Center Square News

(The Center Square) - Arizona Republicans and Democrats in the 7th and 8th congressional districts are battling it out to see who will advance to the general election.

Primaries for both parties will take place on July 21. Early voting started on June 24.

In the 7th Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva, D-Goodyear, and Republican Daniel Butierez Sr. are the only candidates running. Thus they will both advance to another showdown in the general election.

In September 2025, Adelita Grijalva defeated Butierez in a special election by nearly 40 percentage points and by over 40,000 votes. She succeeded her dad, U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who died in March 2025 from cancer.

In Congress, Adelita Grijalva co-sponsored a bill to provide a pathway to citizenship for noncitizens, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.

Grijalva also co-sponsored a bill that establishes Medicare for All.

Neither bill became law.

In another economic area, she voted in favor of the 21st Century Housing Act, which restricts institutional investors from buying single-family homes.

For Butierez, this will be his third GOP primary victory in the 7th Congressional District. In addition to losing the special election last year, Butierez lost to Raúl Grijalva in 2024.

Butierez, a small-business owner, is running on a platform that supports a national sales tax between 15% and 20%. According to his website, the national sales tax would replace federal income taxes.

Furthermore, his website says he supports creating tax credits and trade reforms to bring back American manufacturing, as well as expanding career technical education.

To help homeless people in America, Butierez backs expanding federal support for “mandatory rehabilitation programs tied to shelter access." The candidate's website said Butierez was previously “addicted to drugs and experienced homelessness."

The Center Square reached out to Grijalva and Butierez, but did not hear back before publication time.

Grijalva has the cash-on-hand advantage over Butierez: $427,977 to $11,399, according to Federal Election Commission records.

The highest donation amount Grijalva received was $5,000, which occurred 49 times, including from the Progressive Majority Political Action Committee, Progressive Voters of America, National Education, Medicare for All and Jane Fonda Climate PAC.

Grijalva received $1.8 million from individual contributors and $435,939 from PACs. She has received $2.3 million in donations.

Butierez has not gotten a donation since 2025.

He has primarily been self-financing his campaign, donating $175,298 of his own money, which accounts for 78% of the money donated.

The largest donation came from Butierez, who gave his campaign $136,470.

Butierez has brought in $224,367 in campaign donations.

In Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, two Democratic candidates will battle to see who runs against U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Surprise, who is running unopposed in the Republican primary.

The two Democrats are Bernadette Greene Placentia and Raymond Keeler.

Greene Placentia said she will focus on affordability issues.

Greene Placentia, a former long-haul truck driver, told The Center Square that Arizonans are “being priced out” of homeownership and “struggling to pay bills.”

The Federal Reserve should lower interest rates on housing, she said.

Greene Placentia also said she backs a federal living wage between $15 and $20 an hour. The current federal minimum wage is $7.25.

Another priority for the Democrat is maintaining Social Security, given the district’s large retiree population.

And Greene Placentia told The Center Square that America needs to secure its borders, but "without sacrificing our humanity.”

She added that too many illegal immigrants were let in during the Biden administration.

Greene Placentia said America needs to add more judges and immigration attorneys to process the illegal immigrants coming into the country.

As a candidate, Keeler, a software engineer and Army veteran, supports housing that helps “tiny homeowners in zoned plots with HOAs,” according to his campaign website.

His campaign website says he supports incentivizing 3D home printing and additional “zoning for more affordable [housing] ownership.”

Keeler supports expanding E-Verify, an online system employers use to verify a person's legal authorization to work in America, according to his campaign website.

The website added that Keeler does not support a border wall and favors deporting only illegal immigrants with a history of violent crime.

The Center Square reached out to Keeler, but did not hear back before publication time.

Greene Placentia has $190,394 of cash on hand compared to Keeler’s, which was in the red: -$1,507.

Greene Placentia has not received any money from PACs. Instead, she got $209,358 in donations from individuals.

Keeler’s campaign has received only five donations totaling $39,356.00. Keeler has given his own campaign $10,000, which accounts for 25% of his donations.

Hamadeh, who has represented the 8th District since 2025, supported the 21st Century Housing Act.

Hamadeh has been a strong supporter of strengthening America’s laws against illegal immigrants. He voted in favor of the Lincoln Riley Act, which expands mandatory detention for noncitizens convicted or accused of certain crimes.

The Army veteran also supported allocating additional funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as well as introducing a bill that enhances criminal penalties for assaulting a federal law enforcement officer.

Hamadeh supported the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which implemented tax cuts and sought to eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government.

According to his campaign website, Hamadeh supports protecting Social Security.

FEC records show Hamadeh has $384,185 of cash on hand.

Hamadeh has brought in $1,206,361 in donations. Individual contributions have accounted for 46% of his donations: $558,600.

The representative’s campaign received $269,960 from PACs.

Hamadeh’s biggest contributor has been Bold Era JFC, a joint fundraising committee affiliated with his campaign. It has donated $360,954 to his campaign, with the biggest donation being $55,964.

The Center Square reached out to Hamadeh’s campaign, but it did not respond before publication time.

Polls for the Arizona primary will be open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. MST on July 21. For early results that evening, see thecentersquare.com/arizona.

For more information, visit the Arizona Secretary of State's Office website, azsos.gov/elections.

(The Center Square) - A nonpartisan oversight organization filed a Senate ethics complaint on Wednesday against U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Arizona, over a social media statement he made about President Donald Trump and campaign spending, The Center Square has learned.

The Center to Advance Security in America, in a letter to the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics, asked it to investigate Gallego “due to his defamation of President Trump and recent reports that Gallego is likely abusing campaign funds for personal entertainment and family purposes.”

The Center Square reached out to Gallego’s office but did not hear back before publication time.

James Fitzpatrick, CASA’s executive director, said “there’s been a variety of concerning activity by Senator Gallego.”

He told The Center Square during an exclusive interview Tuesday that CASA thinks the freshman senator's “defamation of President Trump on X” and “misuse of campaign funds for personal use” are “potential violations of Senate ethics rules and should lead to an investigation.”

As the letter noted, Gallego on July 6 said on X that the president “was found to have committed rape.” Fitzpatrick described this statement as “defamation.”

In 2023, a New York civil court jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll, ordering him to pay her $5 million.

Trump sued ABC News for defamation after anchor George Stephanopoulos said Trump had been found liable for raping Carroll. In December 2024, before Trump took office, ABC News agreed to pay him $15 million toward his future presidential library and $1 million in legal fees.

In addition to defamation, Fitzpatrick, who authored the letter, said CASA believes Gallego’s social media post “at the very least potentially violates Senate ethics rules.”

Regarding Gallego’s campaign spending, the letter cited numerous items Gallego has spent money on, including “almost $40,000 for Super Bowl LVII tickets and brunch, almost $1,500 for Disneyland hotels and food for his family and nanny.”

Furthermore, Gallego used “over $9,000 on trips to St. Bart’s and Miami for his wife’s and her boss’s birthday, and almost $20,000 in childcare reimbursements to multiple caretakers including his mother-in-law,” the letter says.

“These are not campaign expenditures,” Fitzpatrick noted.

CASA has filed numerous Senate ethics complaints before, Fitzpatrick said, adding that he has “never seen this level of usage of campaign funds for personal services.”

According to the letter, these spending items fall “within the [Federal Election Commission’s] definition of impermissible ‘personal use’ of campaign funds.”

The letter said the Senate Ethics Manual allows for a senator to be punished “for any misconduct including conduct or activity which does not directly relate to official duties, when such conduct unfavorably reflects on the institution as a whole.”

The manual prevents senators “from converting federal campaign funds to personal use,” including “pay[ing] for admission to sporting events, concerts, theater and other forms of entertainment” unrelated to campaign events, the letter added.

To end its letter, CASA said the senator’s “blatant distortion of reality in claiming that President Trump committed rape, considering a clear jury finding that he did not, and Gallego’s ‘campaign’ expenditures are likely violations of the Senate Ethics Rules and are completely inappropriate and unacceptable conduct for a United States Senator.”

“Upholding the Senate’s ethics standards is essential to preserving public trust in our democratic institutions,” the letter said.

Last month, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Ethics dismissed a previous set of allegations of misconduct by Gallego after an investigation. Those allegations were made by U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Florida. In a June 26 letter to Gallego, the committee said, "the complaint alleged campaign finance violations and inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature." The committee said it found no evidence that Gallego violated federal law, Senate rules or "related standards of conduct."

The letter was signed by U.S. Sen. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma, the committee chair; U.S. Sen. Christopher Coons, D-Delaware, the vice chair; and the other committee members.

Gallego, who previously represented Arizona in the U.S. House, started his term as a U.S. senator on Jan. 3, 2025. He succeeded U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, who represented Arizona and was a Democrat until she became an independent in 2022. Sinema decided against running for reelection in 2024.

(The Center Square)- Arizona Republicans and Democrats are running for state superintendent of public instruction to shape education policy.

On the Republican side, incumbent Tom Horne and state Treasurer Kimberly Yee are competing, while on the Democratic side, certified behavior analyst Brett Matthew Newby is running against Teresa Leyba Ruiz, the former president of Glendale Community College in Maricopa County.

The primary elections for these races will occur on July 21. Early voting began June 24.

Horne, who has been the superintendent of public instruction since 2023, told The Center Square that he is “the only one in statewide elective office who's fighting” back against the left-wing craziness.

He said that, as superintendent, Arizona schools have improved their academics. The superintendent highlighted his success in helping underperforming schools improve academically and in expanding the state’s career technical education.

Horne has been in this position for nearly 12 years, first serving from 2003 to 2011.

Horne said under his leadership, the state’s school choice program has grown to over 100,000 participants. Known officially as Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, the program allows parents to take the money that would normally pay for their child's education at their neighborhood public school and apply it to another school of their choice. The money can also be used for home schooling.

Yee told The Center Square that she has been fighting for Arizona students for 30 years, citing her K-12 policy experience and her role in writing the state’s early school choice and charter school laws.

As Arizona state treasurer, Yee said she has “distributed more than $3.2 billion” to Arizona public schools.

Yee said she is a “strong supporter” of school choice, noting the state’s ESA program needs to be protected. She added she would ensure it is accountable and transparent to taxpayers and accused Horne of mismanaging the school choice system.

Yee said Horne is making decisions regarding the management of the ESA program without the Legislature’s authorization, which violates state law.

On top of this, Yee also said there have been some questions about “the authorization of funds that came from the Legislature to help the Department of Education and the superintendent better administer the program.”

Horne told The Center Square that he established two rules for how families can use their money: Payments need to be for valid educational purposes and be at a reasonable cost.

“I believe very strongly in the ESA program, and I believe it will only survive if it’s honest. If parents want to use education money for non-educational purposes, it would destroy the program,” he said.

The Center Square previously reported that the estimated error rate for ESA payments is 1%.

If Horne is reelected, he said his primary focus will be continuing to help schools perform better academically.

Yee, who served in the state Legislature from 2011 to 2019, told The Center Square that Arizona deserves a better education system.

To improve reading and math scores, she said she would “bring back phonics-based reading instruction” and support mathematics instruction without calculators.

Horne and Yee both support increasing teacher pay.

In terms of fundraising, Horne has the advantage of cash on hand over Yee, $805,360 to $243,713, according to records from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.

Horne’s campaign has gathered $737,267 in total donations. Twenty-five percent of these donations came from individual contributions: $183,989. The superintendent has received $1,000 from political committees.

The vast majority of these campaign funds are coming from loans made to the committee, totaling $551,000. This represents 75% of Horne’s campaign funds.

Yee’s campaign took in $163,331 in individual contributions, accounting for 51% of her campaign funds. In total, she collected $317,794 in campaign funds.

Yee has gotten $9,300 from political committees. She transferred over a cash surplus of $144,434 from a previous committee to fund her superintendent campaign. This represents 45% of her total campaign funds.

Democratic primary candidate Newby told The Center Square that the state’s Department of Education has “struggled for decades.”

The behavior analyst said he “can bring a fresh look and some ideas” that will “allow the Department of Education and public schools in Arizona to prosper."

If elected, Newby said he would attempt to roll back the universal aspect of the ESA school choice program.

He noted he supports the use of ESA funds for kids with special needs.

According to Newby, stricter guidelines for the ESA program are needed to provide “more transparency and accountability to the program.”

Despite being against the ESA program, Newby said he is a “firm believer in school choice.”

“How we pay for that school choice is where we need to have a better definition of what that looks like and how we’re funding those opportunities,” he said.

The Center Square reached out to Ruiz, but she did not respond before publication time.

As a candidate, she supports changes to the state’s ESA program, including eliminating the “automatic approval of ESA expenditures” for amounts under $2,000, according to her campaign website.

She also supports reigning in spending on the state's ESA program, her website says.

Ruiz is a proponent of increasing Arizona’s spending on K-12 public education and establishing universal pre-K, according to her campaign website.

Both Newby and Ruiz support raising teachers’ pay.

Newby has a cash-on-hand fundraising advantage over Ruiz: $108,940 to $94,368, according to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.

Newby has received $1,129 in individual contributions and no donations from political committees.

A $125,000 loan made to Newby’s campaign accounts for 98% of his campaign funds. In total, his campaign funds add up to $127,399.

Ruiz has received $173,639 in individual contributions, representing 93% of her total campaign funds. She has collected $187,515 in total.

Political committees have given her $2,600.

Polls for the Arizona primary will be open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. MST on July 21. For early results that evening, see thecentersquare.com/arizona.

For more information, visit the Arizona Secretary of State's Office website, azsos.gov/elections.

(The Center Square) - Extreme heat and wildfires have defined this summer in the Southwest.

Meteorologists are warning residents to be aware of air quality alerts and high temperatures. They advise checking for regular updates.

“The heat will certainly help to continue to dry out the fuels,” National Weather Service meteorologist Casey Oswant in San Diego told The Center Square Monday. “The fuel moisture across the area is decreasing, and so that makes them more susceptible to catching on fire.”

Heat warnings are in effect across Southern California, with the weather service putting out an Extreme Heat Watch for the Central Coast and Los Angeles area from Tuesday morning through Thursday afternoon. Temperatures were expected to peak Wednesday, with highs up to 110 in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley.

Simi Valley in neighboring Ventura County was expected to see highs of 94 on Tuesday and 100 on Wednesday. And in the Antelope Valley north of Los Angeles, Lancaster was expected to see a high of 104 on Tuesday and 109 on Wednesday.

Down south on the coast, San Diego is among California's cooler spots, with highs expected in the mid- to upper 70s throughout the week, according to the weather service.

Arizona, which saw extreme heat warnings across the state last week, has begun to see the first signs of the oncoming monsoon season and its accompanying heavy rains, especially in the northern areas. While highs remain in the low-90s to 100s for the Phoenix area, the increase of rain and moisture was expected to lessen the risk of wildfires for the state, according to the weather service.

“Typically when we see the arrival of monsoon moisture, we start to see wildfire season waning,” NWS' Flagstaff, Ariz., meteorologist Megan Taylor told The Center Square. “And that's what we're seeing so far. With the increase of moisture, we start to see higher humidity, and as the season progresses, we see more and more rainfall. Once it becomes pretty widespread across the region, then that really starts to mitigate the wildfire threat.”

Wildfires across the southwestern U.S. are ongoing and more widespread than usual. As of last week, the year-to-date acreage burn for the entire U.S. was up 46% compared to the last 10 years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

In Utah, nearly 240,000 acres are currently burning across four wildfires, including the nation’s largest: the Babylon Fire.

Located in southeastern Utah, the Babylon Fire passed 106,000 acres as of Monday, with roughly 50% fire containment, according to the local Forest Service office.

“We've been under a stretch of really hot, dry, and windy conditions for quite a long period now. And that's just been really drying out our fuels, making them a lot more receptive to combustion,” National Weather Service meteorologist Braeden Winters told The Center Square last week. Winters is based in NWS' Grand Junction, Colorado, office, which serves the Babylon Fire area of neighboring Utah in addition to Colorado.

“Add to it the days around when it ignited, especially through that weekend of the 27th and 28th, we saw really strong winds and wind gusts down in that area," Winter said Wednesday about the Babylon Fire.

The greater Salt Lake City area of Utah has also experienced extreme heat, with temperature records already being set this week, including an all-time high of 109 degrees Sunday at the Salt Lake City International Airport.

“Temperatures that hot and that continual in nature do add a potential for heat illnesses, especially for people that are not able to have proper cooling, people that don't have air conditioning or swamp coolers, as well as people that aren't able to get proper hydration, unhoused populations, and people that are doing outdoor activities,” NWS meteorologist Christine Kruse in Salt Lake City told The Center Square.

"These temperatures put them at risk of heat-related illness," Kruse said Monday.

Elsewhere, Colorado is currently the nation's second-most state affected by this year’s wildfire season, with over 200,000 acres blazing across five ongoing fires, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

The center said the Aspen Acres Fire, Colorado’s largest, has burned over 98,000 acres in the southern areas. An estimated 35% of the wildfire has been contained as of Monday, up from 15% last Wednesday.

Much of the Denver area is currently under both a heat advisory and air quality alert by the NWS. While the state’s wildfires have recently impacted air quality in the region, the weather service's Denver/Boulder meteorologist Abby Peppepp said the current air quality alert was more impacted by a typical summer smog.

Peppepp added that Denver area residents should take necessary precautions for near-record heat. Denver was expected to see highs around the mid-90s throughout the week, according to the weather service.

“Make sure that you're hydrating, drinking water even before you're thirsty, wearing light colored and lightweight clothing when you're outside, and limiting outdoor activities during the hottest part of the days – which are typically between 10 a.m. and 7 p.m.,” Peppepp told The Center Square Monday “In terms of air quality, if you are in those sensitive groups with respiratory issues – limiting your time outside and limiting your exercise outside.”

Kruse had similar advice for people in the Salt Lake City area.

“In some of our areas, especially in our southern recreation areas and national parks, that could mean that you need to carry three liters of water or more on yourself when you go on a hike,” said Kruse. “If you're not going to skip the peak heat, you need to make sure you have plenty of water with you.”

Kruse added that cooling centers were set up across Salt Lake County amidst the high summer heat.

Las Vegas, which always has hot summers, saw a high of 104 degrees Monday and was expected to see a high of 105 Tuesday, climbing to a high of 109 by Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. Isolated thunder storms were part of the forecast through Tuesday. Things were somewhat cooler up north, with a high of 87 Monday in Reno. Showers are likely for Tuesday with a high of 85, the National Weather Service said, predicting sunny weather for the rest of the week and temperatures as high as 95 on Thursday and Friday.

In California, which is experiencing fewer-than-usual wildfires, Oswant warned people to be aware of their impact on the environment. He advised campers to check the burning day rules and to avoid throwing cigarettes out their car windows.

“Make sure they're not having chains dragging on the road, and that kind of thing," the San Diego meteorologist said. "Just be more aware of [your] actions and things that could cause a spark.”

Cooler conditions are being seen much farther north. San Francisco was expected to see a high of 79 on Tuesday, but the weather serviced predicted highs would fall to the mid-70s by Wednesday and the upper 60s by Thursday.

(The Center Square) - Arizona Republican voters will decide on who takes on state Attorney General Kris Mayes in the Nov. 3 general election.

Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Glendale, and attorney Rodney Glassman are competing in the Republican primary. Mayes is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.

The primary elections for both parties will be held on July 21.

Petersen said he has the “most legal experience and the most experience doing what the attorney general does.”

“This is a management policy position. I’m the only person in this race who has managed one of the largest institutions over the last four years as Senate president,” Petersen told The Center Square.

Petersen also said he has been called the “de facto attorney general” because Arizona law allows a Senate president to have legal standing.

“I am now managing over 110 cases or amicus briefs,” he said.

Despite Petersen highlighting his legal experience, Glassman told The Center Square that he is the “only” person in the Republican primary who has “ever practiced law.”

Glassman, who is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force JAG Corps Reserve, has a history as a prosecutor and private-sector attorney.

Petersen is “unqualified to run the largest law office in the state,” the attorney said, citing the fact that Petersen received his law license in 2023.

Glassman added that Petersen “has never prosecuted a criminal as a lawyer and has never worked in a law office as a lawyer.

The attorney said Petersen is named as the client in lawsuits.

“He has not filed any lawsuits. He has used tax dollars to hire private sector attorneys to do legal work on behalf of the state,” Glassman noted.

The Center Square followed up with Petersen’s campaign regarding Glassman’s claims that he has never practiced law, but the campaign did not respond before publication.

As attorney general, Petersen said he would focus on fighting crime, upholding laws and the state Constitution, and eliminating “fraud and corruption.”

Glassman said on his first day in office as attorney general, he would remove Arizona from “42 politically charged lawfare lawsuits [Mayes] has filed against the Trump administration and rescind the political indictments Mayes has made against President Trump’s allies.”

On how he would work with a Democratic governor as attorney general, Petersen highlighted his experience working in a divided government over the last four years. In his role as Senate president, Petersen has negotiated budgets with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

Petersen said if Hobbs were to break any laws, he would hold her accountable.

Glassman said regardless of which party is in the governor's office, the attorney general works for the people of Arizona.

In the past, Glassman has run as a Democrat.

He was a Democratic member of the Tucson City Council from 2007 to 2009. As the Democratic candidate, he lost to former Sen. Jon McCain in the 2010 Arizona Senate general election.

Glassman told The Center Square he left the Democratic Party on the same day President Donald Trump announced his candidacy for president, July 16, 2015.

The attorney noted over time, the Democratic Party “went insane.”

Since 2018, Glassman has campaigned as a Republican. During this time span, he has run for Arizona Corporation Commission, Maricopa County assessor and attorney general, but has failed to win these races.

According to records from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office, Glassman has a cash-on-hand advantage over Petersen of $2.3 million to $1.5 million. Glassman received more than $502,000 in donations from individuals and $5,000 from the Western Alliance Bancorporation Political Action Committee.

Petersen got more than $281,000 in donations from individuals and $15,200 from political committees. The largest contributions from political action committees came from Pinnacle West PAC at $2,500, UNS Energy Corp. PAC at $2,000 and Blue Cross & Blue Shield PAC at $1,000.

Both Glassman and Petersen have less cash on hand than Mayes, who has $2.6 million. Of that, more than $895,000 came from donations by individuals, and $20,500 was donated by political committees. The largest PAC contribution was a $10,000 donation by the Arizona Education Association Fund for Public Education. The AEA is the state's largest teacher union.

Mayes said her top three priorities if she were to be reelected attorney general would be to “continue making Arizona safer by taking on the cartels and fraudsters, protect working families by holding powerful corporations accountable, and defend Arizona's water supplies, economy, and constitutional rights.”

Mayes told The Center Square by email that her office has “seized more than 27 million fentanyl pills off [Arizona] streets, reduced fraudulent Medicaid billing by more than 92%, recovered over $1.5 billion for Arizona taxpayers, consumers, and businesses and held powerful corporations accountable when they broke the law and drove up costs for working families.”

The attorney general said her “office has never backed down from taking on those harming Arizonans.”

“My job isn't to protect the powerful. It's to protect the people of Arizona, and that's exactly what we've done,” she added.

Regarding the concern that she has been too focused on suing the Trump administration, Mayes said she has saved Arizona taxpayers $1.5 billion by challenging the administration.

“Protecting Arizona means doing both: protecting Arizonans from any crime occurring in our state and standing up to any administration when its actions hurt Arizonans,” she explained.

(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta is leading 12 states suing to block the acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery by Paramount Skydance.

The lawsuit was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. In addition to Bonta, who's a Democrat, the plaintiffs are Democratic attorneys general from Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon and Washington.

Paramount's California movie and TV studios are in Hollywood. Warner Bros.' movie and TV studios are about 26 miles away in Burbank. Speaking at a press conference Monday with the famous Hollywood sign on the hill behind him, Bonta said the $110 billion merger would extinguish competition.

"It would result in higher prices, lower content quality, and fewer movies and TV shows,” said Bonta. “Movie theaters, basic cable TV distributors, and audiences on every sofa and in every movie seat would feel the impact of this unlawful merger.”

Bonta added that movies and television programs are not run-of-the-mill commodities.

“The film and entertainment industry doesn't exist just to buy and to sell them,” said Bonta. “It exists to tell stories, to spark ideas and spark curiosity, to inspire and sometimes to inform, to open our eyes to new perspectives we may have never considered before, to expose us to the things we don't know we need to be exposed to.”

The lawsuit states the deal is “illegal under the Clayton Act.”

Signed into law in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson, the Clayton Act was created to supplement the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 by prohibiting specific anticompetitive business practices, such as price discrimination and unethical mergers.

By combining two of the five largest film distributors and two of the five largest basic cable channel owners, Bonta said, the resulting behemoth would control nearly one-third of theatrical motion pictures and nearly one-third of basic cable programming, including 50 of the most popular cable channels.

"We're standing up for a free and fair market, not a rigged market,” said Bonta. “America has no kings in government or the economy."

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes said she's proud to be part of the lawsuit.

“Consolidation in industry after industry will only lead us in one direction: higher prices and degraded quality and service for Arizonans,” said Mayes. “We cannot let that happen.”

Paramount Skydance said it will fight the suit.

Someone else who has concerns about this lawsuit is Wayne Winegarden of the Pasadena, Calif.-based Pacific Research Institute.

Winegarden said the lawsuit relies on an outdated view of the media industry, which is rapidly evolving.

“There are good reasons to expect the evolution will continue for years,” said Winegarden, PRI’s senior fellow in business and economics, answering The Center Square's questions by email. “Both Paramount and Warner Bros are struggling to compete in this environment. The merger is an attempt to fix that problem for both companies.”

Preventing companies from adapting to these evolutions is – in Winegarden’s opinion – “a surefire way to ensure that there will be less effective competition and consumers will have fewer choices” for media.

"The merger is predicated on the belief that the scale will help the combined company to effectively compete against the new media giants such as Netflix, Apple and Amazon,” said Winegarden. “With greater resources, the combined company will allegedly be able to provide better products for consumers.”

Warner Bros.' assets include the HBO Max streaming service and cable networks such as CNN, TNT, TBS and Turner Classic Movies. Warner Bros. is also known for classics such as "Casablanca," the Harry Potter movies, and films featuring Superman and other DC Comics heroes. Paramount Skydance's assets include CBS and the Paramount+ streaming service. Paramount is also known for popular TV and movie franchises such as "Star Trek" and "Mission: Impossible."

If the merger is a good move, the greater scale from the consolidation will increase competition, Winegarden said. He added that if the merger turns out to be wrong, the combined company is in the same position as both companies individually are today.

Meanwhile, there is yet another issue raised by the lawsuit, one that Winegarden said sets a troubling precedent.

The merger has been approved by federal regulators, which Winegarden said is the proper regulatory authority to judge whether there are any competitiveness issues. The U.S. Department of Justice concluded the merger would not hinder competition or harm consumers.

“Allowing the state AGs to also sue creates another regulatory hurdle that any merger or acquisition would have to manage,” said Winegarden. “These additional burdens will obstruct the functioning of the U.S. financial markets to the detriment of economic growth. Consumers will pay the price in terms of worse services, higher costs and less income growth."

(The Center Square) - Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs awaits to see who her opponent will be in November, but polls say it's likely to be U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs.

The Democratic governor is running unopposed in the Democratic primary and Biggs, R-Gilbert, and another Arizona Republican, U.S. Rep. David Schweikert of Scottsdale, are vying to be her opponent in the general election.

The Democratic and Republican primaries for the gubernatorial nominees occur on July 21.

In an interview with The Center Square, Biggs said he is optimistic about his campaign heading into the Republican primary.

A recent poll from the Noble Predictive Insights shows that Biggs has a 50-point advantage over Schweikert. Another poll released in June by The NextGen Performance showed Biggs up by 46 points over Schweikert. President Donald Trump has endorsed Biggs in the primary, and other Trump-endorsed candidates have prevailed in this year's primaries.

Biggs said Arizona, under Hobbs, is one of the least affordable states and has seen minimal job and wage growth. If he is elected governor, Biggs said that would change.

He said he would focus on bringing down housing costs in Arizona. He added he will work to make the state more affordable so that Arizona’s economy can grow.

“The American dream consists of people being able to buy a home, get a job where they can afford to buy that home and support their family,” Biggs explained.

“Government has gotten so big in everybody’s lives. When we step back and we allow people to live their lives, they feel freer. They become more prosperous,” he said.

To attract businesses to Arizona, Biggs, who was in the Arizona Legislature from 2003 to 2017, said the state needs a “good regulatory and tax environment.”

He said his goal would be to “incrementally reduce or eliminate the income tax.”

Biggs noted he wants to follow the example of Elon Musk's U.S. Department of Government Efficiency and investigate Arizona because reducing government spending could reduce the tax burden.

He added that he will ensure the Arizona Department of Public Safety is fully funded and staffed to make the state safe. Biggs noted that under his administration, Arizona would cooperate with federal authorities on border security.

He also said he would reinstate the state’s border security task force and ensure the state enforces its immigration laws.

In other Republican states, such as Florida and Tennessee, residents will be able to vote on eliminating certain state-administered property taxes. Biggs said he would look into this idea, but he wants to see how it goes in other states.

Biggs told The Center Square that he would work on expanding school choice and health freedom policies in Arizona.

Since being first elected to Congress in 2017, Biggs has been a major supporter of Trump’s agenda. Biggs has voted for major tax-cut policies such as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Biggs supported the Laken Riley Act, which mandates that the federal government arrest certain noncitizens charged with or convicted of certain crimes.

Biggs is a cosponsor of the SAVE America Act, which would require voter ID and proof of citizenship for federal voter registration.

Like Biggs, Schweikert supported the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and the Laken Riley Act.

The Center Square reached out to Schweikert’s campaign but did not hear back before publication time.

On his campaign website, Schweikert said he will focus on Arizona’s economy by lowering taxes, eliminating regulations and attracting new businesses to the state.

Schweikert’s campaign website also says he would crack down on illegal immigration in the state.

Schweikert previously told The Center Square that he supports modernizing Arizona’s state government to make it more efficient.

The Center Square additionally reached out to Hobbs’ campaign, but it did not respond before publication time.

The governor has a major fundraising advantage over Biggs and Schweikert. Hobbs’ campaign has taken in $7.8 million, with $6.6 million coming from individual contributions, according to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office. This represents 85% of her total donations. The governor has received $272,550 from political committees.

During the first quarter of 2026, Hobbs' campaign received its largest political action committee contribution, $11,000, from the Salt River Project PAC, according to the Secretary of State's Office's data. The project is a not-for-profit public utility providing water and electricity to central Arizona, including the Phoenix area. In addition, the campaign got $5,500 donations from the Arizona Dispensaries Association PAC, the Carpenters Western States Regional Council PAC and the LLEGO-PAC, which stands for "Latino Leaders for Equality, Growth, Opportunity, Progressive Action & Change."

Biggs has received $2.3 million in individual contributions, which accounts for 82% of the total $2.8 million raised, the Secretary of State's Office said.

Political committees have donated $35,750 to Biggs’ campaign.

During the first quarter of 2026, Biggs' campaign received a $5,500 donation from the Citizens United Political Victory Fund Arizona PAC.

Schweikert’s campaign has gathered $406,331 from individual contributors, which represents 37% of his total $1.1 million raised, according to the Secretary of State's Office.

Schweikert has received more money from political committees than from individual contributions. Political committees donated $572,400 to his campaign, which accounts for 52% of his donations.

Polls for the Arizona primary will be open 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. MST on July 21. For early results that evening, see thecentersquare.com/arizona.

For more information, visit the Arizona Secretary of State's Office website, azsos.gov/elections.

(The Center Square) - Utah Fourth Judicial District Court Judge Tony Graf has delayed his ruling on whether there’s enough evidence to bring Tyler Robinson to trial on charges of killing Arizona conservative leader Charlie Kirk.

Following a five-day preliminary hearing, Graf on Friday said he would make his decision after having prosecution and defense lawyers present oral arguments on Sept. 1 in the Provo, Utah, courtroom. That's almost one year since Kirk, 31, was shot and killed before a crowd of up to 3,000 people at Utah Valley University. Kirk had a home in Scottsdale, Ariz., and his organization, Turning Point USA, is headquartered in Phoenix.

Robinson, 23, hasn't entered his plea to the seven counts against him, six of which are felonies. They include aggravated murder and multiple counts of witness tampering and obstruction of justice. Utah County Attorney Jeff Gray has said he will seek the death penalty if Robinson is convicted of murder.

This week's hearings were attended by Kirk's widow, Erika Kirk, and his parents, Robert and Kathryn Kirk.

Witnesses included Robinson's former roommate Lance Twiggs, who was seen during a video interview at Thursday's hearing. During the interview, he told the prosecution that Robinson admitted to killing Charlie Kirk during their conversation and regretted the act. Prosecutors also are arguing that cellphone text messages between Robinson and Twiggs show Robinson confessing to the murder.

Jennifer Faumuina, a former agent with the Utah State Bureau of Investigation, testified Thursday that the alleged murder weapon, a rifle with a mounted scope, was found wrapped in a towel in a wooded area near the university campus.

On Friday, Graf denied the defense team’s motion to exclude cameras from the courtroom, but the judge agreed to block media from showing images of courtroom exhibits. Graf later clarified that audio could still be broadcast as exhibits are discussed.

Also on Friday, the defense team called its final witness, forensic biologist Caitlin Oliver, in an effort to show the limitations of DNA evidence. Under questioning by attorney Michael Burt, Oliver, who works at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, confirmed the defense team's contentions.

(The Center Square) – Deere and Co. agreed to provide farmers and independent repair shops access to the same equipment repair resources and software capabilities as authorized retailers for the next 10 years in a settlement agreement to a lawsuit filed by Wisconsin and four other states.

The lawsuit claimed the company unfairly prevented farmers and independent repair shops the ability to repair John Deere tractors and farm equipment.

Wisconsin was joined by Illinois, Arizona, Minnesota and the Federal Trade Commission in the lawsuit and the FTC will oversee the settlement agreement.

“Farmers shouldn’t have to go to a dealership to have repairs made to their farm equipment,” Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said. “This settlement will mean that farmers have more options in many circumstances in which repairs are needed to their John Deere equipment.”

The company is currently the only place that has the software repair tools to perform electronic repairs on the equipment, the lawsuit claimed, which forced farmers to rely on only authorized dealers to make repairs and giving the company and its dealers monopoly power.

The settlement agreement means that Deere will provide the same resources to farmers and independent dealers under the same terms it provides the same to Deere authorized dealers.

The same applies to any new resources created over the next 10 years.

The settlement came in U.S. District Court in Illinois.

Wisconsin lawmakers had proposed right to repair legislation similar to a Colorado law that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2024.

“I have long supported farmers’ right to repair their own equipment, including authoring legislation to end these predatory practices against Wisconsin’s family farmers,” Wisconsin state Sen. Brad Pfaff, D-Onalaska, said in a statement. “This settlement puts our nation’s farmers first, allowing them to save money by repairing their own equipment or choosing the mechanic they trust.”

John Deere said that it agreed with the settlement and believes that it will help customers.

“We’ve said from the beginning that our focus is on helping customers keep their machines running when and how they need them,” Denver Caldwell, John Deere vice president of aftermarket and customer support, said in a statement. “This agreement bolsters that commitment, and we’re confident it will make a real difference for the people who depend on our equipment every day. We share the Administration’s and the states’ desire to put farmers first while preserving Deere’s ability to support American agricultural productivity, equipment safety and innovation.”

(The Center Square) - Arizona Public Service will be bringing a retired coal plant back online by converting two units to natural gas.

The Cholla Power Plant, located in Navajo County, closed after 63 years of operation, with its four units closing down over a 10-year period from 2015 to 2025.

According to Ann Porter, APS’ communications director, Unit 1 and Unit 3 are expected to go online in 2029.

She said the “project will undergo permitting, reviews and approvals for the next 18 months.”

APS will use the plant’s “existing infrastructure and facilities,” Porter told The Center Square, answering questions via email this week.

The exact cost of converting the coal plant to natural gas “is ongoing and will be included in future regulatory proceedings," she said.

Last week, the Navajo County Board of Supervisors applauded APS’ decision to reopen the Cholla Power Plant.

Supervisor Jason Whiting said the power plant has been part of the northeastern Arizona county’s “history for generations.”

“This investment marks a strong new chapter. I appreciate APS for working with us over the past several years and for investing in Navajo County,” Whiting said.

“This project supports good‑paying jobs, strengthens our economy, helps our schools and ensures Arizona continues to have reliable, affordable power,” he added.

Porter told The Center Square the project would create hundreds of construction jobs and “support approximately 35 high-quality jobs when in operation.”

With a projected service date in three years, Porter said the project expects to “generate approximately $4 million annually in property tax revenue beginning in 2031.”

“The project will support local jobs, drive contractor and supplier spending, and provide ongoing community contributions that strengthen the regional economy,” she explained.

Nick Myers, chairman of the Arizona Corporation Commission, told The Center Square this week that towns surrounding these types of coal plants are “structured to support the operation of those coal plants.”

“If those coal plants were to go away, those towns may go away. They are so reliant on the income from that [plant]. The entire workforce is made up mostly of the people in the local communities.”

Converting part of Cholla Power Plant to natural gas keeps it online for future generations of workers and provides an “economic benefit directly to the local area,” Myers said.

According to Porter, APS expects to add approximately 380 megawatts of power to its grid, which will provide energy to nearly 61,000 Arizona homes.

The additional energy being added to APS’ grid will help the utility company “meet Arizona's growing electricity needs, including demand from large energy users such as data centers,” Porter said.

“The growth in Arizona is not just data centers. Our service area is still seeing strong residential growth, small- and medium-sized business development and advanced manufacturing continues to expand,” the communications director explained in her email to The Center Square.

Porter said natural gas’ flexibility to support numerous Arizona energy needs will allow APS to increase its “portfolio of nuclear, renewables, battery storage and other resources.”

Having a “diverse energy mix” allows APS to support “reliability while keeping electric bills as low as possible for our customers,” Porter said.

“The costs for this project will not be reflected in customer rates for many years,” she said.

Myers called the plant converting from coal to natural gas a “positive for ratepayers because separate generation doesn’t need to be built from the ground up.”

The chairman noted that when the power plant was winding down its operations, the extended timeline allowed APS to add generation online to replace what would have been lost when the plant went offline.

Now that the power plant is coming back online, that additional power generation will “support the growth of Arizona,” he added.

Looking ahead, Porter said APS owns three of the four units at the power plant and currently has no plans for Unit 2.

She said Pacificorp owns Unit 4.

(The Center Square) - The Arizona Department of Education plans to use carryover funds to support its school safety program and ensure school resource officer and mental health professional positions are filled for Fiscal Year 2027.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne will use approximately $53 million to fund these positions.

The money will support 560 school resource officers and 523 mental health professionals for schools across Arizona, according to the state Department of Education.

Horne told The Center Square this week that he is “emphatic” about ensuring the department can provide money for these positions when requested by schools.

“I’ve been determined that we should never turn down a request for lack of money,” he said.

According to the superintendent, “school safety is of the utmost priority.”

“Well-trained, armed officers are the first line of defense if a maniac attempts to get on campus to harm people," he said.

The state is responding to schools' requests for officer and mental health professional positions to "keep their campuses safe for the upcoming school year," Horne said.

Horne noted he made the decision to use all the saved-up money “all at once rather than spread it over three years.”

The funding for these positions will only last one year, and the state Department of Education is “dependent on the Legislature giving” it money next year, the superintendent explained.

“We’ll lobby hard for that,” Horne noted.

School resource officers and mental health professionals serve in different roles at schools in Arizona.

In addition to acting as security guards, school resource officers develop friendly, positive relationships with students, Horne said.

“Kids develop a whole new attitude toward police. Instead of seeing them as the enemy, they see them as a friend that they can confide in,” he said.

School resource officers can also teach classes, Horne noted.

According to Horne, mental health professionals talk to “troubled” kids.

”If a student comes to school because something happens in the family that has them very upset, they can't learn," Horne said. "So they have to have somebody to talk to deal with those feelings so they can learn."

(The Center Square) - Fires across the southwestern U.S. have picked up early this year, with over 400,000 acres burning just between Utah and Colorado.

The quick and early spread of wildfires comes after a short and warm winter across many Western states.

In total, over 546,000 acres are currently burning in wildfires across the U.S., with the vast majority in the West. That was about 146% of the average year-to-date acreage burn during the last 10 years, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

“We knew going into this season that large areas of the West had not received their normal snowpack and were struggling with drought,” said Al Nash, the public information officer for the Alaska Incident Management Team assigned to fight Colorado’s Aspen Acres Fire.

“We know that that drought condition is an underlying reason for this fire to have started and grown like it has," Nash told The Center Square Wednesday.

Utah has seen the worst of the wildfire season with over 239,000 acres burning, followed by Colorado at 187,000.

The two states currently hold the undesirable title for the two largest wildfires across the U.S.

Utah’s Babylon Fire passed 100,000 acres as of Wednesday morning, becoming the state’s largest fire in eight years.

“We've been under a stretch of really hot, dry, and windy conditions for quite a long period now. And that's just been really drying out our fuels, making them a lot more receptive to combustion,” National Weather Service meteorologist Braeden Winters told The Center Square. Winters is based in NWS' Grand Junction, Colorado, office, which serves neighboring Utah in addition to Colorado.

“Add to it the days around when it ignited, especially through that weekend of the 27th and 28th, we saw really strong winds and wind gusts down in that area," Winter said Wednesday about Utah.

The fire, located 25 miles southwest of Monticello in southeastern Utah, has destroyed five structures. That’s according to the local U.S. Forest Service office, which also reported that over 1,300 people had been assigned to help put out the fire. They've contained 11% of the fire.

To date, 22 helicopters, 68 wildfire truck engines, four bulldozers and 21 water tenders have been used to fight the Babylon Fire. The U.S. Forest Service reported that gusty thunderstorms had swept out much of the smoke and air quality remained good to moderate in communities near the fire.

The Center Square was unable to determine a total cost for the wildfire suppression effort for the Babylon Fire, which started June 26. No deaths had been reported as of Wednesday afternoon.

Live updates for the Babylon Fire can be found on the U.S. Forest Service-Manti-La Sal National Forest Facebook page.

The Babylon Fire is currently the largest wildfire across the U.S., followed closely by Colorado’s 96,000-acre Aspen Acres Fire.

The Colorado blaze was 15% contained as of Wednesday morning, according to the Colorado Division of Fire Prevention and Control’s assigned Alaska Incident Management Team.

No lives had been lost, and no serious injuries had been caused by the wildfire as of Wednesday afternoon, according to the Incident Management Team. Total costs to fight the fire have grown to $17.9 million.

“It's very hard to estimate how much this fire is going to cost in the end,” said Nash. “We've had some good success, but we've got a lot of people on this fire. There's a lot of work yet to do.”

Over 1,600 people were reported to be working on the fire in Custer and Pueblo counties in Southern Colorado. The Center Square was unable to determine the exact number of evacuations, but the Incident Management Team said there had been roughly 10,800 in Pueblo County, with some evacuations in three other counties.

A flash flood watch was in effect Wednesday as thunderstorms rolled across the wildfire area, which had already received a small amount of rain. The Incident Management Team said the additional rain could be helpful for the fire, but could also present new challenges to firefighters if it triggered a flash flood.

“It's kind of like a double-edged sword, right?” National Weather Service meteorologist Clint Skelly told The Center Square Wednesday.

“We want rain, of course, to help put out the fire," said Skelly, who's based in Pueblo, Colorado. "However, there's impacts coming from the rain that could be very dangerous for, say the the frontline workers who are working the fire.”

At least 266 homes were believed to have been destroyed by the Aspen Acres Fire, which began June 29.

“While it's grown every day, the amount of new growth has been slowing,” Nash said of the fire.

Live updates for the Aspen Acres Fire can be found on the Aspen Acres Fire 2026 Facebook page.

This year’s roaring fire season follows early heat waves across the Southwest. Paired with droughts, snowpacks crucial to preventing wildfires have been wiped out earlier than usual in the year, which opened the door to the sweeping wildfires being felt Wednesday.

“We recognize that the conditions here are not unique, and that as we move through July into August and the fall, we can certainly expect to see additional large fires that are in part due to the lack of winter snowpack,” said Nash.

Nevada is currently battling over 44,000 acres of wildfire, including the 26,000-acre Grapevine Fire in Southern Nevada, which has been 99% contained as of Tuesday. Over 27,000 acres of wildfire are being battled in Arizona.

In Colorado, Skelly said the impact of fires last long after the last flame is extinguished.

“Yes, the fire is ongoing, but the impacts of the fire are going to last many many years from now," the Pueblo meteorologist told The Center Square. "Flash flooding is going to be a risk at least for the next five years over the Aspen Acres burn scar.”

Elsewhere in the West, California, Oregon and Wyoming have seen smaller fires than those in Colorado and Utah.

(The Center Square) - Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has withdrawn a policy requiring families using the state's school choice program to document every purchase made for “general educational supplemental materials.”

The policy removal comes as Mayes, the Goldwater Institute and the Arizona Department of Education reached an agreement on a settlement in a lawsuit that is being dismissed with prejudice.

The Goldwater Institute filed the lawsuit in 2024 on behalf of families using Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, challenging the policy. Under the ESA program, the money that would have paid for a student's education in a neighborhood public school follows the student to another school of the parents' choice. That includes home schooling.

Jon Riches, an attorney for the Goldwater Institute, told The Center Square on Tuesday that the Phoenix-based nonprofit is “glad to see a settlement that helps restore what the law requires and makes the ESA program as easy as possible for parents and their kids.”

The attorney said Arizona’s school choice program is “structured to make education work for parents and their families. The attorney general’s demand did the opposite. It made it difficult and cumbersome.”

Richie Taylor, communications director for Mayes’ office, said the Democratic attorney general “approved this settlement agreement to stop wasting taxpayer dollars on this lawsuit.”

The Arizona Department of Education “agreed to implement two new processes to assess whether supplementary material purchases are allowable," Taylor told The Center Square, answering questions by email.

“First, ESA holders must attest that any supplementary materials purchased are for use by the qualified student associated with the account used to make the purchase," he explained. "Second, ESA holders must identify the curriculum or course of study that the supplementary materials will support at the time of purchase."

“ESA holders who purchase supplementary materials using ESA funds must demonstrate that the materials support a curriculum being studied by the specific student associated with the ESA used to make the purchase. That isn't a controversial proposition,” Taylor said.

Taylor also said the settlement allows the state Department of Education to request additional documentation from ESA parents to support purchases of supplementary materials.

“These are important steps toward holding ESA parents accountable for their use of education tax dollars,” he added.

Under the settlement, families who use the school choice program will, when they submit their reimbursements, have to “click a checkbox that they are in fact qualified ESA families and the materials will in fact support their course of study," Riches said.

ESA families will now have an easier time getting the “materials they need to educate their children,” the attorney noted.

When Mayes implemented the policy in 2024, Riches said, it “made it more difficult for ESA families to make simple and obvious purchases to support the education of their kids.”

“Whether it was pencils or books, her demands made it more difficult for those families to get reimbursed for those expenses,” he said.

Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne told The Center Square on Tuesday that Mayes’ original demand was “ridiculous.”

He said it was not an additional burden for the Arizona Department of Education, but it was for ESA parents.

Even though he disagreed with the policy decision, Horne, a Republican, said he could not “refuse an order of the attorney general until a court” says he can.

Now that Mayes has rescinded this requirement, the ESA program will function as it was originally intended, Riches noted.

According to Horne, the state Department of Education attempts to “limit the documentation to whatever is needed to be sure everything is a valid education expense at a reasonable cost.”

Horne said the department has a staffing shortage, noting it still has the same number of staff as when the program had 11,000 students, but now it has over 100,000 students.

The department has “eight people to examine two million requests a year, which is a quarter of a million per person, which is humanly impossible,” Horne said.

Due to the staff shortage, the Arizona Legislature passed the risk-based auditing policy in 2024 for ESA accounts.

Before the policy, families using ESA accounts were not reimbursed between two and six months, Horne said.

The superintendent of public instruction said the Arizona Department of Education has asked the Legislature for an additional $4 million to deal with the staff shortage.

At the end of the session, Horne said, an agreement was in place in the Legislature as part of a larger education package that would have provided the state Department of Education with the requested funds, but the deal fell apart.

Horne said his department will ask for a special appropriation for these funds in January 2027.

(The Center Square) - The Arizona GOP gubernatorial primary is set for July 21, but pollster Mike Noble says the race is “essentially over."

Noble Predictive Insights released a poll showing that U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, holds a 50-point lead over fellow U.S. Rep. David Schweikert, R-Scottsdale. Biggs received President Donald Trump's endorsement, and other Trump-endorsed candidates have prevailed in this year's primaries elsewhere in the nation.

Another poll released in June by The NextGen Performance showed Biggs up by 46 points over Schweikert.

“In May, the question was whether Biggs could close it out,” Noble, CEO of Noble Predictive Insights, said. “Now, among likely GOP primary voters, he looks like he has. He’s not just leading. He’s lapping the field.”

Biggs is “winning with all key demographic groups” and early voters, according to Noble.

The poll found 66% of male and 52% of female likely Arizona GOP primary voters supported Biggs, compared with just 13% and 8% respectively for Schweikert.

Biggs also has a significant advantage over Schweikert among white and Hispanic voters, according to the poll.

The winner of the primary will go up against Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs, who's running unopposed in her party's July 21 primary, in the Nov. 3 general election.

Noble told The Center Square on Tuesday that the tipping point in the Republican primary was when Karrin Taylor Robson dropped out of the race.

When she left, it helped Biggs gain momentum in the primary, Noble said.

“Since then, he has continued to add to his lead,” he noted.

Biggs has increased his lead by 20 points over Schweikert since May.

As members of Congress, Biggs and Schweikert have supported many of President Donald Trump’s key policy priorities, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Despite this, Taylor Robson’s supporters “gravitated to Biggs” over Schweikert because Biggs was the Trump candidate, Noble said, adding that the president endorsed both Taylor Robson and Biggs.

On top of this, undecided voters in the Arizona GOP primary haven't supported Schweikert, according to the poll.

The poll showed 26% of voters are still undecided. Of these undecided voters, the poll found 68% would vote for a candidate not on the primary ballot.

“Schweikert’s problem is not that there are no undecided voters left,” Noble said. “It’s that the undecided voters are not really looking his way. If there were a hidden Schweikert surge, we would expect to see it there. We don’t.”

Noble told The Center Square that “Schweikert’s [campaign] run did not make sense from the beginning.”

“To challenge a Trump-endorsed candidate, [a candidate has] to have money to do it. I don’t think Schweikert really had the money to spend,” he said.

Records from the Arizona Secretary of State's Office show Schweikert’s campaign has $86,388 on hand while Biggs has $1.1 million.

According to Noble, the Arizona GOP is “Trump’s party.”

Among Trump supporters, 74% of poll respondents said they would vote for Biggs, while only 7% said they would vote for Schweikert.

The Center Square reached out to the gubernatorial campaigns for Schweikert and Biggs, but they did not respond before publication time.

NPI’s poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 4.75%.

(The Center Square) – California Attorney General Rob Bonta is co-leading a coalition to oppose the Trump administration’s proposed tariffs under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974.

The coalition, which is also being co-led by Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes and Oregon Attorney General Dan Rayfield, consists of Democratic attorneys general from 22 states.

The Trump administration wants to impose a 10% to 12.5% tariff on 59 countries and the European Union. The administration alleges these nations fail to enforce bans on goods made with forced labor.

“After his first two attempts to impose tariffs were declared illegal by the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, the President is back at it again,” said Bonta in a press release. “We urge the Administration to immediately halt this attempt.”

Bonta said these countries and the EU account for 99% of U.S. imports.

“Tariffs are taxes, and the American people cannot shoulder extra costs, no matter how much President Trump wants them to,” said Bonta.

The Center Square reached out to Bonta and the White House for comment, but did not hear back by publication time.

In June, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said the failure of important trading partners to address the importation of goods made with forced labor is unacceptable.

“This creates a dynamic where American workers are forced to compete globally on an uneven playing field,” said Greer in a June press release. “We will no longer tolerate this disparity.”

Wayne Winegarden, a senior fellow of business and economics at the Pasadena, Calif.-based Pacific Research Institute, said tariffs are “an awful economic policy” that inflate costs on U.S. consumers and reduce the economy’s growth potential.

"The President has been searching for any excuse to reimpose the tariffs that the Supreme Court recently ruled unconstitutional,” Winegarden told The Center Square, answering questions via email. “His current excuse to impose taxes on U.S. consumers – without properly gaining support from Congress – should be viewed from this perspective.”

Winegarden added that, ideally, Congress will reassert its authority over taxes and tariffs and make it clear that it does not support these actions.

Bonta and a fellow Democrat, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, previously challenged Trump’s imposition of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977.

In February, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Trump’s imposition of tariffs under IEEPA, declaring them illegal. The ruling was 6-3.

Trump responded to the ruling with 10% tariffs on most worldwide products under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. A coalition of state attorneys general went to court over that in March and got a favorable ruling from a federal judge in May.

The latest coalition, co-led by California, Oregon and Arizona, also includes the attorneys general of Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin.

(The Center Square) - Payment errors for Arizona’s food stamps may soon cost the state's taxpayers $200 million.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Arizona’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program payment error rate for Fiscal Year 2025 was 10.8%, which ranked 33rd in the country.

Arizona’s SNAP payment error rate increased from 8.84% in FY 2024, according to USDA data.

The state’s high payment error rate could cost the state nearly $200 million if it does not bring it below 6% by FY 2028, according to Common Sense Institute Arizona, a nonpartisan research organization.

Changes made in federal law by H.R. 1, also known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, were designed to reduce the costs of federal programs such as SNAP.

New federal law regulations say states with a SNAP payment error rate below 6% will not be required to enter into a cost-sharing agreement with the federal government. However, if states have payment error rates between 6% and 8%, they will be required to do a 5% match.

Furthermore, states with payment error rates between 8% and 10% must perform a 10% match, and those with rates above 10% must perform a 15% match.

If Arizona has the same, 10.8% payment error rate in FY 2028, the state would have to make a 15% match.

Based on the FY 2025 payment error rate numbers, nine states are below 6%, while another six states are between 6% and 8%.

Additionally, 16 states are between 8% and 10%, and another 19 are above 10%.

According to Zach Milne, a senior economist for Common Sense Institute Arizona, the Grand Canyon State has “every incentive to reduce its SNAP payment error rate.”

“Improving program accuracy strengthens program integrity and helps the state avoid potentially significant federal cost-sharing penalties,” he told The Center Square, answering questions via email.

Milne described Arizona’s high SNAP payment error rate as a “relatively recent phenomenon.”

“In FY 2019, the state's error rate was 5.2%, below the new 6% threshold. In the years since, it has remained well above that level. The objective should be to return to the level of administrative performance Arizona achieved prior to the pandemic,” the economist said.

“Doing so would improve the accuracy of benefit payments and help protect taxpayers from unnecessary costs," Milne added.

During the 2026 Arizona legislative session, the state Legislature passed several bills aimed at reducing the state’s SNAP payment error rate, but Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed them.

According to Hobbs, SB 1002, SB 1331, SB 1334 and HB 2206 all contained “yet more unfunded mandates and not a dollar to help our state agencies implement these changes now, or to modernize our systems for the future.”

“SNAP is the most robust and effective anti-hunger tool we have in Arizona. I know this firsthand. It’s also the most secure, thanks to strong anti-fraud measures and oversight," Hobbs said. "Instead of creating more needless frustration for Arizona families, I invite you to join me in actually lowering costs for them."

(The Center Square) - Three conservative politicians are pushing back against a Scottsdale, Ariz.-based company, claiming it is trying to sway local elections.

Scottsdale Councilmember Barry Graham and two candidates, Bob Littlefield and Michelle Ugenti-Rita, sent a letter to the board of directors of Axon Enterprise, a public safety technology company, accusing Axon executives of trying to “influence the outcome of the 2026 Scottsdale City Council election.” The primary election for the council will occur on July 21, and the general election will be on Nov. 3.

The company is attempting to elect candidates who would approve its plans for a new headquarters and apartment complex, according to the letter.

The Center Square reached out to Axon multiple times for comment, but the company did not respond before publication time.

In 2024, the Scottsdale City Council approved Axon to build its new headquarters along with a nearly 2,000-unit apartment complex. After the council approved the measure, Scottsdale residents fought back against the building plans and gathered signatures to determine the facility's fate in November 2026.

However, the ballot measure was effectively canceled after the state Legislature last year passed Senate Bill 1543, which blocked the citizen referendum from taking place.

In November 2025, Scottsdale and Axon, one of the city’s largest employers, came to a new agreement that reduced the apartment complex from 1,900 to 1,200.

The letter said Axon political consultant Chris Baker and company spokesman David Leibowitz created the political action committee Arizonans for a Better Future in March 2025. The PAC received a $500,000 donation from Axon CEO Rick Smith, a $100,000 donation from Axon president Josh Isner and a $20,000 donation from Axon’s chief legal officer Isaiah Fields. That's according to the Arizona Secretary of State's Office.

According to the letter, the PAC spent money to support legislators who backed SB 1543 and to attack Graham, one of the two city council members who voted against Axon’s rezoning proposal in 2024.

Last month, the same officers who created the Arizonans for a Better Future PAC started the Better Together PAC, according to the letter.

In their letter, Graham, Ugenti-Rita and Littlefield wrote that the PAC has “launched an aggressive campaign of television advertising, social media advertising and street-level political messaging” against them.

The letter also noted that the Better Together PAC structured itself to prevent people from knowing who is financing it.

Graham, Ugenti-Rita and Littlefield added they value Axon’s presence in the city, but "want a relationship built on partnership and mutual respect.

"That future, however, requires confidence that local elections belong to local voters,” they wrote.

They added that Scottsdale residents “deserve elected leaders who answer to them – not to any corporation, regardless of its size, success or importance to our community.”

Regarding the letter, Graham told The Center Square that they sent it because of the “overwhelming evidence that Axon executives are interfering and spending untold sums to influence the election to elect people who will rubber-stamp their high-density agenda.”

Ugenti-Rita said Axon will “stop at nothing to destroy Scottsdale, intimidate future candidates and destroy the current three conservative candidates that have opposed” their 1,200-apartment complex proposal.

She told The Center Square that the letter's authors supported the company's plan to build its new headquarters but opposed the apartment complex.

The aesthetic of “sky-high apartments” like those seen in New York and Chicago does not fit Scottsdale’s aesthetic, Ugenti-Rita, a former Republican state legislator, said.

Graham added that the apartment complex would increase “congestion [and] density] as well as cause “greater burden demands on infrastructure and depreciation of [the city’s] fixed assets.”

“Axon doesn’t want to talk about their apartment. They just want to destroy people who they believe stand in [its] way of building apartments,” she explained.

Graham told The Center Square that the apartment complex is not currently being built, noting that Axon does not have the permits it needs to proceed.

The council member said he thinks Axon is spending all this money to “install their rubber-stamp loyalists so that they can come back and put a fresh application in” and increase the number of units.

Axon is currently facing a lawsuit from Taxpayers Against Awful Apartment Zoning Exemptions over its plan for its headquarters and apartment complex.

(The Center Square) - Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump signing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which features tax cuts that an Arizona congressman says will mean a huge boost for the state's economy.

Democrats have criticized the law, also known as H.R. 1, for its impact on areas such as healthcare and food assistance. But Republicans have pointed to its numerous tax breaks for individuals and small businesses.

U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Gilbert, told The Center Square on Thursday that H.R. 1 has already had a significant impact at the federal level. He pointed to small businesses being able to take advantage of tax cuts.

But Biggs said H.R. 1 has not had as much time to take effect in Arizona because the state budget conforming to the tax cuts wasn't passed until June.

Arizonans will see a nearly $1.5 billion tax reduction over the next four years due to Arizona’s conformity with the H.R. 1 tax cuts, said Biggs, a gubernatorial candidate.

The average Arizona family will save nearly $2,000 in federal and state taxes as a result of H.R. 1’s policies, Biggs said.

If H.R. 1 had not been implemented, Arizonans would have had to pay an additional $1.5 billion in taxes, the congressman said. At the national level, he noted, Americans would have had to pay an extra $4 trillion.

According to Biggs, a misconception about H.R. 1 is that the tax cuts went only to the wealthy. He cited policies such as the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime pay.

The representative noted he has heard from Arizonans who received large tax refunds after H.R. 1 became law.

U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Surprise, told The Center Square by email on Thursday that he has also heard from “countless constituents” who have benefited from H.R. 1.

“Service workers are keeping more of their hard-earned money due to no-tax on tips. Small business owners are hiring, investing and growing because this law puts American workers and American businesses first,” he said.

Hamadeh said Democrats “continue to spread fear and misinformation. The facts tell a different story.”

“The overwhelming beneficiaries of these tax cuts are hardworking American families and workers earning under $200,000 a year, who are the backbone of our economy and the overwhelming majority of my constituents,” he said.

H.R. 1, in fact, has had a positive impact on small businesses in Arizona, according to Chad Heinrich, the state's director for the National Federation of Independent Business.

Heinrich told The Center Square this week that H.R.1’s policy of making the 20% small-business deduction permanent “was the single biggest win for Main Street Arizona.”

With Arizona conforming to the business tax cuts from H.R. 1, Arizona small business owners have the “certainty they need to invest in their businesses,” he said.

NFIB conducted a study showing that the 20% small-business tax deduction will create 26,000 jobs annually in Arizona over the next decade and increase the state’s gross domestic product by $1.4 billion each year.

“I refer to that 20% small business deduction in Arizona as being really one of the largest invisible mega projects in the state's history because it literally supports 26,000 jobs every year for the first 10 years of implementation,” Heinrich said.

The small business tax deduction was an attempt “to try to keep some parity with the large corporations whose tax rate is already permanent in law,” Heinrich said, adding that small businesses would have been paying twice as much in taxes as large corporations would have paid.

Arizona is “leading the way in the country” by conforming to the small-business tax cuts included in H.R. 1, he said.

Democrats have a different take on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

According to Arizona Senate Minority Leader Priya Sundareshan, D-Tucson, H.R. 1 “isn't just bad policy, it's bad economics.”

“When families lose access to health care, food assistance, and opportunity, small businesses lose customers, struggle to retain workers, and face tougher decisions to keep their doors open,” Sundareshan told The Center Square, answering questions by by email this week. “Meanwhile, permanent tax breaks for the wealthy remain untouched while relief for working families is temporary.”

Sundareshan said it's “alarming that Arizona Republicans continue to champion the same failed approach here at home, advancing policies that make our state less affordable while protecting wealthy special interests.”

“Arizona Senate Democrats will keep fighting for an economy that rewards hard work, lowers costs, strengthens small businesses, and creates opportunity for every Arizonan, not just those at the top,” she noted.

(The Center Square) - U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Surprise, Ariz., recently introduced a bill to increase military hazard pay.

The Combat Pay Protection Act would require Congress to increase numerous combat-related and specialty military pay rates. The legislation is also known as H.R. 9465.

Hamadeh said his bill would provide a one-time pay increase to help restore payments that have not kept pace with inflation or military basic pay rates.

The bill would also require the Department of War to adjust these payments every January based on whatever is higher: inflation or the annual increase in basic military pay.

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.

Hamadeh, an Army veteran, said, “Washington forgot who it works for.”

“Many of the brave men and women putting their lives on the line for our country have been stuck with combat and hazardous duty pays that haven't been meaningfully updated in decades. It’s absurd,” Hamadeh told The Center Square, answering questions via email.

The Arizona congressman noted his legislation will update “dozens of military [pay scales] that Washington has ignored for far too long.”

“I'm proud that it will be included in the House FY27 National Defense Authorization Act,” he said.

The representative noted American military members “should never fall behind because of Washington's failures.”

“Combat pay, hazardous duty pay, and family separation allowances should keep pace with either military base pay growth or inflation, whichever is higher,” he said. “If inflation hurts military families, Congress has a responsibility to make sure the men and women defending our nation are protected.”

Hamadeh said supporting America’s military “means more than saying ‘Thank you for your service'; it means ensuring they and their families can thrive.”

Currently the Pentagon is authorized to pay up to $275 a month in hazardous duty pay and $450 per month in hostile fire pay.

But the Pentagon has chosen to pay $225 a month for either hazardous duty pay or hostile fire pay, Hamadeh said.

“That is only $7.50 a day, which is about the cost of a coffee in 2026. That’s unacceptable,” he noted.

The last time Congress increased special-combat pay was in 2003.

“For years, Washington failed to stand up for the men and women who stand up for America every day. That's why I have introduced the Combat Pay Protection Act, and that's why I'll continue fighting until our service members receive the compensation and respect they have earned,” Hamadeh said.

“I am proud to be a champion for America's warfighters and their families, and I will always put them first,” he added.

(The Center Square) - Supporters of a ballot measure to reform Arizona’s school choice program are attempting to prevent another measure that they say would render their initiative ineffective.

The Protect Education Accountability Now Committee and Save Our Schools Arizona sued the state over House Concurrent Resolution 2048, also known as the Military Families College Savings and Scholarship Protection Act.

HCR 2048 provides Arizona voters with the opportunity to decide whether to amend the Arizona Constitution to prevent the state government from removing state-run scholarship and savings account funds from the accounts of children of military families.

The ballot measure will appear on the Nov. 3 ballot after being passed by the state Legislature.

Adam Shelton, senior staff attorney for the Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute, told The Center Square on Wednesday that the legal challenge will move quickly because it targets a ballot measure. He added that Judge Joseph Kreamer, who is handling the case, has set a July 9 deadline for all briefs and a July 24 hearing.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim HCR 2048 is “deliberately designed to subvert the very democratic process it invokes.”

“Using military families as a ruse, HCR 2048’s purpose and effect are to both void the pending citizens’ initiative to reform Arizona’s [Empowerment Scholarship Accounts] program – the Protect Education Act – and to impede future reform of the ESA program by the people or by the Legislature,” the lawsuit says.

According to the lawsuit, HCR 2048 is unconstitutional because it “violates the separate amendment rule … of the Arizona Constitution” and because its subjects are not expressed in its title, which violates the No-Severance Provision of the state Constitution.

The plaintiffs say HCR 2048 contains a provision they describe as a “sweeping and unrelated structural command” that will “void … any future law or voter-approved initiative the Legislature dislikes and would strip Arizona’s courts of their historic power to sever the offending provision while saving the rest.”

Regarding HCR 2048’s title, the plaintiffs say it does not disclose that it would also “void in its entirety any future bill or voter-approved initiative deemed to violate the measure, while barring courts from severing the offending portion.”

“HCR 2048’s constitutional infirmities are no incidental drafting flaws, but the mechanism for accomplishing the measure’s true objective of defeating the Protect Education Act – even if voters approve it,” the lawsuit says.

The plaintiffs are asking the Arizona Superior Court to prevent HCR 2048 from appearing on the November ballot by ruling it unconstitutional.

The Center Square reached out to The Protect Education Accountability Now Committee, but it declined to comment on the lawsuit.

According to Shelton, the lawsuit’s argument that HCR 2048 violates “the title requirement of the Arizona Constitution” doesn’t apply to legislatively referred constitutional amendments.

Shelton told The Center Square that the Goldwater Institute is disappointed to see organizations oppose the Nov. 3 ballot's military families measure. But he added he is “not entirely surprised.”

The Goldwater Institute has filed a motion to intervene in the case on behalf of two Arizona parents, including one parent whose family receives money through the military portion of the ESA.

Shelton said the Goldwater Institute argued in its legal filing that there is only one amendment, not two. He added that the amendment’s purpose is “to protect military families.”

The plaintiffs are “really focused on restricting the ESA program,” the attorney explained.

Shelton said the Goldwater Institute looks forward to “helping defend the measure in court.”