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Arizona lawmakers vote to impose contract on rail workers, fend off strike – Cronkite News – Arizona PBS

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Arizona lawmakers vote to impose contract on rail workers, fend off strike – Cronkite News – Arizona PBS


The Home gave bipartisan approval to a measure that will head off a potential nationwide rail strike by forcing employees to simply accept a tentative contract they’d rejected. The invoice now heads to the Senate for approval. (File picture courtesy Architect of the Capitol)

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WASHINGTON – Most members of Arizona’s congressional delegation joined the remainder of the Home Wednesday to provide overwhelming bipartisan approval to a invoice that will head off a nationwide rail strike by imposing contract phrases on rail employees’ unions.

However the delegation – and the Home – break up on occasion traces on a second proposal that will mandate paid sick go away for railroad employees, a key demand of unions that was largely rejected by administration within the newest tentative contract.

That contract was rejected in November by 4 of the 12 affected unions, setting the stage for a potential strike as early as subsequent week that lawmakers and the Biden administration mentioned can be crippling to the nation’s economic system.

That led President Joe Biden, whose administration helped dealer the tentative contract that was provided to union rank-and-file in September, to name on Congress to cross laws forcing the unions to simply accept the tentative settlement.

“With out the knowledge of a ultimate vote to keep away from a shutdown this week, railroads will start to halt the motion of important supplies like chemical substances to wash our consuming water as quickly as this weekend,” Biden mentioned in a press release after Wednesday’s Home votes.

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The measures nonetheless must cross the Senate earlier than heading to Biden, who has promised to signal them.

The votes put Democrats – together with Biden, who likes to name himself probably the most pro-union president in historical past – within the uncomfortable place of forcing union members to work below a contract they’d rejected. However most mentioned the financial affect of a strike was too nice to not act, they usually clung to the paid go away measure as cowl.

“Whereas I don’t imagine the tentative settlement goes far sufficient, the votes as we speak keep away from a devastating financial shutdown and supply an extra seven days of paid go away for rail employees,” mentioned Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, who mentioned the Biden administration ought to have pushed more durable for sick go away within the tentative settlement.

Arizona’s Home delegation break up on occasion traces on Home Concurrent Decision 119, which known as for seven days of paid sick go away, with all 5 Democrats supporting it and all 4 Republicans opposing it. The total Home voted 221-207 for the invoice, with simply three Republicans crossing the aisle to vote with Democrats in assist.

Home Joint Decision 100, which might pressure the tentative settlement on the employees to avert a strike, drew 79 Republicans, who joined 211 Democrats to approve it by a 290-137 vote.

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In Arizona, Republican Reps. Andy Biggs of Gilbert and David Schweikert of Fountain Hills voted in opposition to the measure. They didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark Wednesday, however Biggs, like many Republicans, took the chance to criticize Biden on Twitter.

“Congress mustn’t must bail out Joe Biden’s failed negotiations with railroad unions,” Biggs tweeted earlier than the vote Wednesday. “A lot for him being probably the most ‘pro-union’ president in American historical past.”

Biden appointed a Presidential Emergency Board to work with unions and railroads on a tentative contract. That proposal included a 24% pay elevate and was signed off on by leaders of all 12 unions, however was rejected by members in subsequent votes – apparently over the shortage of paid go away.

“The true large stickler amongst many people that had been voting on this contract, that what they didn’t handle, the sick time, all we had been getting was at some point,” mentioned state Rep. Richard Andrade, D-Glendale, who can also be a member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen.

Andrade mentioned he was not shocked by the Home vote – “We knew this was going to occur” – however nonetheless known as it “unhappy that Congress, that they must try this, however that’s the place we’re at.”

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“There’s no approach on the earth, the president or Congress permits us to go on strike,” mentioned Andrade, who works for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe rail yard in Winslow.

“I imply, company greed has taken over. They usually’re attempting to get us to do extra with much less from working longer trains, with much less crews, to not having any day off,” he mentioned. “And that is what we’ve at all times mentioned – this isn’t in regards to the pay, 24% pay elevate is nice.”

Like many Democrats, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick, D-Tucson, cited her assist for the added go away in HR 119.

“Immediately, I voted so as to add seven days sick go away to the rail settlement as a result of employees on this nation need to be handled with dignity and respect,” Kirkpatrick mentioned in a press release. “I’m hopeful the Senate will do the best factor and retain the extra sick go away, in any other case we’re leaving a few of America’s important workforce out to dry in these negotiations.”

Grijalva vowed to “proceed to struggle to make sure we shield collective bargaining rights and champion paid go away for employees throughout each trade.”

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Andrade mentioned there’s not a lot employees can do at this level besides watch the Senate, which he hopes will reject the bundle in order that the Presidential Emergency Board can resume talks.

“It’s such as you’re watching the practice coming into the station, and there’s nothing you are able to do about it to cease it from coming into the station,” Andrade mentioned.





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Arizona Cardinals NFL draft picks 2024: Full list of team’s round-by-round selections

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Arizona Cardinals NFL draft picks 2024: Full list of team’s round-by-round selections


Here is a 2024 NFL draft pick-by-pick breakdown for the Arizona Cardinals:

Round 1 (No. 4 overall)

Round 1 (27, from Texans)

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Round 2 (35)

Round 3 (66)

Round 3 (71, from Titans)

Round 3 (90, from Texans)

Round 4 (104)

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Round 5 (138)

Round 5 (162, from Texans)

Round 6 (186, from Vikings)

Round 7 (226, from Giants)

Arizona Cardinals’ recent top draft picks

  • 2023 (No. 6 overall): Paris Johnson Jr., OT, Ohio State
  • 2022 (No. 55 overall): Trey McBride, TE, Colorado State
  • 2021 (No. 22 overall): Caleb Farley, CB, Virginia Tech
  • 2020 (No. 29 overall): Isaiah Wilson, OT, Georgia
  • 2019 (No. 19 overall): Jeffery Simmons, DT, Mississippi State

Previous drafts: 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020



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Arizona Just Indicted a Bunch of Trump Associates. Some Are Notably Missing.

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Arizona Just Indicted a Bunch of Trump Associates. Some Are Notably Missing.


A grand jury in Arizona has returned an indictment for several close associates of former President Donald Trump as well as lower-level individuals who served as false electors in Arizona during the 2020 presidential election. The Office of Attorney General Kris Mayes has charged all of them with a conspiracy under Arizona state law to overturn the popular vote in the state.

The list of indicted co-defendants includes seven national figures: Mark Meadows, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Boris Epshteyn, Mike Roman, Jenna Ellis, and Christina Bobb.

The 11 other co-defendants are all the false electors in the 2020 election. That list notably includes Kelli Ward, who served as the chair of the Arizona Republican Party during the 2020 presidential election.

Notably, like Georgia, criminal trials in Arizona can be publicly broadcast.

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Some highlights follow.

The Conspicuous Absence of Donald Trump

The Arizona indictment raises a question. How is it possible that Trump’s two alter egos have been indicted but the former president—the ego in that equation—has not?

The two alter egos are Trump White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani. Trump’s absence from the indicted co-defendants list is all the more puzzling since Trump is identifiable as “Unindicted Coconspirator 1” in the attorney general’s court filings. Coincidentally, on Wednesday, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office testified in that state’s court that Trump, Meadows, and Giuliani are “unindicted co-conspirators” in the Michigan state prosecution of false electors.

A great deal of evidence shows that Meadows and Giuliani helped lead the multipronged efforts to overturn the election, acting on behalf of Trump.

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Giuliani

The federal indictment of Trump, for example, refers to Giuliani as “Co-Conspirator 1,” including for his allegedly helping orchestrate—on behalf of Trump—the false electors scheme across the seven swing states, including Arizona. The federal indictment also states that Trump worked directly with Giuliani in pressuring Arizona state officials to overturn the popular vote, including calling the Republican Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives Rusty Bowers, in which they “made knowingly false claims of election fraud aimed at interfering with the ascertainment of and voting by Arizona’s electors.”

Meadows

The Jan. 6 House Select Committee final report has the greatest details of Meadows’ deep involvement in the false electors scheme on behalf of Trump. For Meadows, indicted in Georgia, his own court filings in that state claim—or admit—that he was acting in service of the then president.

One can only speculate as to why Trump might be excluded from but the other two men included in the Arizona indictment. One reason might have to do with direct evidence for Meadows and Giuliani that is lacking for Trump—especially as the former president acted in part through them as intermediaries and conduits. Another reason may be the exercise of “prosecutorial discretion.” Yet another could be that prosecutors submitted the question to the jury but an insufficient number of jurors approved of charging the former president. Or it could be some other reason entirely.

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Tuesday’s indictment may not be the final word on whether Trump will be indicted in Arizona. Another shoe may have yet to drop. But the current situation cries out for an explanation of how Trump’s two key agents—Giuliani and Meadows—are included in the list of indicted individuals but Trump himself is not.

The Conspicuous Absence of Kenneth Chesebro

Kenneth Chesebro has properly been called “a chief architect” of the false electors scheme. He is identifiable as Co-Conspirator 5 in the federal indictment of Trump, and he has pleaded guilty in the prosecution in Fulton County, Georgia.

Chesebro has so far escaped prosecution in other states where false electors are under indictment. His protection from prosecution appears to be on the basis that he “cooperated” with those investigations. However, recent investigative reporting by CNN and others has revealed that Chesebro apparently made false statements to state prosecutors in Michigan and Nevada while feigning cooperation with their respective criminal investigations of false electors. (See also this analysis of flaws with his proffer agreement in Georgia.)

That all is now fairly well known to close observers of these cases. Why, then, the Arizona indictment excludes Chesebro is a mystery. Prosecutors in Michigan and Nevada have decided not to seek indictments of anyone at the national level and instead focused only on false electors in their states. But in Arizona that’s different, as the prosecutors have now charged several out-of-state individuals who were involved in the nationally coordinated effort to overturn the election results. But not Chesebro. Earlier reports were that Chesebro was “cooperating” with the Arizona prosecutors, and that may explain it.

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The Indictment of Boris Epshteyn and Christina Bobb

Two new figures have been added to the list of Trump’s associates now under indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the presidential election: Boris Epshteyn and Christina Bobb.

In the federal indictment, it appears that Epshteyn may be unindicted “Co-Conspirator 6” (see this analysis by the New York Times’ Maggie Haberman, Jonathan Swan, and Luke Broadwater). In the Fulton County indictment, previous analysis at Just Security identified Epshteyn as most likely one of the unindicted co-conspirators (“Individual 3”).

A Potential Trump Presidency and Pressure on Defendants to Flip

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Criminal defendants in the Arizona 2020 election interference prosecution, as well as elsewhere, like Fulton County, Georgia, may have reasons to flip and cooperate with prosecutors due to the prospect of a Trump presidency.

A president cannot issue pardons for state crimes, and his or her control over the Department of Justice does not extend to state law enforcement authorities. The state-level prosecutions of false electors and other Trump associates—in Arizona and elsewhere—will accordingly proceed whether or not Trump wins election. But he himself has a high likelihood of being deemed immune (by the Supreme Court if it comes to that) from state and local criminal prosecutions while in office. In other words, co-defendants and co-conspirators may be left holding the bag. That dawning reality may create incentives for some of these individuals to cooperate with law enforcement authorities sooner than later.





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Former Arizona State guard Austin Nunez commits to Sun Devils

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Former Arizona State guard Austin Nunez commits to Sun Devils


Former Arizona State guard Austin Nunez is coming back to the Sun Devils after spending one season at Ole Miss.

Nunez played a reserve role as a freshman for the Sun Devils before transferring to Ole Miss as a sophomore for the 2023-24 season.

Nunez took home Pac-12 player of the week honors on Nov. 21, 2022. The lefty scorer posted 10 points against VCU and another 15 in only 22 minutes versus Michigan.

As a freshman, he missed the Sun Devils’ final eight games of the year due to a concussion he suffered in mid-February.

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He was not activated until the NCAA Tournament, but he did not return to Bobby Hurley’s rotation.

He averaged 4.5 points and 0.9 assists on 41.5% shooting in 16.3 minutes per game during his first season with the Sun Devils.

He played sparingly at Ole Miss during his sophomore season, averaging 0.7 points, 0.6 rebounds and 0.6 assists over 6.7 minutes per game.

Nunez was ranked by 247Sports as a top-75 recruit in the country. He originally joined center Duke Brennan as the first two prospects in ASU’s 2022 class.

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