Arizona
Arizona early childhood care COVID-19 relief funds expire this summer

A classroom sits empty in Imagination Childcare and Preschool in Litchfield Park as children play outside on April 2. Families at this preschool have received funding from Quality First, a quality rating and improvement program. (Photo by Kevinjonah Paguio/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – Early childhood care and education programs struggled to recruit, retain staff and meet labor costs before the COVID-19 pandemic. Then the worldwide shutdown made matters worse, as parents turned their homes into conference rooms, classrooms and day care centers.
According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 2023 Kids Count Data Book, 16% of children 6 and under in Arizona had a family member quit, change or refuse a job because of child care problems. In fact, the 2023 report ranked Arizona 39th overall for child well-being, noting an annual cost of $10,883 for “center-based child care.”
“Families struggled to find affordable child care, child care programs struggled to keep up with their labor costs, but once the pandemic hit everything, you know, everything, all these problems just got bigger,” said Heidi Walton, program specialist at First Things First.

Heidi Walton, program specialist at First Things First, speaks on child care funding: “Families struggled to find affordable child care, child care programs struggled to keep up with their labor costs.” (Photo courtesy of Heidi Walton)
First Things First, Arizona’s Early Childhood Development and Health Board, invests funds to improve and maintain early childhood care across the state. Many of its funds come from a tobacco tax approved by Arizona voters in 2006. In 2021, the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES) received $1.3 billion in additional federal funding for its Child Care and Development Fund from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.
The federal funds were used by First Things First to expand Quality First, a quality rating and improvement program. Quality First services were extended to an additional 400 care centers across the state that had high ratings for providing quality care for families and children in the care of the Department of Child Safety.
The DES also increased child care reimbursement rates from 35% to 50% for programs with at least a three-star rating and allocated funds to increase Quality First scholarships for essential workers and for families who could not afford care. All of these efforts worked together to eliminate the list of families waiting to get access to the facilities rated by Quality First.
But with federal pandemic relief funds set to expire on June 30, child care accessibility and affordability could be at risk for both families and care providers, as scholarships and increased reimbursement rates shrink.
Families face child care dilemma

Chalk drawings outside of Imagination Childcare and Preschool in Litchfield Park on April 2. (Photo by Kevinjonah Paguio/Cronkite News)
Jacqueline Cordera is particularly worried about the loss of those relief funds.
When Cordera prepared to enroll her daughter in the same preschool her son attends, Imagination Childcare and Preschool in Litchfield Park, she realized she couldn’t afford it.
“I go back to work relatively quickly after I have my children just because I can’t afford to be off,” Cordera said. “So when it came to putting my daughter in, it was just, well, how the heck am I going to do this? Like, am I going to have to start working or stop working?”
The director of the facility directed Cordera to Quality First, where she got scholarships that let her put both children in the school. But she worries for the future as funds are set to expire.
“You have no idea what to expect,” Cordera said. “We’re just kind of sitting here waiting and wondering what’s going to happen and if we’re going to have to pull our kids from day care to find something else we can afford.”
More than 1,300 care and preschool providers benefit from Quality First funding. Staff members receive professional development training and guidance on center improvements. Funds can also be used to improve a facility’s library and learning materials, classroom furniture, outdoor equipment and building maintenance. Care centers have access to Quality First health care, mental health and special needs experts to meet the varied needs of students.
Before pandemic relief funds came into play, hundreds of families and providers had to wait for care; the looming expiration of pandemic relief funds could place those providers and families back on the waitlist. Families may lose scholarships or access to a Quality First-rated care center or preschool.
Some Arizona legislators are looking at ways to allocate funds for early childhood care across the state. Gov. Katie Hobbs proposed investing $100 million from the general fund for child care in her fiscal 2025 budget earlier this year. DES press secretary Tasya C. Peterson said efforts like this are essential to support quality child care in Arizona.
Raising the bar

A children’s book peeks out of a cubby at Imagination Childcare and Preschool in Litchfield on April 2. (Photo by Kevinjonah Paguio/Cronkite News)
While the 2020 Kids Count Data Book ranked Arizona 42nd for overall child well-being, the state rose to 39th in the 2023 Kids Count Data Book, boosted by decreases in the percentage of kids living in poverty, kids raised by single parents, teenage pregnancies and kids whose parents don’t have a high school diploma. Still, Arizona’s consistently low rankings are attributed in part to children living with high housing costs, children whose parents don’t have stable jobs and young children not attending school.
Child care advocates emphasize the need to adjust provider-to-child ratios in care centers and increase affordability.
Barbie Prinster, executive director for the Arizona Early Childhood Education Association, and Kelley Murphy, vice president of policy at the Children’s Action Alliance, worry about the threat that unaffordable child care poses to employers.

Kelley Murphy, vice president of policy at the Children’s Action Alliance, says early childhood care is “an economic development issue for the state.” (Photo courtesy of Kelley Murphy)
“It’s a business issue,” Murphy said. “It’s an economic development issue for the state. If I’m an employer and I need employees who can’t get child care, they can’t come to work. We can’t attract business to the state if we can’t hire employees.”
According to Murphy, some families pay 20% to 30% of their income on child care, leaving many to decide between child care and unemployment. Scholarships can help some families, and child care assistance from the DES is available to families at or below 165% of the poverty level, but those above that income level have to find assistance elsewhere.
Bill Berk, CEO of Small Miracles Education, said 90% to 95% of families at Small Miracles will be hit hard by the loss of pandemic relief funds. Small Miracles owns 15 preschools across the state, many of which offer education for low-income families with the help of Quality First.
“One of our core beliefs for Small Miracles is that every child deserves a high-quality learning experience and we hope that our schools can appeal to families of all demographics ,” Berk said.
According to First Things First, 90% of a child’s brain develops by age 5. Preschools and day care centers that offer early social and learning opportunities can help prepare children for kindergarten and further education, according to industry advocates and professionals.

Barbie Prinster, executive director for the Arizona Early Childhood Education Association, expresses concern about the future of Quality First providers, “We really don’t know what’s going to happen after that,” she says. (Photo courtesy of Barbie Prinster)
The HighScope Perry Preschool Project, started in 1962, tracked kids who participated in high-quality early learning programs and found they had a 19% lower arrest rate than kids who did not. Children in the control group who weren’t in the program were five times more likely to engage with the criminal justice system.
“Research tells us that kids that have high quality, early education experiences, arrive at kindergarten more ready to learn,” Murphy said. “They tend to have higher third grade reading scores, which then goes on to mean that they are more likely to graduate from high school, which means they’re less likely to end up in the prison system or on welfare.”
Child care experts say maintaining high-quality early childhood education is critical for the development of future generations. The Pima Early Education Program Scholarship works to improve access and affordability of care throughout the county, but legislators and providers want to see stable funding on the state level.
With the June 30 deadline approaching, providers are wondering how to help families navigate the potential loss of child care assistance.
“We really don’t know what’s going to happen after that,” Prinster said. “That’s been the hardest, I think, thing to swallow.”

Arizona
Arizona AG demands answers over Social Security service ‘breakdowns’

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says her office is demanding answers after reported failures and disruptions at the Social Security Administration.
In a letter dated Tuesday, the attorney general asked for steps to be taken to address a service crisis reported by seniors, people with disabilities, and low-income residents in Arizona. According to state officials, the AG’s office has received hundreds of reports related to delayed payments, wrongful benefit suspensions, and an inability to reach the office by phone or in person.
“The Social Security Administration is failing the very people it was created to serve,” said Mayes. “From lost payments to seven-hour hold times to field offices turning away walk-ins, the stories we’ve heard from Arizonans are heartbreaking — and completely unacceptable. The Trump administration has an obligation to deliver these benefits promptly, and right now it is not meeting those obligations.”
The AG’s office is calling out Elon Musk, who led the Department of Government Efficiency and claimed that Social Security is “riddled” with fraud, despite the SSA’s Inspector General stating less than 1% of payments over a seven-year period were improper.
“Arizonans deserve a Social Security Administration that works — not one hollowed out by misinformation, mismanagement, and neglect,” said Mayes. “I urge the Trump administration to act now and restore lawful, accessible, and appropriate service for the people of Arizona.”
Mayes’ actions come after Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a fellow Democrat, also called out the new anti-fraud checks following a report from NextGov, a news publication that covers technology within the federal government, found only two out of 110,000 were potentially fraudulent.
Last month, CNN reported that the Social Security Administration was pushing back the rollout of the new measure.
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Copyright 2025 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.
Arizona
Arizona family demands answers after stolen dog was found dead in Loxley

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) – A dog stolen in Arizona was found on the side of a road in Loxley.
Loxley Police said the Australian Shepherd was reported missing from Phoenix in 2023 and was discovered dead off County Road 68 last Thursday.
“At that point, that’s when they had mentioned that they had him and it wasn’t in the way that we had expected,” said the dog’s owner Aubrey Garcia. “They had said that he had been found tied up on the side of a dirt road, and he had his mouth bound, and he was deceased.”
It was the worst news possible for Aubrey Garcia. A phone call from 1700 miles away delivered devastation. The Phoenix, Arizona woman heard what happened to Kiyo, her missing Australian Shepherd from a Loxley Police officer. The details were very disturbing.
Investigators said Kiyo had noticeable trauma to his body and a rope tied around his mouth.
“It’s like 1700 miles straight down the I-10,” said Garcia. “I mean when I looked it up, I was like Loxley…I never heard of Loxley, Alabama.”
Garcia said what happened to Kiyo was her worst nightmare after searching for him for almost two years. She said she will never forget the day he disappeared from their backyard.
“I went out into the backyard after cleaning out his box and realizing that only two of my dogs were home and panic set in very, very quickly,” she said.
Garcia said her family frantically searched the neighborhood for hours, but it wasn’t until a few days later when someone in the area reported seeing what looked to be Kiyo taken by someone in a black SUV. She said ring camera footage didn’t give them the answer they were looking for.
“We just couldn’t get a clear shot of the vehicle at the time because it was it was 10:30 at night at this point four-door black car couldn’t make out make a model,” she said. “All they could all they could see is that it was in a really beat-up condition and that’s really what we had to go off of.”
Loxley Police said a witness reported seeing a four door sedan in the area where Kiyo was found on Thursday. While detectives continue investigating, Garcia has a message for the person responsible for Kiyo’s death.
“You deserve everything, everything that’s going to happen if you’re caught because you had every opportunity for you to do the right thing and return him when we gave so many outlets to return him anonymously,” she said. “You could’ve left him to the side of that dirt road without his mouth being bound and maybe he would’ve made it home.”
Garcia said Kiyo’s remains will be cremated and sent back to Phoenix. Loxley Police are asking anyone with any information about what happened to Kiyo to come forward.
Copyright 2025 WALA. All rights reserved.
Arizona
Why Arizona State Football is ‘America’s Team’

Fans of the Arizona State football program have spent much of the last three decades on an emotional roller coaster.
The continued patience is seemingly paying off in the present day.
The program has built up unbelievable momentum less than three years removed from the Herm Edwards era – and people are noticing in the best terms possible.
Josh Pate of CBS Sports took to his podcast earlier in the week to touch on a wide variety of college football topics – including heavily praising Arizona State.
Pate was asked who “America’s team” is by a listener who cited his ongoing opinion that the Big 12 is ‘America’s conference’ – his response?
Arizona State.
“Yes. They’re in the Big 12. It’s Arizona State.”
“Number one, it’s not an SEC or Big Ten team. Not only is it not a power two program, it’s not Clemson or Notre Dame, or like Miami, but the program was left for dead.”
“I want to remind people that it’s not all that long ago that Herm Edwards was the head coach there and the program was going nowhere fast and then you’ve got the sanctions and you’ve got the firings and the program just spiraled into the desert and if you looked at it at the time you would have thought it’s going to be a decade before we ever hear anything about Arizona State football again.”
Pate then went on to heap praise onto head coach Kenny Dillingham, citing his passion for the program, overall loyalty, and overall likability as all the more reason that the Sun Devil football program is his answer when it comes to the ‘America’s team’ discussion.
Dillingham has undoubtedly cast a substantial amount of likability around the Arizona State program – his players respond well to his coaching, he has chosen a staff that works extremely well together, and his infectious energy has reflected in a resurgence in fan interest.
The nation is beginning to catch on as well – as the near-upset over Texas in the Peach Bowl on New Year’s Day captivated viewers in what was one of the most watched games of the 2024 season.
The bottom line? Arizona State is everything that is right with the modern landscape of college football.
The program boasts a loyal fanbase. The roster is hungry and generally likable. Dillingham exhibits equal parts professionalism and passion.
Lastly, they are quickly becoming the class of a conference that doesn’t carry the same baggage as the SEC or Big 10.
The future is bright in Tempe.
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