Maricopa County’s Public Safety Funding Committee invites you to attend a virtual meeting to learn about long-term funding options for public safety and other criminal justice needs in our region.

The Committee was formed to address the expiration of the Jail Excise Tax in 2027, which is used for construction, maintenance, operations, staffing and upkeep of adult and juvenile correctional facilities. It also funds correctional health services and other programs designed to reduce the expense of adult and juvenile facilities like probation and electronic monitoring.

The virtual meetings and online survey are designed to gather public comments and inform Committee recommendations. We hope to see you there!

Temperatures are finally starting to moderate this week after the hottest summer on record and record-breaking heat to start October. 

With our partners, we've established more weekday and weekend heat relief sites in 2024 and made available a 2-1-1 bilingual heat relief call center to assist residents experiencing heat emergencies.  Thousands of people have taken advantage of these services.

As of October 5, the number of confirmed deaths for 2024 (339) is lower than at the same point in time in 2023. However, there are still many cases under investigation so it is still too early to project how the 2024 season will compare to 2023. 

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has approved an additional $500,000 for apprenticeship opportunities, increasing total funding to over $12 million aimed at creating a pipeline of skilled workers across a variety of career fields. 

From major changes in eating and sleeping patterns to increased mood swings and more, there are early warning signs that you or a loved one may be experiencing a mental health challenge.  For Mental Health Awareness Week, our Department of Public Health shared information that can help.

After several High Pollution alerts last week, our Air Quality Department wanted to let you know about another way you can help keep our air clean and healthy to breathe.

Did you know there are specific plants and trees recommended for the desert climate that help improve the environment?  Learn about the plants and trees that help air quality at Maricopa.gov/AQTrees.

Part 2 of our Spooky Sights at County Sites series, we take you inside everyone’s favorite Maricopa County Flood Control structure, aka the Phoenix Bat Cave!  See what makes this place so cool and maybe also a little creepy.

"We adopted Benelli (formerly Claire) from the East shelter in January after losing one of our boys to a chronic auto-immune disorder. While we waited for her spay appointment, I’d visit her kennel every day after work just to talk to her and hopefully familiarize her with my voice. It definitely helped as she was excited to see me when I picked her up! She has so much spunk and is such a loving dog once you earn her trust. She’s enjoyed hiking and running, loves playing tug-o-war with her older brother Colt, and is becoming better and better at her leash manners. We’re so thankful to have found her and she has brought us so much joy already. We love watching her thrive and enjoy life with our family. Thank you all for what you do for these animals and our community!"