Maricopa County Department of Public Health (MCDPH) launched an interactive, online heat dashboard to help provide residents with more accessible and timely data around countywide heat-related hospital visits and deaths.

The dashboard replaces weekly heat surveillance reports previously published on the public health website. Designed through the Power BI platform with support from Maricopa County’s Enterprise Technology team, the online tracker will be updated weekly on Tuesdays and allow the user to interact with the data. It features:

• Near real-time data on heat-related hospital visits in addition to data on heat-related deaths
• Comparative data for heat-related deaths and hospital visits for 2023 and 2024
• Patient characteristics by age, race, and sex to demonstrate who is at highest risk from heat and inform prevention efforts
• Patient characteristics on housing status and substance use involvement in heat-related hospital visits and deaths

The July 30^th Election is an Open Primary meaning all registered voters can participate. Voters registered as Independent or Party Not Declared must specify which party’s ballot they would like to vote.

For more information visit BeBallotReady.Vote

To prepare for the potential of a 2-page ballot in November, Maricopa County Elections held a mock election on Wednesday at the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center. Two vote centers were staged, and 60 poll workers assisted with simulating the voting experience along with temporary and full-time staff members who acted as voters checking-in and completing their ballot. Several media outlets covered the mock election including AZFamily, ABC15, and FOX10. Thank you to the training team and to everyone who came out and participated!

Way to go, MCSO! After a nine-month collaborative investigation, MCSO detectives assigned do the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Initiative seized $5 million worth of drugs and guns. In the seizure, they retrieved 1.1 million fentanyl pills, 455 pounds of meth, 40 firearms, 22 vehicles and around $250,000 in cash. So far, 31 suspected drug traffickers and money carriers have been indicted on multiple felony charges.  

Watch the press conference in the video above.

And don't forget about our "Focus on Fentanyl" website detailing everything that county departments and elected offices are doing together to fight this deadly drug.

Congratulations to Maricopa County Sheriff's Deputy Michael Martinez. He was awarded the 2024 Tom Manos Outstanding Service Award.  Deputy Martinez has worked with the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office (MCSO) for more than 19 years and has led collaborative efforts across the valley to improve MCSO's training programs, strengthen public trust, and elevate best practices for law enforcement. Deputy Martinez also demonstrates a commitment to public service outside of the workplace, making it a priority to engage with the community he serves. This past year, with the assistance of staff and volunteers, Deputy Martinez brought a box truck full of gifts ranging from bikes to barbies for the town of Aguila's annual Christmas event.

Animal Care and Control is offering free microchipping, by appointment, until the end of the year. For now, the free service is only available at the West shelter, but appointments will be offered at the new East shelter in the summer.

"We adopted this sweet boy, Ryley, from the East shelter. One of our dogs had passed on 12/30/23 and we felt like our 10-year-old German Shepherd needed a friend again. To our surprise, we discovered 4 days after adopting Ryley that he is deaf, so we are obedience training him with homemade hand signals and leash training him. He is so smart and has quickly caught on and is getting better every day. He is loving, goofy and sweet and gets along really well with our older dog, too! We are so lucky to have found this boy!"