Katya Mendoza

A judge overseeing Tucson Power's rate increase is recommending an increase of 11.2%.

Katya Mendoza reports.

The judge is also supporting the utility's request for an annual rate adjustment mechanism, or ARAM, which would update rates every year.

Cynthia Zwick is the director of the Residential Utility Consumer Office, a state agency that advocates on behalf of residential utility customers.

Last year, TEP applied for a 14% rate increase through the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state's utility regulator.

In March, the utility lowered its proposed rate increase to a little more than 12.5%.

I'm Katya Mendoza, AZPM News.

Thousands of miles away from the United States, Germany is following the political changes happening here.

Music Tucson voters will get to decide whether to renew a 25-year franchise agreement between the City of Tucson and Tucson Electric Power.

Katya Mendoza has more.

On a cloudy Saturday afternoon in the quiet Victorian neighborhood of Armory Park outside of downtown Tucson, a group of organizers are going door-to-door to encourage local voters to oppose Prop 421 this November.

The initiative would renew a franchise agreement between the city and Tucson Electric Power for the next 25 years.

It's just kind of one of those things where I feel like I know a little bit about both sides, but not enough to have like a full form to pick.

TEP will continue to provide service within the city even if the franchise agreement is rejected.

I'm Katya Mendoza, AZPM News.

The midterm election is quickly approaching.

Chiricahua is the homeland of the Chiricahua Apache, who refer to the area as the land of standing up rocks.

I'm Katya Mendoza, AZPM News.

Customs and Border Protection held what appeared to be its first local news conference in months, and it was this week in Tucson.

Angela Gervasi reported that story.

American copper company Gunnison Copper hosted Interior Secretary Doug Burgum at its Johnson Camp mine in Cochise County.

Katya Mendoza tells us about it.

Burgum's visit highlighted the company's current copper production and strengthening of its domestic supply chains for defense, technology, and manufacturing.

This administration understands that energy security is national security, and there's no national security without mineral security.

According to USGS estimates, the U.S. relies on copper imports for roughly 45% of its annual copper consumption.

By 2030, the U.S. could require 1 million metric tons of copper for data center build-out, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

I'm Katya Mendoza, AZPM News.

If you're in the mood to drink mead and watch some competitive hammer throwing, you're in luck, because the annual Tucson Celtic Festival and Scottish Highland Games is this weekend at Rieto Racetrack.

The president has signed into law Arizona's fourth national park.

From Arizona Public Media, Katya Mendoza reports on the opening of Chiricahua National Park.

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum visited the 12,000-acre park that's known as the Wonderland of Rocks, primarily made up of rock pinnacles called hoodoos.

Burgum says the department knows that there is a backlog of maintenance projects throughout the National Park Service system.

And switching to elections, a recent poll shows most Arizona voters agree that protecting public lands is a nonpartisan issue.

Katya Mendoza told us more from an Arizona environmental poll.

The Wilderness Society, a conservation advocacy group, commissioned a poll that found Arizonans value the freedom to recreate on public lands.

Eight in 10 Arizonans overwhelmingly oppose shrinking national monuments, and nine in 10 say protecting clean drinking water sources is an important reason to protect public lands as national monuments.

Voters also overwhelmingly oppose selling public lands to private developers to build housing.

Nearly 1,000 Arizona voters were polled, and nearly half were oversamples of Republican-leaning voters and voters in Arizona's 6th congressional district.

I'm Katya Mendoza, AZPM News.

And continuing on the vote, as Election Day approaches, new polling data is revealing major shifts in Arizona's electorate that could have a big impact on the governor's race.