Axios Phoenix

May 11, 2026
Happy Monday! We hope all the moms out there were spoiled over the weekend.
☀️ Today's weather: Sunny, with a high of 108. Ugh.
🎧 Sounds like: "Tonight" by Social Distortion
Today's newsletter is 835 words — a 3-minute read.
1 big thing: Sound off on suicide lanes
Everyone who drives in central Phoenix has an opinion about the reverse "suicide" lanes, and the city wants to hear them.
Why it matters: Reverse lanes on Seventh Avenue and Seventh Street help keep traffic moving during rush hour, but can be difficult to navigate, particularly for people who aren't used to them.
The big picture: The city's conducting a Midtown Core Transportation Study to examine traffic and transportation needs in central Phoenix.
- As part of that study, the Street Transportation Department is studying possible changes to the infamous suicide lanes that run along the sevens.
How it works: Left-turn lanes serve as extra lanes of traffic during morning and afternoon rush hours.
- From 6–9am between McDowell Road and Dunlap Avenue they're used for southbound traffic and from 4–6pm they're for northbound traffic.
- You can still turn left during rush hour at driveways and streets without traffic signals, but not at intersections with lights.
- That means your speedy drive in the suicide lane can come to a halt when someone needs to turn.
My thought bubble: I drive on the sevens pretty much every weekday during rush hour, so I routinely see the best and worst that the suicide lanes have to offer.
- I can't imagine how much more traffic there would be without them.
- But it's astonishing how many times per week I see people blocking traffic by trying to make illegal turns at intersections, drivers weaving around each other as a result and people driving the wrong way in the reverse lanes.
State of play: Phoenix residents have until May 29 to fill out a survey with their thoughts on the reverse lanes and other transportation issues.
What's next: City staff will hold public meetings in the fall and will present their findings to the City Council's Transportation, Infrastructure and Planning Subcommittee by December.
🗣️ You tell us: Respond to this email and let us know what you think of the reverse lanes.
- Should the city keep them, change them or eliminate them entirely?
2. 🍻 Local beer battle: Round 1


Friends, Arizonans, beer drinkers: We need your help crowning the state's most popular brew.
The big picture: We've launched a bracket-style competition of local pours in celebration of American Craft Beer Week.
- We used your recommendations and some of our favorites to set the field.
How it works: Round 1 is live now. Pick your favorites here until 3pm, and tomorrow we'll reveal which beers live to fight another day.
- We'll have a winner by Friday.
3. 🔥 Mercury are back
The Mercury started their season with a vengeance Saturday, notching a blowout win against the Las Vegas Aces, who swept the Merc in the WNBA Finals last year.
Yes, but: Yesterday they fell to the Golden State Valkyries, 95-79.
- So maybe it's too soon to be making season predictions.
Who we're watching: All-Stars Alyssa Thomas and Kahleah Copper and several other solid players are returning this year, but it's a newbie we've got our eyes on: Jovana Nogic.
- The 28-year-old from Serbia has played basketball overseas for years, but made her WNBA debut Saturday, racking up 19 points for the Mercury.
- A new WNBA collective bargaining agreement that bumped player pay is expected to entice international players like Nogic.
What they're saying: "This is a player who hasn't come over because maybe it wasn't worth it, money-wise," coach Nate Tibbetts told ESPN.
What's next: The Mercury home opener is tomorrow night against the Minnesota Lynx.
4. Chips & salsa: ASU softball wins conference
🥎 ASU softball beat top-seeded Texas Tech on Saturday to bring home the program's first Big 12 Championship. (AZcentral)
🚱 Arizona, California and Nevada announced a temporary plan to save 1 million acre-feet of Colorado River water through 2028. (Associated Press)
🏫 Phoenix Union High School District renamed Cesar Chavez High School as Cactus Canyon High School. (ABC15)
📚 The Phoenix Public Library is issuing a new special edition library card in honor of "The Wallace and Ladmo Show." (KJZZ)
🍦 The Picacho Peak Dairy Queen Travel Center will permanently close at the end of May. The owner will announce a new food option soon at the adjacent Bowlin's Picacho Peak Plaza. (Pinal Central)
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5. Where in the Valley?
Welcome to another edition of "Where in the Valley?"
How it works: We show you something cool. You tell us where it is.
- The first reader who names the spot gets a shoutout in the newsletter.
You tell us: Where in the Valley can you find these big concentric circles?
Catch up quick: Congratulations to Molly Smith, the first reader to give us the correct location for last week's "Where in the Valley?" photo.
- The huge interlocking sculpture is at 32nd and Elwood streets, just off Interstate 10 south of Sky Harbor.
🎸 Jeremy is enjoying "Born To Kill," the new Social Distortion album that came out Friday.
🥵 Jessica is already sick of triple digits.
Thanks to Jessica for editing.
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