The Homeland Security Department has launched a new program aimed at stopping fentanyl from being smuggled into the country. Last week, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell and other Valley officials held a public forum to talk to — and hear from — the community about this.
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Title 42 is an obscure provision of the Public Health Service Act of 1944 and gives federal authorities the power to deny people from entering the U.S. to prevent the spread of disease. In practice, it's allowed border officers to send migrants quickly back to Mexico without giving them a chance to ask for asylum, despite U.S. and international laws that require it.

During a visit to the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales on Tuesday, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced a new DHS initiative that aims to target fentanyl and other drugs being smuggled through ports of entry along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Sonoran officials say seven people were killed in an armed confrontation between criminal groups in the northwestern part of the state.

The Arizona House Judiciary committee is weighing in this week on a controversial bill. It would let prosecutors charge fentanyl dealers with murder if what they sell kills someone. This bill has already passed in the Senate.

The Arizona Board of Regents is funding a statewide study to find out what’s driving the state’s police and firefighter shortage.

Unofficial results show two City Council candidates endorsed by Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego as the winners in Tuesday’s runoff election. The election was required by law because no candidate received a majority of votes last November.
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Mexico’s president gave a forceful rebuke to a proposal by some Republican lawmakers to use the U.S. military to fight drug cartels in Mexico. He sees the idea as a threat to his country’s sovereignty.

A conservative institute and a progressive activist group are separately suing Phoenix over contract negotiations with a large police union. The current deal between the city and the Phoenix Law Enforcement Association is set to expire at the end of June.