AROUND THE STATE

GILA

The U.S. Forest Service recently opened a new helibase next to Gila County’s maintenance yard near Star Valley. Officials say the $4.9 million facility will play a major role in suppressing wildfires across the Tonto National Forest and reducing risk to nearby communities. Managed and staffed by the Payson Ranger District, the helibase will house five permanent staff and accommodate a 10-person helitack crew from April through September. The facility and crews can host and refuel up to three helicopters, enhancing the wildfire prevention efforts in central Arizona. Upon opening, the helibase was recently used to support the weeks-long 5,465-acre Diamond Point prescribed fire.

COCONINO

A deputy with the Coconino County Sheriff ’s Office has been placed on administrative leave after striking a woman he was arresting on March 13. Deputies responded to a report of trespass in Doney Park, east of Flagstaff, and arrested three people on suspicion of trespassing and misdemeanors, according to the Sheriff’s Office. After being put in handcuffs, the suspect was being escorted to a patrol vehicle when the suspect briefly pulled away from the deputy. The deputy responded by hitting the person twice in the face with their fist, body camera footage showed. The Flagstaff Police Department is conducting a criminal investigation into the incident while the sheriff’s office conducts an administrative inquiry.

LA PAZ

The La Paz County Board of Supervisors has approved the creation of a reserve fund as a permanent addition to the county’s budget. County officials said the goal of the fund is to provide money for public services in tough financial times and “extreme events” including local disasters, economic uncertainties and other county financial hardships. The supervisors can budget payments for the fund every fiscal year with funds rolling over from one year into the next. Officials advised that the smallest amount they should have in the reserve fund would be enough to cover the county’s expenses for three months.

NAVAJO

Navajo County was one of more than two dozen defendants named in a federal civil lawsuit filed by the family of an inmate who died while in custody at the Coconino County Detention Facility in April 2022. The suit claims that 53-year-old Gibson Benally of Chinle was denied emergency medical care multiple times. The lawsuit claims Benally’s prescriptions for high blood pressure and back pain were not filled for several days following his initial arrest and once they were, medications were given sporadically. Less than a month after being transferred to Coconino County, Benally was found unresponsive and later pronounced dead from a pulmonary embolism.

MOHAVE

After decades of planning and three years of construction, a bridge connecting Bullhead City and Laughlin, Nevada is finally set to open in June. The $60 million bridge will reduce travel distance between two communities by approximately nine miles. The bridge is expected to improve traffic flow and help speed up emergency response times, according to local officials. The project also includes a small nature refuge for birds, biking and hiking trails. Clark County officials are still considering suggestions for the bridge’s name ahead of the grand opening just weeks away.

APACHE

Apache County has been awarded $9.7 million from the Arizona Commerce Authority Broadband Development Grant. The funding will be used to install fiber optic infrastructure to connect homes and businesses in eight communities throughout the county. This grant is intended to bridge the digital divide and enhance connectivity across Arizona, especially in rural parts of the state. Work will begin soon and the grant stipulates a three-year deadline for the project. Upon completion, more than 11,000 residents and 4,100 homes across Apache County are expected to be connected to high-speed internet.

YAVAPAI

The Yavapai College District Governing Board approved the purchase of land formerly known as Prescott Pines Camp to be used mainly to address student and employee housing needs. It also offers Yavapai College the ability to host camps, retreats and other experiences. The 42-acre property has space for 110 students plus 12 RV sites with full hookups and 12 single-family homes for college employees. The land is home to 66 existing buildings including two cafeterias and an activity center. It also comes with its own well and wastewater recycling system, so it will not impact the surrounding communities’ water supply.

PIMA

As warmer weather hits Pima County, so does an increase in ozone pollution. Ozone season occurs as ground-level ozone concentrations start to rise with the temperature. Some risks include coughing or sore and scratchy throat, increased frequency of asthma attacks, susceptibility to infection, and diminished lung function, among others. The ground-level ozone pollution season runs through September. Since 2010, Pima County has seen a slight decline in unhealthy ozone pollution days. “The data shows that our overall ozone status has improved since 2010, which is great news for Pima County,” said Scott DiBiase, director of the Pima Department of Environmental Quality. “It’s essential that all of us work together as a community to continue this positive trend and help to keep our air clean and healthy for everyone to enjoy.”

COCHISE

A Maricopa County judge will soon decide whether to dismiss an ongoing criminal case against two Cochise County supervisors accused of interfering with the 2022 election. Tom Crosby, 64, of Sierra Vista, and Peggy Judd, 61, of Willcox, are each charged with felony counts of conspiracy and interference with an election officer. They currently serve on the Cochise County Board of Supervisors as Republicans. In court, their attorneys called the charges “vindictive,” “politicized,” and “in retribution” for supervisors asking questions amid the certification of the vote. But the state sought to cast actions by Crosby and Judd as part of a larger criminal conspiracy to create “chaos” around the election. The two voted to delay certification of the vote in 2022. They said they wanted a meeting to hear evidence about county vote-tallying machines and whether they were properly certified. By that time, they had ignored repeated legal advice from the board’s attorneys that their actions were illegal.

SANTA CRUZ

One juror refused to acquit the Nogales rancher accused of killing an unarmed Mexican migrant on his property, according to his defense team. After four weeks of trial and more than two days of jury deliberation in the trial of rancher George Alan Kelly, 75, one of Kelly’s defense attorneys said seven jurors found Kelly innocent, while one found him guilty, resulting in a mistrial. Brenna Larkin, one of Kelly’s attorneys, told The Arizona Republic only one juror held out for a guilty verdict. Prosecutors did not respond to The Republic’s requests for comment, and the court’s spokesperson said she could not corroborate the information. Kelly is charged with one count of second-degree murder in the death of Gabriel Cuen Buitimea and one count of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after being accused of putting another man, Daniel Ramirez, in danger as they crossed his 170-acre spread near the border. Buitimea and Ramirez were undocumented and looking for work in the U.S., seeking to escape extreme poverty. They were running south on Jan. 30, 2023, trying to evade U.S. Border Patrol agents when Kelly allegedly shot at them nine times with an AK-47 semiautomatic assault rifle, according to the prosecution, led by the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office. The defense maintained Kelly saw five armed men crossing his property and firing warning shots up in the air. No bullet was ever retrieved.

YUMA

Governor Katie Hobbs signed a bill transferring three historic sites from the Arizona Historical Society to the City of Yuma. All three buildings are in downtown Yuma on Madison Street. The first is the Sanguinetti House Museum and Gardens, a 19th-century adobe home of prominent Yuma businessperson E.F. Sanguinetti. He was also known as the “Merchant Prince of Yuma.” The second is Jack Mellon’s home, a home-turned-historical site built in 1873. The third property is the Molina Block, an adobe commercial structure built in the 1870s by Alejandro Figueroa for a man named J.M. Molina. According to the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area, the block was considered the premier location for professional offices until the downtown’s decline in the mid-20th century.

PINAL

The town of Randolph is the oldest predominantly African American community in Arizona and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The town was founded in 1925 and named after Southern Pacific Railroad Vice President Epes Randolph. Randolph was marketed “as the newest townsite to rival Phoenix” according to the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office. As Randolph retained its heritage through the years, it remains the oldest surviving historically Black community in Arizona associated with the Great Migration of the early to mid-20th century.

GRAHAM

The U.S. Forest Service reopened the road on Mount Graham leading to Riggs Lake in the Safford Ranger District in May. Mt. Graham received 140 inches of snow this season. In March, areas saw 36 inches of precipitation leading to a month delay in opening the road to Mt. Graham. The U.S. Forest Service began plowing the road on April 22 and staff continued working at the campgrounds and other facilities to remove trees that fell during the winter. Officials warned road conditions range from muddy and snow-packed to open dirt and advised the use of off-road vehicles.

MARICOPA

GOP officials working for Maricopa County, who have borne the brunt of false election conspiracies in Arizona, offered a far different reaction than their Republican counterparts to the indictment of 11 fake electors who falsely certified former President Donald Trump won the state in 2020. County Recorder Stephen Richer, a Republican, said: “I just think it’s so sad that so many lives — some of the people who were indicted here, and the 1,300 plus people who have been indicted in connection to Jan. 6, and the people who have been indicted in connection to all of these false election schemes, and the people who have been indicted for breaking into election equipment in places in Michigan — that all of this is premised on a falsehood that is being perpetuated by so-called leaders who I guess are just okay with people ... going to jail.”