Axios Phoenix

June 03, 2026
Happy Wednesday! On this date in 1964, Martin Luther King Jr. delivered a speech titled "Religious Witness for Human Dignity" at ASU.
☀️ Today's weather: Sunny, high of 106.
- Don't love that.
🗓️ Join Axios Live in Phoenix on Tuesday, June 16 for an event looking at how Arizona is preparing its energy and transportation infrastructure for the state's next era of growth.
- Featuring: Arizona Corporation Commissioner Kevin Thompson, Governor's Office of Resiliency director Maren Mahoney and Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry president and CEO Danny Seiden.
- RSVP here
Today's newsletter is 753 words — a 3-minute read.
1 big thing: 🚨 Food crisis
High gas prices, grocery inflation and an unprecedented cut to food stamps have driven record numbers of people to Valley food banks, nonprofit leaders tell Axios.
Why it matters: "They're neighbors of ours. They're fellow Arizonans. And they're doing everything they can to take care of their families," St. Mary's Food Bank CEO Milt Liu says.
The big picture: About 470,000 fewer Arizonans are receiving food assistance compared to this time last year. That includes more than 200,000 children, per a Center on Budget and Policy Priorities analysis.
That's driven by federal funding cuts and new eligibility and verification directives, which Arizona implemented last year in a stricter way than most of the country, CBPP senior policy analyst Katie Bergh tells Axios.
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program enrollment subsequently dropped by about 50% from July to February, compared to the national average drop of about 9%.

Threat level: Less help, combined with higher prices on virtually everything, has resulted in "a lot more desperation and a lot more gut-wrenching hunger," St. Vincent de Paul chief program officer Jessica Berg tells us.
Zoom in: St. Vincent de Paul is looking to raise an additional $2 million and 500,000 pounds of food this year to support its operations, and it's having to get creative with how to help people, Berg says.
- When gas prices first spiked in March, they asked a donor to buy gas cards so families could still reach the organization's dining rooms.
Meanwhile, St. Mary's expects to serve 300,000 more meals this year compared to last.
- At the same time, federal cuts also slashed the amount of food they'll receive from USDA, requiring the organization to spend an additional $12 million, Liu says.
1 hopeful thing: The need is growing, but so is the compassion, the nonprofit leaders say.
2. Remembering Don Bolles
A crowd gathered at the Clarendon Hotel yesterday to honor Arizona Republic reporter Don Bolles on the 50th anniversary of the car-bombing that took his life.
Flashback: At 11:34am on June 2, 1976, a dynamite bomb exploded under Bolles' Datsun as he backed out of his parking space after being lured to the hotel for a fake meeting. He died 11 days later.
3. Chips & salsa: Speeder snaps
📸 Phoenix's new radar cameras caught 30,000 speeders in the first two months. (AZcentral)
🏡 Scottsdale homebuilder Taylor Morrison will be acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in an $8.5 billion deal. (Phoenix Business Journal)
🫠 We just survived our hottest spring on record. Phoenix's average temperature for March, April and May was 80.2℉, 6.4 degrees above normal. (KJZZ)
🎹 Actor Jeff Goldblum's jazz group will perform at the Musical Instrument Museum in October. (Phoenix New Times)
4. 🖼️ Big Indigenous art gift
A new Phoenix Art Museum exhibit will explore Native American history, culture and storytelling, thanks to a historic donation of nearly 200 works by Indigenous artists.
Why it matters: The new artwork fills a "critical gap" in the museum's Art of the Americas collection and will provide a deeper, more complex understanding of Native artists' role in shaping modern and contemporary art, director Jeremy Mikolajczak said in a statement.
Driving the news: The museum announced the gift yesterday, describing it as the largest influx of Native American art in its 65-plus-year history.
- The collection, which includes paintings, drawings, photographs and sculptures from the 20th century onward, was donated by William Healey.
- It features work from 99 Native artists representing 44 tribal nations.
Zoom in: About half of the donated pieces will be displayed in an exhibition debuting in August.
- "The Way We Came: A Century of Indigenous Art" will center on the concept of "survivance," a reflection of "how Indigenous peoples move beyond mere survival toward an active, creative sense of presence that carries knowledge forward," according to a press release.
🏀 Jeremy likes both teams, but he's rooting for the Knicks in the NBA Finals.
🖼️ Jessica is looking forward to the new Phoenix Art Museum exhibit.
Thanks to Hadley Malcolm and Jessica for editing.
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