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Court rules Arizona ban on per-signature pay for ballot initiatives constitutional

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Court rules Arizona ban on per-signature pay for ballot initiatives constitutional


In a blow to groups trying to get voter-driven initiatives on the ballot, the Arizona Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a law criminalizing per-signature payment is constitutional.

The seven-member panel unanimously agreed the 2017 law does not violate the First Amendment rights of petition circulators, reversing an Arizona Court of Appeals opinion. The court determined the law was not broadly restrictive.

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“The statute forbids only per-signature compensation, leaving other productivity-based compensation intact,” Justice Clint Bolick wrote. “Our clarification also means that the statute is not vague on its face.”

The case was brought by Petition Partners, the state’s largest signature gathering firm. In 2020, then-Attorney General Mark Brnovich, a Republican, slapped the company with 50 misdemeanor criminal counts for its bonus programs that paid people for each signature collected for Proposition 208, a tax on incomes over $250,000.

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Petition Partners faced up to $5 million in fines. The company denied wrongdoing.

The appeals court ruled the law has a chilling effect on free speech rights of people trying to get proposed laws on the ballot.

The Arizona Supreme Court ruled in 2020 that some of the bonus programs the company used ran afoul of the 2017 law. However, the court’s ruling did not touch on the measure’s constitutionality.

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The ban on per-signature payments is one of several restrictions on petition collectors enacted by the Republican-controlled Legislature after liberal groups used the citizen initiative process to make changes lawmakers opposed, including an increase in the minimum wage.



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Arizona

Newest Arizona members of Congress sworn in during opening day in DC

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Newest Arizona members of Congress sworn in during opening day in DC


Gary Farmer is an actor, musician, and activist whose made a career in indigenous media. His performances in television and film have received rave reviews. The1989 film “Powwow Highway”, in which he stars, was just inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry.



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Yassamin Ansari, Abe Hamadeh set to become Arizona’s newest members of Congress

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Yassamin Ansari, Abe Hamadeh set to become Arizona’s newest members of Congress


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Arizona’s two newest U.S. House members are set to get sworn into their posts as the 119th Congress gets underway.

Republican Abe Hamadeh, a lawyer, and Democrat Yassamin Ansari, a former Phoenix vice mayor, are expected to take their oaths of office on Friday, shortly after the House resumes session.

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Hamadeh will replace Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., who is retiring from Congress to serve on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors. 

He will represent Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, an overwhelmingly Republican area that covers parts of Maricopa and Yavapai counties, including Glendale, Peoria, Sun City West and New River.

Propelled by an endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump, Hamadeh defeated a crowded field of other Republicans in Arizona’s July 30 primary election and sailed to an easy victory in the Nov. 5 general election.

Hamadeh, a self-described “America First warrior,” largely echoed Trump’s positions on the campaign trail. He will serve on the House Veterans Affairs Committee and the Armed Services Committee.

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Ansari will represent Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, a stretch of Maricopa County that includes parts of Phoenix and Glendale. She is replacing Democrat Ruben Gallego, who has swapped his House seat for a U.S. Senate seat. Her House committee assignments have not been announced.

During the primary election, Ansari hewed closer to the political center than her opponent, former state Sen. Raquel Terán of Phoenix. Ansari ran on a progressive platform but staked out more centrist turf on issues like policing and U.S. foreign policy toward Israel.

She beat out Terán by just 39 votes, and, like Hamadeh, won her November election in a landslide.

Ansari plans to join the House’s Progressive Caucus, the Democrats’ most left-leaning faction on Capitol Hill.

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3 arrested in connection with good Samaritan's killing in Arizona

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3 arrested in connection with good Samaritan's killing in Arizona


Three people were arrested this week in connection with the death of a good Samaritan in Arizona last month, officials said.

The Pima County Sheriff’s Department identified two of the three people arrested Monday as Jack Upchurch, 40, and Elmer Smith, 19. The third person is 16 years old. NBC News does not typically identify minors accused of crimes.

The trio were arrested in connection with the death of Paul Clifford, 53, whose body was found near a smoldering car northeast of Tucson last month.

Sabrina Vining, a woman who identified herself as Clifford’s daughter in an online fundraiser, said her father disappeared after he left his house at 11:30 p.m. Dec. 23 to help a “stranger with a stranded vehicle.”

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NBC affiliate KVOA of Tucson reported that Clifford’s family reported him missing after, they said, a strange man knocked on Clifford’s door and asked for help with his car.

He was later found dead, the sheriff’s department said. It did not provide a cause or manner of death.

Officials said they received information Monday about a possible location for the three suspects.

Detectives searched the area and obtained a search warrant for a property, which the Pima Regional SWAT team carried out.

The suspects barricaded themselves inside a home and eventually called 911 to negotiate a surrender, the sheriff’s department said. They left the residence and were taken into custody.

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The sheriff’s department did not release any information about a motive or how it connected the suspects to Clifford’s killing.

The three suspects were booked into the Pima County Adult Detention Center on felony arrest warrants, officials said.

It was not immediately clear whether they have legal representation. Jail records do not list attorneys for any of the three.

Upchurch was being held on a $1 million bond, Smith on $1.025 million bail and the minor on a half-million-dollar bond, according to jail records.



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