by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Oct 27, 2021 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
This past July, Arizona lawmakers and Governor Ducey did the right thing. Through a series of Budget Reconciliation Bills, they took important steps to protect the people of Arizona from more COVID mandates and to prevent children from being indoctrinated in public schools by Critical Race Theory.
While COVID was certainly an issue that warranted some action, it never should have included trampling on the rights of the people. And we definitely should not be wasting tax dollars on lessons that teach public school students that one race, ethnic group, or sex is in any way superior to another.
Not surprisingly, these laws sent teachers’ unions into a tailspin. As students headed back to campus, some Arizona schools decided to teach students that it’s ok to violate the law. And the Arizona Board of Regents recently announced that all three state universities will require their employees to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 by December 8.
Then, there’s the lawsuit…
>>> READ MORE >>>
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 25, 2021 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
For his latest campaign event, Arizona Attorney General and Senate-hopeful Mark Brnovich enlisted the help of Steve Gill: a right-leaning radio host and former news site owner accused of domestic abuse and jailed over a week for neglecting to pay $170,000 in child support.
Brnovich’s campaign event occurred Monday in Gill’s hometown of Nashville, Tennessee. Guests could pay $100 for entry, or $300 for a host committee at the luncheon, which took place at a local restaurant called Jasper’s.
As reported by The Tennessean, the domestic abuse allegations came from Gill’s most recent ex-wife, Kathryn, while the delinquent $170,000 in child support came from a previous marriage. Gill was jailed 9 days for his failure to pay child support. No further reports on the domestic abuse allegations have occurred.
Kathryn accused Gill of both physical and emotional abuse: name-calling, pushing, grabbing, and threats. In response, the court issued an order of protection. Gill was prohibited from going near Kathryn, ordered to undergo a batterers’ intervention program, and prohibited from owning any firearms.
According to donation forms posted for the event by Gill, Brnovich is also receiving help from Lindsey Seitchik (nee Schauer): an Arizona-based political fundraising strategist. Some of the highlights from the Brnovich campaign flyers associated with the event emphasized his past election wins in 2014 and 2018. They also emphasized his background as the Arizona-born son of Yugoslavian refugees who fled communism, and his recent battles against the Biden Administration for election integrity, border security, and medical freedom concerning COVID-19.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
by Terri Jo Neff | Oct 24, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
There has been much media coverage in recent months about Arizona’s nursing shortage. This summer, Phoenix-based Banner Health confirmed it was down nearly 1,400 nursing professionals at its 30 hospitals and associated medical offices across the country.
But even the prestigious Mayo Clinic—recognized as the top hospital in the United States for 2020-2021 by U.S. News & World Report—has learned that staffing issues extend far beyond the nursing ranks and into nearly every department.
As of Sunday, more than 375 jobs were advertised on the Mayo Clinic’s website. And those are only the company’s open positions in Arizona.
The reality of employment challenges facing Arizona’s medical community is forcing changes in how to attract medical professionals who may be looking to change jobs. And one hospital in Cochise County has found a creative way to garner the attention of prospective employees.
Canyon Vista Medica Center in Sierra Vista opened in 2015 as Cochise County’s only Level 3 trauma medical facility. Last week it released a recruitment video touting the wonderful work environment, although much of the video is spent showcasing Sierra Vista and Cochise County.
The video available on Facebook and LinkedIn draws attention to “the wonderful sceneries and opportunities” the region has to offer, according to CVMC spokeswoman Alexis Ramanjulu.
“Like all industries we have to be creative in how we attract new employees,” Ramanjulu explained to AZ Free News. “We hope by showcasing the place our business and healthcare heroes call home will attract medical professionals to our hospital and our part of the country.”
Such efforts are necessary despite the fact Gov. Doug Ducey announced $25 million to bolster hospital frontline staffing in November 2020, followed a few weeks later by another $60 million to address nursing shortages. The December funding pledge was matched by Ducey last month, but it could take weeks, if not months, to get that money into the hands of hospital administrators.
In the meantime, some smaller healthcare providers and medical offices have begun targeting workers at those larger companies in Arizona that are threatening to suspend or even fire medical professional for noncompliance of stringent COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
Yet hiring efforts across the state are not coming close to addressing the widespread staffing shortage. Part of the problem, according to one hospital administrator, is that such outreach efforts are often conducted by trained recruiters, which are also in short supply in Arizona.
Among those recently advertising for experienced recruiters in Arizona, are St. Luke’s Hospital (Tempe), Northwest Healthcare (Tucson), and Banner Health, which is Arizona’s largest employer.
Other companies with recruiter openings are Yavapai Regional Medical Center (Prescott), Envita Medical Center (Scottsdale), Mountain Vista Medical Center (Mesa), Northern Arizona Healthcare Corp. (Flagstaff), SpringBoard Healthcare (Phoenix), Havasu Regional Medical Center (Sacate), Tenet Healthcare (Phoenix), LifePoint Health (Lake Havasu City), Steward Health Care (Arizona City), and IASIS Healthcare (Mesa).
WATCH THE CVMC RECRUITING VIDEO:
by Terri Jo Neff | Oct 11, 2021 | News
By Terri Jo Neff |
Dozens of organizations, government agencies, and private businesses across Arizona will benefit from more than $9.4 million in competitive grant funds awarded last week by the Arizona Office of Tourism.
The Oct. 5 announcement of the Visit Arizona Initiative Partnership grants is part of an effort to increase visitation and tourism spending in Arizona, bolster job creation, and accelerate economic recovery.
“With tourism being the hardest hit industry and still working to recover, we were really focused during this initial round on getting funds to communities that needed it most,” said Debbie Johnson, Director of the Arizona Office of Tourism. “We worked diligently through this process to provide support statewide and I’m proud to say we achieved that goal.”
The Office of Tourism reports that almost 200,000 Arizonans were employed in the tourism industry prior to COVID-19. Tourism also contributed over $3.5 billion in tax revenue to federal, state, and local economies before the pandemic.
But Arizona’s 2020 overnight visitation decreased by 31 percent and visitor spending decreased by 41 percent compared to 2019 numbers, according to Gov. Doug Ducey’s office when he announced $101.1 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds would be used to launch Visit Arizona Initiative in July.
“These grant awardees, which were selected through the Arizona Office of Tourism’s competitive process, will attract more tourism to Arizona and lead to more jobs and spending in communities throughout our state,” Ducey said last week when the funding was announced.
Those receiving grants are:
Phoenix Central Region ($3,713,558)
Arizona Basketball Coaches Association
Arizona Jewish Historical Society
Ballet Arizona
Desert Botanical Gardens/Taliesin West
Easy Dave’s
Greater Phoenix Convention & Visitors Bureau
Heritage Square Foundation
International Jazz Day AZ Foundation
Musical Instrument Museum
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame
Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix Zoo
Scottsdale Fashion Square
Superior Chamber of Commerce
The Phoenix Theater Company
Town of Fountain Hills
Visit Mesa
Tucson & Southern Region ($4,670,830)
Arizona Media Arts Center
City of Sierra Vista
Graham County Chamber of Commerce
North Center Productions, Inc.
Perimeter Bicycling Association of America, Inc.
Southern Arizona Arts & Cultural Alliance
Tubac Chamber of Commerce
Tucson Bicycle Classic
University of Arizona Cycling Team
Willcox Theater and Arts, Inc.
Northern Region ($452,698)
Creative Flagstaff
Flagstaff Dark Skies Coalition
Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra
Grand Canyon Music Festival
Lowell Observatory
Museum of Northern Arizona
Peak Events, LLC
North Central Region ($364,609)
Mountain Bike America, LLC
Prescott Chamber of Commerce
Sedona Arts Center
Sedona Mountain Bike Festival, LLC
West Coast Region ($235,226)
City of Kingman
Go Lake Havasu
Parker Regional Chamber of Commerce and Tourism
Yuma History Museum
In addition, the Phoenix-based event company Cloth & Flame was awarded funding under all the regions.
by Corinne Murdock | Oct 8, 2021 | News
By Corinne Murdock |
Maricopa County officials admitted that they deleted election files from equipment after purportedly archiving them prior to fulfilling the Arizona Senate’s subpoena for that equipment. Chairman Jack Sellers and Vice Chairman Bill Gates made this admission during the House Oversight Committee hearing on the Cyber Ninjas-led audit on Thursday. The supervisors’ main defense for deleting the records had to do with freeing space for future election files – but Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) pointed out that files from prior elections were on the equipment obtained by the subpoena.
Biggs’ line of questioning prompted the admission from Gates and Sellers. He first asked the Arizona Senate’s liaison to the election audit, Ken Bennett, if it was standard practice to delete files off a server after an election. Bennett said he “hoped not.” Gates initially attempted to characterize the deletion as mere maintenance.
“I would say that it is appropriate to maintain files, and that’s exactly what we did,” said Gates. “The deleted files had been discussed. They were archived.”
https://www.c-span.org/video/?c4981036/user-clip-maricopa-county-admits-deleted-files-archived-subpoena
When Biggs asked Gates to clarify if those “maintain[ed]” files were deleted off servers after the election, Sellers nodded and added that the files were “archived.” Biggs then asked whether the Arizona Senate was given the archives as part of the subpoena.
“When you released these servers and this information to the auditors to begin with, they didn’t have access to those archives at first – is that fair to say?” asked Biggs.
“They did not subpoena those, that’s correct,” responded Gates.
Gates’ response prompted laughter from Biggs.
“Okay, so – you didn’t feel obligated to turn [the archives] over then, to them?” asked Biggs.
“We responded to the subpoena,” repeated Gates.
At that point, Bennett stated that it was “laughable” that the county essentially created a loophole in the subpoena by archiving files from the materials explicitly subpoenaed.
“I find it frankly laughable to suggest that a county in response to a subpoena could say ‘We will delete files from the hard drives and materials that we give to the auditors because we have those files archived on data that we did not give to the auditors when the subpoena said give all those records to the election,’” responded Bennett.
Maricopa County’s Twitter account stated that deleting files that have been archived is a standard practice after all elections. Biggs asked Gates to confirm this. Neither Gates or Sellers said they could confirm immediately.
“I just know that because there is limited space on these servers, when you have to run that election, you have to make room for the additional election data,” said Sellers. “I do think it’s important [to note] that our recorder will be answering every question in a timely fashion.”
“That’s the same recorder that campaigned that [previous county recorder] Adrian Fontes was incompetent and called him a criminal, and he’s the guy that was running the 2020 election – and you actually hired someone to oversee Mr. Fontes. Because you guys didn’t trust Mr. Fontes as well – is that the same Stephen Richer?” asked Biggs.
Sellers said he disagreed with Biggs’ characterization.
Corinne Murdock is a reporter for AZ Free News. Follow her latest on Twitter, or email tips to corinne@azfreenews.com.
