The Supreme Court denied the Trump Administration’s new mail-in ballot rules yesterday, concluding that the federal government’s claim was unlikely to succeed. Justice Brett Kavanaugh specifically said there wasn’t enough time to implement the rule for 2026. This has cleared a lot of space on Secretary of State Adrian Fontes’ calendar. People of Arizona: your votes will be in the mail after all. Here are the other stories we’re following today.

•LOMBARDO STRIKES BACK–Risa Lombardo and Duwayne Collier have filed in Maricopa County Superior Court seeking to stop Clean Elections from clawing back their public funding. Once the secretary of state and county officials certified the disputed $5 contributions, they say, Clean Elections lacks authority to later decide they never qualified. Clean Elections Executive Director Thomas Collins has already told Lombardo to stop spending the public money while the investigation proceeds. Local outlet malls have been alerted. Lombardo received $2.8 million; Collier nearly $740,000. The investigation could run until Oct. 29, five days before Election Day.

•SCOTTSDALE IS FULL OF FAKES–Following last week’s East Valley fracas involving fake photos of Rep. Lorena Austin with “Democrats For Biggs” signs, which her Turning Point-affiliated opponents said they did with “humorous intent,” Scottsdale now has its own stupid deepfake fight. Scottsdale Councilman Adam Kwasman says council candidate Raoul Zubia’s campaign used an AI-generated image of Kwasman in a campaign video. Zubia’s spokesman says editors unknowingly grabbed the image from a May Scottsdale Progress story and removed it within hours after learning AI had made it. Arizona law  prohibits a creator from knowingly creating and distributing a deceptive deepfake of a candidate without an AI disclosure, though they can still ask AI outlets for help with recipes or organizing their files.

•MESALAND–The Mesa City Council last night considered creating the 428-acre Legacy Park District, legally designated a theme-park district, along with a retail-development tax incentive agreement and a 196-acre rezoning/annexation package around Arizona Athletic Grounds and the proposed mixed-use development. This old Arizonan hopes they just bring back Big Surf, Rawhide, and Bill Johnson’s Big Apple.

•GILBERT VERSUS THE ROBOTS–Anticipating the Apple+ show Pluribus coming to life, The Gilbert City Council votes tonight on a zoning-code amendment governing unmanned aircraft and commercial drone-delivery systems. Also, DeLoreans aren’t allowed to go faster than 88 miles per hour. Watch the skies for further developments.

•SEMI-CONDUCTED–Senators Mark Kelly and Ruben Gallego, alongside two U.S. representatives, announced more than $2 million in federal funding Monday for ASU’s Macro Technology Works facility to test water-treatment and reuse technology for semiconductor manufacturing. “Arizona is a national leader in chip manufacturing, and we know how to manage water responsibly,” said Sen. Kelly, who also encouraged attendees to wash their hands before eating.