Good morning, Maricopa.

Arizona experts advise residents to set their thermostats at 78 degrees when home and raise the temperature when away to help lower summer energy bills.

Local utility providers also offer smart thermostat programs with rebates and bill credits — up to $100 off SRP bills — while recommending regular maintenance for efficient cooling.

Maricopa County Human Services Early Education Division now offers a recorded volunteer orientation — a new process that lets parents complete required tasks like paperwork and tests on their own schedule — and has already onboarded 20 volunteers.

Maricopa County school districts for the 2025-26 school year will begin on various dates ranging from mid-July to early August.

Chandler Unified is set to start on July 16 and Higley Unified on July 17 while other districts begin between July 28 and August 7—some districts are still confirming their return dates.

The Human Services Department launched a Power BI dashboard that flags missing data in the ChildPlus system—staff now follow a monthly schedule to fix errors and have cut missing fields by 60%—and they plan to add automated alerts soon.

Maricopa County Human Services has spent over $46 million and partnered with more than 33 groups to build a support system that offers emergency shelters, transitional housing, and permanent homes for people facing homelessness across the county’s 9,224 square miles.

The program funds shelter operations and rapid rehousing efforts in cities like Tempe and Avondale—an innovative approach to help seniors, veterans, families, and individuals stay safe.

Maricopa County Human Services Department’s Hand in Hand program provided street outreach, case management, and flexible funding to over 1,297 unsheltered individuals since July 2023 and helped 444 exit homelessness.

The program brings city and county officials together for peer sharing and regional planning—efforts aimed at preventing homelessness from worsening in smaller communities.

Officials coordinated rapid rescue efforts—securing passage on a cruise ship—for 33 American students, including 17 from Arizona, from Israel amid missile strikes during an Iran conflict.

The Arizona students landed safely at Phoenix Sky Harbor after the group reached New York.