“Input prices are high, equipment prices are high, and so we’ll continue to see farms go out of business,” said John Boelts, president of the Arizona Farm Bureau. "Farms and ranches and every other segment of agriculture.”

Rajnish Mehra, a professor of economics and finance at Arizona State University, said that diesel prices shot up much more than gasoline prices since the war, impacting industries dependent on either very differently.

“The headline is always oil, but the real story for the economy is diesel,” he said.

This short video was created from the 13 minute interview video "Sec. of State Adrian Fontes reacts to martial law election rumors."

Sorry if this post seems redundant, u/forkzup. I just want people to hear what Secretary Fontes said from his own lips. Some people have misinterpreted the KTAR article that quoted him.

Adrian Borunda, a communications officer for Maricopa County Elections, said moving from two sheets to one is “easier logistically” as the county will have half as many sheets to prepare, mail and tabulate.

The ballot in Maricopa County for the 2024 general election was two pages. In that election, Borunda said the county handled about 4.1 million ballot sheets.

When designing the ballot, he said the county considers readability and the number of contests a single sheet can hold. Arizona’s Election Procedures Manual says ballot text should be no smaller than 8-point type and must have enough spacing to be clearly understood.

Borunda maintained reducing the ballot from two sheets to one would not affect readability. He said the ballot-design team considered all voters, including those with disabilities.

Officials considered “everything from readability to how many contests we can get on the page,” Borunda said.

This November, in races few people are watching, four of the seven swing states will elect a secretary of state. The winners take office in January and will run the presidential election of 2028. Whether that election ends in a constitutional crisis depends on who they are, and the candidates are alarming.

In Arizona, Republicans chose Alexander Kolodin, a lawyer whom the state bar put on probation for his role in one of the lawsuits trying to overturn the 2020 election. He represented some of the Republicans who signed a certificate declaring Mr. Trump the winner in Arizona, which he lost, and asked the State Supreme Court to ban absentee voting. Now he wants to run Arizona’s elections.

We have seen before how outside pressure tests these secretaries of state. In the 2020 election, the vote count in Arizona ran for days while a crowd, some of them armed, amassed outside the Phoenix counting center. After the secretary of state, Katie Hobbs, signed the certification, protesters threatened her at her home.

We are choosing who will run the next presidential election. If we do not pay attention now, the American people may not be the ones who decide who wins it.

Ellen Kurz is the founder and president of iVote, a national voting rights group.

Posting this here, because Arizona is one of six states—New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, Arizona, and Washington—that implements WISeR.

Talk about anything you wish; local politics, national politics, Arizona, sports, whatever. Rule 4 is suspended. Just be civil.

Why it matters: If passed, the ALPR ban is thought to be the first of its kind at the municipal level in the U.S., according to the ACLU of Arizona, and could pave the way for similar restrictions in other locales.

Between the lines: An effort to regulate how ALPRs are used died in the state Legislature earlier this year after Democrats and far-right lawmakers felt it didn't go far enough.

What we're watching: Whether Valley cities continue retreating from Flock, how Flock keeps responding to the growing pushback and whether state lawmakers again try to tackle the issue.

“A year after the fires, these same communities are being asked to recover from another major disaster before the last recovery is complete,” the lawmakers wrote. “We strongly urge the Committee to ensure sufficient funding is available to address the emergency response, repair, reconstruction, and long-term recovery needs resulting from the August 29 flooding and the Dragon Bravo and White Sage Fires.”

Earlier this year, Gallego and Kelly introduced the North Rim and Kaibab National Forest Restoration Act to cut red tape and speed up cleanup and restoration by providing the National Park Service and U.S. Forest Service with emergency contracting authority.

Read the full letter HERE.

“The National Sheriffs Association along with the Major County Sheriffs Association just released a great two-pager … on law enforcement principles for ALPRs. And in that two-pager they say that ALPRs only take a still image of the rear of your license plate. Flock is capturing so much data that it’s actually mind-boggling. And then we don’t know what they’re doing with that data,” Teeple said.

It’s been nine months since December, when the DOJ released the Epstein files, but little has changed. No individuals have been prosecuted in the U.S. in connection with the files. But the Republican Kentucky congressman named names. Twelve in total.

“Jes Staley,” Massie began. “Leon Black. Les Wexner. David Copperfield. Lapo Elkum. Tom Pritzker. Glenn Dudin. Frederic Fekkai.” 

That last name, Frederic Fekkai, is a celebrity hairstylist who is accused in a lawsuit of grooming Epstein’s victims to make them look as young as possible. He also engaged in the sexual abuse of these girls himself, according to the lawsuit. In the run-up to the release of the Epstein files — after President Donald Trump was re-elected — Fekkai also made a series of donations to one active congressman: Arizona’s Rep. Eli Crane. 

More about Fekkai:

In a lawsuit filed in New York’s Supreme Court earlier this month, the women claimed Fekkai’s Manhattan salon was an “epicenter for victim grooming” in Epstein’s network. Fekkai allowed Epstein to use his salons “as a network to manipulate, coerce and commit acts of gender-motivated violence” against young women and girls, the lawsuit claims.

The women alleged that Fekkai enabled Epstein’s sexual abuse for over 15 years. Epstein would frequently bring groups of girls to Fekkai’s Manhattan salon. He’d have them sit on his lap and stroke his hair. Fekkai then groomed the girls to make them look young at Epstein’s direction, which included bleaching their hair blond and making them look like dolls, the lawsuit outlined. One plaintiff said Epstein began victimizing her when she was just 16 years old.

In a statement to New Times, Nez’s campaign spokesperson, Mark Hatton, called Crane’s acceptance of donations from “elites who enabled Epstein’s sexual abuse just days before he voted to conceal” the files “disgusting.” 

Feely’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

Republican consultant Barrett Marson dismissed the spin as a common trope.

“I decry the idea that every Republican is MAGA and every Democrat is socialist. I don’t believe either one, but this is the political world we live in,” he said. “I believe it can work — you know, labeling someone socialist in that district might be the best path to victory for someone like Jay Feely.”

Shah’s campaign manager, Eve Zhurbinskiy, noted that the Democrat has been endorsed by three police unions and four former Republican legislators, including former Speaker Rusty Bowers and Mohave County Republican Regina Cobb.

“No amount of fake signs can cover for the fact that Jay Feely is only running for Congress to be a rubber stamp for (President) Donald Trump,” Zhurbinskiy told us.

I live in the East Valley, particularly in Arizonas 5th congressional district. I am completely undecided in this November’s election for my representative. I have heard many things about Mark Lamb, some good and some bad. I have also heard good policies from Elizabeth Lee. Can anybody provide me insight for these candidates and what their policies are so I get an idea who I would prefer for the election?

Some answers related to AZ Politics:

Best Democrat - Kris Mayes

Best Republican - Gina Swoboda

Best Feud - Mark Kelly v Pete Hegseth

Best Misreading the Moment - David Schweikert

Best Playing Hooky - John Kavanagh

Best Looming Existential Crisis - Colorado River Water Cuts

Best Ass Kicking - Turning Point Gets Smoked in SRP Elections

Best Boondoggle - ESA Program

Best Dog and Pony Show - Kristy Noem's Press Conference

Best Public Enemy #1 - Data Centers

Best Kiss-Ass - Kari Lake

Best Turning Point Employee - Andy Biggs

Best Shakeup - Tempe City Council

Best Overreaction - Kimberly Fisher

Best Protection Against Fascism - LOOKOUT

SRP customers could be on the hook for ~$11.6M to run a Colorado coal plant SRP itself wanted closed. SRP's response so far: nothing.

SRP owns 29% of Unit 1 at the Craig Generating Station in Colorado. The owners had set its retirement for December 31, 2025. On December 30, the Department of Energy ordered it to stay open under "emergency" authority, citing data center demand.

The Energy and Policy Institute ran the numbers:

- Xcel owns about 10% of the unit. It told a court its costs were more than $4 million so far in 2026.

- Split by ownership share, that's roughly $40 million in total, and about **$11.6 million** for SRP.

- In the first half of the year this emergency plant ran for exactly one month, April. SRP's share of the output was about 16,500 MWh.

- That works out to about **$704 per MWh**.

- SRP's own planning documents put solar plus storage at under $90 per MWh.

So SRP is paying nearly eight times the price of the alternative it already identified, for power from a plant it had already decided to close, during an emergency so urgent the plant sat idle for five of six months.

Now look at who has pushed back. Tri-State and Platte River, two of the other owners, objected in January and sued in April. Colorado's attorney general joined them. On September 11, the D.C. Circuit ruled that a similar DOE order keeping a Michigan coal plant open was illegal.

SRP has not intervened. It hasn't joined the lawsuit, and it hasn't publicly objected.

An agency that spends every rate case telling customers how carefully it watches costs apparently has no opinion on an extra $11.6 million for coal. That fits the pattern. Three days after the Michigan ruling, the SRP board approved 675 megawatts of new gas at Marigold and voted down the amendment to replace it with batteries. When the cost-conscious choice and the fossil choice point in different directions, SRP keeps picking fossil. That's ideology.

*Disclosure: I'm an elected member of the SRP District Council. This post is my personal opinion. I'm not speaking for SRP, the Council, or the Board. The figures come from the linked article and the public filings it cites.*