A new and innovative tuition-free charter school in Mesa will grant high school students trade certifications along with their diplomas.
American Leadership Academy (ALA) Applied Technologies will offer students the opportunity to earn certifications in automotive technologies, aviation technologies, business and finance, construction technologies, cosmetology, education, first responders, health services, hospitality, or general technology. Each of the 10 programs will have its own lab, workshop, kitchen, or salon to accomplish industry training.
All their trade programs begin junior year, with the exception of Aviation Mechanics and Cosmetology due to certification hour requirements. Transportation to school won’t be provided. ALA estimated that each grade level would have 600 students, or 60 per grade level in each program.
In a recent promotional video, ALA featured one alumna and its emergency medical services (EMS) program.
ALA operates 12 other schools across the valley: nine K-6 schools, and three schools covering the 7th through 12th grades. They are all A-rated schools. The academy operates around the acronym “R.A.I.S.E.” meaning respect, accountability, integrity, service, and classroom; it also aims to instill a “moral and wholesome environment” for students.
According to their latest construction update from last week, the new school has entered its final stages of the building process.
Registration remained open as of press time.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
On Wednesday, the entire Republican caucus of the House submitted a legislative proclamation on the floor denouncing the current state of the border under President Joe Biden.
State Representative Gail Griffin (R-Hereford) sponsored the legislation. All 31 Republicans signed onto it.
The GOP proclamation cited the fact that 1.7 million illegal immigrants accounted for a nearly 380 percent increase in border crossings compared to the previous fiscal year. It also noted the spike in drug trafficking: 10,000 pounds of fentanyl, 180,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 86,000 pounds of cocaine, 5,000 pounds of heroin, and 311,000 pounds of marijuana. That’s in conjunction with thousands of violent crimes committed.
Arizona House Republicans Call for Securing the Southern Border, Keeping Communities Safe.
— Arizona House Republicans (@AZHouseGOP) May 25, 2022
The proclamation also touched on a newer trend: cartels recruiting teenagers via social media to be human smugglers for about $1,500 to $2,000 per illegal immigrant, nicknaming the vehicles “load cars” and the teens “load-car drivers.”
I joined my colleagues in denouncing this administration for its failure by allowing the humanitarian, human trafficking, and drug crisis to continue at our southern border. Arizona communities are becoming more unsafe as resources are being depleted by the gross incompetency/ pic.twitter.com/FIUThseekf
— Walt Blackman for Congress (@BlackmanForAZ) May 26, 2022
The proclamation is reproduced below, in full:
Whereas, the United States-Mexico border consists of 1,954 miles of varied terrain, including deserts, rugged mountainous areas, forests and coastal areas; and
Whereas, officially established in 1924 by an act of Congress in response to increasing illegal immigration, the United States Border Patrol has primary responsibility for securing the border between ports of entry; and Whereas, Border Patrol agents patrol international land borders and waterways to detect and prevent the illegal trafficking of people, narcotics and contraband into the United States; and
Whereas, on March 7, 2022, the Western States Sheriffs’ Association unanimously passed Resolution 22-1, which outlines the alarming issues facing our nation due to the unchecked illegal immigration crises at our southern border; and
Whereas, the southern border of the United States is currently experiencing an unprecedented number of people attempting to enter the country illegally, with the past fiscal year seeing a 379% increase of border encounters as compared to the previous fiscal year. These 1.7 million individuals represent 164 countries, including countries with suspected terrorist ties, and 63% of them are from countries other than Mexico; and
Whereas, there has likewise been a major increase in apprehensions, expulsions and “getaways” on the southwest border, with one million encounters and 300,000 getaways between October 1, 2021, and April 11, 2022; and
Whereas, in the past fiscal year, the number of illegal drugs seized has skyrocketed, including 10,000 pounds of fentanyl, 180,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 86,000 pounds of cocaine, 5,000 pounds of heroin and 311,000 pounds of marijuana. Likewise, criminal activity has soared, with law enforcement documenting 60 homicides, 1,178 assaults, 2,138 drug-related or drug trafficking arrests, 825 burglaries, 1,629 DUIs, 336 weapons arrests and 488 sexual assaults; and
Whereas, in a new effort to boost their operations, criminal cartels are using social media platforms as a recruiting tool for human smuggling. Drivers are lured by social media posts promising payment of $1,500 to $2,000 for every migrant a person can transport by vehicle to Tucson or Phoenix. Known as “load-car drivers,” these individuals are mainly young people, some as young as fourteen years old, who are enticed to pick up undocumented migrants at the border and ferry them to their destinations in exchange for money. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has called on four social media giants to better monitor their platforms and ban these recruitment posts on their sites; and
Whereas, for individuals who are smuggled into the United States by Mexican and South American cartels, their arrival marks the beginning of years of drug distribution, modern-day slavery and sex trafficking to pay back the criminal cartels to which they are indebted; and
Whereas, an estimated 8% of the 1.7 million encounters last fiscal year were unaccompanied minors; and
Whereas, tragically, the prior year saw 162 migrant deaths in Southern Arizona; and
Whereas, an uncontrolled border is a security and humanitarian crisis, and the increased violence and the smuggling of illegal drugs, weapons and human beings poses a direct threat to our communities and innocent Americans; and
Whereas, the current administration has halted construction of a southern border wall, and there are numerous unfinished sections in Arizona; and
Whereas, this administration is not working collaboratively or in good faith with local law enforcement agencies and other state leaders to address the serious issues related to the border; and
Whereas, in April 2021, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey declared a state of emergency at Arizona’s southern border; and
Whereas, in February 2022, Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich issued a legal opinion determining that the current crisis at Arizona’s southern border with the violence and lawlessness of cartels and gangs legally qualifies as an “invasion” under the United States Constitution.
Therefore, Representative Gail Griffin and the following members of the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona denounce the continued breach of our nation’s southern border and support safe communities, immediate, decisive action to secure the border and alleviate the security and humanitarian crises associated with illegal immigration.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona state law now prohibits government properties from requiring masks, with the exception of areas with workplace safety and infection control measures unrelated to COVID-19.
Governor Doug Ducey signed the bill, HB2453, last Friday. Its sponsor, State Representative Neal Carter (R-Queen Creek) declared in a subsequent press release that mask-wearing shouldn’t be a prerequisite for accessing the government.
“Citizens should not be required to wear a mask to access government services,” said Carter. “This law prevents policy setting by unelected bureaucrats which, in my own experience, led to the public being denied entry to some county buildings that continued to impose mask requirements long after such mandates had been widely dispensed with or prohibited around the state.”
Opponents of the bill, like the Arizona House Democratic Caucus, insisted that an outright ban on mask mandates contradicted scientific knowledge.
The last two bills HB2453 — preventing government buildings from requiring masks: and HB2616 — parental consent for masks for minors (that’s given when they send their kid to school with a mask), brought to you by the fine folks at #COVID19. Opposed by the fine folks at #Science.
Proponents of the bill argued that masks were a choice derived from personal liberty.
The House just passed Rep. Neal Carter’s bill HB2453 to prevent government entities from imposing mask mandates. A win for personal liberty.#EndTheMandatespic.twitter.com/jdSvyLHtkq
A class within Phoenix’s elite private Catholic high school, Brophy Preparatory School, lectured students that Fox News host Tucker Carlson was anti-Semitism, anti-Mexican, and anti-African American.
A photo obtained by AZ Free News featured a slide shown in a “History of the Catholic Church” class, equating Carlson with controversial 20th century Roman Catholic priest Charles Coughlin. Carlson is Episcopalian.
“Tucker Carlson = today’s fr. Charles Coughlin,” read the slide. “Key message: White American Christians should be very afraid[.] You’re being replaced! (Great Replacement Theory).”
Coughlin pioneered political radio, garnering around 30 million listeners in his program’s heyday. He denounced the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) though he expressed opposition to banks and Jewish people in power. He opposed communism but was equally against free market capitalism, going so far as to support Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s (FDR) New Deal initially. Coughlin advanced the term “social justice.”
For years, the mainstream media discussed how Democrats were relying on and influencing demographic changes to skew voting in their favor, quipping “demographics are destiny.” The 2020 election results cast doubts on Democrats’ long-term plan as more of a theory, when voter turnout reflected that Republicans were the party of multiracial, working-class voters in practice. However, polling suggested that younger Hispanic and black individuals were more likely to vote Democrat.
The slide then listed evidence to support its claims of Carlson’s racism toward Jewish, Mexican, and black people. It listed various claims put forth by Carlson. On charges of antisemitism, the slide summarized Carlson’s statements that George Soros, a Jewish man, and international forces secretly influence politics and finances.
On charges of anti-Mexican sentiment, the slide summarized Carlson’s statements that the government tolerates mass migration in order to reduce white Americans’ power. The slide also included an out-of-context reference to Carlson’s belief that mass unchecked immigration leads to poorer, dirtier living conditions.
Carlson’s full remarks focused on peoples’ concerns over the quality of areas where large numbers of immigrants settled and how elected leaders ignored those concerns. He also characterized immigrants as “nice people” and highlighted concerns from Tijuana, Mexico citizens over the spikes in crime and uncleanliness accompanying Honduran immigrants— something mainstream media and the classroom slideshow neglected to spotlight.
“[Immigrants are] nice people, no one doubts that, but as an economic matter this is insane. It’s indefensible, so no one even tries to defend it. Instead our leaders demand that you shut up and accept this. We have a moral obligation to admit the world’s poor, they tell us, even if it makes our country poorer and dirtier and more divided,” stated Carlson. “Immigration is a form of atonement. Previous leaders of our country committed sins; we must pay for those sins by welcoming an endless chain of migrant caravans. That’s the argument they make.”
Finally, on charges of anti-African American sentiments, the slide pointed out how Carlson called George Floyd protestors “criminal mobs,” and how he insisted on the necessity of seeing Supreme Court Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s LSAT scores. The slide neglected to include the fact that Carlson was referring to those engaged in rioting when accusing George Floyd protestors of criminal mob behavior.
“Reason and process and precedent mean nothing to them. They use violence to get what they want immediately,” wrote Carlson. “On television, hour by hour, we watch these people — criminal mobs — destroy what the rest of us have built.”
Concerning Jackson’s LSAT scores, Carlson shared doubts that Jackson had a record of legal mastery.
“[An LSAT score] would settle the question, conclusively, whether she’s a once-in-a-generation legal talent,” stated Carlson. “It would seem like Americans in a democracy have a right to know that and much more before giving her a lifetime appointment.”
Tucker: It might be time for Joe Biden to let us know Ketanji Brown Jackson’s LSAT score was. Why wouldn’t he tell us that… pic.twitter.com/boPHU5PnMd
Earlier this month, the Arizona Democratic Party hired a new staffer, Josselyn Berry, known for her support of defunding police and the infamous cop killer and FBI Most Wanted Terrorist, Assata Shakur. After escaping from prison, Shakur received political asylum in Cuba where she resides currently.
Up until recently, Berry served as the communications director for the Arizona State Senate Democratic Caucus. She assumed that role in March 2020. It was less than two months into that job and several days after George Floyd’s death that she quoted Shakur, whose remarks were loosely paraphrasing the final sentences in Karl Marx and Frederick Engels’ Communist Manifesto.
“It is our duty to fight for our freedom. It is our duty to win. We must love each other and support each other. We have nothing to lose but our chains.”
The Arizona Senate Democrats also shared the quote on their Twitter feed. They later removed the offending tweet and issued a formal apology after it stoked controversy. Berry didn’t delete her tweet.
In their apology statement, the Arizona Senate Democrats claimed ignorance of Shakur’s criminal history and status as a wanted terrorist.
“This is a quote used frequently in social justice and activism circles and we know her as an author and well-known commentator on civil rights. Yet it has come to our attention her past criminal conviction and current status,” wrote the Arizona Senate Democrats. “The use of the quote was not intended as an endorsement, but to emphasize issues of social justice and we regret the inclusion of the quote, but stand by the rest of the statement. We remain focused on the murder of Black Americans and finding solutions to address systemic racism in this country.”
— Arizona Senate Democrats (@AZSenateDems) May 29, 2020
Berry graduated from Arizona State University’s (ASU) Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, where she was also a Barrett, The Honors College student.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
A new Tucson-based abortion rights group, Arizonans for Reproductive Freedom, began gathering signatures for a ballot initiative making abortion a right within the Arizona Constitution. The group filed their application last Monday. With a July 7 deadline, they have a little over six weeks to collect over 356,000 signatures to qualify.
A University of Arizona (UArizona) College of Medicine professor and Tucson OB-GYN, Dr. Victoria Fewell, filed the application as the group’s chairwoman alongside the group’s treasurer: UArizona Senior Program Coordinator, Planned Parenthood Arizona Secretary, and former Pima County Democratic Party Executive Director Shasta McManus.
McManus has been active with Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona (PPAZ), recently voicing over a biographical feature on avowed communist activist and Black Panthers supporter, alleged black militant, and University of California professor Dr. Angela Davis. Last week, PPAZ Chairwoman Chris Love bragged about her husband assaulting a black Trump supporter while at a pro-abortion rally in Phoenix.
The proposed constitutional amendment not only declared the right to elective abortions at any point in a woman’s pregnancy. It reads as follows:
Every individual has a fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which entails the right to make and effectuate decisions about all matters relating to pregnancy, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, contraception, sterilization, abortion care, miscarriage management, and infertility care.
Neither the state nor any political subdivision shall restrict, penalize, frustrate, or otherwise interfere with the exercise of the right to reproductive freedom, including: any individual’s access to contraception; pre-viability medical and surgical termination of pregnancy; or medical and surgical termination of pregnancy when necessary to preserve the individual’s health or life.
Neither the state nor any political subdivision shall restrict, penalize, frustrate, or otherwise interfere with a qualified, licensed healthcare professional providing medical services or any person providing non-medical services necessary for the exercise of the right to reproductive freedom.
The term ‘viability’ means the point in a pregnancy at which, in the good-faith medical judgment of the qualified, licensed healthcare professional, based on the particular facts of the case before the healthcare professional, there is a reasonable likelihood of sustained fetal survival outside the uterus with or without artificial support.
The activist group also began asking for donations.
Arizonans for Reproductive Freedom is working to give you a voice & vote this Nov with a ballot initiative to protect reproductive rights. We believe every person should make their own healthcare and family planning decisions
— Arizonans for Reproductive Freedom (@azreprofreedom) May 17, 2022
The group filed the ballot initiative application about two weeks after the leak of a Supreme Court draft ruling determining whether abortions constitute a state issue.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
