46 MEGALOPOLITAN LIFE and by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s cockamamie Department of Health and Human Services, has led to an explosion of cases in Arizona. A small town on the Utah border alone has hundreds of measles cases, fed by a history of vaccine skepticism and cults. The disease keeps popping up even in places where it isn’t invited: several southern Arizona coun- ties, an ICE detention center, a Diamond- backs game, a Tate McRae concert. And with vaccination rates at pitiful lows, you’re only going to see more of this once-beaten disease make its raging comeback. i i i BEST PUBLIC ENEMY NO. 1 DATA CENTERS You’d be hard-pressed to get a superma- jority of Arizonans to agree on anything. And yet, after an utter capsize in public support since the spring, data centers might be that topic. Their rapid expansion in the Valley became a flashpoint for many community members who don’t welcome hulking, windowless warehouses that provide few jobs while gulping energy and water. The Data Center Map counts 176 data centers in the Phoenix area, with large concentrations in southeast Mesa, south Chandler, Goodyear and north of Luke Air Force Base. Across the Valley, people have pushed back, regardless of partisan affilia- tion. Arizona’s latest budget, negotiated with Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs and Republican lawmakers at the state Legisla- ture, includes a three-year moratorium on new sales tax breaks for data center proj- ects, which Democrats and Hobbs have trumpeted as the prime budget concession they won from Republicans. Surprisingly, Hobbs’ gubernatorial challenger, MAGA Rep. Andy Biggs, in a rare agreement, called Hobbs’ decision the “right move” during a debate. It’s rare to get across-the-aisle support on anything in Arizona, but on this issue, the Valley seems to be in harmony. i i i BEST KISS-ASS KARI LAKE Over the past two years, twice-failed Arizona political candidate and MAGA darling Kari Lake has campaigned tirelessly for Donald Trump. She has tweeted endless praise of the man, defended his decisions on right-wing cable networks and followed his agenda to wreck Voice of America, an agency she hoped to lead. Adding insult to sycophancy, she apparently struggles to get so much as a meeting with him. In October 2025, the Atlantic reported, she waited in the White House lobby for hours trying for a face-to-face with the president she turned her life upside down for. No dice. It’s unclear what she wanted. An endorsement to run for Senate in Iowa? Another shot at being the governor of Arizona? A spot as the next White House press secretary, or perhaps to control a state-run media network? Eventually he nominated her for an ambassador post to Jamaica. No matter where she lands, Lake will no doubt continue to serve Trump foremost — even if he won’t give her the time of day. i i i BEST TURNING POINT EMPLOYEE ANDY BIGGS Do you want Turning Point USA running the state of Arizona? That might be what you get if Biggs wins the governorship in November. Though more and more Republicans are willing to buck the demands of the Charlie Kirk-founded political juggernaut — including MAGA-coded Republicans in the state legislature — Biggs has been content to let TPUSA stuff him in a backpack and carry him around the state. So far, that’s paid off: Turning Point’s ground game propelled Biggs to a massive win in the GOP primary, setting him up for a showdown with Gov. Katie Hobbs in November. But general elec- tion voters have historically not liked Turning Point’s firebrand politics, and the TPUSA connection could prove costly to Biggs when votes are tallied. Maybe that’s why, in his only primary debate, the longtime congressman tried to recast himself as a paragon of bipartisanship. Nice try, bud. We know better. i i i BEST SHAKEUP TEMPE CITY COUNCIL It was a feisty election season in Tempe this past spring. After lots of online mudslinging and a smear campaign of mailers with “100 percent from out-of-state contributors” that got longtime locals up in arms about outsider meddling, newly elected city council members Brooke St. George and Bobby Nichols emerged triumphant. The duo ousted incumbents Berdetta Hodge and Jennifer Adams in a tense May runoff to secure their seats on the council. St. George