Arizona’s News Roundup: Prop 400 fate uncertain, state has mild start to summer

PHOENIX – It’s been a mild start to Arizona’s summer and it may have you checking out when it comes to the news.

If you haven’t keep up with this week’s headlines or if you’re in a need of a recap, look no further.

Check out this week’s episode of Arizona’s News Roundup, the weekly podcast that gets you caught up on the biggest stories in the state, on your time, from a Valley point of view.

Here’s some of what we discussed this week:

Gov. Hobbs vetoes Prop 400 bill, calls for bipartisan resolution

This week, Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a state bill that would have brought Maricopa County’s half-cent sales tax to support transportation projects to a 2024 ballot, after telling reporters it was too restrictive of the funding.

The bill would have limited the use of the proposition’s funding for light rail.

In her rejection of the bill, Gov. Hobbs called for lawmakers to go back to the drawing board and find a bi-partisan solution to get Prop 400 on the ballot in 2024, before the tax expires at the end of 2025.

A weak start to Arizona’s monsoon matches the state’s mild spring

It’s been one week since the official start of Arizona’s monsoon season, and it could still be weeks until the Valley sees its first major storm.

This comes, as the state has also seen far more mild temperatures than it typically does in July.

Both drought and wildfire are also well below average to start off the summer.

Homeless encampments clean up continues as Hobbs forms council on homelessness

Wednesday marked the third block clean-up of the homeless encampments known as “the Zone” in downtown Phoenix.

There are roughly 550 individuals still living in the area that the city is working to clear out.

Each cleanup is spaced out to ensure there is enough shelter space to accommodate all those being removed.

This cleanup effort came on the same day as Gov. Hobbs’ first meeting for her council on homelessness.

The group is comprised of experts within the topic of homelessness ranging from economists to nonprofit leaders to those who have experienced what its like to be unsheltered themselves.