Fire Michael Crow

From Arizona PBS ... Gila Monster Alcatraz ... And please pay the treat tax.

The Republic’s Stacey Barchenger dropped a meaty exposé yesterday that fills in the cracks of a three-year-old scandal that has a special place in our hearts: the 2022 gubernatorial debate meltdown.

In case you missed it, the very short version is: Katie Hobbs refused to debate Kari Lake in the 2022 gubernatorial election. Under longstanding Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission rules — which ASU, as the longtime host of Clean Elections’ debates, had always followed — the debate was supposed to go on without Hobbs as a punishment for refusing to debate. That meant Lake would get her own one-on-one televised interview. Instead, ASU broke its contract with Clean Elections and offered Hobbs her own one-on-one. Lake was justifiably pissed, as was Clean Elections, and the whole thing devolved from there.

But the most troubling part of the debacle, as we noted at the time, was that it had ASU president Michael Crow’s fingerprints all over it.

Our art intern, ChatGPT, loves a good puppet analogy.

Allowing Crow to make editorial decisions like that based on what’s best for “ASU’s brand” is a serious breach of journalistic independence by Arizona PBS.

We bagged on ASU and AZPBS pretty hard back in 2022 for letting Crow break the rules to help Hobbs — and again in 2023, when we discovered station manager (and former Republic publisher) Mi-Ai Parrish’s flagrantly troublesome side hustle in political consulting. And the Republic’s piece yesterday credited the Agenda liberally.

But the backbone of Barchenger’s story comes from a new treasure trove of public records that she finally pried loose from ASU more than two years after she requested them under Arizona public records law.¹

The emails that her request netted didn’t exactly break new ground on the story, but you should go read the story because they added fascinating, incriminating and important details showing, among other things:

• The depth of Crow’s involvement — and how thoroughly he micro-managed an “independent” newsroom to serve his political ideology and protect ASU’s brand.

  

• The extent to which Parrish wasn’t honest about her political consulting side hustle when we called her out about it, and how it continues to provide unacceptable conflicts for the station.

  

• How in the bag ASU/AZPBS officials were for Hobbs, and how willing they were to break with longtime precedent to single Lake out specifically, while not applying the same filter to all election-denying Republicans.

  

• And how ASU and AZPBS continue to attempt to obfuscate and gaslight — rather than just take accountability for their decisions. (Not to mention highlighting, once again, ASU’s fierce resistance to following Arizona public records law.)

All of this takes on new significance now that President Donald Trump has put PBS in his crosshairs. And unlike the endless list of absurd election-manipulation claims Trump has lobbed at the press, this example is actually damning.

Of course, it wasn’t a decision made by a journalist or an editor, but by Crow, who has been called “the most powerful person in Arizona” and a “thug in a business suit.”

And as Barchenger notes, it could have serious ramifications even now. The fact that Lake was kept off the debate stage because of her views — as stupid and abhorrent as they are — is not only a question of journalistic ethics, but federal law.

TV stations, which are regulated by the Federal Communications Commission, generally cannot regulate whether they put a candidate on air based on whether they like their political views.

"If a journalistic organization is hosting a candidate debate and makes its decisions based on what those candidates think or what their views are, then I would say that is a definite problem of journalistic ethics," Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel to the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, told Barchenger. "And in the public broadcasting context, you may have legal issues as well.”

We don’t relish trash-talking our local PBS station.² We enjoy its (rather bland) local news programming and think it serves an important role in our local media ecosystem.

But this was more than a huge lapse of judgment — it highlights a structural problem that AZPBS needs to address.

Neither AZPBS nor its license owner, the Arizona Board of Regents, nor its apparent boss, Crow, has ever owned up to the decisions they’ve made, let alone acknowledged they messed up and apologized.

Trust us when we say we dislike Lake as much as the next journalist. We fully endorse the idea that she shouldn’t be considered part of the legitimate political conversation.

But that isn’t Crow’s decision to make.

Our public media station is not his plaything or his public relations arm.

And the fact that Crow made that decision shows a serious structural problem that needs to be addressed.

ASU’s relationship with AZPBS has been a longstanding boon to both entities. Students at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism get experience, and AZPBS gets resources.

But if Crow doesn’t realize his place is not in the newsroom, that relationship needs to end.

Making a pitch for “Gila Monster Alcatraz”: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has set her sights on Arizona as the next destination for state-run immigration centers like the controversial “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, David Ulloa Jr. reports for the Republic. Gov. Katie Hobbs’ spokesperson said she hasn’t been contacted to build the facility and "will not participate” if federal officials push for a state-run facility. As those talks unfold, the Trump administration also is planning to charge hefty fees to unaccompanied minors who apply for asylum, the Republic’s Nicol Leon reports. (Take a minute to let that sink in.) Meanwhile, the nonprofit that cares for unaccompanied minors, Southwest Key Programs, is laying off more than a thousand employees after losing federal funding, writes Jorge Ramos for the Phoenix Business Journal. South of the border, officials in Sonora are launching a border security unit that is the first of its kind to be trained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, KJZZ’s Nina Kravinsky reports.

Voucher growth: After showing the myriad ways Arizona’s school voucher program is ripe for grifters, Craig Harris at 12News highlights one use of vouchers that most people agree on: helping students with special needs. He highlighted the work being done at the Autism Academy for Education and Development in north Phoenix, where voucher funds have allowed the school to grow from 22 kids in 2013 to 850 kids studying across five campuses.

"The school is not just for the elite, not just for families that have the means to get their kid the best education," Executive Director Shannon Mitchell said. "So, ESA gives kids, all kids, the opportunity. It doesn’t matter what their socioeconomic status is. They can come to the best school for their child.”

Held for Hermosillo homicide: Sixteen years after a notorious fire at a daycare center in Hermosillo killed 49 children, the co-owner of the center is now in ICE custody, Nina Kravinsky reports for KJZZ. Sandra Lucía Téllez was the subject of an Interpol Red Notice for homicide and negligent injury and now Mexico’s President, Claudia Sheinbaum, says she will call for Téllez to be extradited to face charges in Mexico.

Courtesy of the Red, White and San Tan: Early election results show San Tan Valley residents are going to approve Proposition 495 by a wide margin, which would incorporate the community as a town, KTAR reports. San Tan Valley is set to be Arizona’s 92nd incorporated municipality next July. The town’s residents would then have more control over the taxes residents pay and they can create their own local government.

Space Wars: Democratic U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly penned an op-ed in The New York Times to raise the alarm about President Donald Trump halting the progress of NASA if he cuts more funding from space-related programs. NASA says it has already lost 4,000 employees because of funding cuts to the civilian workforce. In May, the Trump administration proposed the largest single-year cut in NASA history at 24%. Kelly and his twin brother have a special connection to the government agency after flying multiple space missions.

You can stave off cuts to our civilian workforce by clicking that button.

More than a radio: The Arizona Diamondbacks are the first Major League team to offer a device that lets blind fans experience the game through audio and tactile vibrations, Adonis Watt reports for Cronkite News. The device lets Watt experience baseball in a way he never was able to as someone completely blind. The tablet-sized board sends vibrations within seconds to replicate where the ball is after a hit, whether runners are on base and even when the pitcher throws the ball.

“When I first tried it, I noticed that everything from the bases to the outfield was simulated perfectly,” Watt said. “This was especially important for me because I’ve never seen a baseball field before, so for it to be right in front of me in a way I could understand was crucial for my experience.”

Axios Phoenix asked their readers about dog poop etiquette, and you’re probably thinking the same thing we were: What is dog poop etiquette beyond “scoop it and move on”?

Turns out, the point of contention is whether it’s okay to toss a baggie of business in your neighbor’s trash can.

Most respondents declared that it’s unacceptable, unless it’s garbage day and the trash hasn’t been collected yet. Otherwise, you’re “basically declaring war on common decency.”

We asked the Agenda’s three dog owners for their hot takes. Curt has four dogs (220 pounds worth) and said you have to take the poop home to dump. Hank said trash cans on the curb or in the alley are fair game. And intern Alysa said you can use your neighbors’ bins if the trash is about to be picked up.

Now that you’ve heard our staff’s poop takes, meet the pups behind the opinions.

Clockwise from top left: Alysa’s dog Tucker, Hank’s dog Scooby and Curt’s crew: Mozzie, Althea, Pigeon and Dobbie.

1. It’s worth noting, as Barchenger slyly did, that ASU finally decided to release the records right before Lake’s election for U.S. Senate in 2024.

2. Though we do kind of enjoy trashing ASU because it thoroughly deserves it.