by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Feb 26, 2026 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
It’s not an accident that the top issue talked about by politicians these days is affordability. Over the last 5 years the cost of pretty much everything has gone through the roof, largely caused by the trillions in reckless spending by Joe Biden and the Democrats in Washington.
Taming inflation must remain our top economic priority, and the good news is that Arizona Republicans are taking meaningful steps to bring costs down. After adopting a 2.5% flat income tax under Governor Doug Ducey in 2022, state lawmakers have fought to slash grocery taxes, residential rental taxes and eliminate regulations that are driving up the cost of energy and housing.
Yet while the Republican controlled legislature is doing everything it can to make sure hardworking taxpayers get to keep more of their hard-earned dollars, municipalities throughout Arizona are passing an avalanche of tax and fee increases that are costing taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars every year…
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by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Jan 27, 2026 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
What’s being sold as a harmless planning document is actually a blueprint to fundamentally reshape how West Mesa residents live and move about their city. The MesaCONNECTED Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Plan has been in the works since 2021. Funded by a federal grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), the plan covers a five-mile “transit corridor” in West Mesa and is intended to guide future land-use decisions in that area. At first glance, it appears benign, seemingly focused on growth and beautification. City officials repeatedly emphasize that it is not a transit plan and does not initiate any specific projects. However, taken as a whole, MesaCONNECTED lays the groundwork to transform West Mesa into what is effectively a 15-minute city (or even a 5-minute city, by their own standards) without explicitly using that label.
The plan draws inspiration from communities in Oregon and California, as well as Arizona’s own Tempe Cul-De-Sac neighborhood, all of which follow planning models that prioritize density, transit-oriented development, and reduced automobile use. The stated goal is to create fully walkable areas centered around “transit nodes” while making existing transit easier to access. The section of West Mesa encompassed in the plan includes major hubs such as Mesa Riverview, the Asian District, Mesa Community College, Banner Desert Medical Center, Downtown Mesa, and surrounding areas.
A central objective of the plan is to increase density and place housing closer to employment to “reduce vehicle miles traveled” (pg. 5). This is not a neutral goal. It assumes driving is a problem to be corrected rather than a freedom to be preserved. In a city like Mesa where families rely on personal vehicles for work, school, church, medical care, and more, designing communities to deliberately discourage driving punishes the very behavior that allowed the city to grow in the first place. Rather than responding to how residents already live, the plan attempts to reshape daily habits by making driving less practical and alternative modes more “convenient…”
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by Staff Reporter | Jan 23, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
The man who set fire to a Tesla dealership last April received the minimum sentence possible.
Ian William Moses of Mesa, 35, received five years in prison and three years of supervised release in a sentence handed down last week.
Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell said the sentence conveyed nontolerance of political violence and intimidation.
“This sentence sends a clear message: violence and intimidation have no place in our community,” said Mitchell. “Setting fire to a business in retaliation for political or personal grievances is not protest — it is a crime. Our community deserves to feel safe, and this sentence underscores that Maricopa County will not tolerate political violence in any form.”
Similarly, U.S. Attorney Timothy Courchaine said the sentence was appropriate for Moses’ crimes.
“Arson can never be an acceptable part of American politics. Mr. Moses’ actions endangered the public and first responders and could have easily turned deadly,” said Courchaine. “This five-year sentence reflects the gravity of these crimes and makes clear that politically fueled attacks on Arizona’s communities and businesses will be met with full accountability.”
Early one morning last April, a disguised Moses biked to a Tesla dealership in Mesa. Moses used a gas can and fire starter logs to start the fires.
Moses caused one Cybertruck to explode in his attempt to burn down the dealership, and spray painted the word “thief” on a wall, misspelled as “THEIF.” All the while, surveillance cameras and cameras within the Tesla vehicles captured Moses carrying out his crime.
Mesa officers found Moses about an hour after he committed arson, around a quarter of a mile away from the dealership. Moses was wearing the same clothes and riding the same bike. Police found a hand-drawn map of his target, with a “T” to mark the location of the Tesla dealership.
The Department of Justice sought to prosecute Moses to “the fullest extent of the law” on domestic terrorism charges.
“If you engage in domestic terrorism, this Department of Justice will find you, follow the facts, and prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi. “No negotiating.”
Moses faced five counts of malicious damage to property or vehicle in interstate commerce by means of fire. Each count carried the possibility of five years minimum up to 20 years maximum in prison. He pleaded guilty to all five charges.
It appears the court was persuaded by Moses placing the blame on his recent autism diagnosis.
A defense sentencing memorandum filed earlier this month blamed Moses’ high-functioning autism for his decision to commit arson. The defense revealed he had recently received an autism diagnosis leading up to the crime and had been receiving therapy every other week.
The memorandum described Moses as a “kind, gentle, helpful, compassionate, and deeply caring person who would never deliberately hurt anyone.”
Three months before Moses committed his arson in January 2025, anti-Trump activists began targeting Tesla vehicles with arson, gunfire, and vandalism. The attacks were motivated by Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s senior advisership of President Donald Trump and his appointment to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk left DOGE in May.
In March, a month before Moses carried out his attack, the FBI issued a public service announcement advising of these politically motivated targeted attacks.
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by Staff Reporter | Jan 20, 2026 | News
By Staff Reporter |
Arizona cities reported increased murder rates that outpaced declines, per preliminary crime statistics.
The following cities reported murder rate increases per the Real-Time Crime Index, whose data goes through October: Gilbert (600 percent), Scottsdale (400 percent), Yuma (300 percent), Peoria (300 percent), Chandler (100 percent), Mesa (33 percent), and Tempe (25 percent).
The Real-Time Crime Index, which collects crime data from over 500 law enforcement agencies across the nation, comes from AH Datalytics.
Other cities reported decreases in murders: Buckeye (100 percent), Casa Grande (100 percent), Flagstaff (100 percent), Marana (100 percent), Prescott Valley (100 percent), Avondale (66 percent), Peoria (55 percent), Glendale (43 percent), Phoenix (24 percent), and Tucson (22 percent).
Pima, Pinal, and Yavapai Counties all reported decreases in crime (55, 100, and 100 percent, respectively).
This occurred despite the predictions of 2025 crime to have dropped to the lowest levels since 1960. The cause behind the disparity remains unknown. One theory speculates underreporting by major cities; another speculates actions by the current administration to address rising crime.
AH Datalytics’ cofounder, Jeff Asher, said in an interview with ABC News that even conservative estimates of the preliminary data reflect the largest one-year drop in crime statistic recordkeeping dating back to 1960. Prior to cofounding the company, Asher was a crime analyst for the CIA.
Asher clarified that a major influence on the significant crime drop manifested in major cities notorious for their high levels of violent crime. Some of these cities are anticipated to have crime rates better than those seen over 60 years ago — some by over 80 years, said Asher.
“You’ve got places like Detroit, Philadelphia and Baltimore that are on track to have the fewest murders since the 1960s. New Orleans, in spite of the terrorist attack on January 1, is on pace to have the fewest murders since 1970,” said Asher. “San Francisco is on track to see the fewest number of murders since 1940.”
The preliminary review across the nation reflected a 20 percent decrease in murders, eight percent decrease in aggravated assault, and over 20 percent decrease in car theft.
The findings confirm early analysis published in July by the Council on Criminal Justice. These analyses are only preliminary estimates — the FBI hasn’t yet released its official annual crime report.
Some have attributed the decline to actions taken by President Donald Trump, but crime rates have been dropping since 2022.
2024 reflected a 15 percent decline in murders; 2023 reflected a 13 percent decrease; and 2022 reflected a six percent decrease.
It wasn’t until this past June that Trump began deploying National Guard troops and other federal forces into major cities. Trump first directed troops to Los Angeles, California, followed by Washington, D.C. in August, then Memphis, Tennessee in October.
Those sorts of actions have come to an end, for now. Trump responded this week to a Supreme Court ruling from last week with an announcement that he would no longer deploy the National Guard to major cities. Specifically, he ordered troops pulled back from Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, California; and Portland, Oregon.
The president also had his eye on New York, San Francisco and Oakland in California, and Baltimore, Maryland.
AZ Free News is your #1 source for Arizona news and politics. You can send us news tips using this link.
by AZ Free Enterprise Club | Dec 5, 2025 | Opinion
By the Arizona Free Enterprise Club |
Despite the noble work of Republican lawmakers over the past five years to reduce the state’s burden on taxpayers (lowering and flattening the income tax, eliminating tax on renters, and addressing taxes on food,) cities and towns are constantly undermining this progress through rampant tax, fee, and utility rate increases.
Arizona’s affordability is being eroded through the insatiable tax-hungry decisions of city and town councils and their year-over-year spending sprees. If taxpayers have not noticed already, surely, they are feeling the pinch as these tax and fee hikes continue to stack one on top another. Red or blue, no city is immune, most likely your costs are going up…
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