Weekend wrap-up: Here are the biggest Arizona stories from Oct. 22-24
Oct 24, 2021, 6:00 PM | Updated: 6:01 pm
Grant Woods (Gallagher & Kennedy Photo)
(Gallagher & Kennedy Photo)
PHOENIX — Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods died unexpectedly on Saturday, Gov. Doug Ducey announced the investment of $30 million to help water levels at Lake Mead, and U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona says not to believe everything you read or hear about where she stands on tax policies.
Here are some of the biggest stories that headlined the Arizona news cycle over the weekend.
Former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods dies at 67
The former Arizona Attorney General Grant Woods died unexpectedly at age 67 Saturday, according to his wife Marlene Galan Woods in a press release.
Woods served as the attorney general in Arizona from 1991-99 and was the first Congressional Chief of Staff for late senator John McCain.
He returned to private practice after his time in office.
He founded many social programs in the Valley, including the Mesa Boys & Girls Club, the Mesa Education Foundation and the Mesa Arts Academy, one of Arizona’s first successful charter schools, according to his website.
Ducey allots $30M to keep water in declining Lake Mead reservoir
As water levels in Lake Mead continue to decline, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey on Thursday announced the investment of $30 million to keep more water in the reservoir.
The funding will allow the state, through the Department of Water Resources, to partner with communities with Colorado River water rights to ensure the volume of water doesn’t reach critical levels, according to a press release.
“In Arizona, we’re committed to preserving a culture of conservation and protecting our water resources,” Ducey said.
“We will continue to work with community partners, tribal neighbors, other states and federal agencies to take innovative measures to secure Arizona’s water future now, and for years to come.”
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema says her stance on taxes isn’t accurately portrayed
U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona says not to believe everything you read or hear about where she stands on tax policies as Democrats work out the details of their landmark domestic legislation package.
“Some of the reports that you’ve seen about rumors of which tax policies I support and which ones I don’t support aren’t entirely accurate,” she told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s The Gaydos and Chad Show on Friday.
“But what I can promise you … is that I’m looking for policies, and will only support policies, that maintain and grow our economic competitiveness.”
Sinema, as one of two Democratic Senate holdouts, has been in the middle of negotiations to reduce the size of President Joe Biden’s proposed 10-year package of social services and climate change strategies and figure out how to pay for it.
Jerry Colangelo eyes ‘city of future’ in West Valley development
Phoenix business mogul Jerry Colangelo said the vision for the large-scale planned community in the West Valley near Buckeye is to make a “city of the future.”
Though development for the 37,000-acre Douglas Ranch property purchased in 2002 will begin in the first half of 2022, former Phoenix Suns owner Colangelo told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News it’s been an ongoing process for his company, JDM Partners.
“We bought that property 20 years ago and really just sat on it, kind of looking into the future, that someday it was going to be very, very developable,” Colangelo said.
Upon completion, the mass planned community is expected to have at least 100,000 residential units that can house 300,000 people.
Arizona grand jury indicts former candidate of Cochise County Superior Court for perjury
An Arizona grand jury earlier this month indicted a former candidate for the Cochise County Superior Court for perjury, Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced Thursday.
Sandra Russell, 48, of Sierra Vista, is being accused of allegedly signing a false “declaration of qualification” as part of her 2020 candidacy, according to a press release.
According to the Oct. 4 indictment for perjury, Russell said she would “have been a citizen of Arizona for 7 years” at the time of the Nov. 3, 2020, general election, while previously completing an “Oath of Elector” in DeKalb County, Georgia, on May 26, 2016.
