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In Focus
No Justice, no peace…
Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy this week announced he will retire from the bench after 30 years. And people are losing their minds.
The departure of the right-of-center Reagan appointee means the high court is losing its swing vote -- a political moderate known for breaking with his party to sway a number of landmark cases over the years. It also means that, for the second time in less than two years, President Trump gets to send somebody to the bench. Based on the social media response, this is simultaneously the best and worst thing that’s happened to America ever.
While the interweb is ablaze with speculation and short lists, there’s one familiar Arizona name making its rounds on the Twittersphere: Clint Bolick. A libertarian Goldwater lawyer turned Arizona State Supreme Court justice, Bolick was Gov. Doug Ducey’s first appointment to our state’s high court. Speculation (or perhaps wishful thinking) that he may be a contender for SCOTUS makes sense; as a registered Independent, it’s easy to imagine him succeeding Kennedy as the next swing vote of the court. Plus, Arizona has had some experience sending moderate jurists to the bench…
Of course, at the end of the day, the decision is up to the man in the Oval Office ... and given his short but storied history with federal courts, it seems more likely he’ll pick someone with values more aligned with his own.
Mesa tops list among Arizona cities on most recent Prosperity Now Scorecard
Chamber Business News
In the most recent Prosperity Now Scorecard, Mesa ranked 18th out of the 64 cities studied in terms of financial stability and wealth. The scorecard looks at cities with populations more than 300,000, and analyzes them based on local outcomes to determine their ranking on the prosperity index. The study analyzes income and wealth, business ownership and employment, housing, access to health insurance and educational attainment to determine a prosperity ranking. Mesa ranked highest out of all qualified Arizona cities.
[...] The summary of findings of the scorecard notes that smaller, non-coastal cities that ranked relatively high on the prosperity index likely achieved their ranking due to high levels of homeownership, which is not a surprise considering Mesa’s large selection of housing.
In addition to providing residents with homeownership opportunities, Mesa has directed its focus to education, understanding that it plays a paramount role in ensuring long-term prosperity.
Read more HERE.
Arizona Attorney General’s Office issues $400,000 to fight opioid abuse
KTAR
PHOENIX — The Arizona Attorney General’s Office issued $400,000 in grants to community organizations throughout the state to fight opioid abuse.
The two-year grant program is expected to help educate more than 13,000 students in middle school and above about the dangers of opioid addiction.
[...] Grants went to three organizations in different counties: Chicanos Por La Causa (Pima County) received $133,411, Intermountain Centers (Pinal) received $160,990, and MATFORCE (Yavapai) received $104,030.
There were 17 organizations that applied for the funding, which came from a settlement with a pharmaceutical company over prescription drug marketing.
Brnovich said education is a key component to fighting the opioid crisis.
[...] Brnovich said the grants are part of an ongoing effort to combat the problem.
Read more HERE.
Law to restrict teen texting behind the wheel to take effect
Arizona Capitol Times
Come Sunday morning, Arizona won’t be only one of two states that has no restrictions on the ability of motorists to use their cell phones while driving.
But just barely.
It applies only to teens with a learner’s permit or those who are within the first six months of being able to drive.
And the law even ties the hands of police, prohibiting them from citing drivers solely because they are seen texting or talking. Motorists can be ticketed only if they had been stopped for some other reason, like speeding.
There also are exceptions for people to call or text during an emergency “in which stopping the motor vehicle is impossible or will create an additional emergency or safety hazard.”
And teens will be able to use a phone’s turn-by-turn navigation system — but only if they enter the location before they start driving and don’t adjust it while behind the wheel.
Still, the legislation, approved more than a year ago, is the state’s first tentative step to set some statewide limits, however minimal.
More to the point, it was approved by lawmakers pretty much because of how little it did — and how few people it affected.
Still, it is a law.
[...] Read more HERE.
Veridus clients in the news
3TV goes under the hood with Universal Technical Institute to explore opportunities in trades and tech
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Mesa grandmother’s Korean-inspired sauces to be sold at Walmart
KTAR
PHOENIX — Korean-inspired cooking sauces made by a Mesa grandmother will soon be on Walmart shelves.
Kay Weldon cooked up the first sauce in the 1990s when she owned a restaurant in Albuquerque, New Mexico. A favorite among customers was her chicken wings because of her sauce. She started out serving the chicken wings as part of a Friday lunch special.
[...] Ten years later, she sold the restaurant, got married and moved to Arizona with her family.
But she never stopped making the sauce. She made chicken wings smothered with her special sauce for friends and family.
“They all said, ‘You gotta open a restaurant. You gotta do something,’” she said. “‘The chicken wings are really, really good. Nobody has that kind of sauce.’”
For years, Weldon worked as a blackjack dealer at a local casino, but she never stopped thinking about starting her own business. She finally decided to go for it in 2009 when she started selling her sauces.
“At first, I thought it was an unreachable dream,” she said.
She rebranded her company in 2016 with a new name and more sauce flavors. Her company is called Ahssa Foods, which means “awesome” in Korean slang. Her big break came earlier this month when she pitched her product at Walmart’s annual Open Call event.
[...] Weldon said having Walmart sell her sauces is an “American Dream come true.” She came to the U.S. from South Korea in 1973 and had to overcome language, financial and education barriers to get where she is today.
[...] Read more HERE.
TINKER, TAILOR, SOLDIER, PETITION CIRCULATOR
Yellow Sheet Report (subscription required)
Arizonans for Affordable Electricity is alleging that the Clean Energy for a Healthy Arizona initiative campaign hired a man convicted of espionage for spying for the Soviets more than 30 years ago to circulate petitions for the renewable energy ballot initiative. Arizonans for Affordable Electricity, a committee formed to oppose the Clean Energy measure, filed an amended complaint with the secretary of state’s office to highlight Clayton John Lonetree as one of more than 30 convicted felons the APS-backed group is alleging the clean energy campaign has hired to get signatures. Arizona law allows only felons who have had their rights restored to circulate initiative petitions. Lonetree, who was the first US Marine to be convicted of espionage, was sentenced to 30 years in prison after he passed on the names of nine CIA operatives in Vienna to a KGB agent in the 1980s, according to the Washington Post (LINK). Lonetree met the KGB agent through an affair he had with a translator at the Moscow Embassy. He was also accused of allowing KGB agents into the US Embassy. The Minnesota native was 25-years-old when he was sentenced by a military jury in 1987. He ended up serving just under eight years in prison. Lonetree grew up on the Navajo reservation in Arizona, and currently lives in Flagstaff. Arizonans for Affordable Electricity discovered Lonetree after Petition Partners hired a private investigator to consult for the APS-backed group. Private investigator Eric Maas owns Precision Investigations and has been conducting background checks and obtaining personal information on petition circulators registered with Field Works, the company the clean energy initiative is using for its petition circulators. Maas discovered Lonetree’s unusual background during his research. Lonetree registered as a paid circulator for the clean energy campaign on March 12. “You can’t make this stuff up – the only U.S. Marine ever convicted of espionage, a traitor against his own country, has now been illegally hired to qualify the energy initiative for the ballot,” affordable energy spokesman Matthew Benson said in a press statement.
Read HERE
Cigna Fights Hunger Campaign Recognized with Hunger Hero Award by Feeding Children Everywhere
More than 15,000 Cigna employees have packed more than 2.6 million meals for Feeding Children Everywhere
BLOOMFIELD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Global health service company Cigna (NYSE: CI) received a Hunger Hero Award from Feeding Children Everywhere (FCE) for the Cigna Fights Hunger campaign to provide meals to those in need – Cigna's largest employee volunteer initiative. Since 2013, Cigna has provided FCE with 2.6 million meals packed by 15,000 Cigna employees.
[..] The Hunger Hero Awards started as a way to honor those making a difference and to bring awareness to the issue of global hunger. “Together, FCE and Cigna are working towards breaking the cycle of hunger and hopelessness for millions of people around the world,” said Dave Green, CEO of Feeding Children Everywhere.
FCE is a nonprofit committed to creating a hunger-free world. For more information, visit www.feedingchildreneverywhere.com.
For more information about corporate responsibility at Cigna, visit https://www.cigna.com/about-us/corporate-responsibility/.
Read more HERE.
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