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Arizona Edition Friday is KAWC's weekly look at topics and people shaping the community, with insightful conversations and in-depth reporting from the field.

Arizona Edition Friday is KAWC's weekly look at topics and people shaping the community, with insightful conversations and in-depth reporting from the field.

We talk to three candidates for Arizona House LD-25 about Prop. 314, the economy, and their priorities if they win.

Jonathan Perez is a former Marine, community mentor and founder of The Treasured Trash Men. We dug into his journey from Staten Island to Yuma, the work he’s doing with local youth, how faith has shaped his path, and how he built a junk-removal business with nothing but a vision to serve people.

Tanya Camarillo and Julio Sanchez are two of the founders of Offroad4Autism, a brand-new Yuma nonprofit born from a simple conversation between friends who saw a real need for better autism support in our community. We learned about the challenges Yuma families face, the mission behind Offroad4Autism, and their very first fundraising event happening December 6th.

George Flores (RasJahge) and Robert Flores (Rastaman Rob) are the founding members of homegrown Yuma reggae legends UpRoot. We dove into their story, how UpRoot began, the culture behind their music and the long-running Thanksgiving-Eve tradition that has become one of Yuma’s favorite annual events.

Longtime educator, mentor, and 2025 AWC Hall of Fame inductee, Moses Camarena talks about his roots in Yuma, the decades he’s spent serving students across Yuma and La Paz counties, the impact of La Cosecha and his work supporting first-generation graduates, and what this honor means for him and the community.

Yuma Police Department Chief Thomas Garrity — a U.S. Army veteran and 30-plus-year law enforcement leader who came to Yuma after a nationwide search joins us in the studio. We’ll get into his connection to our city, what life is like leading the department, the challenges and priorities he sees for Yuma, and the vision he has for the future of public safety here at home.

We were joined by Ja'lynn Davis and her mother Ms. "D.D.", owner of Double D’s Sports Bar. Ja'lynn handles the marketing. Ms. DD built her business from the ground up through every corner of the bar world. We’ll talk about her path from bartender to owner, what it was like opening during COVID, how she runs the bar with her daughters and the community work Double D’s does quietly but consistently for Yuma.

Cameron Klug is a Senior Account Manager with Vitalant, Arizona’s largest non-profit blood provider. We got into his journey, his connection to Yuma, the work Vitalant does for 90 percent of Arizona’s hospitals and why blood donation matters so much for families right here in our community.