State Rep. Alma Hernandez (D-LD20) spoke out against top Democrats for endorsing her primary opponent for the state senate seat, Rocque Perez.
Hernandez said Perez’s history of posting pornography and violent rhetoric online were antithetical to the values of the Democratic Party following an announcement that Rep. Adelita Grijalva and Tucson Mayor Regina Romero had endorsed Perez.
“I have proudly delivered for my district for the last eight years. If these women want to support a flawed candidate who posted his porn and violent political rhetoric online[…] good luck explaining that to voters,” said Hernandez. “I have won four terms without their support and will continue to do so!”
I have proudly delivered for my district for the last 8 years. If these women want to support a flawed candidate who posted his porn & violent political rhetoric online. Good luck explaining that to voters. I have won 4 terms without their support and will continue to do so! https://t.co/0K6xBhRlne
— (((Rep.Alma Hernandez))) (@almaforarizona) June 17, 2026
As reported previously, Perez advocated for the murder of conservatives and Republicans in posts to one of his accounts on X (at the time, Twitter). Perez advised a friend to “kill” her family members as her “duty,” and called on the public to “throw [Ivanka Trump] off the capitol building roof.”
In reference to a classmate: “This vapid white girl is defending Trump[’s] response to COVID in my Zoom public relations class, do I end her or do I end her.”
In reference to assaulting President Donald Trump: “Honestly I would take one for the team and knock him out if I could.”
In reference to conservative activist and pundit Kaitlin Bennett: “How has she not gotten beat yet? Like… hath no one the bravery to literally hurt her cause…?”
In reference to the 2020 election: “Roses are red, violets are blue, vote for Joe Biden, or I’ll cut you.”
On another X account around the same time, @localanthony, pornographic videos were posted publicly which allegedly featured Perez promoting a similarly-named OnlyFans account, That Local Boy. The profile picture for that account appeared to be a mirror selfie of Perez.
Perez denied to media outlets that he posted the pornographic content, but refused to confirm or deny whether the content belonged to him.
One post that appeared to have come from Perez on the pornographic X account claimed engagement in sexual activities with an unnamed professor and later being solicited by that professor’s husband.
In another post from March 2021, the account owner claimed to have masturbated while at work at the University of Arizona. Perez was employed as the University of Arizona’s marketing and communications strategist at the time.
“Guys I’m so horny I might jerk off somewhere at work, stay tuned,” posted Perez. “Update: loads of bro butter at work.”
At least one minor engaged with this pornographic account allegedly belonging to Perez, the California Globereported.
Following widespread reporting, the porn-focused account apparently associated with Perez has been excluded from the web archiving services where it was previously available to the public.
It appears Grijalva and Romero chose to endorse Perez over Hernandez based on their past ties with him.
Perez was the executive director for Grijalva’s nonprofit, the Metropolitan Education Commission, which makes recommendations for Pima County’s K-12 education.
Last year, Perez served for six months as an appointed member of the Tucson City Council representing Ward 5.
Other Democrats have spurned Hernandez for her shows of bipartisanship in the legislature.
LD20 Democrats issued a public statement condemning Hernandez, though they stopped short of censoring her.
Perez was also on the board of directors of the now-defunct Tucson Pride, once the state’s oldest pride organization.
Perez platforms himself as both a fourth-generation Arizonan and the son of an undocumented woman from Mexico.
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Arizona now has a stricter law on underage nicotine sales.
House Bill 4001 establishes stricter statewide standards for alternative nicotine products. One major point of the law is a new prohibition on these products from being packaged in ways intended to appeal to minors, such as designs that resemble toys, food, or electronics.
Specifically, alternative nicotine products may not be associated with a cartoon-like fictional character mimicking a character primarily aimed at entertaining; imitation or mimicry of a trademark or trade dress of a product primarily marketed to minors; a symbol primarily used to market products to minors; a celebrity’s name or image; a product shape or design meant to disguise appearance, such as a school or office supply, smart phone, smart watch, smart phone or smart watch case, headphones, ear buds, clothing item, backpack, cosmetic or cosmetic container, toy, video game device, or food or beverage product.
The law defines “alternative nicotine products” as any noncombustile produce containing nicotine intended for human consumption, which includes chewing, absorption, dissolution, ingestion, or inhaling.
Any violation of the marketing restrictions on alternative nicotine products would incur a class 3 misdemeanor.
The law also imposed a tiered punishment system for those who sell alternative nicotine products to underage individuals. The punishments for a first offense include fines ranging between $500 and $750, and required completion of a court-approved tobacco retailer educational course. Those who continue to sell to underage individuals must also complete a court-approved tobacco retailer educational course, but face increasing prohibition periods on the sale of alternative nicotine products up to one year, increasing fines up to $10,000, and increasing criminal charges up to a class 5 felony.
Republican Rep. Jeff Weninger (LD13), the bill sponsor, said in a press release that nicotine companies shouldn’t be looking for ways to entice children to their products, and that businesses have a duty to ensure their customers are of age.
“Nicotine products should not be designing products that look like toys or marketing them in ways that appeal to high school students,” said Weninger. “If you are selling nicotine products to minors, Arizona is no longer going to look the other way.”
Additionally, the law increased age-verification requirements and penalties for anyone who sells nicotine products to underage individuals.
Similar to alcohol, the state prohibits the sale of nicotine products to individuals under the age of 21. The minimum age was raised from 18 to 21 last year in order to conform with federal regulations amended in 2019. Active military personnel who are at least 18 years of age are exempted from this minimum age requirement.
Arizona will also require alternative nicotine product manufacturers or distributors to obtain licensure from the Arizona Department of Liquor Licenses and Control (DLLC) beginning in 2028.
DLLC estimated that the cost to hire the new personnel necessary to ensure enforcement of this new law would amount to about $3.6 million annually, though the Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) disclosed that it couldn’t validate that cost assessment. JLBC’s assessment of the law’s fiscal impact advised that licensure revenues were indeterminable since the law didn’t establish specific license fees.
Those who distribute alternative nicotine products without a license run the risk of earning a class 5 felony, which results in a mandatory $10,000 fine, prohibition on the sale or distribution of alternative nicotine products for one year, and any other punishments deemed appropriate by a court.
Gov. Katie Hobbs signed the legislation into law earlier this month.
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Arizona lawmakers have approved legislation sponsored by Senator Hildy Angius (R-LD30) aimed at strengthening care for individuals living with serious mental illness while improving public safety and long-term stability across the state.
Senate Bill 1630, the Seriously Mentally Ill Enhanced Residential Treatment Pilot Program, passed the Arizona Senate by a bipartisan vote of 28-1 and cleared the House on a 42-13 vote. The legislation was transmitted to Governor Katie Hobbs on June 12.
The bill establishes a three-year pilot program designed to provide enhanced residential treatment options for adults with severe and persistent mental illness who require a higher level of care than traditional outpatient services can provide.
The program seeks to address a longstanding gap in Arizona’s behavioral health system by offering structured support to individuals at risk of repeated psychiatric crises, hospitalization, incarceration, and homelessness.
Under the legislation, the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) would administer the pilot program, subject to approval by the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The program would initially serve up to 60 eligible participants statewide, with the possibility of future expansion if data demonstrates reduced utilization of high-cost services and overall cost savings.
🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Senator Angius Advances Bipartisan Health Care Reform Legislation to the Governor
“For too long, Arizona has lacked adequate options for some of our most vulnerable seriously mentally ill individuals who need more support than traditional outpatient services can provide but do not belong cycling endlessly between emergency rooms, jails, homelessness, and crisis facilities,” stated Senator Angius. “These are often individuals whose conditions have become so severe that they cannot safely care for themselves, maintain stable housing, manage complex medications, or consistently participate in treatment without significant support.”
The legislation creates a new category of licensed facilities known as Enhanced Residential Treatment Facilities. These facilities would provide behavioral health treatment, health-related services, and around-the-clock structured support for individuals who have been determined to be seriously mentally ill under Arizona law.
Services available through the facilities would include continuous supervision, medication administration and monitoring, crisis intervention, case management, treatment planning, social skills development, budgeting assistance, and other support services designed to help residents maintain stability and improve long-term outcomes.
Eligibility for the pilot program would be limited to Arizona adults who have been designated as seriously mentally ill and meet specific clinical and financial requirements. Priority would be given to individuals experiencing the most significant challenges, including those under court-ordered treatment, those under legal guardianship due to psychiatric incapacity, individuals recently released from correctional or behavioral health facilities individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness, and those with repeated psychiatric hospitalizations or crisis episodes.
The legislation also requires comprehensive service planning, annual medical necessity reviews, stakeholder input during implementation, and annual reporting to state leaders on outcomes such as housing stability, hospitalization rates, crisis service utilization, emergency department visits, jail involvement, and fiscal impacts.
Providers would be required to document behavioral interventions and develop transition and discharge plans before releasing participants from treatment, helping prevent individuals from being discharged into unstable or unsafe situations.
If approved by Governor Hobbs, the pilot program would take effect for three years following federal approval, with enrollment beginning no later than one year after federal authorization is granted.
“SB 1630 creates a pathway for enhanced residential treatment that focuses on stability, accountability, and longterm recovery,” said Angius. “Just as importantly, it helps prevent dangerous situations where individuals experiencing severe psychiatric crises are released back into the community without the structure and services necessary to protect themselves and those around them. This legislation is about compassion, public safety, and finally addressing a gap in Arizona’s behavioral health system that families, caregivers, law enforcement, and providers have been struggling with for years.”
Ethan Faverino is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes appears to lack basic knowledge of state law.
Mayes claimed in a post that recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program are currently eligible to serve in law enforcement in Arizona.
“DACA recipients are police officers, firefighters, nurses and small business owners in Arizona,” said Mayes.
News flash Warren: DACA recipients are police officers, firefighters, nurses and small business owners in Arizona. And you just announced to the world that you think they are criminals and should be deported. Disqualifying https://t.co/B9b50rNztI
DACA recipients aren’t American citizens. Rather, they’re individuals who arrived illegally in the country as minors and were granted delayed deportation under the DACA program created by former President Barack Obama.
DACA recipients must renew their status every two years. Recipients are disqualified from renewal if they have committed a felony, significant misdemeanor, three or more misdemeanors, and/or otherwise posed a threat to national security or public safety.
Arizona law prohibits illegal aliens and other noncitizens from joining law enforcement.
“Notwithstanding any other law, the qualifications [for peace officers] shall require United States citizenship[,]” states the law.
Mayes provided the erroneous representation of state law in response to a Republican attorney general candidate looking to unseat her, Senate President Warren Petersen (LD14). Mayes called Petersen’s belief in deportation for all illegal aliens, including those awarded DACA status, “disgusting.”
Petersen had criticized Mayes for celebrating the creation of the DACA program.
“[Mayes] is fighting to protect illegals. I will keep our border secure and will work with the federal government to deport everyone who enters this country illegally,” said Petersen. “We welcome everyone who comes here legally and abides by the law. But be ready to be deported or prosecuted if you don’t.”
Even those DACA recipients who violate the law may not face deportation as the DACA program rules require, due to Democratic elected officials intervening on their behalf.
In recent months, Rep. Adelita Grijalva and Pima County Attorney Laura Conover have fought to prevent the deportation of one DACA recipient, 32-year-old Jessica Marlene Corrales-Duarte, detained by ICE following her arrest for stealing approximately $5,500 worth of products from an Ulta Beauty in Tucson. That level of theft qualifies as a felony.
Conover told KOLD that Corrales-Duarte should be allowed to enter a diversion program and remain in the country. Grijalva called the theft a minor offense.
“Although that amount is higher than most of our organized retail theft cases, generally speaking, a person with no criminal history would and should be afforded an opportunity to enter a diversion program whereby they work steadily to repay what is owed and learn how to never end up involved in the criminal justice system again,” said Conover.
Multiple federal courts have ruled the DACA program to be unlawful. As a result, the Department of Homeland Security is prohibited from granting new admissions to the DACA program. However, those who obtained DACA on or before July 16, 2021 may keep their DACA status provided that they meet renewal eligibility.
Federal law enforcement revealed this week that a DACA recipient, Abraham Alvarez, 31, was the ringleader of the foiled terror plot to assassinate elected officials and other American citizens attending the UFC Freedom 250 fight at the White House on President Donald Trump’s birthday over the weekend.
Alvarez, an illegal alien from Mexico, overstayed a 2001 tourist visa with his family by more than a decade before he received DACA status in 2014. Alvarez was apprehended in his state of residence, Nebraska. His DACA status was revoked following his arrest for the domestic terror plot.
Four other men — American citizens residing in California, Missouri, and Ohio — were arrested for the terror plot along with Alvarez.
It is estimated that more than 825,000 individuals who entered the country illegally as minors were enrolled in the DACA program.
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Arizona public school students would spend a designated week each year studying the nation’s founding documents, and students in grades three through twelve would recite a passage from the Declaration of Independence, under legislation sent to Gov. Katie Hobbs.
The “Return to Civics Instruction Act,” Senate Bill 1572, sponsored by Sen. Mark Finchem (R-LD1), would require public schools to observe Celebrate Freedom Week. The measure was transmitted to Hobbs earlier this month after passing both chambers of the Legislature.
The bill would require each public school to include instruction during Celebrate Freedom Week in each social studies course on the “original intent, meaning and importance” of the Declaration of Independence, the United States Constitution, including the Bill of Rights, and the historical context of those documents.
🚨FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Arizona Students Could Receive Expanded Instruction on America's Founding Principles Under Senator Finchem Bill Sent to Governor
The instruction would apply to students in grades one through twelve and would also cover the relationship between the ideas expressed in the Declaration of Independence and several periods and movements in American history, including the nation’s history as a country of immigrants, the American Revolution, the creation of the Constitution, the abolitionist movement, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the women’s suffrage movement.
For students in grades three through twelve, the measure would require a recitation of the passage from the Declaration of Independence already referenced in state law under duties assigned to the State Board of Education.
Students would not be required to participate in the recitation if a parent submits a written request to excuse the student, if the school determines that the student has a conscientious objection, or if the student’s parent is a representative of a foreign government to which the United States extends diplomatic immunity.
Celebrate Freedom Week would be defined as either the instructional week that includes Sept. 17 or another instructional week designated by the public school’s governing body. The bill would allow the State Board of Education to adopt rules and policies to implement the requirement and would require the board to ensure public schools do not censor the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, or Bill of Rights to exclude religious references.
SB 1572 passed the Senate on Feb. 26 by a 16-12-2 vote and passed the House on June 11 by a 31-23-6 vote. It was transmitted to the governor the following day.
“This bill was brought forward by a constituent with language from a similar bill that was passed into law by the Texas Legislature,” said Finchem. “If our students don’t know where their civil rights come from, how will they resist attempts to separate them from their civil rights?”
Finchem said the measure is intended to strengthen students’ understanding of the country’s founding principles.
“Too many students graduate without a basic understanding of the principles that shaped our nation and continue to protect our freedoms today,” Finchem said. “A strong civics education helps students understand not only how our government works, but why the Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and Bill of Rights matter. If we want future generations to preserve liberty, they first need to understand the ideas and sacrifices that made liberty possible. This bill helps ensure Arizona students receive that foundation.”
Arizona already requires American civics education as part of the state’s high school social studies standards. Under A.R.S. § 15-701.01, the State Board of Education must prescribe social studies standards that include American civics education and a comparative discussion of political ideologies, including communism and totalitarianism, that conflict with the principles of freedom and democracy essential to the founding principles of the United States.
State law also requires students to pass a civics test based on the civics portion of the U.S. naturalization test in order to graduate from high school or obtain a high school equivalency diploma.
The department’s 2026 Arizona Civics Test Administration Manual says students are required to score 70% or higher beginning with the graduating class of 2026 and may take the test between grades seven and twelve.
SB 1572 would add a separate requirement for annual instruction during Celebrate Freedom Week in public school social studies courses.
Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne announced earlier this month that the Arizona Department of Education will receive $300,000 in grant funding to expand its teacher apprenticeship and mentoring program amid the state’s ongoing teacher shortage.
According to a statement from the Arizona Department of Education (AZED), the department is among the sub-recipients of grant funds awarded by the National Center for Grow Your Own (NCGYO) through the private, nonprofit Ascendium Education Group. AZED will receive $300,000 over the next two years to support approximately 100 apprentices and mentor teachers statewide.
“This is excellent news because recruiting, training and supporting teachers is vital and the teacher shortage has reached catastrophic proportions,” Horne said. “These funds will be used to expand our already-robust efforts to help bring more teachers into the profession and retain those valuable educators currently in the classroom.”
Superintendent Horne announces $300K in grant funds to help recruit, train more teachers–apprenticeships help address chronic shortage. A new $300,000 grant will be used by the Arizona Department of Education (ADE) to expand its existing teacher apprenticeship and mentoring… pic.twitter.com/EtkADSdl0K
— Arizona Department of Education (@azedschools) June 9, 2026
The department said the grant will expand AZED’s existing teacher apprenticeship and mentoring program. According to AZED, the Arizona Teacher Registered Apprenticeship Program prepares future educators through paid, hands-on classroom experience under the mentorship of experienced teachers while apprentices complete educator preparation coursework.
Horne said the state has developed alternate pathways for prospective teachers who did not attend an education college but have the content knowledge needed to teach.
“We have developed and implemented numerous ‘alternate pathways’ for those who did not go to education college but have the content knowledge needed to teach,” Horne said. “We must also continue to push for more help for educators by increasing teacher pay using State Land Trust funds with no new taxes, and ensuring school administrators support teachers on classroom discipline, the two major issues that teachers cite as reasons to leave the profession.”
The NCGYO said its National Registered Apprenticeship in Teaching Network includes states working to use registered apprenticeships in teaching to address educator shortages. According to the NCGYO, the network supports states and local partners as they develop registered apprenticeship pathways into the teaching profession.
According to AZED, NCGYO will provide technical assistance to participating states and local partners, including support with apprenticeship program registration, subgrant design and implementation, sustainability planning, and quality assurance.
The grant project’s stated goals include increasing the number of fully licensed teachers prepared through high-quality, debt-free apprenticeship programs; building state-level infrastructure and policy systems to sustain programs beyond philanthropic funding; and using the registered apprenticeship model to improve educator preparation while lowering the cost of earning a teaching degree.
Ascendium’s broader education philanthropy focuses on removing barriers for low-income learners and expanding postsecondary and workforce pathways.
NCGYO’s work sits within a broader national educator pipeline movement, promoted by some education policy groups as a tool to increase teacher diversity. A 2023 National Council on Teacher Quality report on policies to increase teacher diversity discusses “Grow Your Own” programs in that context and lists NCGYO founder David Donaldson as a contributor.
The AZED announcement describes the Arizona grant as funding teacher apprenticeships and mentor support and does not state that the funds are tied to a DEI program or mandate.
