Jim Small, Arizona Mirror

An appeals court on Thursday upheld a former Democratic state legislator’s conviction for a child sex crime.

Otoniel “Tony” Navarrete was a state senator representing a west Phoenix legislative district when he was arrested in 2021 and charged with seven felonies for child sex crimes after allegedly molesting and forcing oral sex on two boys.

He resigned shortly after he was arrested. ...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture is cancelling roughly $1 billion in already-promised spending on local food purchases for schools and food banks nationwide, Politico reported this week.

The Local Food for Schools program provides funding for states to purchase food from local farmers and distribute it to schools and child care programs. A similar initiative, the Local Food Purchase Assistance program, buys and distributes locally-produced food to in-state food banks.

For fiscal year 2025, Arizona had been awarded roughly $13.1 million to purchase food for schools, and an additional $8.1 million to cover products for food banks. Those funds will no longer be distributed. ...

In a move that underscores the high stakes of Arizona’s legislative elections, the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee announced today it will pump nearly $1 million into targeted races across the state, adding to the $8.5 million that’s already been spent by outside groups in a handful of key districts.

The DLCC’s investment, part of a larger $2 million ad buy split between Arizona and Pennsylvania, aims to flip both chambers of the legislature to Democratic control for the first time in nearly 60 years. This latest spending push is the DLCC’s first directly trying to influence voters, though it has previously spent about $350,000 supporting Democratic candidates.

“Control of Pennsylvania and Arizona’s legislatures will come down to just a handful of votes, and abortion could be the driving message that determines who wins in November,” DLCC Communications Director Sam Paisley said in a written statement. ...

A group formed by anti-Trump Republicans is spending big in the closing weeks of the election to convince Republicans in the Grand Canyon State to support Vice President Kamala Harris.

Republican Voters Against Trump on Monday announced plans to spend $2.4 million in Arizona — as part of a $15 million blitz in battleground states — to pay for billboards and TV ads featuring first-person testimonials from former Donald Trump supporters who now back Harris, the former president’s Democratic opponent.

The billboards feature local Arizona voters declaring “I’m a former Trump voter. I’m voting for Harris.” The TV ads, meanwhile, are a series of 15- to 30-second testimonials from voters speaking directly to the camera about why they now oppose Trump and support Harris. ...

Arizona’s top Republican legislators have joined Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador – along with attorneys general and other officials from 20 U.S. states – in accusing the American Academy of Pediatrics of possible “violations of state consumer protection statutes” over its standards and recommendations for gender dysphoria care for children.

In a letter sent by Labrador on Tuesday, Senate President Warren Petersen and House Speaker Ben Toma and the attorneys general requested information detailing the academy’s evidence for its current recommendations for puberty blockers for gender dysphoria-diagnosed youth.

“Most concerning, AAP claims that the use of puberty blockers on children is safe and reversible,” Labrador’s office said in a press release. “This assertion is not grounded in evidence and therefore may run afoul of consumer protection laws in most states.”...