Merry Christmas and happy holidays from The Gaggle! We're taking a week off to spend time with family and friends. But we wanted to say thank you for giving us your time and attention this year. We'll join you again in 2020 and we're already gearing up for the election-related news to come. Happy holidays, all!

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From legalizing recreational marijuana to the presidential election of 2020, there is a lot for Arizonans to watch out for in the coming year. 

This week on the Gaggle, an Arizona politics podcast, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen sit down with state government reporter Andrew Oxford to go over the six biggest stories they'll be following next year. 

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Groundwater levels in many parts of rural Arizona are plummeting. That's because outside investors are buying land, drilling large wells and pumping out water for industrial farms.

The investors are drawn to Arizona for its lack of regulation, but nearby residents are enduring the consequences. While investors have the money to drill wells that are four times as deep, nearby families cannot complete. Instead, their wells are going dry. 

In this week's Gaggle, hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen sit down with environmental reporter Ian James and data reporter Rob O'Dell to discuss how lawmakers are managing Arizona's next water crisis. 

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As Arizona’s national prominence rises going into the 2020 election cycle, there will be concerns about voter security and allegations of voter fraud in the state. In 2016, Arizona's voter-registration system was targeted in at least two hacking attempts connected to Russia.

There are no instances we know of somebody changing someone else’s vote in Arizona, and prosecutions related to voter fraud are highly rare.

This week's episode of The Gaggle podcast breaks down all you need to know about Arizona election security going into next year's election cycle. We talk with Andrew Oxford, a government reporter, who's been investigating voter security.  

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Since the Great Recession ended in June 2009, the economy has continued to expand. This summer, the United States broke its record for the longest economic expansion. But now people are worried: How long will it last? Is the economy about to burst? 

National political reporters Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen sit down with business reporter Russ Wiles to discuss the nation's economy, how Arizona's faring, and what role the economy will play in the 2020 election cycle. 

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Two political action committees, The Committee to Defend the President and GreatAmerica PAC, are heading up a voter drive to identify and register 142,000 potential voters in Arizona.

The PACs are using data mining to find and target nonvoters who they think could be swayed to register to vote – and to vote for Trump. Trump narrowly won Arizona by just over 90,000 votes. They hope their efforts will keep Arizona red in 2020. 

This week on The Gaggle Podcast hosts Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald Hansen talk with Ted Harvey, the chairman of The Committee to Defend the President. Listen to hear his plans to keep Trump in the White House. 

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Three women and six children were killed in an ambush in a small town about a three-hour drive from the Arizona border on Nov. 4. The families had dual U.S. and Mexican citizenship and lived in a small town in Mexico. The horrific event captured the nation's attention, including President Donald Trump.

"This is the time for Mexico, with the help of the United States, to wage WAR on the drug cartels and wipe them off the face of the earth," Trump wrote on twitter. 

This week's episode of The Gaggle podcast breaks down how the killing of the family could impact U.S.-Mexico relations, including travel and politics. Hosts Yvonne Wingett-Sanchez and Ronald Hansen talk with immigration reporter Daniel Gonzalez. 

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Prosecutors say Paul Petersen, in his private-sector career as a Mesa adoption attorney, illegally arranged for pregnant women from the Marshall Islands to fly to the U.S. to deliver their babies. They allege Petersen fraudulently registered the women for the state's Medicaid system and then arranged the adoptions of their children for up to $40,000.

Hear everything you need to know about this scandal in this week's episode of The Gaggle, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. 

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Regina Romero is the front runner and likely winner in the Tucson mayoral race. She made headlines over the summer for winning the Democratic primary. If she wins, she would become the first Latina mayor of Arizona's second largest city. No other Hispanic person has held this office since the late 1800s when Arizona was still a territory. 

This week on The Gaggle podcast we talk to Arizona Daily Star political reporter Joe Ferguson to break down what a Romero win would mean for Tucson. The future Tucson mayor could greatly impact the U.S. Senate race considering that both candidates are from the area. 

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Allister Adel was named the first female Maricopa County attorney on Oct. 3, replacing Bill Montgomery, who was appointed to the Arizona Supreme Court in September. Last week, she announced her transition team and outlined how she plans to move forward in her new appointment. 

Adel sat down with Ronald Hansen, host of The Gaggle podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, for a one-on-one interview. 

She outlined what changes she has planned for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office and how she hopes to regain the trust of the community while the office faces ethics complaints.

Listen to the 13-minute interview below to hear more. 

In this episode you'll hear: 

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