SanTan Sun News

The nation’s top education official came to Mesa Aug. 25 to prod Gov. Katie Hobbs to allow Arizona parents and students access to an additional source of free education funds.

Twenty-five years later, the names remain —  increasingly forgotten and, for many, never known. They will be attached this week to 2,977 American flags across Tempe Beach Park — one for each person killed in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. On some tags, yellow ribbons will memorialize police and firefighters killed in the attacks and blue ribbons will memorialize the flight crews on the hijacked planes.

A 64-year-old Chandler man faces a charge of second degree murder and vulnerable adult abuse in the death of his mother. Two hospice nurses said 84-year-old Mary Elenz’s condition was the worst they had ever seen. Her son, Allen Louis Page, also faces four counts of weapons violations because he was in possession of firearms despite a previous felony conviction banning him from possessing them.

Council hires new city attorney, Deryck Lavelle The Chandler City Council has hired Deryck Lavelle to replace the retired Kelly Schwab as city attorney. Lavelle spent the past 12 years working for the City of Phoenix, most recently as chief assistant city attorney. He has more than 24 years of legal experience in municipal government, private practice and international law. He has also worked as a deputy county attorney for the Maricopa County’s Attorney Office.

Chandler motorists can drive city streets knowing that all the controversial Flock Safety automated license plate readers are covered and waiting for dismantling. The city announced that as of Aug. 26, all existing 36 Flock cameras that were installed in Chandler have been covered and are no longer capturing images of vehicles. The city had contracts for 40 cameras.

Considering the success that Cien Agaves Tacos & Tequila had in Scottsdale for nearly two decades, it’s a little surprising they didn’t open a second location until this month. “We wanted the perfect spot,” said Roque Jimenez, one of the co-founders and owners. Bob Schulken is the other co-founder and owner. “Bob’s from Chandler, and I’m from Ahwatukee, so this is right in the middle,” Jimenez said.

Economics comes easily for BASIS Chandler High School senior Praneeth Annapureddy, he says. He realized that he liked the subject and was doing well in it in eighth grade. As a sophomore, he took Advanced Placement Economics and continued to do well. At the end of his junior year, he has qualified for Team USA in economics, earning a trip to compete in China against the world’s best students.

Michelle Chavez took a moment, thought about it, and then decided she didn’t know the answer to the question about how many awards she has won during her Future Farmers of America tenure. “Thirty?” the Chandler High senior said. “And that’s the belt buckles from the past three, four years.” It did not include the banners, nor the ribbons, nor the plaques. Michelle has earned a place in Arizona history with all the success she has had raising lambs.

A Democratic Senate candidate in the competitive Chandler-Gilbert Legislative District 13 took a jab at the Republican incumbent for not showing up for a debate on Aug. 17. And while there was also a Republican no-show in a separate debate among House candidates, the Democratic hopefuls stuck to their own policy positions instead of attacking their opponents or the absent candidate.

Chandler Police Sgt. Matt Cacciola was challenged to describe a situation that five years earlier before the city added a Behavioral Health Unit (BHU) would likely have had a very different outcome. He didn’t hesitate. “There’s one story that we’re very proud of,” Cacciola said. “A wife called in and said that my husband is loading up his firearm, he is suicidal, and he is [looking for] suicide by cop.” A “suicide by cop” is a situation where someone wants to die, but wants police to kill them.