Weekend wrap-up: Biggest Arizona stories from this past weekend

PHOENIX — This weekend started off with a funeral for a fallen Arizona Department of Public Safety trooper who was killed on duty last month, but politics, shootings and voting dominated the weekend itself.

Here are some of the biggest news stories from this past weekend, both in Arizona and nationwide.

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Artists raising money to create 4,000-sq-ft McCain mural in Scottsdale

An Arizona artist created a kickstarter campaign to raise money for a giant mural of Ariz. Sen. John McCain.

If the artist can get the funding, he would create the 30-foot-tall by 120-foot-long mural in Old Town Scottsdale.

Total, the artwork would be about 4,000 square feet.

The concept, tweeted by @mural_the, depicts John McCain’s face with an Arizona flag on the building at 4235 N. Marshall Way.

Aaron Bass began working with Chen + Suchart Studio and Eric Marvin to create a piece of art that would serve “not only a commemoration but a reminder that discourse and discussion are pivotal,” the website said.

One dead after shooting at Centerstone Plaza Hotel in Fountain Hills

A shooting at Cornerstone Plaza Hotel in Fountain Hills left a person dead on Saturday, police say.

The two-person dispute was believed to be a domestic violence incident, said Sgt. Joaquin Enriquez, spokesman for the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.

Enriquez could not confirm the ages or genders of the people involved, but said there are no outstanding suspects.

MCRO reaching out to voters who did not receive requested early ballots

Nearly 2,000 voters did not receive the early voting ballots they requested due to a website malfunction, according to Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes.

“We discovered the system was reporting which Independent voters were requesting early ballots, but not what type of ballots they were selecting,” Fontes said.

“The office has been reaching out by email and mail to those voters to inform them of the situation and ensure we send them the correct ballot.”

According to the Recorder’s office, 1,154 of the 1,922 voters who were affected have been successfully contacted and their ballots have been retrieved.

“The website is working securely and correctly now. We will continue to accept early ballot requests from all voters, and ballot selections from Independents,” Fontes said.

Report: ASU finds Lawrence Krauss violated policy with 2016 groping

An Arizona State University professor who was accused of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior by multiple women over the last decade was reportedly found to have violated university policy when he allegedly groped a woman at a conference in Australia two years ago.

According to Science Magazine, an investigation by the university found that Lawrence Krauss violated the university’s sexual harassment policy after he allegedly groped an unnamed woman’s breast while they were taking a photo together at the Australian Skeptics Convention in 2016.

Krauss’ “conduct created an offensive environment for academic pursuits by the unnamed female attendee as well as other conference attendees,” the report found.

“Respondent’s conduct also violates the Code of Ethics, which requires a faculty member ‘[t]o conduct one’s public and private lives so as to avoid bringing dishonor to oneself and the university.’”

Arizona man dies after attacking employee at Manhattan restaurant

An Arizona man died on Sunday, shortly after he allegedly jumped out of a freezer and attacked an employee with a kitchen knife at a restaurant in Manhattan.

The New York Times reported that the unidentified man, 54, shouted “Away, Satan!” and grabbed the knife after an employee opened the walk-in freezer at Sarabeth’s on the Upper West Side.

Employees then wrestled the man to the floor and disarmed him. The man allegedly lost consciousness and went into cardiac arrest during the struggle, the Times reported.

He was pronounced dead shortly after he was taken to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital Center.

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