AROUND THE STATE

MARICOPA COUNTY

The Board of Supervisors is putting an additional $4 million into the renovation of a building that will serve as a public library for Anthem and the north Valley. Supervisor Bill Gates said the investment helps the North Valley Regional Library be “better prepared to offer top-of-the-line community services for the 45,000 people who call this area home.” The facility at 41810 N. Venture Dr. in Anthem will replace the current library, which is co-located at Boulder Creek High School, where hours are limited to after school.

PINAL COUNTY

Sheriff Mark Lamb submitted the required number of signatures to qualify as a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate seat in Arizona that will be contested this fall. He’s running a low-profile campaign for the U.S. Senate and his team said that applies to official endorsements, of which he has none. “Endorsements don’t mean much in modern-day elections and we aren’t pursuing them,” Lamb’s team told The Arizona Republic. “That’s because voters don’t want to be told how to vote by political power brokers.” He will come up against Kari Lake in the state’s July 30 primary.

YAVAPAI COUNTY

Prescott City Council voted unanimously to reject a controversial hotel project along the city’s iconic Whiskey Row. The Prescott Plaza Hotel would have replaced three existing storefronts located in the middle of Montezuma Street — the Mountain Spirit Gallery, the Harley Davidson store and the gift shop Wild at Heart — with a five-story, 55-room boutique hotel. The hotel would have included a wine bar on the third-floor rooftop terrace. The decision comes after the developer appealed the Preservation Commission’s decision to vote down the project last August.

COCONINO COUNTY

Northern Arizona University is offering a new pathway to higher education for college-bound Arizonans statewide. Its universal admissions program, in partnership with nine community colleges, provides applicants with guaranteed enrollment. When prospective students apply to NAU, they will no longer receive a denial letter. Instead, they will be presented with one of two pathways: to either begin attending NAU directly or to begin their courses at one of the participating community colleges across the state and eventually transfer to NAU without having to reapply.

LA PAZ COUNTY

Controversial Saudi Arabian company Fondomonte is no longer using groundwater reserves on some of its rented state land in western Arizona. Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Arizona State Land Department last year announced they would cancel or not renew Fondomonte Arizona’s four leases on state trust land in the Butler Valley, a groundwater basin that is designated as a possible future water supply for metro Phoenix. According to an audit earlier this year, Fondomonte also farms and uses groundwater on 2,682 acres of state land elsewhere in La Paz County, near Vicksburg. The company is appealing the termination of its four leases up the road near Bouse.

MOHAVE COUNTY

State Sen. Sonny Borrelli, R-Lake Havasu, has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump in his race for a spot on the Mohave County Board of Supervisors. Borrelli was first elected in 2013 and is approaching the end of his third term in the state legislature this year. The endorsement comes soon after Borrelli claimed he could prove Trump’s loss in the 2020 election was rigged. He also claimed there was new information about a cybersecurity breach in multiple counties in the 2020 and 2022 elections. Election officials strongly pushed back on those claims.

APACHE COUNTY

A grand jury indicted a former White Mountain Apache police officer after authorities say he failed to report his own involvement in fatally striking a woman with his patrol vehicle on White Mountain Apache tribal lands. The U.S. Attorney’s Office said 49-yearold Joshua Ben Anderson was driving south on state Route 73 when he felt a “bump” but kept driving in the early morning on Nov. 23, 2023. Minutes later, at around 3:31 a.m. Anderson was dispatched back to the area after the department received a welfare check call on a body found on state Route 73.

GILA COUNTY

The Gila County Board of Supervisors approved a $1.9 million remodel of the 40-year-old Payson courthouse. The county received $10.5 million in federal funding through the American Rescue Plan Act, almost 20% of which was earmarked to remodel the old courthouse building. The county must spend the federal money by the end of 2025. About $120,000 for the remodel will come from the superior court’s facilities budget.

PIMA COUNTY

Tucson is clear to hold a special election for a new sales tax after Sen. Rosanna Gabaldón, DGreen Valley, asked Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to weigh in on the legality of the move. Mayes released an opinion that supported Tucson’s decision to control the timing of its local elections, noting if a city’s charter conflicts with state law, the municipal law prevails if the issue is a municipal concern. The mayor and council will decide what a sales tax proposal will look like at an upcoming meeting. The election will take place on July 30.

COCHISE COUNTY

Farmers and residents within the new Douglas Active Management Area will have six more months to claim their right to keep using groundwater from higher-producing wells. Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bill that will move the deadline to secure grandfathered rights to Sept. 1. The original deadline was March 1. The act will apply retroactively: All applications filed after Feb. 29 will be considered by the Arizona Department of Water Resources. Rep. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, introduced House Bill 2016 in January as an “emergency measure” to give Douglas AMA water users more time.

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY

Congress allocated $650 million to help prevent asylum seekers from being released on the streets of border communities like Nogales in Santa Cruz County. The funding will be allocated to the Shelter and Services Program, a federal program managed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that distributes funding to local governments and nonprofits providing humanitarian assistance to migrants at the border and in the interior of the country. That money is part of a $1.2 trillion spending bill passed in March. The state’s Department of Emergency and Military Affairs has been busing migrants from Douglas, Nogales and Casa Grande to Tucson and Phoenix after being processed by border officers.

YUMA COUNTY

Six state legislators asked Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes to investigate Yuma County, claiming the county violated state law when it used taxpayer funds to enter into a contract with an unlicensed contractor for a broadband project. A letter from the legislators said violations include breaking the state’s gift clause, as well as favoritism and abuse through a flawed and “potentially illegal” procurement process. Yuma County asked that the Attorney General’s Office dismiss the “meritless” investigation and allow the county to demonstrate to a jury that county officials acted impartially. The trial is slated to run from Sept. 1627.

GREENLEE COUNTY

A Superior Court judge ruled in favor of the Greenlee County Board of Supervisors after Greenlee County Sheriff Tim Sumner sued the county. In his lawsuit, Sumner demanded that he be able to utilize the funds he receives from the board as he sees fit. He also challenged how the county funds the Greenlee Sheriff ’s Office’s monthly expenses. The court ruled that the board decides what expenses are necessary.

GRAHAM COUNTY

The federal government announced $1.3 million for the Graham County Gila River Linear Park and Trail project, a 4.2-mile segment of river trail located just north of Safford and Thatcher. The project aims to open up new recreation access and provide much-needed public access to the river. The project is a collaboration between the nonprofit Trust for Public Land, Gila Watershed Partnership, Graham County, City of Safford and Town of Thatcher. Funding comes after the U.S. Appropriations Committee passed a package to bring $26 million to Southern Arizona.