Arizona
Arizona House committee moves to make Pluto official state planet
Joe Duhownik
PHOENIX (CN) — For 75 years after its discovery at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Pluto inched around the outskirts of our solar system known to all as the ninth planet from the sun.
But when the International Astronomical Union voted to strictly define what does and doesn’t qualify as a planet, Pluto didn’t quite meet the criteria.
Despite its 2006 downgrade to dwarf planet, the icy world three billion miles away has retained its planetary status in the hearts and minds of many citizens of Arizona — the only U.S. state in which a planet has been discovered.
That’s why state Representative Justin Wilmeth, a Republican from Phoenix, is pushing the Legislature to designate Pluto as the official planet of Arizona.
The bill he wrote to do so, House Bill 2477, just took one small step in its voyage toward law.
“There’s been some controversy recently of it being downgraded,” Wilmeth told the Arizona House Committee on Government Wednesday before the committee voted 8-1 in favor of the bill. “That’s not really the point of this bill. It’s to honor our state heritage, our state history and our strong astronomy background that we have.”
Wilmeth said he was inspired to write the bill after touring the Lowell Observatory in April. Its namesake, Arizona astronomer Percival Lowell, died in 1916 after spending more than a decade hunting for a mythical ninth planet.
Fourteen years after Lowell’s death, a 24-year-old astronomer named Clyde Tombough completed the search when he located the first of many objects in what would later be called the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy objects outside the orbit of Neptune.
The International Astronomical Union defines planets using three criteria:
- It is in orbit around the sun
- It is round in shape
- It has cleared its orbit of other debris
Pluto, which shares space with more than 100,000 other objects in the Kuiper Belt, doesn’t meet the third qualification. But that doesn’t matter to Wilmeth, who passed out “I Heart Pluto” stickers to guests at the hearing.
“In my opinion, a bunch of Europeans got mad that we made this discovery and downgraded it to a dwarf planet,” he joked to the committee.
Wilmeth wants the bill to “foster discussion and debate about a really cool part of Arizona history.”
Representatives from Lowell Observatory told the committee that the designation would also excite young students about historical and scientific discovery.
“Here’s an opportunity for a teacher to lead a discussion with the fact that Pluto is the state planet,” said Diane Phelps, who works at Lowell and wrote a children’s book about Pluto’s discovery. “[Students] will think that is oh so cool!”
Every year, the Lowell Observatory hosts the I Heart Pluto Festival in Flagstaff to celebrate the anniversary of its discovery.
“We have a lot of character in this state,” said Kevin Schindler, the observatory’s historian. “You think of cactus, you think of Arizona. You think of Pluto, you think of Arizona.”
Schindler suggested the legislature next add “cosmos” as the sixth C to the traditional five Cs of Arizona.
Amanda Bosh, a research astronomer at Lowell who began her career studying Pluto’s atmosphere, already considers Pluto to be the state’s unofficial state planet. “So let’s make it official,” she said.
If the bill becomes law, Pluto will join a long list of other “official” symbols of Arizona. Representative Nancy Gutierrez, a Democrat from Tucson, joked that she would like Wilmeth to change the official state drink from lemonade to margarita.
“That would be a friendly amendment to my bill,” Wilmeth replied.
Official state symbols include the bolo tie, the official state tie, and the Colt single action army revolver, the official state firearm.
Representative Steve Montenegro, a Republican from Goodyear, was the only member of the committee to vote against the bill.
“I genuinely do appreciate hearing the testimony from the individuals here,” he said. “I respect the sentiment. I want to learn a little bit more to understand it. I want to reserve that vote as we move forward.”
Montenegro hasn’t yet returned a phone call asking for an explanation of his vote.
Wilmeth joked that Montenegro isn’t invited to the legislative field trip to the Lowell Observatory when its astronomy discovery center opens in November.
“When little kids hear about this, they will fall in love with Pluto and think, ‘If that happened here, we can do anything in this state,’” Wilmeth said. ”And in 400 years, when we have a manned mission to Pluto, there better be an Arizonan on it.”
Arizona didn’t have the best start, but a long second half drained the life from Arizona State and sent the Wildcats back home to Tucson with a 23-7 victory, and the Territorial Cup in hand.
Brent Brennan’s first win in the rivalry series punctuates a dramatic turnaround for the program. After a 4-8 finish last season, Brennan’s aggressiveness in the portal, while retaining his roster, and making significant changes to the coaching staff, led to a 9-3 finish this time around.
The Wildcats have been great defensively all season long, and it showed up again on Friday night. The Wildcats forced five turnovers from ASU’s Jeff Sims, nabbing three interceptions and scooping up two fumbles.
According to Pro Football Focus, the Wildcats dominated the game defensively, despite only playing 20 minutes of the game. Here are the five highest-graded defenders from Arizona’s win (minimum 30 snaps).
Kennedy had a relatively quiet night in the box score, but was still effective on the edge. He made two tackles and had one pressure against the Sun Devils.
The edge rusher did a great job of keeping contain against Sims, not letting him scramble or beat the Wildcats with his legs. He did the same thing in the run game. With the exception of a few plays, ASU could only run the ball between the tackles, and the edges were a big reason why.
According to PFF, Kennedy had an overall grade of 68.3, with a tackling grade of 75.8, a run defense grade of 66.5 and a pass rush grade of 62.7.
Dansby had a big day locking down the perimeter with fellow corner Jay’Vion Cole limited to just eight snaps. The senior corner had two tackles, one pass breakup and an interception.
ASU’s first turnover of the day came as Sims was flushed from the pocket and made an errant throw toward the sideline, where Dansby dove and came up with the takeaway. He allowed just one short catch on five targets, but he also had a pass interference penalty.
Break out the turnover sword. 🗡️@dansby_michael with the INT. pic.twitter.com/pzFghLex4c
— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) November 29, 2025
According to PFF, Dansby had an overall grade of 68.9, with a coverage grade of 71.4, a tackling grade of 76.6 and a run defense grade of 56.1.
Wilson had a great day opposite Kennedy on the edge. He made six tackles and batted down two passes at the line of scrimmage in the win for Arizona.
Like Kennedy, Wilson did a great job of keeping ASU contained to the pocket or running between the tackles in traffic. He also had two hits on Sims as a pass rusher, making his presence felt.
According to PFF, Wilson had an overall grade of 69.0, with a tackling grade of 78.3, a run defense grade of 75.2 and a pass rush grade of 57.1.
Arizona’s safeties once again were flying around the field and always near the ball. Smith was huge against the run, making six tackles and deflecting one pass.
While tackling has been a problem for Smith this season, he was perfect against the Sun Devils. He played close to stop the run and also picked up one pressure. Smith didn’t allow any catches as the primary defender and made some key tackles downfield to prevent ASU from scoring.
According to PFF, Smith had an overall grade of 71.7, with a tackling grade of 82.9, a run defense grade of 74.6 and a coverage grade of 68.7.
Who else? Johnson was once again all over the field making plays. He made three tackles, two pass breakups, one interception and forced a fumble in the fourth quarter.
Johnson punched the ball away from Sims on a run with ASU driving into scoring range, and Arizona recovered and went on the score the final touchdown to seal the game. On the ensuing possession, Sims overshot his man and Johnson laid out to snatch the pick, the fifth and final takeaway of the day for the Wildcats.
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🌵 that’s four, fam. pic.twitter.com/VCwlvoY8yY— Arizona Football (@ArizonaFBall) November 29, 2025
According to PFF, Johnson had an overall grade of 83.3, by far his highest grade of the season. He also had a run defense grade of 92.7, a coverage grade of 71.3 and a tackling grade of 56.2.
What did you think of Arizona’s statement win over Arizona State? To let us know, follow us on our X account by clicking on the link.
Arizona has brought the Territorial Cup back to Tucson, winning the rivalry game with ASU for the third time in four seasons. And it did so despite some of the worst grades of the season for the team as a whole and the offense specifically.
The UA’s team grade of 69.1 ranked third-lowest in 2025, ironically ahead of two of the other wins in the current 5-game streak. The offensive grade of 62.6 was also better than only the recent wins over Kansas (57.2) and Colorado (55.5).
Defensively it was a different story. Arizona graded at 76.1, which was 6th-best, and its 90.3 run defense grade was the best of 2025.
For the season, Arizona’s overall grade of 87.5 ranks 39th in FBS. The defense is tied for 21st at 91.5. Compare those to a season ago when the Wildcats ranked 98th nationally and their defense was 118th out of 134 FBS schools.
Below are the snap counts and individual grades of all players who appeared on offense or defense at ASU:
Top overall grades (min. 20 snaps): S Dalton Johnson (83.3), S Genesis Smith (71.7), QB Noah Fifita (71.2), RT Matthew Lado (71.2), LB Riley Wilson (69.0)
Top pass blocking: RG Alexander Doost (85.5), LG Chubba Maae (81.6), RB Ismail Mahdi (76.2)
Top run blocking: RT Matthew Lado (66.2), WR Kris Hutson (62.7), WR Tre Spivey (61.9)
Top pass rushing: LB Chase Kennedy (62.7), CB Treydan Stukes (60.0), CB Michael Dansby (59.7)
Top run defense: Johnson (92.7), CB Ayden Garnes (77.0), Wilson (75.2)
Top tackling: Smith (82.9), Garnes (81.1), LB Taye Brown (79.1)
Top coverage: Dansby (71.4), Johnson (71.3), Smith (68.7)
PHOENIX – From the terrifying moment caught on camera of a wrong-way driver on I-10, to the duel in the desert as ASU takes on Arizona for the rivalry game, here’s a look at your top stories on FOX10Phoenix.com for Friday, Nov. 28, 2025.
1. Wrong-way driver caught on camera
What we know:
During the late night hours of Thanksgiving, a white pickup truck was seen heading the wrong way on Interstate 10’s HOV lane near Baseline Road.
2. Man found lying near roadway prompts hit-and-run investigation
3. Suspect in custody after shooting at South Phoenix apartment
4. Officers use less-lethal means to detain road rage suspect
5. ASU vs. U of A: Fans gear up for rivalry game
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