Arizona
Want to stay up-to-date on Arizona elections? Sign up for The Recount, a new newsletter
How Phoenix’s Runbeck Election Services deals with threats
Runbeck Election Services CEO, Jeff Ellington, talks ballot security and the escalation of threats in Arizona.
Arizona will play a crucial and outsized role in the upcoming 2024 election cycle.
That means statewide coverage of elections and how they work is more important than ever before.
So, The Arizona Republic is launching a new newsletter called The Recount.
It’s a yearlong project designed primarily to inform Arizonans — with some insights for national election junkies and politicos, too.
We’ll bring you on-the-ground reporting from all corners of our desert swing state, which trailblazed election innovations such as mail-in voting in the 1990s. Arizona has more recently become a hotbed of unfounded voting conspiracies, and we’ll dive into how that impacts election officials, voters and democracy.
We know you’re busy, so we’ll do our best to keep each dispatch brief.
Best of all, you don’t have to be an azcentral.com subscriber to get access. Simply let us know where to email the newsletter, and you’re on your way.
If you sign up, our newsletter will appear in your email inbox on Mondays. The first edition is set for Feb. 19.
We hope to see you then.
Safer ballots: This Arizona ballot maker had robust security in place before 2020 elections. For 2024, it’s adding more
Sasha Hupka covers county government and election administration for The Arizona Republic. Do you have a tip to share on elections or voting? Reach her at sasha.hupka@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter: @SashaHupka. Follow her on Instagram or Threads: @sashahupkasnaps.
GARDEN CITY, UT (AZFamily) — An Arizona teen drowned while paddleboarding at a lake in Utah, according to officials with the Utah Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division.
Officials responded to Ideal Beach on Bear Lake on Saturday for reports of a drowning and found that the 17-year-old had become separated from his paddleboard and was not wearing a life jacket.
First responders pulled the teen from the lake and gave life-saving measures, but he did not survive, officials said.
“This is a tragic and unfortunate circumstance. The Utah Department of Natural Resources Law Enforcement Division extends condolences to family and friends,” the department said in a statement.
The teen was not identified. The drowning is under investigation.
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Here are The Arizona Republic’s high school players of the year for the spring 2026 Arizona Interscholastic Association season. The players were selected by the Republic sports staff based on coaches’ input along with performances during the season and AIA statistics. All of them were included as part of The Republic’s All-Arizona teams for each sport that were presented over the previous week. Sports on this list are listed alphabetically.
Baseball
Kellan Tom, Tempe Corona del Sol, 1B/RHP, Sr.
The Arizona State commit was voted the AIA 6A Conference Player of the Year by the coaches. He became the ace of the pitching staff, leading the Aztecs to the state final with a 7-2 record. He hit .440 with 10 doubles, 10 home runs and 43 RBIs.
Beach volleyball
Vivian Hickman, Sr., and Kate MacDonald, Sr., Xavier Prep
We select two players in this category since beach is a pairs game. MacDonald and Hickman won the Division I pairs championship. MacDonald, who committed to Boise State, finished runner-up in 2024 and 2025 while teamed with different partners. This year, she clicked with Hickman, who competed in her freshman year, but then stepped away for two seasons while focusing on indoor volleyball. Hickman, a UCLA commit, was part of the Gators’ fall indoor volleyball championship teams in 2024 and ’25 before returning to beach this spring.
Boys volleyball
Tommy Henige, Gilbert Perry, MH, Jr.
Biggest force in the state and one of the greatest impact players in the nation, the 6-foot-9 UCLA commit helped lead the Pumas to a second straight 6A championship with a dominating performance against Mesa Mountain View. He crushed every ball near him. Henige, who comes from a family of volleyball players, competed in the USA Volleyball Boys U19 National Team that competed in the world championships last summer.
Softball
Tanner Banks, Mohave Accelerated, C, Sr.
She ended up the state’s all-time record holder at any level for home runs (70), RBIs (303) and doubles (77). The Boise State commit played on baseball teams until she was 12, before staying with softball full-time. This season, she led the 2A team with a .710 batting average, 21 home runs, 20 doubles and 82 RBIs.
Tennis
Boys: Vikram Narendran, Tucson Rincon/University, Sr.
Narendran won his third straight Division I state singles championship, entering the bracket as the No. 1 seed and becoming one of six players in state history to win three straight singles titles.
Girls: Japneet Kaur, Boulder Creek, Jr.
Kaur, the No. 1 seed, defeated her teammate and No. 2 seed Michelle Bullock for the D-I title for second title in the past three years. She also won in 2024 and finished runner-up in 2025 to Bullock.
Track and Field
Boys: Ryder Hall, Snowflake, Sr.
The state’s definitive best jumper. The future decathlete at BYU spent most of the season ranked No. 1 in Arizona for the triple jump (48 feet, 11.5 inches), long jump (23-11) and high jump (6-10). He won Division IV state titles in all three jump events and the 110-meter hurdles, running 13.99 (ranked No. 3 in the state). Hall was the AIA state champion in the triple and long jump.
Girls: Imani Galera-Young, Chandler, Sr.
She put together a year to remember, breaking the Arizona state record in the 300-meter hurdles at 40.65. In the 300-hurdles, the Arkansas signee won eight out of nine races. Galera-Young swept both hurdle titles at the Division I and AIA State Championships. She ended the season at 13.53 in the 100-hurdles, No. 2 in the state.
(The Republic’s Chris Coppola contributed to this report).
TUCSON, Ariz. – A former Tucson mental health counselor was arrested for allegedly producing child pornography.
What we know:
According to the Department of Homeland Security, 33-year-old Xiomar Diaz, of Tucson, is accused of being involved in the production of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) with child victims, one of whom lived in Tucson.
(Department of Homeland Security)
Diaz, who was a mental health counselor at a behavior health care organization, worked in some capacity with kids. Officials said he spoke to children online under the usernames “velander12” or “Xixi.”
Several items, including two iPhones, were seized. Officials found around 20 CSAM images or videos, including ones of Diaz engaging in sexual acts with a “young male in the back of Diaz’s vehicle,” according to a criminal complaint. Those videos were created on May 11.
On a second phone, 20 additional images or videos were discovered, along with a conversation on Snapchat between Diaz and a 15-year-old victim, where they exchanged sexual videos and talked about filming sexual acts together, the report said.
Dig deeper:
Dropbox also reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a user uploading videos of suspected CSAM in November 2025.
He was arrested by special agents with ICE Homeland Security Investigations, following an investigation with Tucson Police.
What you can do:
Due to his profession working in proximity with children, authorities are looking for additional information to help identify potential victims he may have abused.
“If your child, or a child you know, was in contact with Xiomar Diaz, please contact the ICE Tip Line at 866-DHS-2-ICE or through ICE’s online tip form, or contact your local law enforcement.”
The Source: Department of Homeland Security
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