Arizona’s News Roundup: Gallego announces Senate run, prison reform ramps up

PHOENIX — Politics, prisons and tigers – oh my! Arizona has had a wild week with lots of different stories making headlines.

Feeling like you can’t keep up?

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Arizona’s News Roundup is a weekly podcast that gets you caught up on your state on your time.

Here’s a little of what we covered this week:

Ruben Gallego is running for Senate

Monday, Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego announced he’s making a bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by Kyrsten Sinema 2024.

Gallego told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Monday the early announcement will allow him to connect with more voters and get a leg up on fundraising.

He said he’s challenging current Sen. Kyrsten Sinema — now an independent — who has not yet announced whether she is running again.

Point in time homeless count

This week, hundreds of volunteers scoured the Valley in the hopes of collecting an accurate count of the those who are experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County.

Last year’s count found roughly 9,000 people in Maricopa County experience homelessness on any given night.

This comes after a recent report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development found Arizona ranked fifth-highest in the country for homelessness.

Gov. Hobbs announces prison reform

For consecutive weeks, Gov. Katie Hobbs has issued multiple executive orders regarding prison reform in Arizona.

On Wednesday, she revealed an executive order to establish a 12-member oversight commission.

This comes one week after she appointed a new Arizona Department of Correction, Rehabilitation and Reentry director.

A wild story: Phoenix police find tiger cub, exotic animals in Valley home

Things didn’t turn out so grrrrreat for one Phoenix man after police stumbled upon his online ad for a baby tiger.

The cub was listed for $20,000.

The man is now facing felony charges.

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