State Glance
McSally fined $23,000 for 2014 campaign finance violations
PHOENIX — Arizona Republican Sen. Martha McSally has agreed to pay a fine of more than $23,000 to settle campaign finance violations from the 2014 election.
The Federal Election Commission publicly disclosed the settlement this week.
FEC auditors found that McSally’s 2014 House campaign took $319,000 in excessive contributions from 117 people. Campaign contributions were capped at $2,600 per person during that election cycle.
Auditors also found that McSally’s campaign didn’t properly disclose nearly $33,000 from political action committees.
McSally spokeswoman Katie Waldman says the campaign is happy the FEC resolved a matter from four election cycles ago.
The FEC says the campaign hired experts to review all activity from 2012 and 2014 and corrected its finance reports.
McSally is facing a tough election next year to hold onto her Senate seat. Crews battle Arizona fire, clear brush on forest road
PRESCOTT — Fire crews have been working to keep a fire from homes as they clear brush along a forest road.
Lightning sparked the fire Sunday about 16 miles south of Prescott. It had grown Friday to 11.4 square miles while burning trees, brush and grass.
Fire managers say crews used chain saws, bulldozers and other equipment to work ahead of and east of the fire as they worked to clear Forest Road 52, also known as Senator Highway. Other crews worked the fire’s flanks.
Yavapai County authorities on Thursday ordered residents of the hamlet of Pine Flat to evacuate, but American Red Cross spokesman Dave Knoer (nor) said nobody showed up at a shelter at Prescott High School.
Commission nominates 5 for Court of Appeals vacancy
PHOENIX — A state commission has nominated four Maricopa County Superior Court judges and a lawyer in private practice for appointment by Gov. Doug Ducey to fill an Arizona Court of Appeals vacancy.
The nominees recommended by the Commission on Appellate Court Appointments from among 11 applicants include Judges Cynthia J. Bailey, David B. Gass, Joseph P. Mikitish and Joshua D. Rogers and attorney Andrew M. Jacobs.
Bailey, Mikitish and Rogers are Republicans while Gass and Jacobs are Democrats.
The vacancy on the appellate court’s Phoenixbased division was created by Ducey’s April appointment of Justice James P. Beene to the state Supreme Court.
The division hears cases arising in Apache, Coconino, La Paz, Maricopa, Mohave, Navajo, Yavapai and Yuma counties. A division based in Tucson hears cases arising elsewhere in the state.
Phoenix man gets 27 years in 3-month-old daughter’s death
PHOENIX — A Phoenix man will serve nearly three decades in the Department of Corrections for throwing and killing his infant daughter.
The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office said Jose Orellana-Ruiz was sentenced Thursday to 27 years after pleading guilty to second-degree murder.
The 30-year-old received a flat sentence, meaning he must serve the entire term.
Prosecutors say the mother of 3-month-old Adrianna Gutierrez brought her to visit Ruiz’s home at his suggestion in February 2017. She was left overnight and was later found unresponsive.
The child was taken to a hospital, where she died from brain injuries three days later.
Ruiz initially told authorities that Adrianna fell. But he later admitted to throwing her against a headboard and throwing a baby bottle at her face twice because she wouldn’t stop crying.