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Water, water everywhere … Ambitious politicians … And members only.

A few months ago, we launched a trio of policy-related weeklies covering the three most pressing issues on Arizona’s horizons: water, education and artificial intelligence.

And for the past few weeks, we’ve been taking one day to highlight their work.

This week, we want to introduce you to the Water Agenda – which is our most popular weekly.

After more than two months of publishing, we’ve packed lots of great stories into the Water Agenda that you’ve probably missed if you’re not already subscribed.

So today, we’re rounding up some of the most interesting stories and snippets that we’ve been covering.

If you like what you see here, click on over to the Water Agenda to sign up and read it every week.

Let’s dive in.

“Welcome Aboard”

In our very first edition, we delivered an explainer of Arizona’s groundwater wars, outlining the political dynamics at play as Gov. Katie Hobbs attempts to take the initiative and use her executive authority to wrestle control of Arizona’s water policies from the legislative gatekeepers who have held hostage any attempts at regulatory reform.

And we gave you a lay of the land of the generals, lieutenants and soldiers in Arizona’s water landscape, introducing you to the key players at stakeholder discussions.

It’s basically required reading for those of you just dipping your toes into Arizona’s water politics.

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“Arizona Heads East”

We’ve also dived into some of the proposed supply-side solutions for Arizona’s water woes — which include building a giant pipeline to pump water from the Mississippi River to Arizona, as we explained in this edition.

It’s one of the more out-of-the-box ideas lawmakers have come up with, and for obvious reasons — including the sheer scale of the project, its eye-popping price tag and the fact that the Mississippi River states don’t want to pipe their water to Arizona — there are a lot of problems with that plan.

As a feat of engineering, it’s not impossible. We’ve built pipelines for oil and natural gas that span thousands of miles. But water is heavier and less valuable per gallon, and moving it 1,600 miles at a 4,600-foot elevation gain across the Rocky Mountains would require colossal pumping stations and enormous amounts of energy — a Sisyphean feat. And a recent study found that this pipeline would need to be a whopping 88 feet in diameter, which would entail untold levels of eminent domain and right-of-way problems.

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“Aquifer Logic”

If you don’t really know what aquifers or basins are, and at this point, you’re afraid to ask, this edition is for you.

It explains the interconnectedness of underground water in a way that even lawmakers could understand — and it pokes well-sized holes in lawmakers’ attempts to get rid of our main way of regulating groundwater pumping: so-called active management areas, or “AMAs.”

Arizona law requires AMAs to be designated on a basin-wide basis. It wouldn’t make sense to limit pumping in one part of the underground bathtub while the same supply of water can be pumped to death elsewhere.

But basin hydrogeology isn’t quite as simple as an underground bathtub. Think about a mountain range with its ridges, valleys, lakes and waterfalls. Underground, there can be just as much topographic diversity.

You can’t make simple assumptions about aquifer logic.

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“Watershed Moment”

There’s a lot of history packed into Arizona’s water laws, and in this edition, we explained where Arizona’s monumental 1980 Groundwater Management Act came from, and how Hobbs and rural leaders want to expand it to protect rural groundwater for the next generation.

The bills Hobbs championed never got a hearing at the Republican-controlled Legislature, but that battle is far from over.

We also covered the alternative version of groundwater protection legislation being pushed by major water-reliant interests, including the Farm Bureau, Cattlemen’s Association, and Arizona Dairymen.

Back in 1980, the really big carrot that brought everyone to the Groundwater Management Act negotiation table was federal funding for the CAP canal, which would finally bring Colorado River water to Central Arizona.

No big carrots exist this time around.

Instead, Hobbs has been wielding a big stick emblazoned with the words: I Will Designate AMAs In Rural Arizona Until We Figure Something Out.

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“Holey Water”

Water is one of those issues that affects basically everything else in the desert — especially housing.

In one of her first major acts as governor, Hobbs drew international headlines when her Department of Water Resources published a groundwater model for the Phoenix AMA which showed the Valley doesn’t have enough water to meet the required “100-year assured water supply,” and therefore can’t continue unmitigated housing development growth.

We spent an edition breaking down how that decision came to be, what that means for housing in the Valley, and the “100 years of attitude” that the requirement sparked.

We then explained how the rule is leading housing developers to lean into the “build to rent” movement since rental properties aren’t subject to the 100-year water requirement.

Even Republican lawmaker Alexander Kolodin believes the “build to rent” trend is not good for Arizona.

“The government shouldn't have feelings about consumer choices of this-vs-that — but the existing regulations are going to turn us all into serfs. There needs to be equalization of how housing developments are permitted. Otherwise, we’re on a rocket sled to the globalist wet dream of own-nothing-be-happy,” Kolodin told us.

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“Gail Griffin vs Arizona”

But if you really want to understand the political dynamics of Arizona’s most scarce resources, you gotta know Republican Rep. Gail Griffin.

The longtime leader of the committee that all water legislation must flow through has blocked countless attempts to reform our water laws over the decades, making her perhaps the most powerful water influencer in Arizona.

Our profile of her was one of our most-read editions, and the one that generated the most calls from lawmakers wanting to rant about her off the record.

“Her frustrated colleagues on both sides of the aisle call her ‘The Queen Bee of Water.’ Other honorifics include ‘the Gatekeeper’ and ‘Grim Reaper’ of water legislation.

Her throne is the chair of various Natural Resources committees in the House and Senate over the years, where she’s frustrated bipartisan efforts to update Arizona’s antique groundwater laws.

Her name is Gail Griffin, and she’s an 80-year-old real estate veteran who’s been representing Southeast Arizona in the legislature since 1997 — a Republican who loves ‘free enterprise’ economics and suit jackets with a certain retro-future shower curtain vibe.”

Fontes loves contemplating Fontes: Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes confirmed on social media he’s “strongly considering” running to take over late Congressman Raúl Grijalva’s congressional seat. Fontes would have to resign from his state position before filing paperwork to run, and he told The Mike Broomhead Show the decision is an “exercise in serious contemplation.” Fontes has Southern Arizona ties, but also has split custody of his high school-aged daughter which would make scheduling a life between Arizona and DC “a little difficult,” he said. He also teased that maybe he’ll run for governor against fellow Democrat Katie Hobbs instead.

“Let’s be honest: Politicians are ambitious people. I’m a politician. I’m an ambitious person. You know, there’s no reason to lie about it and play coy,” Fontes told KTAR.

No last words: Arizona death row inmate Aaron Gunches was executed by lethal injection at around 10 a.m. yesterday without any last words. He “took a few heavy breaths and let out a snoring-type sound,” and died within minutes, per the Associated Press. Gunches pled guilty to first-degree murder in 2007 after fatally shooting Ted Price, and his death is the state’s first execution in two years. Media witnesses said the lethal pentobarbital used to kill Gunches was inserted into his arm, while the last two executions were administered through IVs in the femoral artery. Experts say despite outward appearances, lethal injection deaths can be extremely painful, the Phoenix New Times’ Morgan Fischer reports.

School’s out: After the State Board of Education placed Phoenix’s Isaac School District in receivership over its financial mismanagement, the school district sent out letters announcing its plans to shut down two schools and its online academy, per Arizona Family’s Peter Valencia. The district will make a final decision after a series of public meetings.

DEI-ning history: The Pentagon claimed the scrubbing of online Navajo Code Talker content was an inadvertent consequence of the DEI content purges sweeping federal government websites, Cronkite News’ Madeline Bates reports. But 96-year-old Peter MacDonald, one of two surviving Code Talkers and a former Navajo Nation chairman, said the people who got rid of Code Talker content “are either racist or they have absolutely no understanding of what DEI stands for.”

Local man makes good: An Arizonan is now the managing editor of the Washington Post — and he’s got his hands full navigating the Post’s post-print future and owner Jeff Bezos’ takeover of the Post’s editorial pages. Peter Spiegel spoke with KJZZ’s Sam Dingman about his childhood in Phoenix, the sixth-grade teacher who inspired him to follow journalism, and the future of the media and the Post.

“There is no evidence that I have seen that Jeff Bezos wants to get involved in (the news side). … Rupert Murdoch owns the Wall Street Journal. And Rupert Murdoch is not a shy and retiring person when it comes to his views on politics. And the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal is not shy, retiring about their views. They've always been very right-wing opinion pages. But if you know the news pages of the Wall Street Journal, they do amazing journalism. They were the ones who broke (the story about) Stormy Daniels,” Spiegel said.

The Arizona Agenda is a Bezos-free publication. That means we write what we want, but we desperately need your support to keep doing it.

Where credit’s due: Republican U.S. Rep. David Schweikert is very excited the Trump administration released the assassination files of former President John F. Kennedy. He’s even taking some credit for the move, per the Arizona Daily Independent. The congressman introduced a bill to release and unredact the JFK files in January, although Trump’s calls to release the files predate that bill — it was one of his campaign promises if reelected to a second term. Reporters and conspiracy theorists have to pore through tens of thousands of pages to find the true hidden gems, though the Washington Post already has some tidbits on Soviet spies and CIA spycraft.

When the state cuts, the cities pay: The Phoenix City Council approved a sales tax hike from 2.3% to 2.8% that will take effect in July, 12News’ Chase Golightly reports. It’s a means to make up a nearly $40 million budget shortfall caused by state income tax cuts and the elimination of residential rental tax. Meanwhile, Scottsdale’s City Council is mulling over increasing its water and sewer rates for the sixth year in a row, per the Scottsdale Progress’ Tom Scanlon.

Loser says what?: Kari Lake accosted Democratic U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego at a posh DC restaurant and accused him of being “bought and paid for by the cartels,” the Bulwark reports. Onlookers were taken aback that she would speak that way to an elected senator, but Gallego was unfazed.

“[Lake] essentially said, ‘How could you live with yourself every day?’” Gallego told the Bulwark. “I’m like, ‘Easily: I won,’ and I walked away.”

The Maricopa County Republican Committee hosted a “town hall” Tuesday night featuring Republican U.S. Rep. Andy Biggs, Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan.

Turns out, that “town hall” was only for Republicans who wanted to meet with their elected officials.

LD12 First Vice Chair Patty Porter sent out an email specifying “tonight’s townhall is a private event. I have been reminded that only members of the Republican Party will be admitted into the venue,” per the Phoenix New Times’ TJ L'Heureux.

It’s unclear if the hosts used the honor system to ensure only GOP attendees got in, or implemented a bouncer-like voter ID check at the front door.