Arizona

Arizona prisons director defends practice of lowering inmate custody level

Published

8 months ago

May 30, 2025

Arizona prisons director defends practice of lowering inmate custody level

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Ricky Wassenaar was already serving 16 life sentences for his role in an escape attempt and hostage standoff at the Lewis Complex prison in Buckeye in 2004. For the past 20 years, he remained mostly out of the limelight, serving his time.

But in April of this year, Wassenaar attacked three inmates in the Cimarron Unit of the state prison in Tucson, killing them, and sparking a controversy over how he was able to carry out the murders and how he had access to other inmates in the first place.

“I would have killed at least seven. My goal was at least seven,” Wassenaar told True Crime Arizona’s Briana Whitney, in a phone interview. She said he seemed excited to talk about it, bragging that he had provided a service, because the inmates he killed were sex offenders.

According to Wassenaar’s inmate profile, at the end of 2024, he was moved out of maximum security, where he had been for decades, and into close custody, which is a slightly lower level of security.

“He was max custody and then he was put out in close custody, which means he gets to walk among them (other inmates),” said Rodney Carr, who is a former warden in the Arizona prison system.

He left the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry after Gov. Katie Hobbs hired Ryan Thornell as the new director. Thornell came to Arizona from Maine, where he was deputy commissioner of a prison system a fraction the size of Arizona’s.

“I worked for a lot of directors and not always that I agreed with. But that’s my job. Well, with him it got to the point where I couldn’t,” said Carr.

Carr and another former warden, as well as several correctional officers, reached out to Arizona’s Family Investigates with similar complaints: that the department under Thornell’s leadership was moving maximum security inmates into close custody, where it costs less and requires fewer correctional officers to oversee the inmates.

“Under the way they’re managing maximum security inmates in a closed custody environment, staff are going to get hurt,” said Carr.

In an interview with Arizona’s Family Investigates, Thornell said he is moving inmates out of maximum security. “That is absolutely something we are doing. Just like every other department of corrections across the country must do. It’s a practice and we are doing that here,” said Thornell.

He said 90 to 95% of inmates who are in custody will eventually be released into the community, including those in maximum security. And Thornell said keeping them in maximum security the entire time they are in prison is not good for the community once they are released. He said the effect the isolation of maximum custody has on inmates is real and often negative.

“How can I say that somebody in max custody is OK to release into local Arizona, but they’re not OK to release into a close custody yard that still has fences or razor wire?” he said.

When asked if it was a mistake to take Wassenaar out of maximum custody, Thornell said no, but he couched his answer.

“Hindsight is always 20/20, right? So, knowing what I know today, should we have moved him out of max custody? Yes, we should have. Would I do it knowing the facts that I have at my disposal today? Knowing what he did then? No, I wouldn’t. But the practice was sound. It’s still a sound practice,” he said.

Thornell acknowledged that the number of violent incidents in close custody has increased, but he denied that it was the result of max-custody inmates creating more problems.

“It’s easy for a warden, a former warden, to come forward and say, ‘20 years ago, that’s not how we did it.’ Well, 20 years ago, nobody cared who we were releasing back into the community,” said Thornell.

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Arizona

Arizona restaurant named most romantic in US, and 5 others in top 100

Published

5 hours ago

January 28, 2026

Press Room

Arizona restaurant named most romantic in US, and 5 others in top 100

Ahead of Valentine’s Day, the biggest date night of the year, Yelp revealed its list of the 100 most romantic restaurants in the U.S., and six Arizona restaurants made the cut.

The list was compiled using data from reviews posted by Yelp’s Elite members, ranking restaurants that offered features like “candlelit ambiance, breathtaking views, or indulgent culinary creations” based on the total volume and ratings of reviews.

How many dates have you been on at the cozy Arizona restaurants that made Yelp’s 2026 list? Here’s a closer look at the six date-night-approved restaurants that got a shout-out this year, including one named best in the U.S.

Cafe Monarch

Cafe Monarch has once again been named the No. 1 most romantic restaurant in the U.S. by Yelp. The Old Town Scottsdale restaurant offers prix fixe four-course dinners. It is known for its elegant architecture and the staff’s fine attention to detail. A strict dress code is enforced.

Details: 6939 E. First Ave., Scottsdale. 480-970-7682, cafemonarch.com.

Cibo

Cibo, an intimate Italian restaurant nestled inside a historic bungalow in downtown Phoenix, was No. 3 on Yelp’s list. Guests can choose to sit inside the cozy house or outside on the patio, draped with twinkling string lights and greenery. The menu includes wood-fired pizzas, house-made pastas, saltimbocca bread, salads and crepes.

Details: 603 N. Fifth Ave., Phoenix. 602-441-2697, cibophoenix.com.

Dahl & DiLuca Ristorante Italiano

Chef Lisa Dahl’s Sedona fine dining restaurant was No. 14 on Yelp’s list. Dahl & DiLuca Ristorante Italiano was praised by Yelp Elites for its “elegant ambiance, ornate decor, and welcoming, attentive service.”

Details: 2321 W. Highway 89A, Sedona. 928-282-5219, dahlanddiluca.com.

LON’s at the Hermosa Inn

LON’s restaurant at the Hermosa Inn was No. 83 on Yelp’s list. Yelp Elites shouted out the restaurant for its “Southwestern fine dining with adobe-chic elegance and stunning desert views… contemporary American dishes, from mesquite-grilled steaks to cactus-fed lamb, amid a lush patio garden.”

Details: 5532 N. Palo Cristi Road, Paradise Valley. 602-955-7878, azhideawaycollection.com/hermosa-inn.

Different Pointe of View

Different Pointe of View, located at the Hilton Phoenix Tapatio Cliffs Resort, was No. 85 on Yelp’s list. The hotel and restaurant reside atop North Mountain in Phoenix. Menu highlights include prime beef tenderloin tartare, 30-day aged ribeye, prickly pear miso-glazed salmon, or, if you’re feeling adventurous, a surprise daily feature from the chef.

Details: 11111 N. Seventh St., Phoenix. 602-866-6350, tapatiocliffshilton.com/dining.

The Mission Old Town

The Mission Old Town was No. 92 on Yelp’s list. Yelp Elites especially liked the restaurant’s “tableside guacamole, slow-roasted meats, and killer margaritas” as well as the “vibrant ambiance and top-notch service.”

Details: 3815 N. Brown Ave., Scottsdale. 480-636-5005, themissionaz.com.

Reach the reporter at eddie.fontanez@azcentral.com. Follow @ERFontanez on Instagram.

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Arizona

Jordan Burks’ clutch plays enable UCF to edge Arizona State

Published

17 hours ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

Jordan Burks’ clutch plays enable UCF to edge Arizona State

January 28 – Jordan Burks hit a go-ahead 3-pointer and forced a turnover in the final 34 seconds as UCF rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to pull off a 79-76 Big 12 win over Arizona State on Tuesday night in Orlando, Fla.

Riley Kugel paced the Knights (16-4, 4-3 Big 12) with 17 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Burks added 15 points and three steals while Jamichael Stillwell posted 14 points.

Maurice Odum produced 18 points and six assists for the Sun Devils (11-10, 2-6), who never trailed in the second half until 1:11 to go. Anthony Johnson added 12 points and Bryce Ford had 11.

UCF took its first lead of the second half on Carmelo Pacheco’s 3-pointer with 1:11 to go. Odum answered with a pair of free throws to regain a 1-point edge.

Burks then took a diagonal feed from Kugel and canned the wide-open 3-pointer for a 78-76 lead. After Burks swiped an Odum pass, Themus Fulks tacked on a free throw. Ford’s deep ball at the buzzer was errant to give the Knights the comeback victory.

UCF shot 45% from the floor and held a 40-28 advantage in rebounding. The Sun Devils hit 47% from the field and made 10 of 23 (43%) from deep.

UCF sprinted to a 9-2 lead behind Bol’s layup and dunk, but the Sun Devils battled back and grabbed a 12-11 lead on Johnson’s 27-footer three minutes later.

Nearing the 10-minute mark, Kugel faked a defender, drove to his right and threw down a vicious dunk for a 16-14 lead to bring the UCF crowd to life as part of a 7-0 run.

Allen Mukeba’s tomahawk dunk on a 3-point play put the Sun Devils up 24-22 at the 6:13 mark. Odom’s deep ball at 5:34 gave the visitors their largest lead at 27-22 on the way to a 39-35 lead at the break.

The second half was played tightly over the first eight minutes, with the Sun Devils holding a slim lead that extended to five, 52-47, on Andrija Grbovic’s trey at 11:22.

Grbovic stroked another 3-pointer and Noah Meeusen converted three free throws. Odum’s 3-pointer with 8:26 capped a 9-0 run that pushed the lead to 61-51.

With 6:09 remaining, the lead grew to 70-58 on Massamba Diop’s two freebies — Arizona State’s largest advantage — but the Knights mounted a charge and tied it with 2:39 left on Fulks’ pair of free throws that wrapped an 11-0 run.

–Field Level Media

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Arizona

Data centers are good for Arizona. Here’s why | Opinion

Published

1 day ago

January 27, 2026

Press Room

Data centers are good for Arizona. Here’s why | Opinion

Data centers have gotten a bad rap lately, but here’s why we think they are actually good for Arizona. It starts with jobs.

Stephen Richer and Josh Heywood
| For The Republic

Arizona data centers have generated a lot of political heat in recent weeks.

At her State of the State address, Gov. Katie Hobbs questioned the social benefit of data centers and signaled an interest in reinstating a sales tax on data center equipment purchases. Neal Carter, a Republican state legislator, agrees with Hobbs. So too might Republican state legislator Leo Biasiucci.

A month ago, the Chandler City Council unanimously rejected a proposed data center despite the lobbying efforts of former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. Hundreds of Chandler residents filled the auditorium for the vote, and 256 residents submitted online comments opposing the data center.

In Tucson, the city council unanimously rejected connecting a large data center (Project Blue) to the city’s water system. Attorney General Kris Mayes is now looking deeper into Project Blue, Tucson Electric Power and the Arizona Corporation Commission.

Here at The Arizona Republic, the opinion section published an editorial on Jan. 20 (Arizona data centers bring hidden water risks), and the news section printed an article on Jan. 18 (Gas power plant for data center project stirs concerns in Surprise), both of which cast data centers in a less-than-flattering light.

And earlier this week, handfuls of speakers at the Corporation Commission blamed data centers for proposed APS rate hikes.

Each situation has its own complexities and justifications (and I’ll get into some of them in future weeks). Some opposition is more factually substantiated than others. But they’re all rooted in a suspicion that these large warehouses of computer servers that power the modern world are no longer great things for Arizona.

Arizona data center benefits starts with jobs

If we may be so bold, and to set the stage for future articles here at the Republic, here are a few reasons why Arizona should celebrate our position as a top 10 state for data centers:

Jobs. It’s not just the people employed by data centers (many of which are high-paying jobs), but the ancillary jobs needed by data centers: contracted electricians, carpenters, pipefitters, HVAC technicians, etc. PricewaterhouseCoopers (“PwC”) found that data centers accounted for 81,000 jobs in Arizona as of 2023.
Taxes. It’s the start of the state legislative season and, sadly, this is going to be one of those years in which we hear lots about the things we can’t afford. But data centers help that equation. According to the same PwC report, data centers generated $2.3 billion in state and local tax revenue from 2017 to 2021. That means money for schools and roads. Or lower state income taxes (as happened).
Tech center. It’s a truism that tech begets other tech. We’ve said this as we’ve celebrated the massive expansions of TSMC and Intel. It’s also true of data centers. And if proprietors of data centers – companies like Amazon and Microsoft – are happy with Arizona as a data center home, they’ll likely consider Arizona a home for other tech investments.
Buying unwanted power. Normal businesses use power during the day (8 am-5 pm). Homes use power during the evening (5-11 pm). But few users demand power overnight (11 pm-8 am). This means we often have to dump unsold power. But data centers need power around the clock, and they can buy that overnight power, generating revenue for Arizona utility companies that then doesn’t have to be generated from Arizona households.

Those are the benefits.

Detractors focus on power, water and land. They’re all important, but solvable.

On power, public utilities can, and should, ensure data centers pay for all the power they use–not the public. The Salt River Project (SRP) website states this explicitly on its website. APS announced a proposed 45% increase on data center electricity costs to “make sure that (data centers) will continue to pay their fair share.” The recent agreement between Tucson Electric Power and Project Blue intends to do the same. And some data centers are even looking at generating their own power.

Data centers aren’t our biggest water worry

Regarding water, data centers have gotten so efficient at water use that, in some cases, they would use less water than vacant warehouses (of which there are, sadly, many). The Project Blue data center before Tucson City Council promised to be water-positive for the city, and other cities, such as Chandler have proposed caps on water usage by data centers. These caps are the same that apply to other businesses; data centers don’t get a special water deal. And, really, if you’re looking to pin water woes on any industry, it’s not chip-manufacturing, and it’s not data centers. It’s farming (over 70% of Arizona’s water supply goes to agriculture).

Lastly, regarding land, of course people don’t want to have neighborhoods disrupted by massive warehouses. And nobody should feel like they got into a bidding war with a data center for a home in a cute, quiet neighborhood. That’s why we have noise ordinances and zoning laws. Arizona still has plenty of space. The smart people in city planning can figure it out. And unlike big box stores, data centers don’t have 18-wheelers constantly delivering supplies.

Arizona is a state known for growth. We’ve grown massively in residents. We’ve grown massively in housing (and need to do more). We’ve grown massively in tourism. We’ve grown massively in healthcare. We’ve grown massively in education. And we’ve recently grown massively in semiconductors.

There’s no reason we can’t keep growing in data centers.

Stephen Richer is the CEO of Republic Affairs, a fellow at the Cato Institute, and a former Maricopa County Recorder. Josh Heywood is operations manager at Republic Affairs.

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