East Valley Tribune

1 week ago | eastvalleytribune.com | Tom Scanlon

State representatives who said they were trying to protect Scottsdale residents from an Axon-friendly bill failed miserably last week. Senate Bill 1543, also known as “the Axon bill,” sailed through an April 10 Arizona House of Representatives vote.

1 week ago | eastvalleytribune.com | Howard Fischer

A Scottsdale state lawmaker who wants to be the state’s chief elections officer refused to say last week whether he believes President Trump is acting illegally in telling states they have to demand proof of citizenship from all voters. In a press conference to announce his candidacy, Rep. Alexander Kolodin promised transparency if he is elected secretary of state in 2026. And he accused incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontes of ignoring election laws.

2 weeks ago | eastvalleytribune.com | Tom Scanlon

Dec. 7, 1991: Two of Axon founder/CEO Rick Smith’s high school friends, Todd Bogers and Cory Holmes, were shot and killed in a Scottsdale parking lot during a road rage incident. Smith would later say many times the tragic deaths inspired his career. Sept. 7, 1993: Smith founds Air Taser International in his parents’ kitchen in Paradise Valley. Oct. 15, 1993: In Jack Cover’s Tucson garage, Smith starts working with the former NASA scientist, who developed the first Taser energy weapon. Dec.

2 weeks ago | eastvalleytribune.com | Bob Christie

Arizona lawmakers last week approved two different ways to raise their own pay, adding a plan to give a major increase in daily expense payments to legislators living in Maricopa County to an existing proposal that seeks to ask voters to retroactively OK inflation adjustments to their yearly salaries. On a 14-3 margin, members of the House Appropriations Committee agreed to ask voters to approve an inflation adjustment to their current legislative salary of $24,000. But Sen.

2 weeks ago | eastvalleytribune.com | Cecilia Chan

The site plan for two Amazon data center buildings totaling 458,608 square feet got the city’s go-ahead, paving the way for construction within Eastmark despite opposition from the community’s master developer. The Planning and Zoning Board also unanimously approved a special use permit for Amazon that reduces parking to 152 spaces from the required 512 for the project on 37 vacant acres south of Elliot Road and west of Signal Butte Road.