Arizona News - - - without going to a blog that has zero replies

[Ptah]

Arizona woman accused of faking cancer to get state abortion

PHOENIX — An Arizona woman accused of faking a cancer diagnosis in order to get state Medicaid funding to cover a late-term abortion genuinely believed she was sick, her defense attorney said Thursday.

Attorney Adam Schwartz told jurors in opening statements that Chalice Renee Zeitner was told she had cancer and she did not set out to defraud anyone.

“The requirement is that she did this knowingly and intentionally,” he said. “The fact is that Ms. Zeitner did genuinely believe she had cancer in 2009 and 2010.”

Zeitner, 30, is on trial in Phoenix on nearly a dozen charges including fraudulent schemes, identity theft, theft, attempted theft and forgery. She has pleaded not guilty to all of them.

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Political rhetoric over immigrants prompts new wave of legislation

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Some Arizona water systems test high for lead contamination

Water systems at an observatory, a prison and a forest campground in Arizona are among those that have tested above the federal limit for lead in the past three years, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data.

No amount of lead is considered safe, but the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says samples over 15 parts per billion trigger notification to customers and steps to control exposure to lead, which can damage children’s brains, cause behavioral problems and make adults sick.

The AP found that nearly 1,400 water systems serving 3.6 million Americans nationwide have violated the federal lead standard at least once between Jan. 1, 2013, and Sept. 30, 2015. In Arizona, 14 out of more than 950 water systems fell into that category, according to the EPA.

Most of those are on the state Department of Environmental Quality’s watch list, and the agency says it is working with system operators to fix problems. Hundreds of other systems across Arizona have reported varying amounts of lead since the EPA’s rule on the contaminant went into effect in 1991.

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Press attorney says Arizona House lockout is illegal retaliation

PHOENIX — Calling it little more than a pretext to retaliate against a reporter for a critical story, the First Amendment Coalition of Arizona is demanding House Speaker David Gowan rescind his policy of requiring extensive background checks of reporters before restoring their access to the floor.

In a letter late Friday, Daniel Barr, attorney for the association of reporters, media organizations and others, said the screening was proposed following a protest March 28 in the House gallery and an incident two days later when three women associated with the Puente Human Rights Movement chained themselves to the front door of the Executive Tower.

Barr pointed out neither incident involved news reporters nor did they occur on the House floor.

“Simply put, Mr. Speaker, no one is fooled by what is going on here,’’ Barr wrote.

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Tucson man sues over Arizona election results

PHOENIX (AP) — A Tucson man filed a lawsuit Friday challenging the results of Arizona’s presidential primary election, saying problems with voter registration statewide and Election Day balloting render the certified results illegal.

John Brakey’s lawsuit seeks an order rescinding certification of the results and remedies that might include a new election to fix the problems. The lawsuit filed in Maricopa County Superior Court names all 15 Arizona counties and Secretary of State Michele Reagan.

Maricopa County saw huge lines on Election Day after county officials cut the number of polling places from 200 in 2012 to 60 this year and turnout exceed expectations. But there were issues statewide with voters complaining that they were registered with a party but the voter rolls showed they were independents and ineligible to vote.

Brakey co-founded a group called AUDIT-AZ that focuses on election integrity issues.

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Arizona voters could set minimum wage come November



Arizona voters could get a chance this November to set the minimum wage for workers at $12 an hour by 2020.

Or $9.50.

Or perhaps just whatever $8.05 an hour now plus inflation by that point equals.

A group began gathering signatures this past week to put that $12-an-hour option on the ballot.

[TexasTowelie]

1. Isn't it nice that I found all of those stories for you?

[Ptah]

2. Your blog flogging is not adding anything to DU.

Who profits from the advertisements on your blog?

It is obvious you have no intention of adding to the discussion.

[TexasTowelie]

3. I don't profit from the advertisements on my blog.

I'm making zero income from the blog. If it was a commercial venture then I would not post on DU since it is a violation of the Terms of Service.

[Ptah]

5. No, you just add income to the host of your blog.

Why do you add to their profit instead of
posting the link to the story and three or four paragraphs?

[Kali]

15. Hi TT,

So this is your blog? I appreciate the work and the posting of AZ stories, but kind of agree with Ptah, maybe original sources would be better.

[TexasTowelie]

16. Hello Kali,

As the host of this group I do recognize your role. However, I do not believe that I should be told not to use my blog as a point of reference unless I am instructed to do so by the administrators. Other DUers post and refer to their blogs so I don't understand why I am being singled out. If you don't want me to use my blog then my choice is to stop posting any stories in the Arizona group. The people that lose are those that read and appreciate the information so I would hope that you might reconsider.

Will you at least let me post a notice that I updated stories of interest to this group without posting the links? Thanks.

[Kali]

17. I am not "telling you" not to use your blog,

I am just suggesting your old format of posting original sources and a couple of lines or paragraphs is more in line with the site's usual protocol. It does kind of smack of blog-flogging that you are doing this all over the place, but it isn't like I have sent an alert or anything.

as I said, I appreciate the effort to collect and post local stories, I am just not sure about the format.

[Ptah]

6. I wasn't stealing, I was demonstrating the correct way to post on DU.

[TexasTowelie]

8. So if I write original content and cross-post it here

do you intend to steal a piece that I write myself?

[Ptah]

9. Why are you calling me a thief?

[TexasTowelie]

10. Why do you actually care about what I do?

The only reason I can think of is that I support a different primary candidate than you do based upon remarks you made in a closed group.

[Ptah]

11. Why are you calling me a thief?

I have no idea who you support.

[TexasTowelie]

12. I didn't call you a thief although I realize that you are trying to bait me to get a hide.

However, you picked the exact same links as I did after I posted my blog. The second one that you posted in your OP indicates that you didn't even find the page. You didn't even go to the effort of reading the newspapers in Arizona like I did.

Now answer my question, why do you care what I do?

[Ptah]

13. Well, you deleted the post where you said I stole from you.

I care because I think you are stinking up the joint.

[TexasTowelie]

14. As I said,

there are people that appreciate the work that I do and want to be informed so they are willing to read the news on my blog. I don't force anyone to click the links. As far as your opinion of me, I really don't care.