We’re back!

What’d we miss? … It’s 2026 already … And blame Newsmax.

Well, folks, it has been a week.

A week in which a lot happened — from Donald Trump liberating tariffs to tank the stock market, to candidates jumping into a special congressional election and nationwide protests.

But not for us. We took a vacation, planned out our next quarter (more about that tomorrow) and generally lived our best lives.

Nicole celebrated her birthday in Miami with friends while Hank snuck out of town to catch the final snowfall in northern Arizona.

Sorry to rub it in.

And thanks for giving us the week off! You paid subscribers are truly the best bosses we’ve ever had.

If you missed us, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription today so we can continue to take occasional vacations and not burn out and quit journalism altogether.

Anyway… lots to catch up on! Let’s dive right in to the lightning round recap edition.

Elections never stop

The race to replace Raul Grijalva in Southern Arizona’s Congressional District 7 is shaping up to be the off-season Democratic primary we deserve — the late congressman’s daughter, Adelita Grijalva, officially jumped in the race, kicking off the search to replace her on the Pima County Board of Supervisors and setting up a showdown between the two main Democratic family machines in town. And while it’s really a two-way race between Grijalva and former lawmaker Daniel Hernandez, dark horse candidate Deja Foxx, a former Tucson teen activist and TikTok influencer, will certainly syphon off a chunk of the youth vote and all of the Vanity Fair coverage.

Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Alexander Kolodin staked his position as the MAGA candidate to watch for the 2026 secretary of state race — and AZGOP chair Gina Swoboda, who was rumored to also want the gig, endorsed him.

Fun backstory: We once fed Kolodin booze until he told us that George W. Bush’s dad, former President George H. W. Bush, probably rigged the 2004 presidential election for junior since the elder was once the CIA director. (Though to be fair, he probably would have said that without the booze.) You can watch the video here.

Freedom Caucus leader Jake Hoffman threatened to find a candidate to challenge Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne from the right, calling Horne — who is a huge supporter of school choice and vouchers — “the single greatest threat to school choice.”

Hoffman is also running a bill to bar anyone who has lobbied in the last two years (read: Republican gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson) from running for governor, which would benefit his bestie in the 2026 GOP gubernatorial primary: Republican U.S. Rep. (and sweepstakes winner) Andy Biggs.

If we ever win a major sweepstakes, we promise that, unlike Andy Biggs, we’ll stop asking you for money.
Until then, please support local independent journalism so we don’t have to get jobs as spokespeople for politicians.

And biannual candidate Rodney Glassman (in 2026, he’s aiming at the Attorney General’s Office) called his likely opponent, Senate President Warren Petersen, a “coward” for blocking a bill to criminalize pretending to be a veteran to win a political campaign. That bill was sponsored by Republican Rep. Walt Blackman after his 2024 opponent, Steve Slaton, allegedly lied about being a Vietnam veteran.

Finally, longtime Democratic state lawmaker Lela Alston announced she’s not running for reelection and is endorsing former lawmaker Christine Marsh to take her job. But Alston, who has served off and on for nearly 50 years, probably isn’t retiring — she just hit her term limit in the Senate and says she may run for the House again instead. Which is a good excuse to remind you that term limits in Arizona are not only a bad idea, they’re a complete scam.

Protests take many forms

The long-struggling Resistance launched a national day of protest against all things Donald Trump and Elon Musk, with tens of thousands turning out across Arizona — from Flagstaff to Yuma. Organizers say at least 600,000 people RSVPd for the “Hands Off” protests across 1,300 locations in all 50 states, and “millions” showed up. The Republic has an obligatory video story from the Phoenix and Tucson events, if you’re willing to wait through the ads.

Meanwhile, New Jersey Democratic U.S. Sen Cory Booker spent more than 25 hours protesting on the Senate floor, breaking the record for the longest speech. He cited John McCain among many others as he held down the floor.

And the weekly protests at Tesla dealerships, a worldwide phenomenon that started in Tucson with just about 50 people, continued growing.

“In classic protests throughout the United States, in order to get people with decision-making power to listen, is to hit them often where their money is, and that’s what we’re doing,” organizer Sophia Marjanovic told KJZZ’s Sam Dingman. “This is the richest man in the world, and he has bought his way into our government.”

Like the movie “Footloose”

The Gila River Indian Community extended its 7 p.m. curfew for anyone under 18. The curfew has been in effect since February and was only supposed to last two weeks due to a “public safety emergency.” Now it’s slated to end on May 1. The tribe already cancelled its big rodeo thanks to the curfew and last year, President Stephen Roe Lewis banned all dances.

Phoenix Police announced they would enforce a 10 p.m. curfew against anyone under 15 (or midnight if you’re 16 or 17) at Phoenix’s First Friday art walks, citing an increase in violent crime. In neither case did officials expressly lay out what their specific concerns are.

Tariffs tank the stock market

The stock market went into a free fall following Trump’s decision to “liberate” tariffs upon the American people. It appears the White House used ChatGPT to calculate the damage. While your 401(k) is probably hurting, the memes were pretty spectacular.

Lawmakers demand more pay

After killing an attempt to limit lawmakers’ immunity from traffic tickets, lawmakers are still trying to give themselves huge raises. One measure would double their pay to $48,000 for a job that’s supposed to be 100 days per year. Another measure would increase the additional “per diem” pay that lawmakers receive to $200 for lawmakers who live in Maricopa County. The former would need voter approval, since it would be a constitutional change. But the latter could be signed into law by the governor — former Gov. Doug Ducey vetoed a similar bill in 2019.

Lawsuits are bipartisan

Former Republican state Sen. Justine Wadsack is suing the city of Tucson and a bunch of cops after she got a ticket for driving 70 mph in a 35 mph zone last year. She claims the ticket was part of a conspiracy to “violate Ms. Wadsack’s constitutional rights, silence Ms. Wadsack’s political opposition, deprive her of due process of law, treat her differently than others and deprive her of equal protection under the law, target her for prosecution on trumped up and phony charges, chill Ms. Wadsack’s political free speech, and knowingly and wrongfully interfere with her right to hold public office and pursue her chosen occupations.”

Attorney General Kris Mayes continues getting a lot of attention for filing lawsuits against Trump. Most recently, she joined other Democratic attorneys general in challenging his executive order on elections and National Institutes of Health cuts. She told the Wall Street Journal that she’s been “doing a lot of winning” lately.

“I believe strongly that we are in the midst of a coup, and I don’t use that term lightly,” Mayes said. “But when you have a president who is actively violating federal court orders, that is a coup.”

No shocking bills signed

Gov. Katie Hobbs signed a bunch of bills last week, bringing her total so far this year to 39 bills signed and two vetoed. The bills she signed were mostly low-profile and technical in nature. Several hundred more will hit her desk before the legislative session is over.

Meanwhile, the state Senate has refused to confirm Hobbs’ appointment of Liz Archuleta to the Arizona Board of Regents within one year, meaning she was kicked off ABOR last week.

And legislation is still moving to allow Axon, the manufacturer of Tasers and other products, to skip a planned public vote over zoning for its planned housing community in Scottsdale. In fear that Hobbs would sign the bill, Scottsdale Mayor Lisa Borowsky held a press conference to say she’s ready to work with the company, though the company’s spokesman said they’ve met with her repeatedly with little results. Meanwhile, HBO’s John Oliver took a deep dive into the Arizona-based company, noting its Tasers almost certainly kill people, despite its claims otherwise, and the cult-like company has bullied medical examiners into declaring the deaths due to “excited delirium.”

“If by effective, you mean subdue suspects as little as half the time, increase the hostility of police encounters and give cops a quick and easy way to zap children without breaking a sweat, then sure, (Tasers) absolutely work,” Oliver said.

Chaos no longer at the border

The number of people in federal immigration “detention facilities” continues to skyrocket.

Federal agents in unmarked black SUVs apprehended a landscaper with a work permit who has lived in the U.S. for 30 years at his house in Tucson and immediately pointed their weapons at the family.

Eight ASU international students had their visas revoked, though nobody’s sure why, and the students hadn’t been involved in pro-Palestine protests. Meanwhile, University of Arizona officials have warned international students to carry their essential documents with them at all times.

A Chinese woman died by suicide while being held at a Border Patrol station in Yuma.

And the Trump administration sent an email “in error” to an unknown number of legal Ukrainian refugees telling them to get out of the country.

“If you do not depart the United States immediately, you will be subject to potential law enforcement actions that will result in your removal from the United States,” the erroneous email stated. “Do not attempt to remain in the United States – the federal government will find you.”

Meanwhile, Hobbs called the drop in migrants crossing the border “good news,” saying the trend began under former President Joe Biden.

“What it means for border security is our federal agents who work really hard every day now have the ability to focus on the criminal elements,” she said.

Problems bigger than buses

Students at Snowflake High School were subjected to a lockdown drill — but nobody told them it was a drill. In fact, they were specifically told that “this is not a drill.” Some parents are pissed after receiving texts like, “We are at the high school for choir and we might die. There is a shooter at the high school. I love you.” Local police and school administrators said students weren’t taking the drills seriously enough.

U.S. Sen Mark Kelly sponsored legislation to exempt school bus drivers from the requirement that they be able to identify parts of an engine in hopes of solving the shortage of school bus drivers.

And the president of the Phoenix Elementary School District, Jessica Bueno, put her home up as collateral to bail out the former owner of Downtown Phoenix’s Xanadu Coffee last year after he was arrested for attempting to have sex with a 14-year-old girl who was actually an online undercover cop. The two were old friends and business partners. She never disclosed that she had bailed him out, and now parents want her to resign.

Prada socialists

Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema has been telling people she’s “just a citizen” who is lobbying for a bill at the Arizona state Capitol to allow and fund research into using psychedelic African plant ibogaine to treat PTSD in soldiers. But now she’s a paid “senior advisor” to a D.C. law firm representing a company with ties to that research.

Meanwhile, Democratic U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego tells the Wall Street Journal that he won because he passionately advocated for people to “make more money and keep more of their money.”

“At times, we shy away from that message and it becomes this nebulous message about justice. Versus what most people really care about in this country, which is the ability to live well,” he said.