Arizona’s Android users should keep an eye out: they may receive a piece of a recent $700 million settlement over Google’s Play Store monopoly.
In addition to paying out millions to affected consumers, Google will initiate anticompetitive reforms concerning billing systems, app store monopolization, and third-party apps and stores.
Google agreed to reforms including the installation of third-party apps on phones outside of Google Play such as third-party app stores for at least seven years; allowing developers to offer alternative, cheaper in-app billing systems alongside Google Play’s billing system for at least five years; abstaining from requiring developers to price-match in-app purchases on Google Play versus alternative billing systems for at least five years; abstaining from requiring developers to launch their apps at the same time with the same or better features on Google Play as on other app stores for at least four years; abstaining from requiring the Play Store to be the pre-loaded app store on a device for at least five years; abstaining from requiring manufacturers to obtain its consent prior to preloading a third-party app store on a mobile device for at least five years; and maintaining functionality of a third-party app store for at least four years.
Those eligible for the restitution, totaling $630 million, are consumers who made purchases between August 2016 and September 2023. All 50 states, including Arizona, and the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands will receive $70 million for their claims.
Eligible consumers don’t have to submit a claim. They will receive automatic payments through PayPal, Venmo, or with permission a check.
Attorneys general from California, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Utah led the lawsuit against Google: Utah v. Google. Utah initiated the lawsuit in 2021 with a coalition of 37 attorneys general, including former Attorney General Mark Brnovich, following several years of investigations into Google beginning in 2019.
The attorneys general accused the tech giant of monopolizing app store availability and, therefore, limiting choice and driving up app prices. The states accused Google of engaging in exclusionary conduct: shutting out competing app distribution channels and requiring consumers to pay inflated prices for in-app purchases, namely by requiring apps to run in-app payments through their payment processing services.
Investigatory efforts accused Google of originally launching and marketing Android OS as an “open source” platform. The model attracted original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) such as Samsung and mobile network operators (MNOs) such as Verizon.
After successfully attracting the desired OEMs and MNOs, Google closed the Android OS system and its app distribution market by requiring the OEMs and MNOs to enter restrictive, anticompetitive contracts.
Announcement of the $700 million settlement came just weeks before another, potentially greater settlement that Google entered into as part of a $5 billion lawsuit over the tech giant’s practice of tracking users’ internet activity while in “incognito” mode.
A formal agreement for court approval is expected by late February in that case.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
The holiday season didn’t bring holly and jolly to the ongoing feud between Arizona’s Democrat Governor and Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction.
In the days leading up to Christmas, Governor Katie Hobbs and Superintendent Tom Horne exchanged press releases over their dueling perceptions of the due date of the quarterly Empowerment Scholarship Account (ESA) report.
On December 21, the Director of the Governor’s Office of Strategic Planning & Budgeting, Sarah Brown, transmitted a letter to Horne, asking him to send the FY 2024 Quarter 1 Report for the ESA Program to statutory recipients by the following day. Brown opined that this “late report comes after a number of stories showing a concerning lack of accountability and transparency in the ESA program.”
Governor Hobbs posted a short statement to her “X” account, asserting that “Arizonans deserve to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent. We need true accountability and transparency in the ESA voucher program.”
Arizonans deserve to know how their taxpayer dollars are being spent. We need true accountability and transparency in the ESA voucher program. https://t.co/n6SXNb9VnV
Horne wasted no time in responding to the latest attack on the program he guides and stewards, saying, “The Department of Education has been in contact with the Governor’s Office for nearly three weeks regarding this issue. They are fully aware that we are preparing the report she has requested. Nothing is being withheld.”
Brown also accused Horne of essentially mismanaging dollars in his budget, highlighting the Department of Education’s spending of “millions of dollars advertising the program even with the escalating costs that threaten to crowd out critical spending from the State budget.”
The superintendent’s marketing efforts for the ESA program were practically mandated and empowered earlier this year with the passage of the State’s budget between Governor Katie Hobbs and Legislative Republicans, when freshman Senator Janae Shamp reportedly earmarked $10 million for school choice advertising at the Arizona Department of Education. On August 24, Shamp responded to a critical piece about the targeted funds, writing, “Families are not getting the REAL facts. So called ‘reporting’ by the left and their media henchmen fails to acknowledge the true winners of this money well spent…THE KIDS! Now they will receive education that meets their personal needs.”
Families are not getting the REAL facts. So called "reporting" by the left and their media henchmen fails to acknowledge the true winners of this money well spent…THE KIDS! Now they will receive education that meets their personal needs! https://t.co/o6I5uDgpEK
Before Shamp’s allocation, Horne had executed marketing campaigns for the ESA program, though at far less expense than the levels he obtained after the latest State budget.
The Governor’s Office also pointed out the revelations of ESA dollars being used to fund “ski passes and luxury car driving lessons.” In his response to this criticism, Horne retorted that those “frivolous ESA spending approvals occurred under the administration of the Governor’s friend, Kathy Hoffman.” He added that his department had “reviewed more than 15,000 ESA applications, rejecting thousands that were incomplete in the first quarter of Fiscal Year 2024 alone.”
As he closed his statement, the Republican schools chief wished his readers a “Merry Christmas!”
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
The state of Arizona is among the top ten in the nation for having the most credit cards.
According to a new study by WalletHub, Arizonans rank ninth among all states concerning credit card ownership.
The average Arizonan has an average of five credit cards. The average American has around four open credit cards, per their data.
There was an average of between one and two credit cards opened by Arizonans in the third quarter of 2023, with the average number of credit cards owned ballooning to between five and six that quarter.
Compared to last year, that marked a six to seven percent decrease in the average number of new credit cards opened. However, there was an overall increase of nearly seven percent in the number of average credit cards owned by Arizonans in the same time frame.
Outranking Arizona, in order for most to least, were: Alaska, New Jersey, Nevada, Wyoming, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, and California.
The combined high ranking and increase in credit card ownership in the state may be another symptom of the poor health of the economy.
Last November, Arizona was among the states facing the highest inflation rates in the nation. According to the latest Consumer Price Index data, prices have gone down by less than half a percent over the past month, but up by over three percent compared to one year ago.
Over the last quarter of 2023, Arizona’s cost of living ranked 36th in affordability. RentCafe data reflects Arizona’s cost of living to be around six percent higher than the national average: 20 percent higher in housing, two percent lower in utilities, two percent higher in food, four percent lower in health care, even in transportation, and one percent higher in goods and services.
Earlier this month, CBS News reported that Arizonans would have to spend over $13,000 more annually to maintain the same basic cost-of-living standards from last year. That’s over 16 percent higher than the national estimation: over $11,000.
In September, the National Low Income Housing Coalition reflected in its annual report that the average Arizonan would need to make nearly $30 an hour to afford a two-bedroom rental home. That translates to 86 hours at the $13.85 minimum wage, or 71 hours for a one-bedroom rental home.
Yet, Arizona was ranked among the top 20 in the nation for business.
Coupled with these facts, credit card debt ballooned to a record high of nearly $1.1 trillion in the third quarter of this year, part of a record high of over $17 trillion of overall household debt. Per a previous study by WalletHub over the summer, Arizona ranked 10th for credit card debt.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Arizona’s Republican legislative leaders scored a significant legal victory as the clock runs out on 2023.
On Thursday, a panel for the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit issued an order against the Biden Administration’s Contractor Vaccine Mandate in Mayes v. Biden, vacating its earlier opinion for mootness. According to the Ninth Circuit, the president rescinded his Executive Order in May, following the Ninth Circuit’s decision to reverse and vacate the district court’s grant of a permanent injunction; and earlier this month, the nation’s high court “vacated as moot the judgment in three cases concerning vaccine mandates.” The U.S. Supreme Court’s action was the final straw for the federal contractor vaccine mandate at stake in the Arizona case.
The news came months after the 56th Arizona Legislature had filed an Emergency Application to the Supreme Court of the United States in the case, arguing that “the Ninth Circuit overreached when it disturbed the status quo and stayed the district court’s injunction sua sponte.” After filing the application, Petersen said, “The Legislature’s intervention in this lawsuit against President Biden is critical in protecting the sovereignty of our state and the rights of all Arizonans.”
Both the Arizona Senate and House Republican Caucuses championed the December order from the federal appeals court. The Arizona Senate Republicans “X” account posted, “MAJOR win this week for Arizona Legislative Republicans in protecting you against a FORCED COVID-19 VACCINE!!… President [Warren Petersen] immediately fought back at this unconstitutional overreach and didn’t stop even after Biden revoked his emergency order at the end of the pandemic.”
MAJOR win this week for Arizona Legislative Republicans in protecting you against a FORCED COVID-19 VACCINE!!⁰⁰Earlier this year, Biden issued a mandate that anyone who is employed by a federal contractor (which includes state government workers) is required to get the… pic.twitter.com/3Raect5TjE
The Arizona House Republicans wrote, “BIG WIN! The 9th Circuit today vacated its opinion that upheld Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate for federal contractors. Thanks to [Arizona House Speaker Ben Toma] for intervening to protect Arizonans’ medical freedoms!”
🚨BIG WIN!🚨 The 9th Circuit today vacated its opinion that upheld Biden’s unconstitutional vaccine mandate for federal contractors. Thanks to @AZHouseGOP Speaker @RepBenToma for intervening to protect Arizonans’ medical freedoms!
The case began as Brnovich v. Biden in 2021, when former Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich filed the first lawsuit in the nation against the president’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. At the time, Brnovich said that “the federal government cannot force people to get the COVID-19 vaccine,” and that “the Biden Administration is once again flouting our laws and precedents to push their radical agenda.” Brnovich’s suit was heard before U.S. District Court Judge Michael Liburdi, who later, in February 2022, issued a permanent injunction against the president’s mandate for federal contractors.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Minimum wage in Arizona will rise to over $14 an hour in the new year, a 50-cent increase from the previous amount of over $13.
At $14.35, that will make Arizona the state with the ninth-highest minimum wage in the country. Only eight Democratic-led states — California, Washington, New York, Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Massachusetts, and Colorado — outrank Arizona in their minimum wages offered.
Arizona was one of 22 states to receive a minimum wage increase.
The state’s minimum wage adjustment originated with Proposition 206 — referred to as the Fair Wages and Healthy Families Act — passed by voters in 2016 under former Gov. Doug Ducey. At the time of the act’s passage, the minimum wage was about $8 an hour. The act initiated an incremental increase in the minimum wage from $8 in 2016 to $12 an hour in 2020, with all subsequent annual changes based on cost of living increases.
The act exempts individuals employed by parents or siblings, babysitters, state or federal government employees, and small businesses that gross less than $500,000 annually and don’t have to pay a minimum wage per federal law.
Since 2006, municipalities have been allowed to set a local minimum wage higher than the state.
Flagstaff and Tucson both have their own minimum wage ordinances; Flagstaff requires its wage to be at least $2 higher than the state, while Tucson currently has an incremental increase to reach $15 by 2025.
2024 marks the first year Flagstaff will adjust its minimum wage based on cost of living. Tucson will adopt the same schedule after 2025.
According to those parameters, Flagstaff’s minimum wage will rise to $17.40 come January. Tucson was set to reach a $14.25 minimum wage this year according to its schedule, but according to the law will match the state raise to $14.35.
In recent years, Flagstaff has battled with the state in court over its minimum wage schedule. The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled in February that the city would have to pay the state over $1.1 million for its minimum wage ordinance, per a 2019 law requiring annual assessments of municipalities with a minimum wage exceeding that imposed by the state. These assessments review estimated state agencies’ costs attributable to the higher minimum wage.
The federal minimum wage remains at $7.25 an hour, unchanged since 2009. Democrats in the House and Senate are looking to change that with proposed legislation to increase the minimum wage to $17 by 2028.
According to an Economic Policy Institute analysis, the raise would result in an estimated $86 billion annually in wages for over 27.8 million workers, averaging out to about $3,000 more per worker annually. Those millions affected make up about 19 percent of the national workforce.
In Arizona, the proposed federal minimum wage raise would impact roughly 629,000 workers with an average annual increase of over $900.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a review of similar legislation which proposed a minimum wage increase of $15 an hour by 2027. CBO estimated that earnings would raise for some, but overall there would be a decrease in employment.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
Law enforcement at the front lines of the border crisis is looking for new recruits.
Last week, the Chief Patrol Agent for the Detroit Sector of the United States Border Patrol, Robert Danley, posted a notice to “X” that his agency is hiring. Chief Danley shared information about hiring incentives and the link for interested men and women to apply.
— Chief Patrol Agent Robert Danley (@USBPChiefDTM) December 22, 2023
For years, the Border Patrol has been under duress from the deluge of illegal immigration across America’s southern border. The border has been ‘open,’ more or less, for decades, but the situation on the ground has reached unprecedented levels in the past ten years. Over the past three years, during the Biden Administration, the border crisis has arguably been at its peak, forcing the already thin ranks of Border Patrol agents to process hundreds of thousands of incoming illegal aliens.
According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, there were 19,357 Border Patrol agents in Fiscal Year 2022.
Border Patrol agents have faced new threats in 2023, in addition to their wearisome workload at their stations, leading many to wonder how many individuals would want to sign up for what this job has become. In October, the Vice President of the National Border Patrol Council, Art Del Cueto, posted a picture of online messages that contained threats and concerning solicitations about personal information for agents and members of their families.
The messages shared by Del Cueto included the following:
“We will pay for any addresses of border patrol agents!!”
“$200 your way if you get me a border patrol agent’s address”
“$1k if you get me they mommas address”
“We offer $$$ for information on BP agents”
“Top dollar on good info”
“I’ll post us torturing any bp agent u send”
Ali Bradley, a National Correspondent for NewsNation, shared additional insight from conversations with Border Patrol agents, stating that “the agency says the messages also show the intent to post the torture of BPAs on social media.”
NEW: “We will pay for any addresses of border patrol agents!!”@CBP sends out internal alert to agents after intercepting messages seeking the home addresses of agents and their families with an intent to do harm— The text message obtained by CBP states, “$200 your way if you… pic.twitter.com/98PA8pYdWv
Earlier this month, two wives of Border Patrol agents joined Fox News to talk about the crisis and their perceptions of the lawlessness through the eyes of their husbands. One of the women, Alison Anderson, said, “We have literally watched our border be handed over… he often talks about, why did our brothers die? Why did people die defending this country for this administration to sit there, lie about what they’re doing and hand over our border and our national security?”
In Fiscal Year 2023, there were 2,475,669 encounters of illegal immigrants at the southern border – in addition to the ‘gotaways’ who slipped by agents. Through the first two months of the newest fiscal year (October and November), there were 483,404 apprehensions at the southern border. Both months have outpaced FY 23s figures so far.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
