Happy Independence Day! We hope you get to eat plenty of brats and spend quality time with your loved ones, hopefully by a pool!
We're staying on top of the latest happenings from across the Valley, state, and our nation for Friday, July 4; here’s what you need to know as you start your day:
From Meteorologist Jorge Torres - Trending hotter and drier for holiday weekend!
Our forecast is trending hotter and drier for Independence Day and the days that follow. Expect mostly sunny skies today with a high of 104º in Phoenix, climbing to 106º on Saturday, and back into the 110s by Sunday.
Watch kidcaster Kaliann give you today's forecast in the player below:
ICE detains Phoenix woman with leukemia at Eloy Detention Center
An LGBTQ+ group is calling for the release of a Phoenix woman with leukemia who has been in immigration detention for five months – despite being a legal resident.
Arbella Rodriguez Marquez, a musician and artist known to her friends as Yari, is in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody at the Eloy Detention Center. Her best friend, Sonia Almaraz, said Rodriguez’s health is deteriorating.
“She is not doing good,” she told ABC15. “(She) lost 55 pounds in the last five months. Her body showing spots, bruises, fatigue.”
Rodriguez was denied parole last week, according to Queer Trans Pueblo. And her U.S residency has been stripped, they said.
“She's going to go to court soon to plea as a new asylum,” the group’s Sonix Flores said. “However, that's preposterous, because she's already been a resident.”
The group held a press conference Thursday to call for her immediate release, saying she could die without medical treatment.
Family urges safety this holiday weekend after losing child in boating incident
With many people expected to be out on the lakes for the holiday weekend, a family personally impacted by a boating accident, along with first responders, are urging safety ahead of the 4th of July.
"I heard Sunni scream for me when I was out in the water. Shortly after that, when I swam back to her, I swam into the worst experience I think anyone could swim into," Blake Wasden, Sunni's dad, previously told ABC15 about that tragic day.
Sunni was hit by a boat on Lake Pleasant in July of 2023. Law enforcement told ABC15 then that the families were taking all safety precautions and that they were experienced boaters. Impairment was also not a factor in the incident.
As President Trump prepares to sign the 'Big Beautiful Bill', who do Arizonans actually know about it?
House Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s sweeping legislative package, dubbed the “big, beautiful bill.” All but two House Republicans voted for the bill, which the Senate narrowly approved on Tuesday.
Trump had urged lawmakers to send the final version of the bill to his desk by July 4.
In comments in Iowa on Thursday evening, President Trump hailed the passage as a "phenomenal victory."
Thursday's House vote followed a late-night breakthrough after a small group of GOP holdouts ultimately relented, clearing a key procedural hurdle that allowed the bill to move forward.
Sun City couple spends holidays serving those who serve
A Sun City couple is spending their holidays serving those who put their lives on the line to serve our community.
Mike and Joy Fanning serve the brave men and women at Fire Station #131 for every holiday of the year.
From Thanksgiving turkeys to 4th of July ribs, they box up their meals with love and deliver them just down the road.
It's their way of saying thank you to the firefighters who are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
