Category Archives: Arizona

Arizona to vote on introducing more voter ID requirements

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Opponents fear the measure might result in increased ballot counting time and identity fraud

A measure on Arizona’s ballot in November could require more stringent voter identification, both at the polls and via mail-in ballots – the primary way people in the state vote.

Opponents of Proposition 309 warn it could disenfranchise voters, making them susceptible to identity fraud and taking longer to count ballots. But the measure has the backing of Arizona GOP heavyweights and the state party itself, and it comes on the heels of nonstop, unfounded claims of 2020 election fraud by Republicans here.

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Early voters in Arizona midterms report harassment by poll watchers

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Complaints detail ballot drop box monitors filming, following and calling voters ‘mules’ in reference to conspiracy film

A voter in Maricopa county, Arizona, claims a group of people watching a ballot drop box photographed and followed the voter and their wife after they deposited their ballots at the box, accusing them of being “mules”.

The voter filed a complaint with the Arizona secretary of state, who forwarded it to the US Department of Justice and the Arizona attorney general’s office for investigation, according to Sophia Solis, a spokesperson with the secretary of state’s office.

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Arizona governor candidate refuses to say if she will accept midterms result

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Kari Lake, who has echoed Trump’s claims the 2020 election was stolen, refuses three times to answer when pressed on CNN

The Republican gubernatorial nominee in Arizona, Kari Lake, refused to say whether she would accept the results of the election if she loses in November.

Lake, a former Phoenix-area news anchor, has made denying the 2020 election results that her preferred candidate Donald Trump lost a pillar of her campaign. She has said she wouldn’t have certified the 2020 vote that the former president lost – and which the Democratic victor Joe Biden won in Arizona by just over 10,000 votes, saying the election was “corrupt, rotten”.

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Phoenix could see deadliest year for heat deaths after sweltering summer

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With 22 days hitting 110F or higher, suspected heat deaths in the Arizona capital topped 450

Extreme heat contributed to as many as 450 deaths in the Phoenix area this summer, in what could be the deadliest year on record for the desert city in Arizona.

The medical examiner for Maricopa county, which includes Phoenix, has so far confirmed 284 heat-related deaths, while investigations into 169 more suspected heat fatalities are ongoing. The highest number of deaths – and emergency hospital visits – coincided with the hottest days and nights.

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Phoenix clinic devises workaround for abortion care after Arizona enforces ban

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The solution by Camelback Family Planning ensures patients can access pills and treatment without breaking the law

A Phoenix abortion clinic has come up with a way for patients who can end their pregnancy using a pill to get the medication quickly without running afoul of a resurrected Arizona law that bans most abortions.

Under the arrangement that began on Monday, patients will have an ultrasound in Arizona, get a prescription through a tele-health appointment with a California doctor and then have it mailed to a post office in a California border town for pickup, all for free.

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Nearly all abortions become illegal in Arizona

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Several clinics halt procedure as dual measures, including 19th-century ban with no exception for rape or incest, take effect

Almost all abortions became illegal in Arizona on Saturday, after a new law banning abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy took effect and a judge lifted an almost 50-year-old injunction that blocked a near-total ban on abortions from being enforced in the state.

Judge Kellie Johnson of Pima county’s superior court released a ruling on Friday that allowed the enforcement of the decades-old ban, a day before a new law that would ban most procedures after 15 weeks was scheduled to take effect, reported the Washington Post.

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Arizona can enforce near-total abortion ban, judge rules

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Ruling brings back law blocked for nearly 50 years, and means clinics offering the procedure would face criminal charges

Arizona can enforce a near-total ban on abortions that has been blocked for nearly 50 years, a judge ruled Friday, meaning that clinics statewide will have to stop providing the procedures to avoid criminal charges against doctors and other medical workers.

The judge lifted a decades-old injunction that blocked enforcement of the law on the books since before Arizona became a state. The only exemption to the ban is if the woman’s life is in jeopardy.

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Arizona police Taser two parents as they try to enter locked-down school

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Incident followed reports of armed man being seen and comes in wake of criticism of handling of Uvalde shooting

Police fired a stun gun at two Arizona parents as they tried to force their way into a school that police had locked down after an armed man was seen trying to get on campus.

The parents were arrested, along with one other, as they tried to get to their children to protect them, authorities said. Officers in the Phoenix suburb of El Mirage used a Taser stun gun to stop two of them as they tried to help a man whose own handgun fell to the ground while he was being taken into custody.

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Border wall that threatened historic US-Mexico Friendship park halted

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The Biden administration agreed to pause plans that would have destroyed a 51-year-old oceanfront park

The Biden administration has agreed to pause plans for a double border wall that critics say would effectively destroy a 51-year-old oceanfront park that symbolizes friendship between the United States and Mexico.

Chris Magnus, the US Customs and Border Protection commissioner, said he wanted to hear community concerns before settling on a wall design for Friendship Park, which then-first lady Pat Nixon inaugurated in 1971.

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Trump and Pence duel in Arizona in fight for Republican future

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Former president and his one-time wingman appear at rival events – and it’s all to play for as the US midterms approach

Eddie Palazuelos drove 200 miles and lined up for five hours under the baking sun to to see Donald Trump at a campaign event for candidates he is backing in the forthcoming Arizona Republican primaries.

It’s the fifth Trump rally the 27-year-old has attended since the former president lost the White House in 2020 – because Palazuelos vehemently believes the election was stolen. Any judge or lawmaker who concludes otherwise is “willfully ignorant”, he said, referring to the dozens of lawsuits and recounts nationwide which ruled out fraud.

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Arizona to ban people from filming police within 8ft

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Violators of the new law, which includes exceptions for traffic stops, will face a misdemeanor charge and up to 30 days in jail

A new law in Arizona bans people from taking close-range recordings of police, ostensibly to prevent them getting dangerously close to potentially violent encounters, though some critics have described it as a threat to the first amendment.

The new law prohibits anyone within 8ft of law enforcement officers from recording police activity. Violators will face a misdemeanor charge and up to 30 days in jail, though only after ignoring a verbal warning.

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Back from the depths: shrinking Lake Mead reveals second world war-era boat

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The Higgins landing craft, once 185ft below the surface, is now halfway out of the water as drought deepens

A sunken boat dating back to the second world war is the latest object to emerge from a shrinking reservoir that straddles Nevada and Arizona.

The Higgins landing craft that has long been 185ft (56 meters) below the surface is now nearly halfway out of the water at Lake Mead.

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Fears of violence against pro-choice protests intensify amid wave of attacks

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Use of teargas and arrests by police and targeting by anti-abortion activists disrupts demonstrations in multiple states

Fears over police violence and attacks by anti-abortion activists have been growing following a wave of incidents at demonstrations against the US supreme court’s decision to overturn Roe v Wade, which upheld the constitutional right to an abortion.

Across the country, hundreds of thousands of people have gathered at protests objecting to the ruling. The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful but some have seen incidents of police violence – including attacks on protesters – and an incident of a car driving dangerously through marchers.

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Arizona wildfires: intense conditions send smoke plumes billowing into sky

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Crews battled the gusty winds as the Pipeline fire exploded to more than 24,000 acres by Tuesday morning

Fueled by gusty winds through drought-stricken remote terrain, wildfires burning north of Flagstaff, Arizona, exploded in size on Monday, with officials estimating more than 24,000 acres (9,700 hectares) had been blackened by Tuesday morning.

Fire crews battling the blaze have faced intense conditions that have caused extreme fire behavior and sent enormous smoke plumes swirling into the sky.

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Ginni Thomas pressed 29 lawmakers in bid to overturn Trump loss, emails show

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Wife of supreme court justice Clarence Thomas accused of ‘undermining democracy’ after Washington Post revelation

Ginni Thomas, the wife of the supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, was accused of “undermining democracy” after it emerged that she emailed 29 Republican lawmakers in Arizona in her effort to overturn Joe Biden’s victory over Donald Trump.

The Washington Post had previously reported that Ginni Thomas sent emails pressuring two Arizona Republicans to reject Biden’s win and choose their own electors.

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Arizona man drowns in lake as officers watch: ‘I’m not jumping in after you’

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Three Tempe police officers who stood by as Sean Bickings drowned placed on non-disciplinary administrative paid leave

An Arizona man drowned in a reservoir as three police officers watched, refusing to step in and save him.

The victim, identified as 34-year-old Sean Bickings, drowned in Tempe town lake while three unnamed Tempe police officers stood by and watched, one telling Bickings “I’m not jumping in after you,” Fox 10 Phoenix first reported.

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Ginni Thomas reportedly urged Arizona Republicans to overturn 2020 result

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Wife of supreme court justice Clarence Thomas emailed six days after election already called for Joe Biden

Ginni Thomas, the wife of the US supreme court justice Clarence Thomas, pressed Republicans in Arizona to overturn Joe Biden’s victory there in 2020, the Washington Post reported.

Repeating Donald Trump’s lie that the vote had been marred by fraud, Thomas wrote: “Please stand strong in the face of political and media pressure. Please reflect on the awesome authority granted to you by our constitution. And then please take action to ensure that a clean slate of electors is chosen for our state.”

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Thousands forced to flee as wildfires sweep through New Mexico

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Five counties under state of emergency as high winds fan ferocious flames across US south-west

Wind-driven wildfires destroyed hundreds of structures in northern New Mexico and forced thousands to flee mountain villages as blazes burned unusually early in the year in the parched US south-west.

Two wildfires merged north-west of Las Vegas, New Mexico, and raced through 15 miles (24km) of forest driven by winds over 75mph (121km/h), destroying more than 200 buildings, state authorities said.

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‘Wall of fire’ sends residents of more than 700 homes fleeing in Arizona

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Wildfire doubles in size overnight as wind gusts of up to 50mph kick up flames as high as 100ft outside a tourist town

An Arizona wildfire doubled in size overnight into Wednesday, a day after heavy winds kicked up a towering wall of flames outside a northern Arizona tourist and college town.

Flames as high as 100ft raced through an area of scattered homes, dry grass and Ponderosa pine trees on the outskirts of Flagstaff as wind gusts of up to 50mph pushed the Tunnel fire over a major highway. The blaze has ripped through two dozen structures and sent residents of more than 700 homes scrambling to flee.

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‘They left her hanging’: details emerge of woman’s death at US-Mexico border

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Griselda Verduzco Armenta was trying to get over the barrier with the help of coyotes to find a more secure future for her daughters


As she’d done before, Griselda Verduzco Armenta tried to cross Mexico’s border with the US earlier this week with dreams of being able to better provide for her two young daughters.

But the 32-year-old’s journey ended in tragedy when authorities say she fell from atop the US border wall in Arizona, accidentally became entangled in a climbing harness that she had used to scale the barrier, and was choked to death while upside down.

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