EMDR Therapy in Glendale, AZ

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Thursday, June 8, 2023

SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA --- Arizona Coyotes President & CEO Xavier A. Gutierrez will receive the inaugural Jason Jenkins "Victory for Humanity" Award at the annual Pro Medal of Leadership Awards on June 21, 2023 at The Assembly: Pro Sports Leadership Retreat and Workshop. The award was recently created in honor of Jason Jenkins, the late Senior Vice President of Communications and Community Affairs for the Miami Dolphins and a founding member of PRO, serving on the Governing Board as the Chair of Communications. Jenkins epitomized inclusive leadership through unifying people in sport and the community which is a main staple of Gutierrez's core initiatives.

"I am honored to receive the inaugural Jason Jenkins Victory for Humanity award from the Pro Sports Assembly," said Gutierrez. "Sports has a unique voice and power unlike anything else, and I am very grateful to have the opportunity to use this platform to make a positive difference in peoples' lives. The Arizona Coyotes are proud to be leaders in our community who are committed to giving back and making an impact."

Gutierrez is the first Latino President and CEO in National Hockey League (NHL) history. Gutierrez is extremely passionate about diversity, equity and inclusion and has made DEI a core pillar of the Arizona Coyotes. Under his leadership, the Coyotes have assembled one of the largest female front offices in the NHL, including the first Latina Chief Operating Officer in major professional sports.

Gutierrez has implemented several initiatives with the Coyotes to create a more inclusive workplace, sport, and community including the first ever diverse coaches internship program (leading to the hire of Nathaniel Brooks); the DREAM Program; Angels for Higher; an Estrella of the Month program recognizing local Latinx-owned small businesses; a partnership with Univision Arizona to broadcast a Coyotes game in Spanish each week; Los Howlitos, a Spanish language learn-to-skate program; the All AZ Alliance in addition to launching an initiative to recognize Latino-owned small businesses; and support of the LGBTQ+ and Hockey is For Everyone initiatives.

Gutierrez is a member of several boards and advisory councils including the NHL's Executive Inclusion Council, the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF), the Advisory Boards of the Aspen Institute Latinos & Society Program, Pro Sports Assembly, the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, and Teach for America. In addition, he co-founded and is Board Chairman of SUMA Wealth, a FinTech company focused on Latino economic empowerment.

Additionally, Gutierrez has implemented the Coyotes Care philosophy which drives the commitment to improve the lives of Arizonans by teaming up with community partners that deliver programs and services aimed at increasing educational attainment, health outcomes and economic participation for underserved groups across the state.

The Assembly: Pro Sports Leadership Retreat and Workshop is an intimate gathering for professional sports business leaders who are invested in a more diverse, inclusive, and fair future across all aspects of professional sports. During the three-day event, members will work together to identify the most critical issues facing the industry, identify solutions and begin creating inclusively designed industry standards.

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Glendale City Manager Kevin Phelps, who has been an outspoken critic of how the Arizona Coyotes handled their tenure at the Westgate Entertainment District, told The Arizona Republic he thought Tempe voters would have approved the deal for a new arena and entertainment district there but the project would have never been built.

"I want to acknowledge that I come from a position of bias and a position of experience. I've always questioned the ability for the team that was put in place, the development team, to deliver on such a complex, high intensity-development, especially as the financial market changed dramatically," he said Wednesday.

Phelps and other Glendale city officials reacted to the news that Tempe voters rejected three ballot items Tuesday that would have allowed the professional hockey team to build its project near Tempe Town Lake.

The voters' decision comes almost two years after the Coyotes submitted their new arena proposal, and Glendale announced it wouldn't renew the team's lease at what was known as Gila River Arena at the time.

The National Hockey League team and Glendale had a tumultuous 20-plus-year relationship that ended on a bad note when the team's lease expired last summer.

Unofficial results of Tuesday night's tally show Tempe's three ballot measures losing by a 12- to 14-point-margin, throwing doubt at what the Coyotes' future holds.

Tempe-Coyotes election recap:What happened, what's next for city after massive loss?

Glendale Mayor Jerry Weiers said he holds no ill will toward the Coyotes and would love to see the team staying in Arizona.

"Maybe there is an opportunity to go into Phoenix, originally back where they (the Coyotes) started," he said. "But if not, things always seem to have a way of working out. "

The mayor wished the NHL team "the best of luck."

Glendale Vice Mayor Joyce Clark, who was a strong critic of the development, shared a copy of a blog post she published on her personal site, saying she was glad the "saga is over."

"My concern was that Tempe was about to be caught up in the drama of a financial maelstrom just as Glendale had been. When ordinary people, like me, are struggling to pay bills and are worrying about another recession it wasn’t the right time to ask for any kind of financial breaks for yet another sports team," Clark's post read.

Clark also congratulated Tempe 1st, a grassroots organization that ran the opposition campaign, saying that "their good, old-fashioned door-knocking and getting-the-facts-out was the key to their success" even after being outspent by the Coyotes' campaign.

Can Phoenix be home to the Coyotes?What City Council members are saying

The team already conceded defeat after its Political Action Committee, Tempe Wins, had reportedly raised $224,000 by the start of 2023 — all from a single donation made by Coyotes owner Alex Meruelo's Bluebird development company.

Coyotes CEO Xavier Gutierrez issued a statement expressing disappointment over the election results.

"While we wanted a different outcome, we remain grateful to all those who volunteered their time and talent. What is next for the franchise will be evaluated by our owners and the National Hockey League over the coming weeks," he said.

Ray Malnar, a Glendale council member, said he was happy to see the democratic process worked and that all parties can now move on.

"I would not have been surprised with either outcome. I wish the best to both the city and the Coyotes," he said in a written statement to The Republic.

Glendale Councilmembers Bart Turner, Lauren Tolmachoff and Ian Hugh did not respond to The Republic's requests for comment. Councilmember Jamie Aldama declined to comment.

City watchdog reporter for Scottsdale and Tempe Sam Kmack contributed to this article.

Taylor Swift does the Anti-Hero challenge

@_katesss

What surprise songs did Taylor Swift perform on The Eras Tour? Here's the full list.

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Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour is finally upon us, and just as fans had hoped, Taylor has confirmed that she will be performing surprise songs on every single night of the tour.

If you've been a fan of Taylor for a while, you'll know that she always includes a surprise song in her tour set lists. The tradition goes all the way back to The Red Tour, and technically even further back to the Speak Now World Tour if you include the surprise covers she performed during that era.

With the tour now officially underway, the surprise songs are back, back, back again. There are 44 songs in the setlist already, which means she's got over 180 songs to choose from for the surprise slot.

According to reports from fans who attended the first Eras Tour show in Glendale, AZ, Taylor teased that she will only play each secret song once, unless she messes it up.

So, with that piece of information in mind, what surprise songs has Taylor Swift already performed on The Eras Tour and what can fans expect for the rest of the dates? Here's the full list. (We'll update this article after each tour date.)

What surprise songs did Taylor Swift perform on tour?

Every surprise song that Taylor has performed on The Eras Tour so far:

The first surprise song that Taylor unveiled during the opening show of the tour was 'mirrorball' from folklore, and went on to surprise the crowd with the opening track from her debut album: 'Tim McGraw'. The next night, she followed that up with another folklore track ('this is me trying'), and fan favourite 'State of Grace' from Red (Taylor's Version).

Taylor will be playing two surprise songs per show. With 52 dates on the U.S. leg of the tour, Taylor could go through an extra 104 songs if she continues to play two a night!

As of June 10th, Taylor has performed 12 from Red (Taylor's Version), 11 from Fearless (Taylor's Version), 9 from Taylor Swift, 8 from Midnights, 8 from 1989, 6 from Speak Now, 4 from folklore, 3 from evermore, 3 from Lover and 2 from Reputation.

What surprise songs will Taylor Swift perform again?

Taylor confirmed she'll be performing 'Death By a Thousand Cuts' again after she messed up the lyrics. She also teased that 'Clean' will make another appearance: "I think I could probably have done it better in a higher key so that's technically a mess up."

('Clean' was played again on May 28th in East Rutherford)

During night 2 in Tampa, Taylor also revealed that Midnights is exempt from the surprise song rules, so she'll be playing certain tracks multiple times throughout the tour: "If it's on Midnights, I can do it however many times I want..."

On April 29th at the second Atlanta show, Taylor confirmed she'll have to play 'Gorgeous' again after messing it up.

On May 6th, Taylor said she messed up the bridge of 'Out of the Woods', which means she'll likely perform that one again too.

Taylor has been performing 'Nothing New' with Phoebe Bridgers on the nights Phoebe appears as a support act, but the song is not one of the two surprise songs. It's unclear if Taylor will perform the song again later down the line as a surprise song, but it is possible... Watch this space!

READ MORE: 59 Taylor Swift lyrics for your Eras Tour Instagram captions

Will Taylor Swift perform any Speak Now or debut tracks?

After unveiling her setlist on opening night, fans couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that Taylor only included one Speak Now song ('Enchanted') and one song from her self-titled debut album ('Tim McGraw'). It turns out that 'Tim McGraw' was also a surprise song – it wasn't in the actual setlist.

While some are hoping that they'll turn up as surprise songs along the way ('Our Song', 'Cold as You' and 'A Place In This World' have now popped up as a surprise song, and 'Ours', 'Speak Now', 'Mean' and 'Sparks Fly' have already been performed, too), others have speculated that Taylor is avoiding performing those tracks within the official setlist until she's able to release her own versions.

Taylor has finally announced that Speak Now (Taylor's Version) will be released on July 7th, so it's possible that she may update the main setlist with those songs later down the line, if she feels like it's something she wants to do!

Read more Taylor Swift news here:

The date has been made official for Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale, Arizona on Saturday, August 12. The all-Mexican showdown features three-weight world champion and current WBO junior lightweight titleholder up against former two-division world champion.

The fighters seek to etch their names among the celebrated catalog of Mexican rivalries that includes Marco Antonio Barrera vs Erik Morales, Ruben Olivares vs Chucho Castillo and Rafael Marquez vs Israel Vazquez.

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Boxing fans in the United States can watch Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez live on ESPN, ESPN Deportes and ESPN+. The start time is scheduled for 10 pm ET / 7 pm PT.

“Emanuel Navarrete and Oscar Valdez are proud warriors, and this is a fight that is destined to go down as a classic,” said Top Rank chairman Bob Arum. “The fight fans at Desert Diamond Arena and everyone watching on ESPN are in for a real treat. The winner of this fight etches his name among the great Mexican fighters. I can’t wait.”

Navarrete vs Valdez ticket and undercard information is expected to be announced shortly.

Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez

Emanuel Navarrete (37-1, 31 KOs), the fighting pride of San Juan Zitlaltepec, captured his first world title by defeating Isaac Dogboe for the WBO junior featherweight crown in December 2018. He made five defenses before moving up to featherweight, where he beat Ruben Villa for the vacant WBO title in October 2020.

The 28-year-old defended his belt with victories over Christopher Diaz, Joet Gonzalez and Eduardo Baez before moving up to 130 pounds. In February, Navarrete joined an elite list of Mexican three-division champions – including Morales, Barrera and Julio Cesar Chavez – by defeating Liam Wilson via ninth-round TKO for the WBO junior lightweight world title.

“After so much time, this fight will finally take place,” Navarrete said. “Obviously, I am 100 percent motivated because Valdez is still a big threat, and a fight against him could possibly be the start of a new Mexico vs. Mexico rivalry like the one between Barrera and Morales.”

Oscar Valdez (31-1, 23 KOs), from Nogales, represented Mexico at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics. As a pro, he captured the WBO featherweight world title against Matias Rueda in 2016 and made six successful defenses. He moved up to junior lightweight and defeated Adam Lopez in 2019 and Jayson Velez in 2020 before taking on his toughest challenge, a WBC title tilt against Miguel Berchelt in February 2021. Despite disadvantages in height, reach and power, Valdez counterpunched his way to three crushing knockdowns, the last of which earned him a 10th-round KO.

After a competitive fight against Olympic gold medalist Robson Conceicao later that year, Valdez suffered his first defeat in a title unification battle against Shakur Stevenson in April 2022. He bounced back by defeating Lopez in a rematch in the co-feature to the Devin Haney-Vasiliy Lomachenko super fight last month, and he now hopes to equal Navarrete as a three-time world champion.

“I’m excited to return to the ring, especially because it’s for a world title against ‘Vaquero’ Navarrete,” Valdez said. “Being a world champion is something that I always dreamed of. I already did it two times, and this is yet another opportunity. So, I’m excited and prepared both mentally and physically for this new opportunity. And I like that it’s between two Mexicans because it’s a win-win for Mexico. It’s a guaranteed war when there are two Mexicans in the ring.”

The date when Emanuel Navarrete vs Oscar Valdez airs live in Australia is Sunday, August 13.

The largest field yet of girls' high school basketball teams from Arizona and other Western states will showcase their talents at the annual Section 7 tournament in Glendale later this month.

The girls tournament will begin the weekend of June 15-17, with 12 courts set up inside State Farm Stadium.

"The goal of this event is to provide the most competitive games possible, which obviously provides development for each of these kids." said Matt King, tournament director.

This is the first year that the high-profile tournament will feature girls games on a weekend separate from the boys' tournament. The boys' qualifier will be June 21-22, followed by the tournament June 23-25.

Among the top Arizona girls' participants is Desert Vista High School, which will face Etiwanda High School in a matchup of two state champions. Etiwanda, from Rancho Cucamonga, California, is the reigning Open Division state champions of California while Desert Vista won the Arizona' Interscholastic Association's first Open Division championship this year.

Desert Vista has a star-studded roster including the top ranked incoming sophomore Jerzy Robinson, and Shay Ijiwoye a top-50 ESPN ranked senior. They are also No.1 and No. 5 respectively in The Republic's Elite Girls 50 with Ijowoye coming in as the state's top player.

"That's the thing these kids do very well, these kids respect their opponent, they respect the game, and they play hard all the times." Desert Vista head coach Erin O'Bryan on the preparation for the matchup with Etiwanda. O'Bryan arecently was hired after the departure of David Williams, who resigned after this pas season and later was hired by McClintock.

More:Section 7 basketball adding prep academies division for first time in June

This year's tournament will feature 128 girls' teams separated into 16-team brackets. Those brackets will be broken down for competitive balance. Section 7 is an invitation-only tournament and teams apply beginning Feb. 15 and are evaluated throughout their season.

The girls' division having its own weekend will shine the spotlight on the special talents that will be in Glendale.

"In the past couple of months, the girls' game has garnered a lot of attention from the NCAA level to WNBA level and the high school basketball talent is deeper than it's ever been." said O'Bryan.

The 2023 women's Final Four was the most viewed edition in recorded history. The 2026 women's Final Four will be held at Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix.

"We had over 600 applications for the boys' side, we expect in the next couple of years to have the same type of demand on the girls' side." said King. If the demand grows, that eventually will create the need for a girls' qualifier as the boys now have to narrow the field.

O'Bryan noted that high school basketball events such as Section 7 are important for college recruiting.

"The NCAA has changed their viewing periods from three live periods in July for club basketball to two and moved one to June. Now high schools have a live period in the summer which is different than it ever has been." she said.

There are more than 500 college coaches from all levels expected to be in attendance scouting.