The Gaggle: An Arizona politics podcast The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com

August is usually when things cool down: the temperature drops just a little, members of Congress leave Washington D.C. and the Legislature is still soaking up their summer vacation.
But this year, August is when things heated up, specifically for the Peoria City Council.
August is when they tried and failed to keep the public out of an outlandish, secretive battle over a sex offender, their vice mayor and figuring out which rules they really needed to follow.
This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Ron Hansen, is joined by Arizona Republic reporter Taylor Seely to break down what exactly happened with vice mayor Denette Dunn and why the City of Peoria tried to keep it under wraps.
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Kris Mayes has jumped into her role as state attorney general.
Mayes has not been shy about taking on major issues, from abortion rights and critiquing the state's water policy to casting a skeptical eye on Arizona's new universal school voucher program.
As the first Democrat to hold the seat in more than a decade, Mayes confirmed her office is investigating potential fraud related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Arizona played a key role in tipping the election to President Joe Biden.
This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, host Mary Jo Pitzl is joined by Republic state politics reporter Stacey Barchenger. She covers the governor and attorney general's offices.
Their exclusive interview with Mayes covers election integrity, how she is prioritizing numerous pressing issues, and her office's fight against the fentanyl epidemic in Arizona. 
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If you're thinking Arizona is stuck in a "Groundhog Day"-type situation with the 2020 presidential election and all its fallout, think of Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Clint Hickman.
The Republican chairman has had a front-row seat to Arizona's election drama over the past three years and has been personally impacted by it. As a member of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, Hickman tried to reach an agreement with the Arizona House and Senate over a review of the county's 2020 election results.
When the Senate moved ahead on its own, Hickman was part of the county's battles with that chamber over the resulting ballot recount. Recently, he watched a man who had personally threatened him with lynching because of this decision get sentenced to 2 ½ years in prison.
Hickman was a key stakeholder in the county’s elections administration both in 2020, when the process went well, and in 2022, when it wasn't as smooth.
This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Hickman to talk about elections, the growing legal tab for former Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Arizona Diamondbacks' stadium wishes.
As the recently elected chairman of the five-member board, Hickman discussed issues past and present.
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Elections are repetitive things in Arizona: the major parties hold their primaries in the summer, general election voting ends in November and it takes days to count the ballots. And then in recent years, we have at least two years of deniers claiming the elections were stolen.
Some might say that the 2022 election has been over for almost a year. But some candidates are still contesting the results in court, while the last legislative session saw a raft of bills that would reconfigure elections.
Apart from never-ending election denialism, Arizona is seeing interest from organizations eyeing a third party presence on this battleground state’s ballots.  
While there are still months until Arizona’s presidential primary, Secretary of State Adrian Fontes, his staff and county election officials across the state are busy getting ready for what lies ahead. 
This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes to discuss how his office is preparing for a busy year in 2024, what he's doing to regain the trust in the elections process and how he'll handle President Trump's qualifications for the ballot.
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Tom Horne returned to the state school superintendent’s office in January and wasted no time jumping back into his former job.
Some viewed his return as jumping back in time, given his outspoken stance on returning to “traditional discipline” in the classroom, his dismissal of contemporary topics such as social-emotional learning and his insistence on a back-to-basics approach on curriculum.
But some are pleased with the Republican superintendent's eagerness to decry "critical race theory" and defend a state law that bans transgender students from participating in female sports.
Separate from the culture wars, he’s emerged as perhaps the most ardent supporter of Arizona’s universal school voucher program.
This week on The Gaggle, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, hosts Ron Hansen and Mary Jo Pitzl are joined by the Horne for this exclusive interview. 
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Arizona is hot. No surprise there. But what are the City of Phoenix and Arizona at large doing about it? Listen to find out what needs to happen to keep Arizonans cool.
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