Dental Implants in Chandler, AZ

CHANDLER, AZ — This week, Chandler road rage victim Chris Pelkey made international headlines when an Artificial Intelligence version of him appeared as the last victim statement in the shooter’s sentencing.

The judge in the case gave defendant Gabriel Horcasitas 10.5 years. Immediately after the sentencing, defense attorney Jason Lamm appealed the decision.

”While victims have a right to address the court, reincarnating Chris Pelkey through AI, and frankly putting words in his mouth because nobody would know what he was actually going to say, it just felt wrong on many levels,” said Lamm.

He added that the appellate courts now have a seemingly unprecedented decision to make in the coming months on whether the AI video added to the penalty for Horcasitas.

The Pelkey family attorney, Jessica Gattuso, told ABC15 by phone that she feels the sentencing will be upheld because the written law supports what they did in court.

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Gary Marchant is an ASU professor who’s part of the Arizona Supreme Court committee on AI. When asked if there could be a resentencing, Marchant said:

”If they determine it wasn’t an innocuous error, and it didn’t change the outcome, and he would have received the penalty, something like this anyhow, they may allow it to continue on. But say you can’t use these AI-created victim statements in the future.”

He says that, because the state Supreme Court told ABC15 prior that the use of AI has “great potential,” but it can “hinder or upend justice if used inappropriately."

“Those who use it, including the courts, are responsible for its accuracy,” Marchant added.

Marchant echoes that saying this case has the potential to open the AI floodgates.

”Even though in this case it was very well-meaning and honest, it can easily cross over to much more dishonest and much more strategic, much more self-serving, so I think we can’t [set] that precedent to allow the fake videos into court," Marchant said.

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Ryan Reeves, Airport Manager of Chandler Municipal Airport, has been named the 2025 Airport Executive of the Year by the Arizona Airports Association (AzAA). In addition to this prestigious honor, Reeves also was selected as the recipient of the AzAA’s 2025 President’s Award, recognizing his outstanding leadership and service to Arizona’s aviation community.

“These awards reflect Ryan’s tireless dedication to aviation excellence and community engagement,” said Chandler Mayor Kevin Hartke. “His passion for aviation runs generations deep. Having the awards presented by his mentors and in front of his colleagues, made it extra special. On behalf of the City Council, we congratulate him on this well-deserved recognition and his leadership in advancing the success of Chandler Municipal Airport.”

Since becoming Airport Manager in 2022, Reeves has overseen key infrastructure improvements and prioritized long-term planning to enhance airport safety and future growth—all while remaining a good neighbor to surrounding neighborhoods and businesses in the Airpark Area. Reeves also is working with consultants to execute a community impact study and the development of a strategic business plan.

This past April, he worked with the Federal Aviation Administration and a research team who conducted flight tests with several different models of helicopters to test and create safety regulations that will impact all vertical takeoff and landing aircraft facilities nationwide.

Reeves and his small yet mighty team also are busy planning for the next Airport Day, a community event held at the airport scheduled for January 2026. He’s been instrumental in hosting public tours of the airport—a program that will resume after the summer months.

With 20+ years of experience, Reeves continues to play an active role in shaping aviation policy and mentoring future airport leaders through his involvement with AzAA and other professional organizations.

“Ryan is a consummate professional who not only manages one of the busiest general aviation airports in the nation, but also gives back to the aviation community in meaningful ways” said AzAA President Dave Reffner. “He’s highly deserving of both these awards.”

For more information about Chandler Municipal Airport, visit Chandler Airport.

Media contact:Stephanie RomeroPublic Information Officer, City of Chandler480-782-2231

CHANDLER, Ariz. — The City of Chandler will open a respite center and eight cooling locations starting May 1, offering residents a safe place to recover and cool down from the extreme heat. This effort is in partnership with the Maricopa County Department of Public Health and Maricopa Association of Governments’ Heat Relief Network.

Chandler’s respite center will be located at AZCEND, 345 S. California St. The center will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday–Friday and Sunday. During excessive heat warnings, the center will open on Saturdays and overnights.

The center will provide air-conditioning, hydration, snacks and a place for uninterrupted rest. Guests also will have access to restroom facilities, shower and laundry services. The city’s Community Navigation Team will be available to offer their resources as needed by guests.

The eight cooling centers will offer water, snacks and a reprieve from the heat. These cooling stations will operate at the following locations during regular business hours:

During last year’s heat season, Chandler provided respite and cooling center services and operated an Emergency Portable A/C Lending Program. Maricopa County supported transportation services countywide. In total, 736 unduplicated individuals visited the Respite Center 7,518 times. Nine cooling centers operated throughout Chandler and almost 20,000 bottles of water and more than 23,000 meals/snacks were provided to vulnerable residents. Nine households participated in the Emergency A/C Lending Program.

Once again, the National Weather Service Climate Prediction Center forecasts above-normal temperatures for the 2025 heat season—making these services critically important to the community.

For additional information about heat relief services including locations throughout the region, heat safety tips, or to make a donation of water and other supplies, visit Chandler Heat Relief.

Media contact:Stephanie RomeroPublic Information Officer, City of Chandler480-782-2231

CHANDLER, AZ (AZFamily) — Many business owners across Arizona are feeling uneasy, wondering how the new tariffs imposed by President Trump will impact their companies and customers.

“Made in America” is a slogan they take seriously at Channel Master in Chandler. This small business makes antennas so people can watch free TV without buying cable or satellite.

Owner and CEO Coty Youtsey said they decided a few years ago to start manufacturing their most popular antenna at a Chandler warehouse instead of making it in China.

“The product that we are making in U.S, is not the same product we were making overseas,” said Youtsey. “We designed it differently, made it differently, and that’s where we’ve seen the most success.”

On Wednesday, Trump announced a sweeping wave of tariffs on imports to convince American businesses to manufacture more of their goods in the U.S.

Since Channel Master has already set up production in the United States, the new tariffs won’t impact their bottom line as much.

“We’re not in a spot right now where we’ve got to make major shifts,” said Adam Long, the company’s vice president of production. “We’ve already been doing that over past several years.”

“The ultimate goal for us as a company is to make sure that our consumers aren’t having to pay new, higher prices,” said Long. “We feel that we are in a good position, based on decisions we’ve made to be manufacturing right here in Chandler.”

Some economists have raised concerns that manufacturing products in the U.S. will cost more than in other countries, forcing businesses to raise prices that will eventually be passed on to consumers.

Youtsey said they’ve kept prices in check and remain successful after switching over and making their products in America.

“There’s so many little parts that go into it, so its not only us making it, its us working with other companies in the Valley to make components,” said Youtsey. “To design them, manufacture them, engineer them, so it took a lot of collaboration and effort, but its opened up a lot of opportunities for us.”

Youtsey added that they still buy a lot of products from other countries, and that could have an impact on their costs.

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April 2, 2025

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Communications and Public Affairs

The City of Chandler offers a variety of water conservation rebates to incentivize reductions in water use. One of these programs, the turf to xeriscape rebate for large landscape HOA customers, received a $1 million grant last year from the Arizona Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) to provide increased funding for grass removal in HOA common areas not actively used for recreation by the community. Chandler’s turf to xeriscape rebates incentivize the removal of grass and require landscapes that include shade and native low-water-use plants. Turf to xeriscape rebates are available to both individual single-family residential customers, as well as large landscape customers such as commercial properties, multi-family housing complexes, and neighborhood HOAs serving grassy common areas.

The Sun Groves community in southeast Chandler recently took advantage of the large landscape rebate for grass removal.

Cindy Lucas, Community Manager for the Sun Groves HOA, explained their process for converting grass to xeriscape.

Lucas mentioned that their HOA first funded grass removal several years ago. When asked why the specific areas of their community were selected, she said the grass was non-functional. “Kids weren’t using it to play, it didn’t look good, you could barely see it from the street and the turf and drainage always struggled.”

The HOA board of directors and the management company were both supportive of the grass removal project.

The first phase of the grass removal project converted five small grass areas to xeriscape. The project was on hold for several years until the city increased the rebate up to $75,000 per project, offering 25% reimbursement of the project cost, plus an additional $3 per square foot for removing non-functional grass. With the increase in funding, the HOA decided to move forward with phase two, that focused on the largest grass area in their community. This phase took a couple of months to complete.

“We would have never done as much without the increased funding from the city,” Lucas continued. “The first time, the city covered 63% of the cost and this time (phase two), the city covered 75% of the cost.”

She said that the communication to their community has been about savings, both money and water. “I focus on the value and benefit of getting all of these plants and they are low water use and drought tolerant which in turn creates the cost savings. The areas weren’t aesthetically pleasing or useful and obviously water conservation played a role. In Arizona, that is always in the back of our minds.”

The grass removal rebate is available to any HOA community in Chandler receiving landscape irrigation water from Chandler's water utility. Lucas had some tips for other HOA management companies and boards who want to take advantage of this program. She suggested that the HOA should reach out to Chandler’s water conservation team in the very early stages of their planning process and get familiar with the program requirements. She also stressed that the landscaper should be heavily involved from the beginning.

Speaking about the process to apply for the rebate, Lucas said, “It was really easy. Honestly, for that amount of funding, how easy the application process and how easy the city made it was wonderful.”

When asked if Sun Groves had to make any changes to CC&Rs for individual residents’ properties because of this grass conversion, she said that their community doesn’t require overseeding and only requires 11 plants in the front yard. As a result, no changes were needed.

Lucas said that Sun Groves also took advantage of another service funded by Chandler’s Water Conservation department. The city helped them set up a a free account with Waterfluence, a software program that helps the community understand their water budget and the irrigation needs for their specific landscape. It also allows the community to see their actual monthly water usage compared to their customized water budget. Each community is mapped with aerial imagery to calculate a water budget based on the weather and their specific landscape irrigation needs for each area of grass, trees and plants in their common areas. Even before the grass removal project, Sun Groves HOA was only using 36% of its water budget. Lucas said this was positive news to give to their homeowners.

In 2024, Chandler funded approximately $500,000 of grass to xeriscape conversions through water conservation rebates for both residential and non-residential sites in Chandler, resulting in about 309,000 square feet of grass removed.

To qualify for a grass removal rebate, grass must have been actively irrigated in the past year and be removed and replaced with low-water-use native plants to create a permanent reduction in water use. The single-family residential rebate is $2 per square foot of grass removed, up to $3,000.

For large landscape grass removal customers, the rebate program reimburses up to $75,000 per project, 25% of the total project cost, plus an additional incentive of $3 per square foot of non-functional grass removed. Non-functional grass refers to areas that are not used for recreational purposes and/or narrow strips of grass that are along a street and/or on a slope.

For more information about Chandler’s rebates for residents and commercial properties, visit Chandler Water Conservation or call 480-782-3580.