.
The bill came during the week of the 51st March for Life, when tens of thousands of people voiced their support for the right to life in Washington, D.C. The legislation has received support from the National Pro-Life Alliance.
“We congratulate Congressman Andy Biggs for taking the leadership on this vital legislation that would ensure that each woman has the right to know the truth about her unborn child,” said Martin Fox, president of the National Pro-Life Alliance. “Congressman Biggs’ Ultrasound Informed Consent Act guarantees that mothers know exactly what an abortion is ending: not just ’tissue’ or a ‘clump of cells’ but the life of her unborn baby.”
Bill co-sponsors include Republican representatives Jeff Duncan of South Carolina, Andy Harris of Maryland, Matthew Rosendale Sr. of Montana, Alex Mooney of West Virginia, Mary Miller of Illinois, Dan Crenshaw of Texas, and Eric Burlison of Missouri.
“Defending the right to life remains one of my top priorities in Congress,” Biggs said.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
