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The Arizona Legislature passed 353 bills in the 2017 session. Here’s how these new laws impact you.
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Good morning, Arizona. Here’s what you need to know to start your workday.

Today’s forecast for metro Phoenix calls for mostly sunny skies, with a high of 87 and a low of 64.

Friday’s weather will be very similar, within 1 degree on either side, forecasters say. Then get ready for a weekend warmup, with stair-step highs of 95, 101 and 103 on Monday. 

TRIBE’S WEST VALLEY CASINO DEAL: WHAT TO KNOW

Wednesday’s announcement of a gaming deal between the state and Tohono O’odham Nation means nearly a decade of legal battles and uncertainty over the West Valley casino is ending.

The upshot: The tribe will move forward with plans for a resort and much larger casino in the near future.

The settlement allows the casino to obtain a higher-level gaming license — which means it can install Las Vegas-style slots and table games — and a liquor license. Here’s what you need to know. 

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Sneak peek at Desert Diamond Casino West Valley. Here’s a look inside the new gambling facility near Glendale.

DETAILS EMERGE ON WOMAN SHOT DEAD BY POLICE

A murder suspect who was shot dead by police in Phoenix this week has been identified as 27-year-old Jonie Block.

Block was armed and pulled the trigger on her firearm at the same time she was shot by a member of the Phoenix Police Department’s SWAT team Monday evening, according to police.

Police say they had been trying to negotiate with Block, whom they found sitting outside the Japanese Friendship Garden in downtown Phoenix. She had been wanted in connection with the shooting death of 55-year-old Todd Landon.

SOUNDGARDEN’S CHRIS CORNELL DIES AT 52

Rocker Chris Cornell, who gained fame as the lead singer of the bands Soundgarden and Audioslave, has died at age 52, and police said Thursday that his death is being investigated as a possible suicide.

Cornell, who had been on tour, died Wednesday night in Detroit, Cornell’s representative Brian Bumbery said in a statement to the Associated Press. Cornell had performed a Detroit concert with Soundgarden that night.

 

FLAKE: FORCE RELEASE OF COMEY ‘TAPES’

Sen. Jeff Flake wants to “compel,” with subpoenas if necessary, the release of any “tapes” or other evidence related to allegations that President Donald Trump tried to pressure FBI Director James Comey into backing off an investigation into his former national security adviser.

“If true, this action would be inappropriate given the proximity of the President and his other associates to the ongoing Flynn investigation,” Flake, R-Ariz., said Wednesday in  a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa.

“It is imperative that the Judiciary Committee, in its oversight role of the Department of Justice, receive or compel access to the evidence by which to evaluate these allegations,” he said. Read the full report here.

 

FORMER FOX NEWS CHIEF AILES DEAD AT 77

Roger Ailes, the bombastic and controversial founder and CEO of Fox News who was ousted last year in a sexual harassment scandal, has died, Fox News reported Thursday.

Ailes, who reshaped television news over five decades in the TV and entertainment industry, was 77.

His death was announced in a statement by his wife, Elizabeth Ailes, according to Fox News.

 

DON’T GIVE UP YET ON YOUR SWIMSUIT

Two weeks after their Instagram post giving away red swimsuits went viral, the University of Arizona seniors behind Sunny Co Clothing are still rushing to fill some 50,000 orders and process nearly $73,000 in refunds. 

The promotion went so viral that it became the subject of viral jokes and drew attention from celebrities and news outlets across the country. 

The two UA grads could have called the whole thing off, but they’re working instead to honor the rules of the promotion. 

“Sunny Co assures customers it is moving at light speed to fulfill orders that are targeted to ship within 3-6 weeks, per the Promo Rules,” the release stated. 

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The Instagram post about a free swimsuit that’s been blowing up on social media is from a company founded by two University of Arizona students.
Wochit

 

TODAY IN HISTORY

  • 1927: In America’s deadliest school attack, part of a schoolhouse in Bath Township, Michigan, was blown up with explosives planted by local farmer Andrew Kehoe, who then set off a bomb in his truck; the attacks killed 38 children and six adults, including Kehoe, who’d earlier killed his wife. (Authorities said Kehoe, who suffered financial difficulties, was seeking revenge for losing a township clerk election.)
  • 1933: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed a measure creating the Tennessee Valley Authority.
  • 1944: During World War II, Allied forces occupied Monte Cassino in Italy after a four-month struggle with Axis troops.
  • 1953: Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to break the sound barrier as she piloted a Canadair F-86 Sabre jet over Rogers Dry Lake, California.
  • 1967: Tennessee Gov. Buford Ellington signed a measure repealing the law against teaching evolution that was used to prosecute John T. Scopes in 1925.
  • 1973: Harvard law professor Archibald Cox was appointed Watergate special prosecutor by U.S. Attorney General Elliot Richardson.
  • 1980: The Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing.
  • 1991: Helen Sharman became the first Briton to rocket into space as she flew aboard a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft with two cosmonauts on an eight-day mission to the Mir space station.

 

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