A BASIS Peoria high school student won one of this year’s congressional app development challenges for her app enabling parents to exchange or donate their children’s toys.
Rep. Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) featured the winner, Molly Budhiraja, and her app, “Project Toy Exchange,” in her weekly newsletter issued last Saturday.
Budhiraja’s app will be displayed on the Congressional App Challenge website and in the U.S. Capitol, along with other winners nationwide. Budhiraja will have the opportunity to showcase her app to Congress during the annual #HouseofCode festival, a large science fair.
“I am so pleased to congratulate Molly Budhiraja for winning this year’s Congressional App Challenge,” stated Lesko in a press release. “Project Toy Exchange is a great app that connects parents with each other and encourages people to donate toys to children in the community. It is an honor to represent so many bright students, and it is wonderful to see how they use their talents and creativity through these apps to help others!”
Budhiraja thanked the congresswoman in a LinkedIn post, expressing excitement about the future of her app.
“I was honored to meet such an enthusiastic and intelligent woman leader in our community, who not only does remarkable work for our state, but our nation as well,” stated Budhiraja. “It was a pleasure to talk about my app and my future goals with the congresswoman and her team.”
The second-place winners were Mountain Ridge High School students Apramey Akkiraju and Rohan Agrawal. The teens created a “COVID-19 Tracker” app that provided color-coded maps detailing case count concentrations in the Western part of the country, as well as data on case and death counts.
Third-place winners were Challenge Charter School students Alexandra Acuna and Tori Lugo. The pair created the “Math4Life2” app, which helps children with multiplication problems and seeks to make math more fun.
All three apps proposed creative solutions to real issues facing Arizonans: rising costs of toys due to the inflation crisis, advising concerned Arizonans about COVID-19 spread, and fostering a positive relationship with math amid declining test scores.
One of the second-place winners, Agrawal, was last year’s champion, along with Dens Sumesh, a BASIS Peoria student. The pair created the app “DebateEV,” a website that collects existing debate card evidence and makes it accessible via a search format similar to Google’s. Agrawal and Sumesh stated that forced transition to remote learning, coupled with their ongoing involvement in their high school debate club, inspired the app.
Last year, Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick (D-02), Andy Biggs (R-04), David Schweikert (R-06), and Ruben Gallego (D-07) also hosted challenges and named winners.
Kirkpatrick awarded first place to “Memolog” by Gregory School students Erik Wisnom, Chris Allen, Ted Roberts, and Karl Ramus. Their app applied memorization techniques to any piece a student needed to memorize.
Biggs’ winner was an artificial intelligence-based wildfire prevention system by Hamilton High School student Prisha Shroff.
Schweikert awarded first place to “Zubin’s Dungeon Quest” by BASIS Scottsdale student Zubin Sidhu, a video game that blended education with entertainment.
Gallego’s winner was “Surviving the Pandemic While Back-to-School” by University High School students Kamille Cuison, Liana Kay De Guzman, and Nathan Caldwell-Meeks. Their app informed students about the background, treatment options, and safety protocols for COVID-19.
The 2021 Congressional App Challenge reported producing over 2,100 fully functioning apps. Over 7,100 students entered the competition through 340 congressmens’ challenges.
The annual Congressional App Challenge is funded by the Omidyar Network, Amazon (Web Services), theCoderSchool, Facebook, Replit, Accenture, Rise, ACT: the App Association, Comcast NBCUniversal, and CGI.
In addition to Lesko, Kirkpatrick, Biggs, Schweikert, and Gallego, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-03) is also hosting a challenge this year.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona ranked second in the nation for most officers shot in 2022, falling just behind Texas and ahead of Georgia. There were over triple the number of officer shootings and deaths compared to last year.
According to the National Fraternal Order of Police’s (FOP) annual report, 21 Arizona officers were shot in the line of duty. Three were killed by gunfire:
Officer Adrian Lopez, Sr., White Mountain Apache Tribal Police Department (EOW: June 2)
There is a growing memorial for fallen White Mountain Apache police officer Adrian Lopez. A vigil just started for the tribal officer who was shot and killed during a traffic stop last week. #azfamilypic.twitter.com/UBNtNF5sCx
Sergeant Richard Lopez, Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office (EOW: June 28)
On July 6th, 2022, Deputy Bacon attended & played the bagpipes for the funeral services held for Sergeant Richard Lopez of the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department who lost his life last week while attempting to make an arrest. Our deepest condolences go out to all! pic.twitter.com/32lCxGbESi
— SBCSD Colorado River Station (@CORiverStation) July 7, 2022
Today our community said goodbye to Constable Deborah Martinez-Garibay. Her tragic death is a devastating loss for our community & a wakeup call: we have so much work to do. I love this photo of her that was shown at her service. She deserved many more moments of joy in her life. pic.twitter.com/17PrsJxhYx
A Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent with a residence in Florida as well as Cochise County, Michel O. Maceda, was killed by gunfire last month during a drug bust off the coast of Puerto Rico. Maceda’s end of watch was on Nov. 17.
Marine Interdiction Agent Michel Maceda. EOW 11/17/2022 while confronting narcotic smugglers off the coast of Cabo Rojo, PR. Godspeed Brother. pic.twitter.com/obiTsdxqUL
Last year, Arizona had six officers shot in the line of duty, and one was killed. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent Michael Garbo was killed by gunfire last October.
While Arizona’s shooting incidents and deaths more than tripled compared to last year, the national totals declined. Nationwide, 2022 marked a slight decline from 2021: this past year 323 officers were shot, and 60 died by gunfire. In 2021, 346 officers were shot, and 63 died by gunfire. In 2020, 312 were shot, 47 died by gunfire. In 2019, 319 officers were shot, and 50 died by gunfire.
🚨ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS YEARS FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT: The American Police Officer is Facing a Heightened Level of Danger
⚠️ 323 Officers Shot This Year
⚠️ 60 Officers Killed by Gunfire
⚠️ 124 Officers We’re Shot in 87 Ambush-Style Attacks
— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) December 21, 2022
There have been a total of 87 ambush-style attacks on officers this year, resulting in 124 officers shot and 31 killed.
This increase in officer shootings and deaths conflicts with the decline in the state’s crime levels. According to Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZDPS) data, violent crimes have so far declined by 35.3 percent since last year: homicides are down 36 percent (72.8 percent with firearms), aggravated assaults are down 32.2 percent (30.3 percent with firearms), robberies are down by 44.7 percent (35.3 percent with firearms), and sexual assaults are down by 37.4 percent (less than 1 percent with a firearm).
This data may change by next month after participating agencies submit their crime reports for December.
The decline follows a three-year steady increase in crime rates. Last year, violent crimes increased by 3.6 percent from 2020. Homicides were up by 16.5 percent, (69 percent committed with a firearm); aggravated assaults were up by 2.7 percent (29 percent with firearms), robberies were up by 2 percent (28.8 percent with firearms), and sexual assaults were up by 11 percent (less than 1 percent with a firearm).
AZDPS’ past annual crime reports from 2006-2020 are available here.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The State of Arizona has initiated a lawsuit against the Buckeye Elementary School District (BESD) and its longtime superintendent Kristi Wilson in an attempt to recover what the attorney general’s office (AGO) contends is public monies “illegally paid” by the district to Wilson in violation of the Arizona Constitution’s Gift Clause.
The 70-page lawsuit filed Wednesday notes BESD paid more than $500,000 to Wilson or on her behalf that was not owed under her employment agreements. The AGO also raises questions about the legality of $1.7 million in “additional compensation paid under three agreements from July 2016 through December 2021, for total compensation of $3,274,505.
As superintendent, Wilson is responsible for 5,200 students across seven elementary schools. Her compensation was about 100 percent higher than the average pay for the superintendents of Arizona’s three largest school districts during the same five-year period.
Wilson and BESD came under investigation by the AGO following a detailed report by the Arizona Auditor General in April which raised questions about whether the additional compensation called for in Wilson’s three employment agreements violated state law.
The auditor’s report had harsh words for district officials, who reportedly omitted “critical information” and other records during the audit. Some officials were also chided for a lack of transparency that kept the public in the dark about Wilson’s performance and her compensation.
Wednesday’s lawsuit is not the first undertaken by Attorney General Mark Brnovich related to Arizona’s Gift Clause, which prohibits the payment of public monies unless such payment serves a public purpose and the value received by the public is not far exceeded by the consideration being paid by the public.
“Transparency and accountability are not electives in our public school districts,” Brnovich stated in announcing the lawsuit against Wilson and BESD. “Hardworking taxpayers expect these public funds to be expended in accordance with the law and the best interest of students.”
Wilson was named BESD’s superintendent in 2013. From FY2014 through FY2016, her annual compensation averaged $172,813. But over the next five years, her annual salary under three employment agreements ranged from a low of nearly $339,000 to a high of nearly $800,000.
The lawsuit states that in comparison, the superintendents at Arizona’s three largest districts earned from $208,600 to $306,179 per year. Another comparison noted by the AGO is that BESD paid its teachers an average of $44,536 in 2019.
Terri Jo Neff is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or send her news tips here.
This month’s approval by the City of Maricopa’s planning & zoning commission of four amendments is the latest step toward bringing another hospital to the community, one of several projects adding to Arizona’s burgeoning supply of medical facilities.
The $762 million project planned for Maricopa by S3 BioTech will provide the city its second hospital, along with medical offices, nearly 140 multi-family housing units, and a hotel with 138 rooms.
The P&Z approvals involved amendments to three zoning maps as well as an amendment to the city’s General Plan. The project located at West Bowlin Road and North John Wayne Parkway will create thousands of construction jobs and potentially 3,000 medical-industry jobs, according to Ed Johnson of S3 BioTech.
While S3 BioTec’s project in Maricopa might not break ground until 2024, Arizona saw several large-scale medical projects open their doors this year, including Exceptional Healthcare’s long anticipated $18 million community hospital in Yuma.
The 20,000-square-foot facility opened this summer, providing Yuma County its second hospital. The new facility off Interstate 8 and Araby Road offers several features, including a 24-hour emergency department, an in-house lab, and helipad.
The project is one of six that Texas-based Exceptional Healthcare hopes to build in Arizona, according to CEO Saeed Mahboubi. The company opened its first in the City of Maricopa in late 2021 and announced just a few weeks later it was moving ahead with expanding its emergency department offering by the end of 2022.
Another medical facility which opened in 2022 is the Dignity Health East Valley Rehabilitation Hospital in Gilbert.
The 50,000-square-foot facility provides 40 beds for private-room inpatient rehabilitation and recovery for patients who have experienced stroke, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, complex neurological disorders, orthopedic conditions, multiple traumas, amputation, and other injuries or disorders.
Mark Slyter, CEO of Dignity Health Chandler Regional and Mercy Gilbert Medical Centers, said there was a need for the new state-of-the-art facility due to the “tremendous growth in complex care” at nearby Mercy Gilbert Medical Center which leads patients to seek conveniently located acute, hospital-based rehabilitation services.
“Dignity Health East Valley Rehabilitation Hospital – Gilbert will be the much-needed resource for those in our community who have suffered from serious illness and injury,” Slyter said of the project. “We are proud to partner with Lifepoint Rehabilitation to provide care and services close to home that will help people resume engaging in the activities that they enjoy, and to live life to the fullest.”
Meanwhile, Phoenix Children’s Hospital is taking steps to expand its pediatric offerings in the Phoenix Metro area with a $135 million campus in the West Valley. Groundbreaking of the Phoenix Children’s Hospital – Arrowhead Campus in Glendale occurred in November 2021.
The project, which is set to open in Spring 2024, will consist of a 180,000-square-foot, three-story hospital providing six operating rooms, 30 emergency / trauma rooms, and 24 inpatient beds. A separate medical office will provide a number of pediatric specialty services, including cardiology, neurology, and oncology.
Farther north, plans are moving forward for the first new hospital in Flagstaff since 1936.
Northern Arizona Healthcare announced in 2021 that it will expand medical services in Flagstaff by building a new hospital and several other facilities on a 90-acre parcel on the southside of the city. But details of the project were not revealed until a few months ago.
According to Interim CEO Josh Tinkle, the new hospital is needed because the Flagstaff Medical Center built in 1936 has become too small and outdated. This has led hospital administrators to annually defer treatment for more than 5,000 patients.
The Flagstaff project will also include more than 300-units of multi-family housing, a hotel, and restaurant / retail offerings to address the needs of new employees and residents. Funding and city permitting will likely take several months to finalize with a hoped for opening in 2027.
And in Bullhead City, Exceptional Healthcare announced plans earlier this year to build on its Maricopa and Yuma successes by constructing a small hospital in the Mohave County community in 2023.
A new 20,000-square-foot hospital will be a “great addition to our community,” City Manager Toby Cotter said at the time of the April 2022 announcement. “The medical facility supports the ongoing growth in our city and region,” Cotter added.
The Bullhead City hospital’s grand opening is expected in mid-2024.
Terri Jo Neff is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or send her news tips here.
On Wednesday, GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed an appeal of her election lawsuit’s dismissal and the order to pay $33,000 to opponent Katie Hobbs for legal fees.
Lake’s lawsuit named Hobbs both personally and as secretary of state; Maricopa County Recorder Stephen Richer; the entire Maricopa County Board of Supervisors (BOS); and Maricopa County Elections Director Scott Jarrett.
We have filed our appeal.
And we would VERY much like to talk about the issue of signature verification (or the complete and total lack thereof in Maricopa County) before the court.
In an interview with “War Room” founder and host Steve Bannon this past week, Lake claimed that the election was stolen from her by shadow figures bent on keeping cartels active, the border open, and inflation high. Lake said that Hobbs will merely be a “puppet” for these forces.
“The voters went to the ballot box in November because they’re fed up. The only way to stop me from stopping the cartels was to steal an election,” said Lake. “This state is going to go to hell in a handbasket if Katie Hobbs is allowed to take control.”
Lake further claimed that Hobbs was in on this alleged collusion
“Hobbs has absolutely no respect for the law. I can’t even believe she didn’t recuse herself from this botched election.” said Lake. “She didn’t even campaign, she didn’t debate, she hid from people, hid in her basement, had no policy, because she knew that she could rig the election and walk into office.”
Lake appealed to the Division 1 Court of Appeals. Lake has promised previously that she would take her case up to the Supreme Court if necessary.
The Maricopa County Superior Court dismissed Lake’s lawsuit on Christmas Eve. Maricopa County defendants and Hobbs filed for $696,000 collectively in sanctions on Monday. However, the court denied most of the sanctions on Tuesday, only awarding Hobbs’ team $33,000 in fees. Judge Peter Thompson clarified that Lake’s claims of election misconduct or fraud weren’t groundless or presented in bad faith, contrary to what Maricopa County argued in its sanctions request.
In response to the superior court’s dismissal, both Hobbs and BOS Chair Bill Gates issued press releases celebrating the win.
Hobbs campaign manager, Nicole Demont, issued a statement on her behalf. DeMont said that the judge affirmed what Arizona voters chose last month, not “the conspiracy-riddled, dark corners of the Internet” that voted for Lake. Hobbs earned over 1.28 million votes to Lake’s 1.27 million votes: a difference of 17,100 votes.
A statement from our campaign manager Nicole DeMont on today's lawsuit dismissal.
Governor-Elect Hobbs is ready to get to work improving Arizonans' everyday lives and moving our state forward. pic.twitter.com/rYLoaE6z5z
Lake doesn’t appear to have the backing of some of the GOP’s national leadership. Embattled RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel told Newsmax that Lake lost because she ran a poor campaign, and that Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward also facilitated the loss.
“You had one candidate saying, ‘If you’re a McCain voter, get the hell out of my rallies.’ And then the McCain voters said, ‘Yeah, I’m not going to vote for you,” said McDaniel.
Oh snap. RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel goes off on Kari Lake & Kelli Ward for losing this election. Kari Lake not a good candidate. Wow. https://t.co/SgJxFkcvoy
Northern Arizona University (NAU) will offer illegal immigrant scholarships for the 2023-2024 academic year — even if they’re eligible for deportation. NAU partnered with TheDream.US, a scholarship program fund operated by the New Venture Fund: one nonprofit arm of the leading leftist dark money networks, Arabella Advisors.
The scholarships aren’t exclusively earmarked for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) recipients. Any illegal immigrant that came to the U.S. before the age of 16 and before 2017 may apply for these scholarships.
In a statement, NAU President José Luis Cruz Rivera said that the scholarships aligned with their university’s goal to make higher education accessible to all students. Rivera credited the passage of Proposition 308 for affirming this move.
“Through this partnership, NAU will further the will of the people of Arizona as expressed in the passage of Proposition 308, which affords Arizona Dreamers with in-state tuition and provides an invaluable pathway to upward economic mobility and social impact,” said Rivera.
Expanding opportunities for Dreamers is good for the country. We are better together. And together we advance better days. #DACApic.twitter.com/5a2vBoxvRU
Arizona State University (ASU), Benedictine University, and Grand Canyon University (GCU) also partner with TheDream.US.
Prop 308 awards in-state college tuition to Dreamers; voters approved the measure narrowly, 51 to 49 percent. The proposition was backed by at least $1.2 million of out-of-state dark money networks.
TheDream.US reports that at least 1.3 million illegal immigrant youth are eligible for DACA. Of the approximately 98,000 who graduate from high school each year, the program estimated that only five to 10 percent (65,000 to 130,000) enroll in college on average.
Extending permanent legal status to our nation’s Dreamers is the only moral path forward. Their undocumented status being simply an artifact of our country’s long-standing tradition as a beacon of hope. #DreamActNowhttps://t.co/DaMvQGni8O
Per AZ Free News past reporting, New Venture Fund (NVF) has initiatives outside of immigration reform advocacy. NVF launched the Fair Elections Center, which is behind the progressive elections reform activist project, Campus Vote Project (CVP).
In October, Secretary of State Katie Hobbs, now governor-elect, selected CVP Vice Chair Anusha Natarajan for the 2022 John Lewis Youth Leadership Award: a Barretts Honors College student, Andrew Goodman Fellow, and digital producer for the student newspaper at Arizona State University (ASU).
In 2020, Oscar Hernandez Ortiz — a DACA and TheDream.US scholarship recipient, strategist with the Arizona Bar Foundation, former fifth-grade teacher, Greater Phoenix Economic Council member, ASU graduate, former state legislature policy intern, and Arizona Department of Education Latinx Advisory Council member — wrote an Arizona Republic op-ed attacking the Trump administration’s efforts to end DACA. While at ASU, Ortiz founded the Undocumented Students for Education Equity, a resource hub for illegal immigrants.
NAU isn’t the only partner school for TheDream.US. The program lists over 80 “Partner Colleges.”
TheDream.US offers two scholarship types: the National Scholarship, which the program suggests for Arizona applicants, offers up to $16,500 for an associate degree and $33,000 for a bachelor’s degree; and the Opportunity Scholarship, which offers up to $80,000 for a bachelor’s degree to illegal immigrant students located in states without access to college because they either must pay out-of-state tuition or can’t gain admission to state universities. Applications close Feb. 28.
(Note: TheDream.US removed award amounts from its National Scholarship page earlier this year).
TheDream.US founders are: Don Graham, chairman of Graham Holdings Company (formerly The Washington Post), former director of Facebook, and former member of the Pulitzer Prize Board; Carlos Guitierrez, chairman and CEO of Empath, former chairman and CEO of Kellogg’s, and former Secretary of Commerce for the Bush administration; and Henry R. Muñoz III, former finance chairman for the Democratic National Committee.
Among senior staff at TheDream.US: its president Candy Marshall, the former chief human resources officer for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; director Maria Gabriela Pacheco, who immigrated illegally to the U.S. as a child; communications manager Sadhana Singh, a recipient of DACA and a TheDream.US scholarship; program manager Melanny Buitron, a DACA recipient; data manager, and Camila Salkhov, a Dreamer.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
