Latest news with #Arizonan
Axios
11-08-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Sandra Day O'Connor voted most influential figure in Arizona History Showdown
And the winner is … Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. State of play: The Arizona History Showdown is over, and the history-making O'Connor was voted by Axios Phoenix readers as our state's most influential historical figure. O'Connor easily dispatched Sen. John McCain, taking nearly 65% of the vote in the championship round. Between the lines: O'Connor is, of course, most famous as the first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court, and her lasting influence was primarily at the national level for her many years on the bench and her role in deciding major cases. But before she became a groundbreaking national figure, she was a highly influential state legislator, rising to Senate majority leader, and she went on to become a Maricopa County Superior Court and Arizona Court of Appeals judge, setting the stage for her Supreme Court tenure. Her legacy lives at the federal courthouse in downtown Phoenix, which is named for her, and the nonprofit Sandra Day O'Connor Institute, which was founded in her honor in 2009 to champion civics education and civil discourse. What they're saying: Scott O'Connor, the justice's son, told Axios that his mother's greatest accomplishments in the Senate included a statute-by-statute elimination of laws that were discriminatory against women, and major mental health legislation inspired by her time working for the Attorney General's Office at the Arizona State Hospital. Throughout her career, he said, his mother would find areas of need and do what she could to improve them. He called his mother the godmother of Arizona's judicial merit selection system, which voters approved in 1974. After she retired from the Supreme Court, Sandra Day O'Connor created the iCivics online education provider, which her son said is a major, but often overlooked, accomplishment. Jeremy's thought bubble: I left the voting to our readers, but if I'd filled out a bracket, my winner would've been longtime U.S. Sen. Carl Hayden. Hayden has been gone for so many years and Arizona has grown so much in the decades since his Senate career ended that it's easy to overlook how important he was to the state. He used his seniority to direct a lot of federal resources to what was, at the time, a very small state, and capped his career with the passage of the monumentally important Central Arizona Project. The bottom line: Thanks to all of our readers who made the Arizona History Showdown a success! As a native Arizonan and lifelong history nerd, this has been a labor of love and a longtime dream, and I'm glad that so many of you enjoyed it. 🗣️ You tell us: The bracket format was a lot of fun, and we'd love to use it again.
USA Today
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Cierra breaks silence on 'Love Island USA' exit, apologizes for 'incredibly offensive' slur
Days after her abrupt exit from the "Love Island USA" villa, Cierra Ortega is addressing the reason she was removed from the show. In the week leading up to her departure, some social media users expressed outrage over screenshots of a few alleged Instagram posts and messages in recent years that showed Ortega using a racist slur against people of Asian descent to negatively refer to her eyes. The 25-year-old, wearing a sweater with "empathy" emblazoned across the front, opened a nearly five-minute video on Instagram on July 9 by issuing an apology to "not just anyone that I have hurt or deeply offended, but most importantly, the entire Asian community. I am deeply, truly, honestly, so sorry." "While I was in the villa, there were some posts that resurfaced from my past where I was very naively using an incredibly offensive and derogatory term," she said. "I had no idea that the word held as much pain, as much harm, and came with the history that it did, or I never would have used it. I had no ill intention when I was using it, but that's absolutely no excuse because intent doesn't excuse ignorance." She went on to call the post "not an apology video," but rather "an accountability video." On July 6, she was phased out of the Peacock romance-competition show – in which she first appeared at the end of the June 3 premiere episode – around 15 minutes in as narrator Iain Stirling announced she "has left the villa due to a personal situation." She and her partner, Nic Vansteenberghe, were the only couple to label themselves as exclusive; their fellow islanders appeared to consider them frontrunners to win the cash prize as the season concludes Sunday, July 13. What happened? What we know about Cierra Ortega's 'Love Island USA' exit Cierra 'had no idea' slur she used was racist Ortega said she did not know the racist origins of the word she used in multiple social media posts, explaining, "I do want it to be known that I genuinely had no idea that it was a slur. I had no of its meaning." The slur was "immediately removed from my vocabulary" in 2024, when she posted an Instagram story and "a follower of mine reached out to correct me and let me know that what I was saying was incredibly hurtful." She shared a screenshot of a direct message exchange and denied any "narrative" that she had doubled down on using the word, as alleged in a screen grab of an exchange that is circulating on social media. Cierra: 'I completely agree' with 'decision to remove me from the villa' Ortega did not push back against the "Love Island USA" producers' choice to have her leave the reality TV show. "I completely agree with the network's decision to remove me from the villa. I think that this is something that deserved punishment, and the punishment has absolutely been received for sure," she said. Ortega, an Arizonan whose family is Mexican and Puerto Rican, went on to denounce the backlash from viewers, some of whom have allegedly called U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on her family. "My family doesn't feel safe in their own home. I'm receiving death threats," she said. "There's no need to fight hate with hate. I don't think that that's justice." Prior to Ortega's video, a message attributed to her family was posted on her Instagram story on the evening of July 6. Cast members do not regain access to their phones for a certain amount of time. "We're not here to justify or ignore what's surfaced. We understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters. But what's happening online right now has gone far beyond that," the lengthy statement said, in part. "The attacks on her family, her friends, even her supporters, it's heartbreaking. It's uncalled for. And no one deserves that kind of hate, no matter what mistake they've made."
NBC Sports
24-06-2025
- Business
- NBC Sports
Arizona legislature approves bill that would provide up to $500 million for Chase Field renovations
PHOENIX — The Arizona Diamondbacks are one small step from securing up to $500 million to help with renovations to the team's downtown home Chase Field. The Arizona House of Representatives voted to approve House Bill 2704 by a 35-20 margin. It would recapture sales taxes from the stadium and other adjacent buildings over the next 30 years and reinvest them into infrastructure at the retractable roof structure, which has been home to the D-backs since 1998 and is owned by the Maricopa County Stadium District. The only remaining hurdle is for Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign the legislation, and she's been publicly supportive of the bill. 'I'm thrilled that the legislature has passed a bill that will keep the Diamondbacks in Phoenix and create good-paying jobs,' Hobbs said on social media. 'This is a huge win for every Arizonan. I appreciate the bipartisan elected officials and the business and labor leaders who came to the table and worked with my office to make this moment possible.' The Diamondbacks say they will also contribute $250 million of the team's money to help fund renovations. Team president Derrick Hall has said the nearly 30-year-old stadium needs several upgrades, most notably to its air conditioning system, which keeps the stadium cool during Phoenix's brutally hot summer months. The team's current lease with the county expires in 2027. 'We are ecstatic over the legislative approval of HB2704,' Hall said in a statement. 'This will be a monumental victory for baseball and Diamondbacks fans when signed by Governor Katie Hobbs. We could then shift our focus to a proper lease extension negotiation with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in hopes of modernizing and renovating this public asset to a level those fans deserve.'
Hamilton Spectator
24-06-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Arizona legislature approves bill that would provide up to $500 million for Chase Field renovations
PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks are one small step from securing up to $500 million to help with renovations to the team's downtown home Chase Field. The Arizona House of Representatives voted to approve House Bill 2704 by a 35-20 margin on Monday. It would recapture sales taxes from the stadium and other adjacent buildings over the next 30 years and reinvest them into infrastructure at the retractable roof structure, which has been home to the D-backs since 1998 and is owned by the Maricopa County Stadium District. The only remaining hurdle is for Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign the legistation, and she's been publicly supportive of the bill. 'I'm thrilled that the legislature has passed a bill that will keep the Diamondbacks in Phoenix and create good-paying jobs,' Hobbs said on social media Monday . 'This is a huge win for every Arizonan. I appreciate the bipartisan elected officials and the business and labor leaders who came to the table and worked with my office to make this moment possible.' The Diamondbacks say they will also contribute $250 million of the team's money to help fund renovations. Team president Derrick Hall has said the nearly 30-year-old stadium needs several upgrades, most notably to its air conditioning system, which keeps the stadium cool during Phoenix's brutally hot summer months. The team's current lease with the county expires in 2027. 'We are ecstatic over the legislative approval of HB2704,' Hall said in a statement. 'This will be a monumental victory for baseball and Diamondbacks fans when signed by Governor Katie Hobbs. We could then shift our focus to a proper lease extension negotiation with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in hopes of modernizing and renovating this public asset to a level those fans deserve.' ___ AP MLB:
Fox Sports
24-06-2025
- Business
- Fox Sports
Arizona legislature approves bill that would provide up to $500 million for Chase Field renovations
Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks are one small step from securing up to $500 million to help with renovations to the team's downtown home Chase Field. The Arizona House of Representatives voted to approve House Bill 2704 by a 35-20 margin on Monday. It would recapture sales taxes from the stadium and other adjacent buildings over the next 30 years and reinvest them into infrastructure at the retractable roof structure, which has been home to the D-backs since 1998 and is owned by the Maricopa County Stadium District. The only remaining hurdle is for Gov. Katie Hobbs to sign the legistation, and she's been publicly supportive of the bill. 'I'm thrilled that the legislature has passed a bill that will keep the Diamondbacks in Phoenix and create good-paying jobs,' Hobbs said on social media Monday. 'This is a huge win for every Arizonan. I appreciate the bipartisan elected officials and the business and labor leaders who came to the table and worked with my office to make this moment possible.' The Diamondbacks say they will also contribute $250 million of the team's money to help fund renovations. Team president Derrick Hall has said the nearly 30-year-old stadium needs several upgrades, most notably to its air conditioning system, which keeps the stadium cool during Phoenix's brutally hot summer months. The team's current lease with the county expires in 2027. 'We are ecstatic over the legislative approval of HB2704,' Hall said in a statement. 'This will be a monumental victory for baseball and Diamondbacks fans when signed by Governor Katie Hobbs. We could then shift our focus to a proper lease extension negotiation with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors in hopes of modernizing and renovating this public asset to a level those fans deserve." ___ AP MLB: recommended in this topic
