Arizona
Following scandal, this Oregon sewer board will move its subsidiary from Hawaii to Arizona
It’s official: Washington County’s embattled sewer agency will trade Hawaiian beaches for Arizona desert by the end of 2026.
In a move that had been telegraphed for months, the Clean Water Services board of commissioners voted 4-0 Tuesday to relocate its controversy-producing insurance subsidiary from Hawaii to Arizona, citing financial savings. The vote comes eight months after the company’s location came under scrutiny in the wake of an Oregonian/OregonLive investigation that found that agency executives on the insurance company board stayed at a rotating cast of five-star resorts for annual board meetings and insurance conferences in Hawaii.
Seven trips cost at least $165,000, including $42,000 to send six officials to the Big Island in 2023 and at least $41,000 to send seven officials to Kauai last year, records show. The sewer agency did not send any employees to Hawaii last month for the annual insurance conference.
Following the newsroom’s investigation, the sewer board, made up of the members of the Washington County Board of Commissioners, implemented a slew of oversight measures and the agency’s executive director eventually resigned, privately citing a hostile work environment. The board’s review included requiring the agency to conduct a new domicile review for its wholly-owned captive insurance company, a form of self insurance that is rare among public agencies.
That review, conducted this summer by consultant Aon, identified Arizona, not Hawaii, as the best state for Clean Water Services to locate its insurance subsidiary. The agency endorsed that recommendation and asked the board to approve it, primarily based on Aon’s review, spokesperson Julie Cortez said.
The sewer board did not make public statements before voting Tuesday but asserted in previous meetings and in its official board resolution that the decision to relocate the insurance company from Hawaii to Arizona made financial sense and was not simply a response to public outcry. However, Clean Water Services declined to provide a complete picture of why the move made financial sense.
An August estimate by Aon found it would cost the agency about $203,000 annually to remain in Hawaii while it would cost nearly $192,000 to be in Arizona.
That analysis factored in board member travel. Aon estimated it would cost only $10,000 to continue traveling to Hawaii for annual board meetings and up to $16,500 for optional training and education. In comparison, it estimated it would cost $7,500 to go to Arizona annually for board meetings and up to $9,500 for optional training and education.
Those figures are well below the more $40,000 annually that the agency had been spending in recent years to send its entire board to Hawaii. Rick Shanley, the interim CEO/general manager for Clean Water Services, told the board in an Oct. 10 meeting that was because the agency would only send three board members to future conferences.
Aon’s analysis estimated there would also be an additional $45,000 in one-time costs to move the company to Arizona, including legal costs and the costs of a tax adviser and captive manager. But staying in Hawaii would cost about the same, Shanley told the board in the Oct. 10 meeting. That’s because the agency needed to update its operating agreement and make other legal and administrative changes to the insurance company.
Board member Jason Snider pledged his support for Arizona at the time, saying he was swayed by the fact that there would be similar one-time costs no matter what.
“For me, the decision becomes much easier when I realize we were likely going to have to redo a bunch of work in Hawaii anyway,” Snider said. “I think the right decision, given that, is to make the move to Arizona.”
However, Clean Water Services declined to provide a breakdown of the one-time costs of keeping the insurance company in Hawaii to back up its assertion. Clean Water Services sought a legal review of costs for staying in Hawaii, Cortez said, and she argued that makes the “legal advice related to potential additional costs” subject to attorney-client privilege.
Leaders from Clean Water Services began traveling to the Hawaii Captive Insurance Council forum in 2016, after the agency decided to form and incorporate its captive insurance company in Hawaii. States that offer the niche insurance programs often tout their locations and amenities, with Hawaii boasting about its “world class business meeting, hospitality, and recreational facilities fostering productive business meetings and corporate retreats.”
The sewer agency has defended its decision as financially beneficial to its ratepayers. Since 2016, the insurance company’s capital has grown to almost $5.55 million that could be applied to future catastrophic insurance events, exceeding expectations consultants set in 2015 when the agency was considering forming the company, records show.
But the case for basing the insurance company in Hawaii was always more opaque, consultants’ evaluations obtained by the newsroom through Oregon’s public records law show.
In fact, the records show that consultants in 2014 initially recommended that officials consider locating the business in Arizona or Utah before eventually recommending Hawaii, which they touted in part based on the faulty premise that travel costs wouldn’t be expensive. And a 2022 evaluation conducted by Aon shows that Hawaii continued to rank highest partly because of the insurance company’s history there, an advantage no other state could offer.
When Aon conducted its updated review this summer that found Arizona was the best location, it did so by using a slimmed-down matrix that no longer benefited Hawaii by including “substance and existing relationships” as a factor, among other key changes.
Following the board’s vote Tuesday, Clean Water Services will now begin to work through the legal, operational and administrative hurdles necessary to relocate the insurance subsidiary to Arizona. Director Jerry Willey was absent from the vote. The board has given the agency until the end of 2026 to complete that process, but Cortez said the timeline could be shorter.
“As to the timeframe,” Cortez said in an email, “we believe this to be a conservative estimate and will continue to adjust the details of the timeline now that the board has made the decision to re-domesticate in Arizona.”
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Arizona
2026 NFL draft: 3 potential trades back from No. 3 for Arizona Cardinals
Since the Arizona Cardinals want to trade back from the No. 3 picks, here are three deals that could work.
The Arizona Cardinals have the third pick in the 2026 NFL draft, which begins this week on Thursday. All the reports coming out are saying that they want to trade out of the pick to acquire more draft picks.
But what does a trade look like and who could be involved?
The Kansas City Chiefs are involved in talks at some level. ESPN’s Adam Schefter expects trade talks to heat up this week.
NFL teams use a variation of a trade value chart when it comes to draft picks. Now, what a team actually is willing to give up can be influenced by potential competition with other teams, but we can’t count on that.
Here is the general trade value chart teams use.
Here are some potential deals that could be done.
Kansas City Chiefs
The Chiefs have two first-round picks, which would be appealing to the Cardinals, who reportedly want to make a move for quarterback Ty Simpson, and the 29th pick might be just the spot to get him.
The third overall pick is worth 514 points.
The Chiefs’ picks at No. 9 (387 points) and No. 29 (202 points) together are worth 589.
To make up the difference, the Cardinals could give up No. 65 (78 points) for a total of 592 points.
One deal could be:
- Cardinals receive get No. 9 and No. 29 (589 points)
- Chiefs receive No. 3 and No. 65 (592 points)
Another could be:
- Cardinals receive No. 9, No. 29, No. 74 and 2027 third-round pick (653 points + value of future third-round pick, which is 36-78 points)
- Chiefs receive No. 3 and No. 34 (689 points)
The Cardinals keep their third-round pick and the Chiefs essentially move back five spots from No. 29.
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys have the 12th and 20th picks but no pick in the second round.
Pick No. 12 is 347 points and No. 20 is 269 for a total of 616.
This deal is close:
- Cardinals receive No. 12, No. 20 (616 points)
- Cowboys receive No. 3, No. 65 (592 points)
New Orleans Saints
The Saints are perhaps a dark horse to move up, although they do not have two first-round picks. They have the No. 8 pick, worth 406 points. Their second-round pick, at No. 42, is worth 142 points.
This deal could work:
- Cardinals receive No. 8, No. 42 (548 points)
- Saints receive No. 3, No. 104 (547 points)
Then the Cardinals could use their two second-round picks to then move back into Round 1 to get Ty Simpson.
They could trade No. 34, No. 42 and No. 65 (395 points) for No. 28, No. 38 and No. 106 (398 total points).
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Arizona
Dust returns to Phoenix area after hazy weekend – KTAR.com
PHOENIX — Breezy winds kicked up a blanket of dust across the Valley on Sunday, and forecasters say more is on the way this week.
Visibility in Phoenix became so bad on Sunday that Sky Harbor airport stopped flights for over an hour
The wind and dust peaked Sunday afternoon and gradually improved into the evening, said Michael Graves, an air quality meteorologist with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality.
“You might’ve seen the mountains a bit obscured in the distance,” Graves told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Monday. “A lot of haze in the air.”
By Monday morning, skies had largely cleared and dust levels near the ground had dropped significantly.
Expect more gusty, dusty days this week
The relief may be short-lived.
ADEQ is watching for increased afternoon breezes Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, this time from the west and southwest. Though the winds are expected to be weaker than Sunday’s, Graves said forecasters cannot rule out dust.
“I wouldn’t say windstorm,” Graves said. “I would just say we’ve got some waves coming in. They’re going to increase our afternoon breeziness.”
It’s enough to kick up dry, exposed dirt, which could create pockets of dust. There is a slight chance of broader regional dust transport, Graves said.
It will impact people with asthma, COPD or respiratory conditions the most. Graves advised those with issues to monitor conditions and stay indoors during the dustiest hours.
“If you’re going to be outside, be outside during the times when it’s less dusty or hazy,” Graves said.
Graves noted that spring weather systems typically pass to the north of the Phoenix area, delivering wind and slight temperature drops but little to no rain, a pattern likely to continue.
KTAR News reporter Kellen Shover contributed to this report.
Arizona
Trying to beat the heat: Addressing rising temperatures in Southern Arizona
The University of Arizona and Tucson are known for yearlong warm weather, but when is it too much? With temperature reaching record highs in March, the city of Tucson has already reported increased temperatures for this year.
In the wake of the third annual Southern Arizona Heat Summit, integrating voices throughout the City of Tucson, community stakeholders and experts from UA gather to speak about possible solutions and policies to address rising temperatures and extreme heat.
The summit strives to ensure that the lived experiences of Southern Arizona residents are voiced. The first summit commenced in 2024, in response to the declaration of an extreme heat emergency in Arizona by Gov. Katie Hobbs, as part of a larger plan called Arizona’s Extreme Heat Response Plan.
With representation from organizations such as the American Red Cross, the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, Arizona Jobs with Justice, Tucson Indian Center and many more, the summit emphasized the importance of the perspective and concerns of stakeholder groups throughout the community.
The summit included a variety of UA experts, including faculty representing the School of Geography, Development and Environment; the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy; the Mel & Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health and the College of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture.
One particular project, led by Ladd Keith at the School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, is a part of the Southwest Urban Corridor Integrated Field Laboratory, which is funded by the United States’ Department of Energy to explore extreme heat throughout Arizona. SW-IFL works in collaboration with other national laboratories including those at ASU and NAU.
The team works to analyze extreme heat in the southwest and rural areas, and how communities deal with heat by conducting interviews. The team has also prescribed policy to Pima County and the City of Tucson regarding more effective strategies to combat rising temperatures, such as green stormwater infrastructure.
Anne-Lise Boyer, a post-doctoral researcher with the Climate Assessment for the Southwest, shared that the team particularly analyzed extreme heat in three parts: heat mitigation, heat management and heat governance.
Mitigation deals with prevention through strategies such as green infrastructure and planting trees, while management includes cooling sensors and heat warning systems. Governance allows these measures to be enacted through policy.
In Tucson, some of the most meaningful work the team has engaged in has been drafting the City of Tucson’s Heat Action Roadmap in 2024, which outlines goals to mitigate and mandate extreme heat and its impacts while prioritizing community voices.
The goals of the roadmap include informing and educating citizens of Tucson on the adverse effects of extreme heat and cooling people’s homes and neighborhoods by incorporating heat risk in regional planning. These steps are essential to practicing heat management, especially as the city of Tucson grows.
“I think the most interesting thing about being based in Tucson is that because the heat has been here for a long time, it’s like a laboratory in itself,” Boyer said. “We have all this research and all this collaboration happening with local actors because it’s a pressing issue in Arizona.”
As the annual heat summit recurs, new ideas and perspectives continue to be shared throughout the community. Boyer shared that this year, the Southern Arizona Heat Summit focused on the youth perspective, highlighting middle school and high school students and how heat impacts their everyday lives. Many students spoke about how heat shaped their lives at home, school and sports.
“That’s one of the goals, to have community members participate and give their input in how they wish the city will deal with the heat,” Boyer said.
Boyer and Kirsten Lake, a program coordinator for the SW-IFL team, also shared how the impacts of extreme heat impact some neighborhoods and communities in Tucson more than others, and that their research often evaluates these factors to determine where heat management efforts would make the greatest impact.
“Its important when you’re putting into effect some of these measures, that you make sure you put it where it’s going to make the biggest difference,” Lake said.
The work of the SW-IFL team is not just locally known. The Brookhaven National Lab based in New York deployed a specialized truck to Tucson to collect information on the atmosphere and rising temperatures. The SW-IFL team hosted the Brookhaven team.
Additionally, Keith’s work has led to a guidebook called “Planning for Urban Heat Resilience” which focuses on the adverse effects extreme heat poses to marginalized communities across the country.
“It is so different from place to place and neighborhood to neighborhood because you have to take the whole context into account,” Boyer said. “They recommend first to document the heat impacts in your communities.”
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