Justice of the Peace Paula Aboud, a former state lawmaker, is among the three candidates for Justice of the Peace in Pima County who won't be on ballot this year after challenges to nominating petitions.

Aboud, who served in the Arizona Legislature from 2006 to 2012, withdrew her candidacy rather than defend her nominating petitions in a court hearing.

She did not immediately return a call for Weekly seeking comment.

Aboud was elected Justice of the Peace in Precinct 6 in 2016. In 2017, she was censured by the Arizona Supreme Court after she was caught trying to sneak a peek at answers to an exam during an orientation for new judges. Aboud said her actions were a prank.

Aboud's departure from the race leaves only Alexander Ball in the August Democratic primary for the Precinct 6 race. No Republican filed to run in the precinct.

Two other JP candidates are also off the ballot after challenges to their nominating petitions.

In Justice Precinct 2, Republican John Maley was removed from the ballot by court order this week. Incumbent Justice of the Peace Erica Cornejo now faces no opposition to her reelection effort.

In Justice Precinct 9, Democrat Alfonso Ramirez withdrew rather than defend his nominating petitions, leaving incumbent Justice of the Peace Kendrick Wilson with no opponents on the road to reelection.

In other ballot-bouncing news, Trista Tramposch di Genova-Chang was booted from the race for Board of Supervisors District 5 after a judge determined she had insufficient signatures. The race for the late Richard Elías' seat now has TUSD Board member Adelita Grijalva facing Sunnyside School Board member Consuelo Hernandez in the Democratic primary. The winner of that contest will face Republican Fernando Gonzales in the November general election.

In Legislative District 3, Democrat Javier Soto survived a challenge to his petitions. He is facing incumbent Reps. Andrés Cano and Alma Hernandez in the Democratic primary for the Arizona House of Representatives.

Correction: This post earlier said that there was a primary brewing in Justice Precinct 6.

Mayor Regina Romero said she is concerned about local restaurants potentially resuming dine-in service within the month in response to Governor Doug Ducey's aspirational timeline to reopen eateries in upcoming weeks.

"This is about how we prepare restaurant owners and their workers to reopen in a safe way," Romero said.

Gov. Ducey announced an aspirational May 12 date—or within a week or two thereafter—for restaurants to reopen if the state's COVID-19 testing blitz over this weekend provides reassuring results that the current stay-at-home order is slowing the spread of the virus.

"Really, what we're measuring are the cases, the symptoms, and the hospital capacity along with some data from testing. We just need some more data and information," Gov. Ducey said during Wednesday's press conference to extend the April 30 stay-at-home executive order to May 15. "I'm very hopeful. I wouldn't put out an aspirational date if I didn't think that it was achievable or that we wouldn't come within a week or to of it."

Romero said while she is concerned for the survival of restaurant owners, she wants to make sure the City of Tucson, Pima County, and restaurant owners will be working together to set expectations and keep the public safe. But Romero is uncertain about what new guidelines will be implemented to protect restaurant workers and customers alike before food establishments return to dine-in service.

"What I'm concerned about is how we're going to physically distance and how we're going to deal with touchpoints that happen at restaurants," Romero said. "But I'm willing to move in that direction for the benefit of small business owners in the city of Tucson."

Ultimately, restaurant owners will be the decision-makers on whether to offer dine-in service once Ducey gives the green light, Romero said. Ducey's March 30 stay-at-home executive order prevents municipalities statewide from taking further action after the order concludes. 

"It's up to the discretion of the restaurant owners themselves. Just because there's some who are ready to open, there might be others that don't feel like that," Romero said. "Restaurant owners have to be ready and have to feel as though they can keep their employees, themselves and their customers safe."  

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PHOENIX – Environmentalists are blasting a Trump administration call for “bold action to revive and strengthen the uranium mining industry,” an industry whose history they say has left a “toxic trail” through the Grand Canyon.

They are responding to a report last week by the Department of Energy’s Nuclear Fuel Working Group, which called for the government to support both uranium mining and nuclear power technology to preserve national security.

The first step in that plan is a proposal for $150 million in next year’s Energy Department’s budget to buy and stockpile U.S.-mined uranium, the report said.

“As a matter of national security, it is critical that we take bold steps to preserve and grow the entire U.S. nuclear energy enterprise,” Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said in a statement announcing the report. He said a lack of U.S. progress on nuclear energy and technology “has threatened our national interest and national security.”

Environmentalists say there is no need to protect a “sagging” uranium mining industry and fear the report will lead the administration to slash environmental laws and regulations to allow for more mining. That is a particular concern in northern Arizona where there are hundreds of abandoned uranium mines that still pose health risks, they said.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to past mining in the region and incentivize new mining on public lands without even fully remediating environmental and public health hazards already present,” Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Sedona, said in a statement responding to the report.

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TEMPE – Native American tribes have been severely hit by the coronavirus but have received only a fraction of the help they need from the federal government, said lawmakers, who called the impact on businesses and health on reservations “particularly worrisome.”

The National Congress of American Indians town hall on the congressional response to COVID-19 in Indian Country came one day after a federal court blocked the Treasury Department from giving relief funds to Alaska corporations that other tribes said were not legitimate tribal governments.

Lawmakers on the call said that is just one of the problems faced by tribes, which have had to fight for access to funding while having underlying health care and economic problems ignored.

“This is a very trying time in Indian Country, and it’s always been, you know, difficult I think dealing with the federal government and Indian Country,” said Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Phoenix, one of the lawmakers in the town hall. “But particularly during this pandemic we’ve seen a lot of the underlying problems that have consistently been around.”

Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., said tribes face barriers that include health, education, jobs and housing, all of which have “really exacerbated now with what is happening with the coronavirus pandemic.”

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TEMPE – The coronavirus had already made 2020 an unusual election year when campaign finance reports added another twist, showing challengers in some congressional races raising far more than the incumbents they hope to unseat.

Democratic hopeful Mark Kelly continued to lead all Senate candidates, bringing in $11 million in the first quarter of 2020 to bring his campaign total to $31.3 million, according to his latest Federal Election Commission filing.

The senator he’s targeting, Sen. Martha McSally, R-Arizona, brought in $6.3 million in the quarter, raising her total to $19 million – good enough for fifth-highest among all Senate candidates, but still well below Kelly’s funds.

In the House, Rep. David Schweikert, R-Fountain Hills, raised $221,000 in the first quarter for a total of $1.1 million this campaign. But that trails Hiral Tipirneni, one of his Democratic rivals, who raised $507,000 this year for a total of $1.7 million. She had $1.2 million on hand as of March 31 compared to Schweikert’s $226,000 in the bank.

By contrast, four other House incumbents had fundraising advantages of at least $1 million each over their challengers. Two other incumbents with less than $1 million in contributions still had 10 times as much campaign cash as their challengers.

Political analysts have a range of theories on why some challengers have raced ahead of the incumbents, from the effect of coronavirus on fundraising, to the president’s unpopularity to factors specific to each race.

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