One of the positive aspects about living in an area with consistently rapid growth is that we have no shortage of new and shiny infrastructure and buildings. One of the negative aspects of it is just that: everything old is often shuttered in favor of the new and shiny. But one local icon is shifting his focus away from typical … Read More
In a Major Sign of the Times, Governor Hobbs Retracts All Outstanding Appointees.What Does It Mean For Arizona?
Perhaps it is obvious, but it is something that had been easy to forget for years in Arizona…things are a lot easier for a governor when they have a friendly legislature that will push forward (or at least not oppose) their agenda. Governor Katie Hobbs is finding out what can happen with an unfriendly legislature and is running into perhaps … Read More
Superintendent Menzel Named Superintendent of the Year from a Partisan Source, Reinforcing Battle Lines
Scottsdale Unified Superintendent Scott Menzel has had a relatively turbulent time leading the helm at SUSD. District meetings have had disruptions regarding COVID-related mitigation and content, and he has been the target of activists (you can read more about it all here). When you have plenty of enemies, it’s always good to have friends that have your back, and a … Read More
Why is Banner Health Looking to Short-Change Arizona? A Story of Zoning Chicanery
The world of zoning rules and regulations can be arcane, byzantine, and frankly…boring. That said, there are times when it truly matters, as it can impact quality of life both locally and for the entire state. A couple of recent developments demonstrate exactly how, and how some of our potential business neighbors may not be the best of neighbors. A … Read More
Creepiness Alert: The Patch May Be Collecting and Selling Your Information Under the Guise of News…and Banner Health is Sponsoring it in Scottsdale
Articles from The Patch have been everywhere recently; for those who haven’t seen them, they are positioning themselves as a news aggregator that sells themselves as a hyper-local news source. They are aggressively using the Nextdoor app in order to get their stories out to a wider audience. No issues there…at the Arizona Progress & Gazette, we also consider ourselves … Read More
Finally! The New Scottsdale Civic Center is Done: What Can You Expect?
It has been a long and winding road when it comes to the much ballyhooed Scottsdale Civic Center upgrade. It has been behind schedule with early reviews being less than generous, especially with regards to shade. However, it would seem that early unveilings were a false start of sorts, and the completed project is now finalized and ready for the … Read More
The First Big Shoe to Drop in Arizona’s Water Crisis: Farming
As regular readers know, water is a subject that we frequently write about; we don’t think we need to explain the importance of it to us. While the Rio Verde Foothills seems to be mostly behind us at this point, water levels at Lake Mead and Lake Powell are ever-present concerns in our … Read More
New DACA Ruling Once Again Ignites Worries for Arizona Citizens
By Jessica Perez On Wednesday, September 13th a U.S. Federal Judge deemed the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program illegal once again. Texas District Judge Andrew Hanen’s decision has not ended the DACA program but rather brought it back to the spotlight. Currently, the DACA Renewal process is still in full effect. Yet, initial DACA Applicants have been caught … Read More
Is Low Growth Here to Stay in Scottsdale?
It has been no secret that the current make-up of the Scottsdale City Council has been what could be called “growth hesitant”; that there is a concerted effort to focus on what are deemed to be unimpeachably high-quality projects to the detriment of overall growth. We have labeled them “the Council of No” before, where they sometimes seem to look … Read More
Drought Update: Lake Mead Rise is Over for Now, Will We See a Reversal?
While we often are focused on the Rio Verde Foothills as the main water story locally, but in reality the drought supercycle that has impacted the Colorado River, and thus Lake Mead and Lake Powell (representing Arizona’s water supply) had been the preeminent local story in the run-up to the Rio Verde Foothills crisis. Now that the crisis in the … Read More