by Elizabeth Troutman | May 9, 2024 | News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Starting in November, recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program in Arizona and nationwide will be able to obtain health care under the Affordable Care Act.
The Biden Administration finalized the rule Friday surrounding President Joe Biden’s efforts to urge Congress to establish a pathway to citizenship for “dreamers,” young people who have grown up as Americans but do not have citizenship.
“Dreamers are our loved ones, our nurses, teachers, and small business owners,” President Biden said in a statement. “And they deserve the promise of health care just like all of us.”
Biden announced plans in April to open Obamacare and Medicaid rolls, both subsidized by American taxpayers, to nearly 600,000 DACA illegal aliens.
Mario Montoya, a DACA recipient who has lived in the country for over two decades, told KTAR News 92.3 FM he wants to inform almost 21,000 dreamers in Arizona about the expansion of Obamacare coverage.
He said the final rule from the White House was a step forward but fell short of his expectations by not including access to Medicaid or funding under the CHIP and Science Act, as was initially proposed last year.
While Montoya advocated for the expansion of federal programs accessible to dreamers, he acknowledged that the fate of these programs is uncertain at this time.
“The DACA program is still being litigated at the courts and the Supreme Court is ultimately going to have the final decision to see if the program is going to stay,” Montoya said.
U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, a Democrat who represents District 7 in southern Arizona, said in a statement that he thinks the move will expand access to affordable health insurance for thousands.
“Illness does not discriminate on the basis of documentation or legal status,” Grijalva said. “Access to timely health care is advantageous for those families and our communities as a whole.”
Senators J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., as well as several House Republicans, lobbied Biden to drop the plan last year, but the administration moved forward anyway.
“By providing health insurance to DACA recipients, this policy further burdens programs intended to serve U.S. citizens and simultaneously encourages more aliens to enter our country illegally in the hopes of receiving similar protection and services,” the Republicans wrote. “Unfortunately, this approach appears to align with the open-borders agenda advanced by your colleague, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, with hundreds of thousands of aliens apprehended trying to enter our country illegally every month.”
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Elizabeth Troutman | May 8, 2024 | Education, News
By Elizabeth Troutman |
Parents are taking back the power over their children’s education, according to a new report, and Arizona is the second-highest on the parent power chart.
For the first time in two generations, programs and policies that give parents more power over their children’s education are accelerating across the United States, according to the 2024 Parent Power! Index from the Center for Education Reform.
“Not since the beginning of the education reform movement when, between 1991 and 1999, states created 36 new laws providing parents power over their children’s education have we seen such a rapid expansion in an accelerated period of time for education innovation and opportunity,” Jeanne Allen, CER founder and CEO, said in a statement.
Florida is first on the parent power chart, followed by Arizona and Indiana.
Between 2021 and April 2024, 26 new and expanded laws governing parental options, additional flexibility to innovate, and education transparency have taken effect. At least another 600,000 students gained access to a variety of learning approaches across all education sectors.
Recent U.S. migration trends show that three of the top five states in the 2024 Parent Power Index are also among the top five states where people are moving — Florida, Arizona, and North Carolina. More than one million students left public schools to pursue other education opportunities in states with more options for parents.
“Whenever parents are engaged, change occurs,” Allen said. “Time and time again, we’ve seen that information in the hands of parents is power. When parents are able to make informed decisions about their children’s education, and states and communities are permitted to offer a myriad of pathways to enable those decisions, education works better for all students.”
State rank and policy environments are improving overall, particularly in states that have tended to embrace education freedom in general, such as Iowa, West Virginia, Ohio, and Arkansas, the data shows.
Elizabeth Troutman is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send her news tips using this link.
by Daniel Stefanski | May 3, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
A recent Arizona poll had bad news for the state’s second-year governor.
On Tuesday, Emerson College Polling published its survey of swing states in the 2024 election. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs, a Democrat, garnered 38% approval, compared with 42% disapproval from respondents (with 20% neutral).
Hobbs’ results were some of the worst in the swing states among her fellow governors. Her approval rating was the lowest of the seven polled, and her disapproval numbers were one percentage point lower than the highest – which went to Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, also a Democrat.
The swing states polled were Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.
The Arizona governor’s approval was two percentage points lower than President Joe Biden’s in her state. Biden obtained a 40% approval and a 51% disapproval.
Emerson College showed that former President Donald J. Trump held a four-percentage point lead in a head-to-head match-up in Arizona with current President Joseph R. Biden – 48% to 44% with eight percent of respondents undecided. When additional ballot options were added to the polling question, Trump maintained his four-point advantage in the Grand Canyon State – 44% to 40%.
Spencer Kimball, the executive director of Emerson College Polling, highlighted that “Independent voters break for Trump over Biden in Arizona (48%-38%).
The country is quickly heading toward the November 2024 election, with Arizona figuring to feature a prominent role in determining the individual who will assume the reins of the Executive Branch of the nation for the next four years. Most polls this year have shown that President Trump has built a lead over Biden in Arizona, though much time remains until the fall showdown.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | May 2, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
A new poll from Emerson College and The Hill found that former President Donald Trump leads President Joe Biden in Arizona and six other key swing states.
The poll, released on Monday, reflected a consistency in swing state preferences since last November, according to the pollsters. Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling, said in a press release that the main differences concerned a diminishment in undecided voters and increase in support for Biden in Georgia and Nevada.
“The state of the presidential election in swing states has remained relatively consistent since Emerson and The Hill started tracking them last November,” said Kimball. “The share of undecided voters has reduced and Biden gained ground in Georgia and Nevada, narrowing the gap, while Trump has maintained a slight edge on Biden in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.”
Trump leads Biden by four percent in Arizona (eight percent undecided), three percent in Georgia (nine percent undecided), one percent in Michigan and Nevada (11 percent undecided), five percent in North Carolina (10 percent undecided), and two percent in Pennsylvania and Wisconsin (eight percent undecided).
Last November, the pollsters found that Trump led Biden by two percent in Arizona among both registered and likely voters (16 percent and 11 percent undecided, respectively).
In this latest poll, Trump won over more independent voters than Biden in Arizona (48 percent compared to 38 percent), as well as Michigan (44 to 35 percent), Nevada (43 to 37 percent), Pennsylvania (49 to 33 percent), and North Carolina (41 to 38 percent). Georgia and Wisconsin independent voters favored Biden, at 42 to 38 percent and 44 to 41 percent, respectively.
Biden had a 51 percent disapproval rating, compared to 40 percent approval in Arizona. The other swing states had similar dismal disapproval ratings for the president: 52 percent disapproval in Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin; 53 percent disapproval in North Carolina; and 51 percent disapproval in Pennsylvania.
Third party candidates reflected a bigger hurt than help for the incumbent president in most swing states, save for Arizona and Michigan, where Biden and Trump came up even for voter support.
The poll found that a plurality of voters in all swing states believed that the New York criminal trial against Trump was appropriate, and not a “witch hunt,” as the pollsters described.
13 percent of Arizona Republicans polled said they would be less likely to vote for Trump if he received a guilty verdict in the trial. Overall, a majority of Republican respondents said they would be more likely to support the former president should he be found guilty.
Independent voters said they would be 32 percent more likely to vote for Trump if he is found guilty, 43 percent said the ruling would have no impact, and 25 percent said they would be less likely to support him.
The poll also asked voters about their U.S. Senate candidates and sentiments of their governors.
In Arizona, 45 percent supported Democrat Ruben Gallego to replace outgoing Independent Senator Kyrsten Sinema, compared with 43 percent in support of Kari Lake. Gallego had a marginal gain of one percent compared to Lake’s three compared to the pollsters’ previous data from March.
Governor Katie Hobbs received a 42 percent disapproval rating, with 38 percent approving and 20 percent neutral. Hobbs was the only swing state governor on the poll that had a majority disapproval rating.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by Staff Reporter | May 1, 2024 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The state declined to retry the case of George Alan Kelly, 75, the rancher charged with the deadly shooting of an illegal immigrant on his property.
Kelly faced the possibility of a retrial after a deadlocked jury resulted in a declared mistrial last week. As he walked out of the Superior Court building, Kelly said that he had faith God would protect him from those upset over the prosecutors’ decision.
“The nightmare’s over,” said Kelly. “God’ll look after me, like he always has.”
A small group of protestors awaited Kelly’s exit from the courthouse on Monday. A few shouted after Kelly as he walked away. Some of the protestors’ signs likened the shooting to a hate crime.
That illegal immigrant, Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, 48, was found dead by Kelly last January after the rancher had allegedly fired warning shots above Cuen-Buitimea and the other illegal immigrants he was trespassing with on the property.
Accounts of Cuen-Buitimea crew differ, depending on who gave testimony. Authorities characterized the group as illegal immigrants evading Border Patrol during a typical illegal crossing. Kelly claimed the group’s presence was marked by a gunshot, and that the men were camouflaged and carrying assault rifles, one of which Kelly said was pointed at him.
Cuen-Buitimea had been deported for illegal entry into the U.S. at least three times from 2011 to 2016. According to a friend’s account to The New York Times, Cuen-Buitimea lived with his two adult daughters in Nogales. The pair met with the Mexican Consulate in Nogales and prosecutors after the declared mistrial last week.
One of Cuen-Buitimea’s travel companions, Daniel Ramirez, later served as the key witness against Kelly; Ramirez was imprisoned for drug smuggling nearly 10 years ago, though he falsely told the court that he had no prior drug-related convictions.
Ramirez’s testimony was later scrutinized for alleged editorialization and coaching by prosecution.
Santa Cruz County Attorney George Silva released the following statement after their decision to not retry Kelly:
“Because of the unique circumstances and challenges surrounding State vs. George Alan Kelly, the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office has decided not to seek a retrial in this matter. However, our Office’s decision in this case should not be construed as a position on future cases of this type. Our office is mandated by statute to prosecute criminal acts, and we take that statutory mandate seriously. We will review all the facts of each case as they are presented to our office, and we will continue to prosecute all criminal acts that occur within our jurisdiction when a factual and legal basis exists for prosecution. Nothing follows.”
Following a similar statement from the county attorney’s office in court on Monday, Judge Thomas Fink said the court would schedule a hearing to determine whether to dismiss Kelly’s case with or without prejudice.
The Arizona Superior Court declared a mistrial last week after the jury was unable to reach a verdict. Seven wanted to find Kelly not guilty, but one wanted to sentence him on the charge of second-degree murder.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
