Center Square News

(The Center Square) - More than 1,000 teachers in Arizona have quit since July, according to a new report.

The Arizona Department of Education recently released a survey showing a mass exodus over the last four months.

The number of teachers resigning before the start of a school year nearly doubled this year from 2024. According to the department's survey last year, 517 teachers resigned after July.

But this year's higher number came as no surprise to the department's head and the head of the Arizona Education Association, who agree the state should raise teachers' pay.

Tom Horne, the Arizona superintendent of public instruction, told The Center Square that the teacher shortage is “old news” to him.

The new survey found more than 4,000 teaching positions are open, with almost 30% filled by long-term substitutes. Horne said the trend of long-term substitutes filling in for teachers is nothing new.

Arizona is currently three months into its 2025-2026 school year. If the exodus of teachers continues into 2026-27, it will have a “negative effect on academic achievement," Horne noted.

Marisol Garcia, president of the Arizona Education Association, told The Center Square that she also was not surprised by the survey.

“In our last internal survey, nearly a third of our members (who are public-school educators) were considering leaving the profession,” she said.

According to the National Education Association, based on 2022-2023 school-year salaries, Arizona ranks 32nd in the country, with an average teacher salary of $60,275.

Garcia noted Arizona salaries for teachers are “low” and “benefits are terrible,” adding that many teachers are “taking on second and third jobs to make ends meet.”

In addition, “we’re digging into our own pockets to buy pencils and praying that our classroom ceiling makes it through the next rainstorm,” Garcia said. “We’re staying well beyond contract hours so that our students get extra help, or so our school doesn’t lose the sports team we coach.”

Garcia said teachers are being “asked to do more with less,” even as class sizes continue to grow.

“We love our jobs and we love our students, but it becomes harder to teach in Arizona with every year that passes. Lawmakers know that this is a problem — and we wish that they’d talk to us more about how to fix it,” Garcia said.

Horne told The Center Square he has been talking about the pay issue for years.

If the Legislature doesn’t raise pay, Arizona could lose even more teachers, said Horne.

Horne said teachers' pay can increase if Proposition 123 gets renewed by the Legislature. In 2016, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure that increased the amount of money K-12 education got from its state land trust fund from 2.5% to 6.9%.

The proposition allocated $3.5 billion for education funding, Ballotpedia noted.

Horne said he is “hopeful” the Legislature will take action.

The superintendent told The Center Square he would like to see a portion of the proposition’s funds go directly to teachers rather than school districts.

The Arizona Legislature attempted to extend Proposition 123 this legislative session, but state elected officials were unable to reach an agreement.

As a result, the proposition expired in June.

(The Center Square) - A lawsuit has been filed against Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

Phoenix-based Goldwater Institute brought the lawsuit. Attorneys want Mayes to release alleged price-fixing complaint records from a 2024 lawsuit that Mayes filed against nine residential landlords and the RealPage software company.

At the time of filing her lawsuit, the attorney general’s office said the parties were “conspiring to illegally raise rents for hundreds of thousands of Arizona renters” in the Phoenix and Tucson metro areas.

Goldwater Institute attorney Stacy Skankey said the institute does not take a position on the merits of the underlying case. However, when reviewing the announcement and complaint made by Mayes, the institute discovered there was no mention of actual consumer complaints, Skankey said.

“It just says very broadly and generally that consumers were harmed,” Skankey told The Center Square. “So when the attorney general is using their consumer protection enforcement powers, Arizonans need to know whether consumers are actually being protected by these actions.”

The lawsuit against the Democratic attorney general was filed Wednesday in Maricopa County Superior Court. The county is home to Phoenix, the state's capital.

Skankey said attorneys want to “get information about that lawsuit regarding who complained.” Goldwater also wants to know if there were “any unsolicited complaints from the public.”

In April 2024, Goldwater filed a public records request. According to Skankey, Goldwater did not get a response until January of this year.

“Even then you know it was a denial, we tried to follow up and get communication before filing suit, but here we are, now in November 2025, and we still don’t have our answers, and so we brought this lawsuit,” said Skankey, litigation director of the Goldwater Institute’s American Freedom Network. The institute is a nonprofit that focuses on liberty issues.

Skankey added Goldwater is not asking for much, only numerical data.

“It should be very easy to comply with, and yet, you know after this long, drawn-out process, here we are now having to demand that these be produced,” said Skankey.

The Center Square sought comment from the Attorney General’s Office and was told that staffers responded to the Goldwater Institute’s request for records. Mayes' office said it produced all documents required to be disclosed under Arizona law.

“Attorney General Mayes is proud to have taken on major corporate landlords and RealPage for allegedly orchestrating a price-fixing scheme that drove up rents for families across Arizona,” said Richie Taylor, communications director for Attorney General Mayes.

“She will continue to aggressively pursue this case to hold landlords and RealPage accountable for their anticompetitive conduct," Taylor told The Center Square.

Taylor added that the Goldwater Institute is “free to follow the case as it moves through the courts, just like anyone else.”

Skankey later told The Center Square her team disagrees with the Attorney General’s Office's claim that it complied with the Arizona public records law.

“Our records request for the total number of consumer complaints regarding RealPage was denied, and follow-up communications went unanswered,” said Skankey. “Taxpayers deserve transparency, and without transparency, officials lose the public’s trust.”

(The Center Square) – Arizonans continue to call for the release of a business owner held by ICE.

Lisa Everett, former chair of the Republican Party in Arizona’s 29th Legislative District, has been working with Brent Peak, a Democrat, to keep Peoria restaurateur Kelly Yu from being deported.

Because Yu “has no criminal history” and is approaching 180 days in detention, her case now falls under legal precedents that could require her release from the custody of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Everett said.

In a phone interview with The Center Square, Everett cited the 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Zadvydas v. Davis as limiting the time that noncitizens can be held in detention without deportation. Everett also pointed to Section 42B, which Everett said could allow Yu to remain in the United States with her family. Section 42B is a reference to the application to cancel a removal from the U.S.

Everett said she and Peak are grateful Yu is willing to change lawyers. “So we’re in the process of finding the right attorney for her, someone that’s going to fight for her and not just treat her like another file in the desk.”

Yu’s case has been going on for months. Peak said the government's decision to detain her makes no sense.

“They would rather waste taxpayer money to detain her than to simply release her under the arrangement that she was under before they detained her,” Peak told The Center Square. “She’d been ordered to come in at check-in, she had an ankle monitor on, and she was abiding by the latest ruling and instructions. And that was when they chose to arrest her back in March, so she’s been there for almost six months now.”

Yu owns two restaurants and is planning a third. Her husband, Aldo Urquiza, is an American. The two were recently married. Meanwhile, Kelly’s daughter, Zita Yu, was born in the United States and is currently a college student.

The Center Square sought comment from Arizona’s federal lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and did not receive a response. That was also the case during a previous story from The Center Square in October.

In addition, The Center Square reached out to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, but did not get a response. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin did email The Center Square in August to say the department stands by its actions.

“Lai Kuen Yu, an illegal alien from Hong Kong, has had a final deportation order from a judge since 2005,” said McLaughlin. “She was arrested illegally crossing the border by the U.S. Border Patrol in Arizona on February 4, 2004, and two days later was released into the country.”

McLaughlin went on to state that, on Nov. 14, 2013, the Board of Immigration Appeals dismissed her appeal and upheld the final order for Yu’s removal.

"On Aug. 23, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit denied her appeal,” said McLaughlin. “On June 12, the Board of Immigration Appeals granted her a temporary stay of removal while they consider her motion to reopen. She will remain in ICE custody pending her removal proceedings."

Everett told The Center Square that Yu came to the United States when she was 18 years old. According to Everett, Yu was pregnant and fled China due to the one-child policy. When Yu arrived, Everett said Yu immediately applied for asylum.

Everett said Arizona’s federal representatives need to step up and help.

“The Dignity Act is in committee right now, and if they were to pass that, that would resolve so many problems for the Kellys of the world,” said Everett about the bill. “It doesn’t grant amnesty, but it does come up with the solution to let long-term residents be here indefinitely as long as they qualify, and that would mean no criminal background, they’re paying their taxes, things like that.”

Everett said Yu meets the requirements of that category, adding that Yu has been a financial supporter of her community.

(The Center Square) - The federal government has reopened, meaning SNAP beneficiaries in Arizona and elsewhere will receive full assistance.

It also means thousands of Arizonans who work for federal agencies will be paid.

Approximately 34,00 Arizonans were involved in federal civilian employment in 2024, the most recent year available on Congress.gov. Meanwhile, nearly one million Arizonans relied on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps, in 2024. There were concerns SNAP recipients would go hungry amid the shutdown.

“On November 12, 2025, funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also referred to as Nutrition Assistance (NA), was made available through September 30, 2026,” Brent Bezio, public relations chief for the Arizona Department of Economic Security, told The Center Square in an email. “The Department of Economic Security (DES) is taking immediate action to issue any outstanding benefits and resume normal SNAP benefit operations.”

Meanwhile, finger pointing continues among lawmakers.

U.S. Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Arizona, called the 43-day shutdown “completely unnecessary.” Ciscomani added that it was “disappointing to see so many Democrats, especially Arizonans, voting to remain shut down.”

Democrats wanted Republicans to agree to more spending for areas such as health care, but Republicans argued their liberal colleagues were more interested in helping illegal immigrants.

U.S. Rep. Abe Hamadeh, R-Arizona, said “we cannot forget what the Democrats have done” and how the American people suffered from the shutdown.

“The damage done by the Democrats’ selfish political stunt is still unknown,” Hamadeh told The Center Square in an email. “What we do know is that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the shutdown caused up to $14 billion in permanent economic losses.”

According to Hamadeh, “the only explanation for this destructive action by the Democrats is that they hate President Trump and are afraid of their radical base.”

The shutdown even has state legislators talking. Like Ciscomani and Hamadeh, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen, R-Gilbert, said the shutdown should never have happened. Petersen put some of the blame on U.S. Sens. Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, both D-Arizona.

“Kelly and Gallego chose to play political games with people’s lives in an effort to cater to the radical left that is increasingly taking over their party,” Petersen told The Center Square in an exclusive interview by email. “I’m grateful President Trump and his administration stepped up with steady leadership, listened to Arizona’s priorities, and worked toward a responsible reopening.”

“In the end, Democrats gained nothing from the stunt they pulled, and the American people were the ones who paid the price,” said Petersen.

The Center Square asked the offices of Kelly and Gallego Thursday for comment but did not receive a response.

Neither Kelly nor Gallego was part of the eight Senate Democratic Caucus members who joined Republicans to vote for the government to reopen. As of the writing of this article, there was no press release or statement on their websites or X accounts. The only Democratic senators from the Southwest who voted to reopen the government were U.S. Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen, both of Nevada, as previously reported by The Center Square.

Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs’s office did not respond to a comment request, although Hobbs, a Democrat, spoke up for SNAP beneficiaries during the shutdown.

(The Center Square) - Arizona ranked 17th in the nation in unfunded pension liabilities, according to a new report from the Reason Foundation.

Arizona had a total of $27.3 billion in pension debt, according to the report. The foundation based its numbers on fiscal year 2024.

Arizona added approximately $10 billion in unfunded pension debt liabilities from 2014 to 2024

Leonard Gilroy, senior managing director of the Reason Foundation’s Pension Integrity Project, told The Center Square that Arizona added approximately $10 billion in unfunded pension debt liabilities from 2014 to 2024.

For the first 10 years of the new pension reforms, Arizona was expected to see a jump in its unfunded liabilities, Gilroy said.

Of the current total of $27.3 billion, taxpayers are responsible for about two-thirds, while active public employees are responsible for the remaining third, Gilroy explained. However, due to the pension fund reforms, the “taxpayers and new employees are sharing costs much more equally than in the past,” he added.

Gilroy said Arizona’s pension debt is on a “trajectory of improvement” after years of “difficult reforms and difficult decisions.”

Arizona has four major pension systems, according to Gilroy. These pension systems are the Arizona State Retirement System, the Arizona Public Safety Personnel Retirement System, the Arizona Correctional Officer Retirement Plan and the Arizona Elected Officials Retirement Plan.

The ASRS covers state employees and teachers, and the APSPRS takes care of law enforcement and first responders.

In addition, the CORP deals with correctional officers, and the EORP pertains to elected officials.

Gilroy, who helped reform Arizona’s pension program, said many reforms have been made over the years to the state’s pension programs. He noted these major reforms were made to APSPRS, CORP and EORP.

ASRS, Arizona’s largest pension fund, did not undergo major reforms, he stated.

To improve these three pension funds, Arizona paid down unfunded liabilities, lowered return assumptions and built new retirement options for new hires, Gilroy said.

In 2016, Arizona passed Senate Bill 1428, which stated any new government hires after July 1, 2017, could choose between a defined contribution plan and a defined benefit plan.

According to the Department of Labor, a defined contribution plan allows an “employee or the employer (or both) [to] contribute to the employee's individual account under the plan.”

The DOL says a defined benefit plan guarantees a “specified monthly benefit at retirement.”

Before this law came into effect, Arizona law mandated public pension benefits be paid out exactly as stated in a contract, according to Gilroy.

He said Arizona’s new pension option for government workers was “built to be sustainable.”

The new generation of workers is less likely than the older generation to stay at one job for their whole careers, Gilroy told The Center Square.

Gilroy noted Arizona has improved its funded ratio for its pension plans, rising from 72% to 74.3% from 2014 to 2024.

According to Gilroy, this funded pension ratio indicates that Arizona has nearly three-fourths of the funds needed to cover its future pension obligations.

The 74.3% of the funded ratio is based on all of Arizona’s major pensions, including those for Phoenix and Tucson's city employees. Gilroy said only local taxpayers in these two cities are responsible for these pension funds.

He added that when the funds’ total assets ($79.2 billion) are divided by their total liabilities ($106.6 billion), the result is 74.3%

Of Arizona's pension liabilities, 70% are in the ASRS, he noted.

ASRS is the only major state-wide pension program that saw its funded ratio decline from 2014 to 2024. The three reformed pension plans saw increases in their funded ratios, Gilroy said.

Going forward, Gilroy said if the total fund percentage continues to go up and the state keeps hitting its return assumptions, then Arizona has a chance of getting its pension program funded at 100%.

“If you put in the money now, you save that money in the long run because you’re not trying to chase the problems of the past,” he said.

In 2022, the Arizona Legislature approved a one-time $1.1 billion payment in its 2023 budget to help pay down some of its unfunded pension liability.

Gilroy said paying down pension debt as soon as possible allows governments to “free up money in their budgets to dedicate to other priorities like public safety or tax cuts.”

Arizona’s pension debt is on track to improve, Gilroy said. However, he added that the main challenge will be to make sure the “system post-reform is maintained.”

(The Center Square) - Arizona ranks as the 20th best state to find a job in 2025, according to a new report.

WalletHub recently released a report highlighting the best states to find a job.

Chip Lupo, an analyst for the company, said WalletHub aimed to provide a “comprehensive look” that evaluates factors that would influence someone’s decision to relocate to a state for employment.

The study compared all 50 states across two key dimensions: job market and economic environment, Lupo said. He added WalletHub used 34 metrics ranging from employment growth, median annual income and average commute time to determine state rankings.

The top states on the list were Massachusetts, Connecticut and Minnesota. The states at the bottom were West Virginia, Louisiana and Kentucky.

Lupo told The Center Square that Arizona's No. 20 ranking is a good score for the state's economy and outlook for jobs.

WalletHub found Arizona is ranked ninth in the nation for employment outlook and eighth in job security, Lupo said. He added Arizona has a low share of people who have multiple jobs.

”Folks getting a job in Arizona can feel pretty confident that they're gonna hold onto those jobs for a while,” he said.

An area where Arizona lagged behind other states was retirement access and participation, Lupo explained. He said the state ranked 44th in this category. According to Lupo, Arizona’s low ranking in this category may be due to its population being retirement-based.

In addition to this, Lugo said Arizona ranked “fairly low in the percentage of employees with private health insurance.”

Glenn Farley, the director of policy and research at the Common Sense Institute, described Arizona’s economy as being “average.” He told The Center Square that Arizona used to be among the top 10 states for jobs but has grown stagnant.

The state's job market has stalled “for about a year,” he said.

Historically, he said, Arizona has been “one of the fastest growing states when it comes to jobs,” but it has been one of the slowest-growing states over the last 12 to 18 months.

Arizona’s slow job growth has occurred amid uncertainty about the federal job numbers, Farley said. He added job numbers have historically been reliable, but since the COVID-19 pandemic, “there’s been a lot more uncertainty” about the reliability of the real-time numbers.

The size of revisions has grown significantly since the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the research director.

When revisions have occurred, he said Arizona has seen positive revisions.

“Real-time numbers might be showing no job growth in this state, but the revised numbers might be showing that we were actually growing at 1% or 2%. Not strong, but much stronger than was initially being reported,” he said.

In job growth statistics, Arizona is ranked 47th, according to Farley. However, he said he assumes they are “inaccurate,” with the state being ranked between 15 and 25 due to past positive revisions to job stats.

Farley said Arizona’s manufacturing sector has slowed down the most after being one of America’s fastest-growing markets.

The increase in the state’s manufacturing sector occurred from 2017 to 2022, but the industry has slowed since then, Farley explained.

He said the positive revisions will continue, but they won’t reach the 4% job growth rate the state saw in 2022.

The research director noted America’s labor force is growing more slowly due to fewer people graduating from the K-12 system and lower immigration levels. Despite this, Farley pointed out that even though fewer jobs are being generated, they are more productive.

(The Center Square) – The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to hear arguments over whether Arizonans have a constitutional right to a jury trial when they face an accusation from a state agency.

The Arizona Corporation Commission filed an enforcement action in 2024 against EFG America, a rubber recycling company in Mesa.

The commission was alleging securities law violations, said attorney Adi Dynar of Pacific Legal Foundation, the law firm representing EFG America.

The commission was also seeking thousands of dollars in civil penalties and requested the company appear in front of the commission’s in-house administrative law judge.

“At that point, the company and its owners essentially asked the administrative law judge of the Arizona Corporation Commission to change the venue of the case,” Dynar told The Center Square. “In their view, the agency cannot deprive them of their property without asking a court and a jury to decide the merits of the underlying allegations they levied against the company and its owners.”

The administrative law judge denied the request. EFG America then asked the Arizona Court of Appeals to recognize the company’s right to a jury trial in these sorts of commission-initiated enforcement actions. The Arizona Court of Appeals later said jury trials are not available in this circumstance.

That's when the Pacific Legal Foundation got involved. Foundation attorneys represented the company and its owners in front of the Arizona Supreme Court, asking justices to take the case. The Arizona Supreme Court granted the request. Dynar expects the oral argument to be in January or February. A ruling would most likely come by June or July.

Pacific Legal Foundation said it feels good about its chances. It noted both the Arizona Constitution and the U.S. Constitution’s Seventh Amendment guarantee jury trials in civil cases where the government seeks monetary penalties. Dynar pointed to opinions from U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch as reaffirming this principle.

Dynar noted Gorsuch noted jury rights "are fundamental checks and balances" in the U.S. and Arizona constitutions. He said the justice pointed to a check on the powers of prosecutors and judges and the importance of stopping "agency abuse in and out of courts."

“I’m hopeful the Arizona Supreme Court will adopt and give us some much-needed clarity on what, if any, fundamental constitutional rights can be infringed upon by state agencies," Dynar said.

Right now, Dynar said agencies “act as judges, juries, and prosecutors,” a one-stop shop for “violating the constitution in every aspect that you can think of” in people’s public lives.

“I am very heartened that the Arizona Supreme Court has taken up this case because it is a case of state-wide importance for sure,” said Dynar.

In an email to The Center Square, Arizona Corporation Commission Executive Director Douglas Clark argued the commission has followed its constitutional and legislatively granted authority to regulate securities.

“While jury trials have not been provided in enforcement actions in the past, and the legal necessity to do so was not present, the Commission will follow whatever the courts and the legislature ask it to do when it comes to enforcement actions,” Clark told The Center Square via email.

(The Center Square) - Arizona is recommending vaccinations to combat the state's worst measles outbreak since the 1990s.

The latest update this week showed the state has 111 cases of measles during the outbreak, which is along the Utah border.

Four of those were reported as part of an earlier outbreak in Arizona.

Nicole Witt, Arizona’s assistant director for public health preparedness, said 107 of the 111 cases are associated with the current outbreak in Mohave County, which is connected to the Utah outbreak.

“All of our cases are associated with individuals, or almost all of the cases are associated with individuals who are unvaccinated,” Witt told The Center Square.

Physicians say the measles vaccine is the best way to protect oneself. The vaccination is available for infants and adults.

Pointing to data involving entry to kindergarten, Witt said Mohave County’s vaccination rate for measles is around 77%, which is lower than the overall state coverage of around 89%.

“We’d like to be about 95%,” said Witt.

Statewide, three people have been hospitalized. No deaths have been reported. Still, Witt said the vaccine is still recommended.

Measles is a contagious virus that officials say can remain airborne up to two hours after a person with measles has left a room. Symptoms are known to start seven to 14 days after exposure and include high fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes and a rash.

“It is very good news that we have not seen any deaths, but we can,” said Witt. “Certainly, there can be serious complications for measles, including pneumonia, encephalitis. And death is obviously the most severe outcome, so while thankfully, many people do recover from measles, there is that risk for more severe consequences.”

Witt added that it is also important for everyone to make sure that they are up to date on their vaccinations and they’re not spreading measles to somebody else who might be more vulnerable and might be more susceptible to a severe consequence or complication from measles.

“It is important that folks continue to be cautious, that people stay up to date, if they have questions about that vaccine, that they talk to their trusted health provider or their local health department to really get their questions answered,” said Witt. “It is an issue that should be important to everyone. We are seeing the largest outbreak we have seen since the '90s. Certainly there are many other states that are seeing outbreaks. So it definitely is an issue and a concern for everyone.”

Arizona’s cases outnumber those reported in Utah. The Utah Department of Health & Human Services reported 67 cases as of this week. Fifty-one of those are in southwest Utah.

(The Center Square) - As Christine Finch helped her father, Graham Finch, gather his luggage at the San Francisco International Airport, she was worried about how flight delays caused by the federal shutdown would affect their travel plans.

“Am I going to be able to get Dad home?” Christine said of her first thought when hearing about the impending flight delays.

Christine, who is flying her father home to New Zealand, said she's also worried whether she'll be able to get back to Canada to go to work.

“I don’t come back for a month, so I’m hoping it will be all solved by then, and it won’t affect me on my way back up,” Christine told The Center Square at the airport Thursday afternoon.

Otherwise, she noted, “I won’t be able to get back up to get back to work.”

That's the possible personal impact as the longest federal government shutdown in U.S. history continues.

Starting Friday, the 38th day of the shutdown, flights up and down the West Coast are expected to be delayed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

On Thursday, the FAA released a list of the airports that will be affected by reduced flights. They include 12 major ones in the West, stretching from California north to Alaska, west to Hawaii and east to Colorado and Texas.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, announced Wednesday the FAA will reduce flights by a total of 10% in what he called 40 “high-volume markets” throughout the United States. Those cuts are expected to take effect on Friday in an effort to make airline flights safe as shortages in staffing are made worse by the funding lapse caused by the shutdown.

West Coast airports on the list include a few in California: Los Angeles International, San Diego International, San Francisco International and Ontario International.

Elsewhere in the West, the affected airports include Anchorage International, Seattle/Tacoma International, Portland International, Las Vegas Harry Reid International, Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Salt Lake City International, Honolulu International, Denver International and Dallas/Fort Worth International.

Travelers flying out of San Francisco International on Thursday told The Center Square they were concerned about the travel plans of friends and family, despite their own good timing in traveling before the reductions.

“We’re really worried about our friends traveling,” said Della Shapen, who was catching a flight to Denmark with her husband, Kevin, and their dog, Jetta. “We’re really fortunate that we’re getting ahead of it.”

Others travelers to Europe said they weren’t worried their flights were going to be delayed. They saw the words “on time” flashed on nearby screens showing that most flights flying out of San Francisco on Thursday were departing as scheduled.

“I was monitoring the situation with the shutdown, but today, maybe we’re lucky,” said Raphael Heisen, who said he was flying to Germany.

“The situation … I’m truly worried about that," Heisen told The Center Square about the shutdown.

According to a report published by EY-Parthenon, the federal government shutdown could cost the American economy $7 billion a week, leading to a 0.1% decline in gross domestic product growth. Federal employees, who include Transportation Security Agency workers at airports, aren’t getting paid their wages because of the federal government shutdown - leading to many of these workers calling out sick, according to Forbes.

(The Center Square) - Arizona legislators plan to introduce proposed reforms to the state’s family court system, according to state Sen. Mark Finchem, R-Tucson.

Finchem, co-chair of the Arizona Joint Legislative Ad Hoc Committee on Family Court Orders, told The Center Square he expects nine to 12 bills during next year’s legislative session.

The committee Monday released a report outlining issues found in Arizona’s family court system. The report reviewed topics such as court-ordered behavioral interventions, reunification programs, behavioral health evaluations and child safety decisions in custody disputes.

The report found the state’s family court system lacked proper oversight of court-appointed psychologists and therapists and that decisions were being made that were not in the child’s best interest.

Finchem said the report revealed the Arizona family court system is “terribly broken and in need of significant reform,” specifically in Maricopa County, Arizona's most populous county and home to Phoenix.

The system is providing a level of “tyranny that is crushing families," he said.

The report noted reunification programs lacked adequate scientific support and often cost over $15,000.

The state senator noted family court systems should be about what is in the best interest of the child, but these courts seem “to have lost track of that.”

Instead, Finchem said the family court systems are focused on “maximizing” profits for lawyers and psychologists, which is “destroying families financially.”

“The court has got some serious work to do on cleaning up its act,” he said.

According to the report, the court system lacked oversight of court-ordered evaluators and treatment providers, as well as standards for psychologists involved in cases.

The court system has a “perverse profit motive,” so the Legislature is “going to have to take action that instructs the court on what it can and can’t do,” Finchem said.

In the Arizona family court system, quasi-immunity is given to non-judges involved in cases such as the therapeutic interventionists, evaluators and parenting coordinators. Quasi-immunity prevents someone from being sued when working on a court case.

Quasi-immunity for psychologists needs to end, according to Finchem. He added that if there were an established area of practice, people would worry about malpractice.

Finchem said he would like to see the family court system adopt a standard practice.

His committee identified another issue: the Commission on Judicial Conduct's role with the Arizona family court system. The CJC oversees judicial ethics; however, in the family court system, they have limited power, according to legislators.

The CJC can only investigate a judge’s conduct rather than legal errors or non-judges working on cases, the report noted.

The report said the CJC dismissed between 85% and 90% of complaints due to “many submissions contest[ing] rulings rather than alleging judicial misconduct.”

”The only people that are being served by the system are the people that are lining their pockets by raiding the wealth of the family that is supposed to be going to raising the child,” Finchem told The Center Square. “Absolutely and utterly shameful what the court system [has] turned into.”

Even though Finchem said he expects legislators to introduce bills next session, he pointed out that the Legislature is determined to “see change happen,” which may mean it considers getting this done through the budget process or by having conversations that prompt the court to reform itself.

According to Finchem, it will require a combination of changing laws and the budget process, because he said he has “very little hope” that the family court system will reform itself.

The report recommended reforms, including Arizona passing Kayden’s Law, which prioritizes the best interests of the child, as well as creating a governmental body called the Office of the Child’s Advocate.

On top of this, the report suggested putting limits on quasi-immunity standards to make sure people can be held accountable for their decisions and to make child safety the top priority.

Finchem said he is thinking about introducing a bill that would require a jury trial to determine if a relationship between a child and parent should be severed.

“ I believe that it should always be a jury trial," Finchem said. "Why are we going to leave that up to a person, a judge that may have a personality conflict with the two litigants?”

“ The whole reason we have jury trials is to inject a level of fairness [and] a level of empathy for the underdog,” he added.

Finchem noted the committee heard testimony from so “many underdogs” that it would make a person “weep.”

The committee heard 40 hours of testimony from people affected by the state family court system, Finchem said.

Sen. Carine Werner, R-District 4, said the committee “heard deeply personal and painful testimony from families whose lives were upended by inconsistent court practices.”

"Their courage in speaking out will help drive needed reform to protect future children and parents," she said.

Finchem noted the committee heard from people who said they were affected by the court system because of judges who ignored testimony and evidence.

There's also the cost factor. People who were caught up in the family court system ended up losing their homes after paying “exorbitant costs to psychologists and lawyers,” Finchem said.

One person had to spend $1 million for nine years just to have access to their children, Finchem said.

The report included a story about two children who were killed after the family court system ignored abuse warnings.

State Rep. Lisa Fink, R-Phoenix, said Arizona needs “transparency, cost controls and oversight to prevent abuse and restore trust in these proceedings."

Finchem said his greatest fear is the kids “caught up in the system are going to become their abusive parents.”

(The Center Square) – Everything from Tucson City Council races to a sales tax to fund a Cochise County jail was on the ballot Tuesday in Arizona.

Ballots were cast in 10 counties. Here are some of the key highlights for early, unofficial results that were available on Wednesday.

In Pima County, early results showed winners in Tucson City Council races. Democratic candidate Kevin Dahl was ahead of Republican opponent Janet “JL” Wittenbraker in the Ward 3 race. Dahl received 46,823 votes; Wittenbraker, 22,316. Selina Barajas, a Democrat, ran unopposed for the Ward 5 seat, and Democratic candidate Miranda Schubert, with 46,413 votes, was ahead of Republican opponent Jay Tolkoff (22,651 votes) in the Ward 6 position.

The Cochise County sales tax for funding the jail was approved with 10,909 votes in favor and 10,035 opposed. Voters in the county also approved budget overrides in Naco and Willcox elementary school districts

In the city of Holbrook in Navajo County, eight of 10 propositions passed. One of them, Proposition 442, increases to $1 million from $500,000 the amount that the city council may expend in direct expenditures, tax concessions or debt without voter approval. By the same amount, it increases the value of city-owned land Holbrook may grant or exchange, to construct or aid in construction of certain facilities. The proposition passed with 60.41% of the vote.

In Coconino County, voters approved capital bond elections for Coconino County Community College District and Pinewood Fire District with 58.10% and 74.38% of the vote respectively.

In LaPaz County, early results showed budget override continuation for Parker Union School District won support, with 368 votes or 54% of ballots cast. The measure covered maintenance and operations.

In Pinal County, all nine propositions - related to cities, school districts and a fire and medical district - passed. Most involved bond approvals.

In Yavapai County, voters could pick three candidates for the Prescott City Council. Early results showed the top three vote getters as Jim Garing with 23.52% of the vote, Mary Frederickson with 23.23% and Jay Ruby with 19.19%. The bottom two were Henry Ebarb II with 18.39% and Gregory Lazzell with 15.67%.

Also in Prescott, Proposition 485, known as the “Utility Franchise Election,” passed overwhelmingly with 87.96% of the vote.

A bond measure for the Verde Valley Fire District passed with 73.72% of the vote. Voters also approved budget override continuations for Mingus Union High School District, Clarkdale-Jerome Elementary School District and Cotton-Oak Creek Elementary School District.

Early results showed bond and budget measures for health care, fire/medical and school districts, as well as cities, were passed in the most populous county, Maricopa, as reported Tuesday night by The Center Square. Maricopa is home to Phoenix.

(The Center Square) – Members of Congress regularly commute between Washington, D.C., and their home districts with taxpayers paying the tab, but some choose to spend more than others – a few even charter private jets, an investigation by The Center Square found.

When it came to charter – or private airplane – travel, U.S. Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., was the top spender with nearly $63,000 paid for charter flights since 2019. U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, R-Mo., was second, paying $18,295 in the same time period for five flights from Executive Aircraft Leasing, LLC., data from the Members' Representational Allowance data shows.

When it comes to overall travel expenses, the office of U.S. Rep. Lance Gooden, R-Texas, was in the top three of both airfare and lodging for all of Congress since 2019, including some pricey reimbursements to himself – not airline or charter companies – for flights.

David Williams, president of the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, said there have to be better controls on travel to avoid abuses.

"Just because Congress has to do something, it doesn't mean there can't be some sort of oversight," he told The Center Square. "And I know this would probably take a lot of work, and maybe it can be done with AI at this point," but someone should be "reviewing flights and receipts to make sure that there's not excessive spending."

Johnson's office did not set up an interview with The Center Square, but his spokeswoman Kristen Blakely pointed out that his at-large district covers a lot of ground.

"Congressman Johnson’s district is enormous – it takes more than eight hours to drive from one corner of South Dakota to the other," she wrote in an email to The Center Square. "About once a year he charters a plane to conduct official business, after receiving the necessary approval from the House Administration Committee."

Charter flights costing more than $7,500 must be preapproved by the United States Committee on House Administration, according to the member handbook, but the detailed spending receipts and approvals are not available to the public. Congress exempted itself from the Freedom of Information Act.

Blakely provided Johnson's House administration committee approvals to The Center Square.

Johnson's at-large district is the third largest after Alaska and Wyoming, but The Center Square could only find one flight that appeared to be private travel for the Alaska at-large representatives going back to 2019. Wyoming had none.

All House offices which submitted reimbursement for charter, or private jet, flights since 2019 totaled nearly $135,000, according to The Center Square analysis of 3 million lines of House spending data. That included a $20,711 charge to Security Aviation by the House Committee on Natural Resources.

Williams questioned whether the number was much higher.

"I think that number is way low," he said. "I think there's something going on here, because I don't believe that they only spent $150,000 on charter flights."

Members' Representational Allowance data did not specifically have a category for private jets so The Center Square had to search the vendor field with popular terms like aviation, jet and charter and then find online references to confirm the services provided.

Top travel costs

In between 2022 and 2024, Gooden submitted large airfare reimbursements four times totaling more than $35,000 but listed himself – instead of the airline or charter company – as the vendor, House spending account data analyzed by The Center Square shows.

The reimbursements for a $9,719.37, $8,820.30, $8,357.96 and $8,178.21 each exceed the $7,500 limit that requires approval from the United States Committee on House Administration if the reimbursements were for private jets.

But Gooden's chief of staff contended that each reimbursement was for a number of flights in the date range in the House data.

"Sloppy journalists would disregard the service dates and not realize there are multiple expenditures reimbursed during these long windows of time that you misleadingly do not acknowledge," wrote Matt Esguerra, who initially wanted to talk off the record but The Center Square declined, needing attributable information for this story. "To suggest otherwise without understanding the House disbursement and reimbursement process is a violation of your organization’s code of ethics."

Esguerra would not provide receipts and detailed spending documents, writing that The Center Square was "expecting us to do your research for you."

House administration staff also would not provide any approvals or detailed reimbursement documents so it is unclear whether those flights were commercial or private, what the destination or business purpose was, and why Gooden filed that he – instead of an airline or credit card – was the vendor providing the flights. Esguerra did not respond to another email asking him to account for the spending of tax dollars.

Gooden wasn’t the only lawmaker who cited himself as the flight vendor but he had $290,000 in flights booked that way while the next largest was U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., with $158,000 since 2019 booked in her name, The Center Square’s analysis of House spending data shows.

Titus spokesman Dick Cooper wrote in an email to The Center Square, “Similar to many of her colleagues of both parties, Congresswoman Titus uses her credit card to regularly travel between Washington, D.C., and Las Vegas so she can be with her constituents. In doing so, Congresswoman Titus complies with all House Administration rules when traveling in her official capacity.”

When asked if Titus keeps any points or cash back awarded when she pays for the taxpayer-funded flights on her personal card, he directed The Center Square to House rules that state, "Free travel, mileage, discounts, upgrades, coupons, etc., awarded at the sole discretion of a company as a promotional award may be used at the discretion of the Member or the Member’s employee. The [Committee on House Administration] encourages the official use of these travel promotional awards wherever practicable."

He would not say if Titus used them for herself or work travel.

Daniel Schuman, executive director at American Governance Institute, said Gooden using himself as the vendor raises questions after The Center Square told him about the House disbursement data.

"There is no way that makes any sense," he said. "Folks on the administration or House ethics committees should have caught it."

Staff for both committees refused to address the issue when asked by The Center Square.

Top spending on flights and lodging

What is clear is that Gooden is one of the top spenders on airfare and lodging in the U.S. House despite his hometown in the district he represents situated just 55 miles from one of the nation's top airports, Dallas-Fort Worth.

Not counting delegates from far-flung places like Northern Mariana Islands, Guam and American Samoa, the top spenders on all airline travel in the contiguous United States since 2019 were Gooden at $336,000, U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., at $279,000 and U.S. Rep. John R. Carter, R-Texas, at $261,000, an analysis by The Center Square showed.

The Committee on Natural Resources spent $323,000 in that time period, including the charter expense.

Waters staff did not return The Center Square's requests for comment, and Carter's spokeswoman Emily Taylor wrote in an email, "Congressman Carter does not have a residence in D.C., he sleeps on the couch in his office, so as soon as he’s done with votes, he grabs the first flight home to the people he represents."

Gooden was also third for individual lawmakers when it came to lodging, racking up $351,000 for places to say in the past six years, according to the analysis of data posted on the House statement of disbursements website. Topping him were Reps. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who spent $451,000, and Jack Bergman, R-Mich., with $357,000 worth of places to stay.

The only House organization that topped their spending was the annual new member orientation travel. Bergman and Gosar's staff did not respond to requests for comment.

Williams said travel reimbursements are ripe for abuse if they're not properly monitored.

"Travel is fun if you can get someone else to pay for a first-class flight or a business class or, you know, looking at the last minute, that's really cool," he said. "I think at the end of the day, that's how they look at this."

(The Center Square) – Bond and budget measures were on their way to being passed, according to early, unofficial results in Arizona’s most populous county.

Maricopa County, which is home to Phoenix, published results on its website after polls closed at 8 p.m. Mountain Standard Time Tuesday. The results were based on 570,352 ballots cast, which is 21.5% of eligible voters. That includes ballots received and cleared through signature verification as of mid-day Monday.

These are ballots that were sent via the mail, dropped in a ballot box or processed at the Ballot Replacement Center, the county said.

Early results show Dorean Taylor ahead of Julie Spilsbury in the only race with candidates in Maricopa County: a seat on the Mesa City Council. Taylor had 52.78% of the vote in early results; Spilsbury, 47.22%, according to the Maricopa County elections website.

According to early results, bond measures and budget increases or budget override continuations were on their way to passing in many fire/medical districts, high school districts, elementary school districts and cities. A "budget override continuation" is a way to generate more revenue.

The margin of approval for bond measures varied slightly over 50% in the Maricopa County Special Health Care District and West-MEC At-Large Proposition 403 to 78.26% for Superstition Fire and Medical District’s Proposition 494. (West-MEC trains students in career and technical education.)

Measures to increase budgets or for a budget override continuation also passed in many districts. Results varied from to 52.56% supporting a budget increase in Peoria Union School District to 75.27% favoring budget override continuation in Phoenix Elementary School District.

(The Center Square) – Measles cases have increased on the Arizona-Utah border.

An online dashboard operated by the Arizona Department of Health Services shows 111 total cases. Three people have been hospitalized. However, no deaths have been reported.

Of Arizona's cases, 107 are in Mohave County. The other four are in Navajo County.

On Oct. 24, Arizona reported 84 total cases and three hospitalizations.

The Center Square was unable to reach someone at the state's Department of Health Services for comment.

Across the border, Utah’s Department of Health and Human Services is reporting 67 confirmed measles cases as of Tuesday. Nine Utah residents have been diagnosed with measles in the last three weeks.

Most cases (51) are in southwest Utah. That’s up from the 44 that Health and Human Services epidemiologist Clarissa Keisling told The Center Square about last week.

Other areas with measles include Utah County (9), Bear River (4) and southeast Utah (3).

The state of Utah recommends that people get vaccinated for measles. Keisling called it “the best way to keep you and your family safe” from measles.

“An early, extra MMR dose is currently recommended for infants who live in or are planning to travel to Washington County," Keisling told The Center Square. "MMR" refers to a combination vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella.

“It’s something that we recommend because this county has met certain criteria given the community spread in the area," Keisling said.

In addition, Utah recommends that anyone with a child under six months old should only “surround them with people who are vaccinated.”

Meanwhile, Utah continues to monitor wastewater to look for and detect viral shedding in communities around the state to detect whether there is community transmission early. A positive finding in wastewater allows officials to focus on early responses and work with the local health department before cases, if any, are reported.

“We’ve moved to updating our measles case count dashboard as well as our wastewater dashboard,” said Keisling. “Those are updated typically on Tuesdays, weekly, and we have been using that as a very useful resource for keeping an eye out for new cases across the state.”

Arizona’s dashboard is also updated on Tuesdays.

Measles is a contagious virus that officials say can remain airborne up to two hours after a person with measles has left a room. Symptoms are known to start seven to 14 days after exposure and include high fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes, and rash.

(The Center Square) – Democratic attorney generals from 22 jurisdictions sued the U.S. Department of Education Monday over its new rule limiting Public Student Loan Forgiveness for government and nonprofit workers.

The PSLF program was passed in 2007 with bipartisan support as part of the College Cost Reduction and Access Act. Under the law signed by President George W. Bush, workers are entitled to forgiveness for the remaining balance of their loans if they dedicate 10 years to government or nonprofit work and stay up to date with their payments. On Friday, the Department of Education issued a rule that threatened to remove eligibility for student loan forgiveness to anyone who works for someone with “a substantial illegal purpose.”

California, Massachusetts, Colorado and New York are the states leading the coalition suing the Trump administration. The suit was filed by 21 states and the District of Columbia in the U.S. District Court for Massachusetts.

The lawsuit seeks a court decision declaring the new rule unlawful.

The suit notes Congress directed the U.S. Department of Education to cancel the "balance of interest and principle due for any borrower" who had been employed in a public service job for 10 years and met other statutory requirements. The suit noted all government jobs are eligible, except for members of Congress.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta accused President Donald Trump and Secretary of Education Linda McMahon of using student loan forgiveness to reward loyalists and punish opponents.

“This is just the latest example of Trump weaponizing our government to wage his culture war,” Bonta said during a virtual news conference, which also included attorneys general from Colorado and Massachusetts.

“First he weaponized our schools, hospitals and military,” Bonta told reporters. “Now he’s coming for hardworking people who’ve devoted their careers to doing good in the world.

“Trump and McMahon have no legal right to impose this rule and break the government’s promise to the American people,” Bonta said. “This rule directly violates the Administrative Procedure Act and defies Congress’ direction under the Higher Education Act, which clearly states that government agencies and nonprofits are eligible employers without exception.

“That means the administration can’t exclude an eligible organization just because it provides legal services to immigrants or provides gender-affirming care to minors or participates in legal diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives or engages in civil protest and the right to assembly - constitutionally protected rights,” Bonta said. “They can’t cherrypick which public service employers qualify or which don’t.”

The Center Square reached out Monday to the U.S. Department of Education after the news conference.

“It is unconscionable that the plaintiffs are standing up for criminal activity,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent told The Center Square in an email. “This is a commonsense reform that will stop taxpayer dollars from subsidizing organizations involved in terrorism, child trafficking, and transgender procedures that are doing irreversible harm to children. The final rule is crystal clear: the Department will enforce it neutrally, without consideration of the employer’s mission, ideology or the population they serve.”

But attorneys general at Monday’s news conference expressed concern about the people who would be denied the student loan forgiveness promised by Congress. Bonta noted the recipients vary from teachers to police officers, firefighters, librarians, social service workers and members of the military.

Attorney General Phil Weiser of Colorado said his state’s employees, varying from firefighters to state troopers, could lose their loan forgiveness if Trump and McMahon simply labeled Colorado as “unlawful.”

“That’s the sort of bullying we’re not going to allow,” Weiser said, answering a question from The Center Square. “This rule is illegal.”

He added he didn’t know how much money the federal government is trying to save in Colorado.

But as the attorneys general answered The Center Square’s questions about numbers such as costs, Bonta put the total amount of the program’s value, as of 2024 in California, at $6 billion.

The attorneys general answered The Center Square’s question about the number of people served by their programs: 18,000 over the last two-and-one-half years in Colorado, 25,000 between 2021 and January of 2025 in Massachusetts, and over 81,000 in California as of 2024.

“These are hardworking folks who had to be in the program 10 years and consistently make payments,” Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell told The Center Square. “It’s not a handout. It’s folks who work hard. We honor their service, knowing they make less than those in the private sector.”

As of July, 1.25 million people had received the forgiveness nationwide, Bonta said.

Besides the attorneys general from California, Colorado, Massachusetts and New York, the attorneys general filing the lawsuit are from Arizona, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin.

In addition to discussing the lawsuit, attorneys general Monday reacted to the Trump administration’s announcement that it would issue half of the November payments for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits after Friday’s court orders saying the Trump administration couldn’t suspend the program Nov. 1. SNAP was formerly known as food stamps and is designed to help low-income individuals, seniors and those with disabilities. The Trump administration issued its response to the court orders on Monday, as reported earlier by The Center Square.

Partial instead of full payments could make the program more complicated and increase delays, Campbell of Massachusetts told reporters.

The attorneys general argue there’s enough money for provide full payments.

“They are intentionally starving some Americans when they don’t have to,” Bonta said. “We believe they should use all available funds.”

The Center Square reached out Monday to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers SNAP, for this story, but did not get a response before this story was published. But as reported earlier by The Center Square, the USDA said it only has enough emergency funds, about $4.6 billion, to cover half of November benefits. The USDA said it will not draw from other contingency funds, which are normally used for events such as natural disasters when the federal government is open.

(The Center Square) – Despite previously denying it had the legal authority to do so, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that it will use emergency funds to partially cover SNAP benefits for the month of November.

The change is in response to rulings from two federal judges, based in Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The judges ordered the Trump administration to use reserve funds to ensure that the 42 million Americans on food stamps do not lose their benefits due to the ongoing government shutdown.

USDA, however, says it only has enough emergency funds, roughly $4.6 billion, to cover 50% of November benefits. It will not tap other contingency funds, which historically have been used during events like natural disasters while the government is open.

Federal agencies like the USDA have remained unfunded since Oct. 1, when the government shuttered after Senate Democrats blocked Republicans’ Continuing Resolution, a seven-week funding stopgap.

Since then, all but three Democratic senators have continuously filibustered the House-passed CR, demanding that Republicans promise to renew a costly pandemic-era expansion of Obamacare Premium Tax Credits.

Nevertheless, Democratic lawmakers have blamed Republicans for the shutdown and the underfunding of SNAP.

“This is a very temporary band-aid from the Trump admin,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said on X. “Partial is not good enough. End this Republican shutdown now so we can fully fund SNAP.”

Sen. Patty Murray, another Democrat from Washington, insisted that the Trump administration fully fund SNAP while the government remains shuttered by tapping into all possible resources.

“Just now paying the bare minimum to partially fund SNAP is not enough, and it is not acceptable,” Murray, who voted 13 times against reopening the government, said. “Trump should immediately work to fully fund benefits under the law.”

The current shutdown marks the first time in modern history that SNAP funding has been disrupted. It is set to become the longest shutdown in American history if Congress continues on its path of partisanship. Monday marks the 34th day, and the longest shutdown ever lasted 35 days.