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AZ Briefing: Saguaro athletic director quits amid message allegations
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AZ Briefing
YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP
Sun Dec 14 2025
Good morning, Arizona. Here’s what our reporters are working on and what you should know about what’s happening across the state before you start your day.
The former Saguaro High School athletic director has resigned amid allegations that he had sent inappropriate messages to a student.
The student’s father said the district handled the situation promptly and that Lucas Ackerson was escorted off campus at Saguaro within an hour of the family reporting his actions to administration. Here’s what happened.
Other big stories
➤ A 13,600-square-foot north Scottsdale mansion called the Castle on the Hill listed for $24 million is going on the auction block. The house also has Swarovski crystal accents, a gold-inlaid floating staircases crowned with Italian chandeliers, a two-bedroom guest house, a game room and full bar. It could sell for half the listed price.
➤ A unanimous City Council decisionaxed a plan to build an artificial intelligence data center in Chandler’s Price Road Corridor. Here’s why.
➤ Body camera video shows that Phoenix police waited nearly six minutes to provide aid to a 47-year-old who was shot three times by police at an IHOP in August. Officers were called to the scene after reports that the man was trespassing.
➤ Dreaming of a white Christmas or itching to finally build that very first snowman? You don’t need to hop on a plane to Colorado. From red rocks to forests, here are four places to see snow in Arizona.
➤ From the obvious to the hidden treasures — Grand Canyon, haunted hotels, hot springs and breweries — these are the 25 top things to do in northern Arizona.
➤ News alerts in your inbox: Don’t miss the important news of the day. Sign up for azcentral newsletter alerts to be in the know.
➤ Today, you can expect it to be mostly cloudy with a high near 84 degrees, which would be a record. Expect it to be mainly clear at night with a low near 56 degrees. Get the full forecast here.
Arizona’s I-17 Christmas tree returned in 2024. Is it back this year?

The I-17 Christmas Tree in 2014.
Provided by Charley Farley
Burned but not forgotten, the I-17 Christmas Tree is back. Check out history of the mystery, how it was solved and the latest on this year’s tree.
If you like our work, please consider becoming a subscriber.
Today in history
Here are just some of the historic events on this date in the past.•On this day in 1918: About a month after an armistice between Germany and the Allied Nations to end World War I, women were allowed to vote for the first time in the U.K. general election.•In 1940: Scientists first made and then isolated plutonium, or Pu-238, in the Lawrence Radiation Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley. Plutonium became a key to the Manhattan Project producing the world’s first atomic bomb amid World War II. Publication of the initial discovery of chemists Glenn Seaborg, Arthur Wahl, Joseph Kennedy and Edwin McMillan was withdrawn after an isotope, Pu-239, was found to undergo nuclear fission to release energy that could fuel the bomb.•In 1979: CBS Records released the Clash’s seminal album, “London Calling,” in the U.K. roughly a month before Epic Records unleashed the double LP in the U.S. Widely recognized today as one of the greatest punk rock bands in history, the Clash had grown by their third studio album to embrace a post-punk style that infused reggae, rock and other genres.•In 1985: Chief Wilma Mankiller began serving as the Cherokee Nation’s first female leader after Chief Ross Swimmer resigned to lead the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs. Mankiller also was the first female chief of a major tribe of Indigenous people in the U.S. Over a decade of her leadership, the Cherokee Nation population more than doubled.•In 2008: At a news conference in Baghdad about a month before he left the White House, President George W. Bush touted the Status of Forces Agreement he signed that would eventually lead to the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and allow for the nation to govern itself again. As an insult to express outrage about what had transpired since the U.S. invaded Iraq in 2003, Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi threw his shoes at Bush, who ducked while standing alongside Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Zaidi served a six-month sentence for the attack.•In 2020: The COVID-19 pandemic death toll in the U.S. surpassed 300,000 people. Sandra Lindsay, a critical care nurse at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New York, became the first American not involved in a clinical trial to receive a COVID-19 vaccine after the Pfizer-BioNTech shot was approved for use. “I was determined to show up for my team and my family,” Lindsay wrote in a USA TODAY op-ed a year later.
— Charlie White, USA TODAY Network
TOP STORIES
Dems want Grijalva pepper-spray incident investigated
The idea likely is a non-starter in the Republican-controlled U.S. House and Senate.
Afghans in Arizona fear being sent back to Afghanistan
The Trump administration’s immigration directive was issued in response to the shooting of two National Guard troops by a suspect from Afghanistan.
Queen Creek home builder pleads guilty to fraud
Yul Ryan Nelson, 51, owner of Nelson Contracting, was sentenced to one year in jail and four years probation in Pinal County Superior Court.
AZ cyclists, e-scooter riders could face 15 mph limit
The proposed speed limits would be enforced on bike and multi-use paths.
These are Arizona’s top 4 snowy escapes for winter 2025
If you’re tired of mild metro Phoenix weather, it’s time for a road trip. From red rocks to forests, here are four places to see snow in Arizona.
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