Arizona for Abortion Access and Arizona Right to Life submitted their respective motions for summary judgment in a legal fight to see the measure enshrining a right to abortion in the constitution removed from the ballot. Arizona Right to Life argued the 200-word summary  description of the measure to be “ incomplete, misleading and creating a significant risk of confusion.” Tim LaSota, attorney for Arizona Right to Life, claimed that the measure would “allow for an unlimited right to abortion.” He noted a failure to include “treating” prior to “health care provider,” an omission of an alleged curtail on state power to regulate abortions and claims to regulate abortion only before fetal viability, while including a cut-out for after viability given it’s necessary to protect a person’s mental and physical health. “It is the right of the Ballot Measure Proponent to advocate for a right to abortion that is completely unregulatable by the State of Arizona,” LaSota wrote. “But it is not the right of the Ballot Measure Proponent to draft a measure of that nature and then draft a 200-word description of the principal provisions of the measure that completely omits this critical information in an apparent effort to attempt to breath some actual vitality into the illusory limitations that the Act contains.” In response, Arizona for Abortion Access attorney Andy Gaona said Arizona Right to Life “cannot be serious” in suggesting the omission of the word “treating” justifies the removal of the initiative from the ballot. Gaona argued the plaintiff’s contention is “still with the Initiative itself—not with the 200-word description.” He engaged with the plaintiff’s claim that the summary is a “‘bait and switch’ because it represents that the Initiative would ‘allow future regulations on abortion,’ but its ‘compelling governmental interest’ standard would “bulldoze down any legislative effort to stop abortion.” But Gaona wrote there is “no omission here. Nor is there a ‘bait and switch.’ The Initiative “allow[s] future regulations on abortion” before fetal viability that meet the legal standard in the Initiative” and bars interference in the right to abortion ‘after fetal viability’ when, ‘in the good faith judgment of a treating health care professional,’  an abortion is ‘necessary to protect the life or physical or mental health of the pregnant individual,” Gaona wrote. He continued, “Those words mean exactly what they say.” The parties are scheduled for oral argument on August 2.

Former governor Jan Brewer and former congressman Matt Salmon met today to spread general information about Arizona elections and weigh in on the current status of trust in election systems. The panel, hosted by Arizonans for Secure Elections’ Matt Kenney, started with a general nod to election checks and balances, namely logic and accuracy testing, political party observers, hand count audits and the importance of educating the public on the state’s election system. In a Q&A portion, the panelists dove into how the presence of election skepticism among candidates and voters shifts the landscape, especially as candidates who have expressed distrust in elections prevailed in the primary. Salmon said the success of candidates like Lake, who lost in the 2022 gubernatorial primary, fundamentally changed the Republican party. “It literally changed the landscape so much that if you’re truthful and honest with people, then a lot of the base won’t support you,” Salmon said. “They want you to keep the joke going … Now I’m considered a RINO because I won’t bend the knee and say things that aren’t true.” Brewer noted untangling election skepticism will take time. She said, “We have to take into consideration, too, that it will take a little while to get everybody to understand exactly what we’re trying to share with them. They have listened to so much rhetoric for so long. It’s ingrained in them.” She continued, “Because their candidate is not winning, they feel like ‘okay, it’s been stolen.’ It hasn’t been stolen, you didn’t work hard enough.” Brewer emphasized the importance of continuing to keep the security of the election at the forefront of the conversation and noted the outcome of the primary. “I lost a few last night. I think we all did. Were we happy about it? No. Do I believe that they lost? I believe they lost. They have to work harder next time,” Brewer said.   

Two Republican senate candidates are leading over the incumbents, but the swap would not change much of the political makeup of the chamber, a GOP consultant said. Trump-endorsed former state senator Mark Finchem was leading with 47% of votes in the LD1 primary, while Bennett was trailing at 34%, and Steve Zipperman had 18% of votes, as of Wednesday afternoon. The frontrunner declared himself the winner of the primary race Wednesday morning. Finchem is a far-right Republican who has criticized Bennett for his moderate Republican stance. In the Senate, Bennett faced criticism from his GOP colleagues for occasionally voting with Democrats – usually due to specific merits of a bill and not because he opposed the policy as a whole. The incumbent’s legislative approach comes in stark contrast to Finchem’s – he leans far right and has a strong Republican voting record. At the same time, former lawmaker Vince Leach,  has maintained a slight lead over Wadsack in the LD17 Republican senate primary. Leach, a traditional Republican, was leading Wadsack, a Freedom Caucus member, by 943 votes as of Wednesday afternoon. If Leach maintains his lead in the close race, he would oust one of the most far-right Republicans in the chamber. But GOP consultant Chuck Coughlin said the two replacements would essentially balance each other out. “We got rid of Kern and we’re adding Finchem,” Coughlin said. On top of that, Leach would bring the familiar “moderate” Republican personality to the chamber that Bennett had, he said, although the two vary on specific points. “Maybe we’ve changed a couple of drapes, but that’s about it,” Coughlin said of the Senate makeup if Leach and Finchem go on to win their primaries. Leach’s likely defeat of Wadsack in the primary was shocking, he added. “This is the first time that I’ve seen a non-MAGA Republican beat a MAGA Republican,” he said. Coughlin said that Wadsack winning the primary may be a setback in the general election for LD17 Democratic candidate, John McLean, as Leach is less controversial than Wadsack. “They certainly had a plan to take her out in the general, and I assume that they had a great shot at doing that,” he said.

Arizona Senators Mark Kelly and Kyrsten Sinema announced five organizations in Arizona will receive $3,369,176 to strengthen the public health workforce through service—addressing mental health, chronic disease prevention, and public health readiness.      The funding—allocated through the FY2024 Public Health AmeriCorps continuation funding opportunity from AmeriCorps—will support 359 Public Health AmeriCorps members across Arizona. After successfully completing their service, these Public Health AmeriCorps members are expected to earn $924,522.90 in Segal AmeriCorps Education Awards to pursue higher education or repay qualified student loans.    “These investments will provide much needed support for the essential health care workers across our state,” said Kelly. “By strengthening our public health workforce, we are bolstering the quality and accessibility of care for everyone in Arizona.”      “I am proud to announce $3,369,176 coming to Arizona from AmeriCorps to strengthen the public health workforce and ensure Arizonans across the state have more access to quality health care, including programs to support mental health, reduce substance use, combat domestic violence, and boost early childhood development,” said Sinema.     In 2021, AmeriCorps and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) established Public Health AmeriCorps to help meet public health needs of local communities by providing needed capacity and support to state and local public health care facilities, increasing access to health care in underserved communities, and strengthening public health-related careers by supporting the recruitment, training, and development of the next generation of public health leaders.   

TUCSON, Ariz. — Since Biosphere 2 opened to visitors in 1991, more than half a million K-12 students have explored the three-acre, glass-enclosed research facility that mimics Earth’s ecosystems. Now, the next half-million K-12 visitors will experience the University of Arizona facility with the help of a new smartphone app designed specifically for visiting school groups. The new Biosphere 2 K-12 app is available for free on the Apple App Store and on Google Play. It was designed in partnership with local K-12 educators. “We wanted to create something that was more than just a tour; we also wanted to incorporate science standards – basic biology and earth science – with the uniqueness of Biosphere 2 and the research here,” said John Adams , deputy director and chief operating officer at Biosphere 2. “It’s a nice way to provide meaningful content for students as they come through Biosphere 2, and it adds to what they’re learning in the classroom.” The app takes visitors through 23 stops on the Biosphere 2 grounds, each one featuring a video in the app that explains a given area of the facility, its research or a broader scientific concept. The videos touch on Biosphere 2’s origins in 1991 and the living quarters for the Biospherians who resided in the facility during two missions in the early ’90s, before Biosphere 2 was operated by the university. The videos also cover in depth the five biomes found under the glass, which include an ocean, mangrove wetlands, tropical rainforest, savannah grassland, and fog desert – a desert that primarily gets its moisture from fog. At the end of the tour, students learn how to create a digital model of their own biosphere and run a simulation to see how their ecosystems survive. The videos include fun facts about the facility, such as how a series of tiny imperfections during the building process of Biosphere 2 led to the facility not being completely airtight. Added together, the small openings would amount to a hole about three fingers wide. The app’s designers used Arizona Department of Education science standards for grades five through seven to form the content, Adams said. They then explored ways to incorporate Biosphere 2 research. Aaron Bugaj , a research technologist for Biosphere 2, helped coordinate much of the app’s development and helped recruit Danielle Hunt , a College of Fine Arts student who graduated in May 2023, to create animations and other multimedia.  With an early draft of the app in place, the team assembled a focus group of three educators – two from Chandler Unified School District and one from Flowing Wells School District in Tucson – to help refine the subject matter to ensure it aligned with curriculum goals and learning objectives. “The use of technology allows students to explore complex ecosystems and scientific concepts in a hands-on, engaging way,” said Anna Heyer, district science specialist for the Flowing Wells School District, who served on the focus group. “It enables them to visualize and interact with the content, making abstract ideas more concrete and understandable. This kind of interactive learning can inspire curiosity, deepen understanding and help students see the relevance of science in the real world.” Most K-12 students who come through Biosphere 2 have never seen a rainforest or even a beach, Bugaj said. “So, the facility is a unique opportunity to give students a really approachable way to learn about these novel ecosystems,” he said. “It’s also a no-brainer for us and almost a service to the community for us to provide strong science communications and learning materials for future generations.” Though the app is designed for K-12 audiences, Bugaj said, it allows anyone to engage with more scientific principles than what’s covered in the facility’s main tour, which focuses on Biosphere 2 history and research more broadly. The new app adds to a growing stable of digital resources Biosphere 2 leaders have built in recent years, Adams said. The first, a driving tour app, came during the COVID-19 pandemic, and gave visitors the opportunity to take a self-guided driving tour around the Biosphere 2 grounds, guided by the app. The Biosphere 2 Experience app followed. It provides information about the facility at various tour stops but covers the history and research more broadly without going deep into the science. There are plans to translate all of that app’s content into Spanish, which Adams hopes will be done by next spring. All the apps are central to helping spread the word about U of A research as part of the university’s land-grant mission, Adams said. “We’re lucky to have visitors who want to learn more,” he said. “With this app specifically for K-12 kids, we can get across these key concepts that they hear about every day, and the hope is that we can provide a broader knowledge base for these students so when they’re learning, they can make more informed decisions, rather than just relying on a gut feeling.”

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation is advising motorists to plan ahead and expect delays as westbound I-10 will be closed between US 60 and I-17 by Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport from 10 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, to 4 a.m. Monday, Aug. 5, for a traffic shift. At the same time, the following ramps will be closed: 

• The ramps from westbound US 60 to westbound I-10
•  The southbound State Route 143 ramp to westbound I-10

In addition, the following ramps will be closed from 8 p.m. Friday, Aug. 2, to 4 a.m. Monday, Aug. 5: 

• The westbound I-10 on-ramps at Elliot, Baseline, Broadway roads, and 40th and 32nd streets
• The westbound US 60 on-ramps at McClintock Drive, Rural Road and Mill Avenue

Detour: Use eastbound Loop 202 (Santan Freeway) or US 60 to northbound Loop 101 (Price Freeway) to westbound Loop 202 (Red Mountain Freeway) to access westbound I-10 beyond the closure.  Drivers heading to the West Valley can bypass the closure by using the Loop 202 (South Mountain Freeway) west and north to connect with I-10 at 59th Avenue.  Drivers traveling westbound on I-10 and US 60 heading to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport should use northbound Loop 101 (Price Freeway) to westbound Loop 202 (Red Mountain Freeway) and use the Sky Harbor Boulevard entrance. 

PIMA COUNTY, July 31, 2024 – Pima Animal Care Center is set to take in more than 100 dogs from two separate homes in the coming days, a situation aggravated by PACC’s already-high census. “With more than 530 dogs in our shelter today, PACC is — and has been — facing a capacity crisis with our dog population,” said Monica Dangler, PACC’s director. “However, we must intervene when animals’ health and well-being are in jeopardy, as they are in these situations.” The details of the cases are limited at this time as the situation is fluid. Staff are working to minimize the impact on the pets already at the shelter, but PACC’s Animal Protection team anticipates the larger of the two impounds, which includes approximately 80 dogs, taking place as soon as Friday, Aug. 2. PACC is currently looking for fosters and adopters for the dogs currently in the shelter to open up kennel space for the incoming dogs. PACC leadership wants to remind people that help is available to those who need assistance with their pets. “Well-meaning pet lovers sometimes have situations spiral out of their control,’” said Danielle Hinte, chief animal protection officer. “PACC’s animal protection officers and Pet Support Center are here to help however we can to make sure that people can share a safe, happy lives with their pets and prevent situations like these.” Dogs and puppies are currently free to adopt at PACC, and all pets adopted from PACC are microchipped, spayed or neutered, and given age-appropriate vaccines. Foster parents who can take a pet for a minimum of two weeks are also greatly needed, particularly for large dogs. PACC can provide supplies for fosters based on what donations are on hand. For those who cannot foster or adopt, donations to PACC’s nonprofit partner, Friends of Pima Animal Care Center , in support of their life-saving work on behalf of PACC pets, are welcomed. In addition, PACC leadership encourages pet owners to keep a collar and tag on their pets and to register lost and found pets on Petco Love Lost to help them get home in the event they’re lost. PACC is located at 4000 N. Silverbell Road and is open on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from noon to 7 p.m., on Wednesday from 1:30 – 7 p.m., and on weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. To learn more about available PACC pets and services, please go to pima.gov/animalcare .

WASHINGTON – The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) released the following statement on Arizona’s 6 th Congressional district primary election results: “Southern Arizonans see Representative Juan Ciscomani fighting every day to end the border crisis and the pain of inflation. Juan has earned his reputation for working across party lines to solve problems for Southern Arizona. Voters will once again reject extreme liberal professor Kirsten Engel, who supported defunding the police and denied there’s a border crisis just like San Francisco liberal Kamala Harris. Engel and Harris’ rabid partisanship and extreme agenda are completely out-of-step with Southern Arizona.” – NRCC Spokesperson Ben Petersen

STATE CAPITOL, PHOENIX – Arizonans celebrated rapid results for the 2024 primary election cycle thanks to the historic election reform bill passed by the Arizona State Legislature.   For the first time, HB 2785 (Kolodin/Rogers) required elections officials to continue tabulation through the night “without delay until complete.” It also clarified that elections officials may begin tabulating early ballots upon receipt, with robust protections to ensure that vote totals were not prematurely accessed. Now, just the day after the election, results are known for most major races, reducing unnecessary delay and limiting the time during which administrative or other errors could occur.   In addition, thanks to a year-long joint investigation by Chairman Alexander Kolodin of the Committee on Oversight, Accountability and Big Tech and Chairwomen Jacqueline Parker and Wendy Rogers of the House and Senate Committees on Elections, partisan observers are in place at Runbeck for the first time. This, combined with HB 2785’s new requirement to hard count election-day drop-offs on site, helped to facilitate a smoother and more secure operation of that part of the process as well.   Representative Kolodin, the bill’s sponsor, had this to say:   “The House Committee on Municipal Oversight and Elections is thrilled to see our historic elections reform bill is paying off with a better experience for Arizona voters than ever before. I am very grateful to all of my colleagues, especially Speaker Toma, Senator Rogers, Representative Heap, and Representative Terech, for being wonderful partners to help bring about this historic reform.   “We are grateful to the election workers who, for the first time, labored through the night to hard count election day drop-offs and tabulate ballots. Voters can see that the good work of the legislature has been paying off in terms of faster results, a smoother process, and a more secure system! Seeing these concrete gains only reinforces our resolve to continue to improve upon the efficiency, security, and integrity of Arizona’s election system.”

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation has released the final Environmental Assessment (EA) and Design Concept Report for the planned project to reconstruct the Grand Avenue (US 60) intersection with 35th Avenue and Indian School Road in Phoenix. Completion of the EA, which resulted in a finding of No Significant Impact, allows the project to advance into final design and right-of-way acquisition. Project plans include raising 35th Avenue to create a new elevated intersection with Indian School Road above Grand Avenue and the BNSF Railway tracks to improve traffic flow and safety. This will allow Grand Avenue traffic to flow freely at this location without any cross traffic, and eliminate 35th Avenue and Indian School Rd traffic crossings with the railroad.  ADOT will design and build the project in coordination with the city of Phoenix and the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG), the metropolitan planning organization for the greater Phoenix region. The project is identified in MAG’s Regional Transportation Plan and is funded in part by Proposition 400, a half-cent sales tax approved by Maricopa County voters in 2004.  For more information about the project and to review study documents visit the project website at azdot.gov/Grand-35 .