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WASHINGTON – Immigration experts and advocates in Arizona are urging people to file their paperwork as soon as possible as federal agencies eye steeper processing fees across a broad range of citizenship forms. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced plans this month to raise the fees it charges for everything from applying for naturalization to.

CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. – The Bureau of Land Management has a problem. Tens of thousands of wild horses and burros are ranging over federal land in the West, three times what the land can support, and the agency says its efforts to manage the herd are increasingly coming up short. Evelyn Shotwell has a solution. “The.

WASHINGTON – At first glance, Dawn Curtis and Lindsey Saya seem a lot alike. Both spent years in Arizona prisons, both want to move forward with their lives and both are starting over as college students. But Saya can hope to get help paying for the cost of his schooling, while Curtis won’t be able.

WASHINGTON – For the first time in nine years, the U.S. Forest Service ended the fiscal year without depleting its fire suppression budget and having to borrow money from other projects to continue fighting wildfires. Experts credit cooler and wetter weather that helped suppress wildfires around the country this year, and said they expect coming.

PHOENIX – Attorneys with Jeff Anderson & Associates released a report Wednesday containing the names, photos and information of 109 clergy accused of sexual abuse in the Diocese of Phoenix. “It is time for transparency, and it is time for disclosure,” said Jeff Anderson, whose law firm advocates for victims of clergy sexual abuse. “The.

SCOTTSDALE – When Mit Rohit immigrated to the United States from India, it was more of an adjustment than expected. He was 13 and struggling to learn the language. He had left everything he knew for a foreign place with a different culture, a place that didn’t share a passion for his favorite sport. Cricket..

PHOENIX – Luis Marrufo, his brown eyes bright but focused, hunched over a client lying on a cushioned table. He pressed the sharp end of the tattoo machine into his client’s forearm, the needle dispensing carbon-colored liquid into his skin in vibrating bursts so quick they’re almost invisible to the naked eye. The low-pitched buzz.

WASHINGTON – Arizona continues to be relatively young compared with the rest of the U.S., but it saw one of the nation’s biggest jumps in average age from 2010 to 2018, according to new data from the Census Bureau. The state’s median age grew 2 years in that period, from 35.9 to 37.9 years, according.

PEORIA – With the game tied 9-9 in the bottom of the sixth inning, Mathew Swedler smashed a line drive to center field, scoring Kyler Thruston for the go-ahead run. Swedler, 13, advanced to second with a five-pitch walk to teammate Jackson Forbes and made his way to third after an error by the opposing.

PHOENIX – Every week, thousands of hikers climb Piestewa Peak to take in the views and get in some exercise. In early April, hikers started to see plants splashed with bright blue chalk. It’s part of an effort to raise awareness about buffelgrass, an invasive species that worsens a problem many Arizonans are already familiar.

Editor’s note: Frontline on PBS on Monday aired “Sex Trafficking in America,” a documentary that focused on the sex trade in Arizona. The show featured young women coerced into prostitution and followed a law enforcement unit committed to investigating sex crimes. Cronkite News reporters Jake Goodrick and Alicia Longo produced three supplemental videos to accompany.

WASHINGTON – Classrooms at Keams Canyon Elementary School are noticeably emptier during the winter and monsoon months. That’s when Principal Gary Polacca says heavy rains turn the dirt roads stretching across the Hopi reservation into “muddy sinkholes,” making it hard for school buses to reach students’ homes for risk of getting stuck in the mud..

CASA GRANDE – Gazing over the cotton fields on his 300-acre farm outside Casa Grande, Paul Ollerton weighed the risks and opportunities of a new crop that, come this summer, will be legal to grow for the first time in decades. Ollerton, 64, is a third-generation farmer who has just harvested his 38th cotton crop,.

PHOENIX – Amid hundreds of stables and thousands of stalls that comprise the backside of Turf Paradise racetrack, Dr. Verlin Jones approaches Scott for Her with a smile and a “good morning.” The 4-year-old mare’s trainer, Adriana Vallejo, guides the brown thoroughbred with a splash of white running the length of her nose out of.

WASHINGTON – Phoenix and Tucson were two of the fastest-warming cities in the nation over the last five decades, according to a Climate Central report based on government data. The report looked at climate change for cities and states since the first Earth Day in 1970 and found increases in 98% of cities across the.

WASHINGTON – Maricopa County again saw the largest population increase of any county in the nation last year, adding 81,244 residents to make eight straight years of gains, according to figures released Thursday by the Census Bureau. The county was the driving force behind a 122,770-person increase in Arizona’s population, which hit 7.17 million last.

WASHINGTON – They said they had “seen the unseeable,” and when astronomers Wednesday unveiled the first-ever pictures of a black hole deep in space, the audience erupted in applause. “It was incredibly exciting,” to be there when the image was captured, said Lia Medeiros, one of the University of Arizona researchers in the years-long project.

MORENCI – It’s just before sunrise as Maggie Phillips wakes her three children in the darkness. The oldest, Jaxon, a second-grader, is headed to school. For the two youngest, Phillips packs clothes, snacks and toys for the hourlong trip to the methadone clinic. Jesse, 3, runs around the small room he shares with his brother,.

WASHINGTON – Customs and Border Protection said it is stopping Sunday inspection of commercial trucks at Nogales in order to shift officers elsewhere on the border, sparking an outcry from produce companies who fear damage to the time-sensitive industry. The cut comes as the Trump administration has ordered CBP to redeploy 750 officers from ports.

TEMPE – Sherrie Zeitlin’s passion for recycling art supplies began in art school. “It was anything that was leftover that was being recycled into an art project,” the fiber and ceramic artist said. “That’s where I was sparked to open up this place when I could.” Zeitlin worked as a guest artist in schools across.

TUCSON – Researchers have forged a path toward mosquito birth control, manipulating DNA to fight such mosquito-transmitted diseases as Zika, malaria and West Nile virus. The 10-year battle involved raising swarms of lab-born female mosquitoes to test, figuring out how to get rid of mosquitoes that continuously build resistance to insecticides and finding a scientific.

GRAND CANYON – Rep. Raúl Grijalva’s bill enacting a permanent ban on uranium mining drew praise this week from Havasupai leaders and criticism from the mining industry, as well as from a Republican member of Arizona’s congressional delegation. “Havasupai means people of the blue green water, and we have been living here for over thousands.

GRAND CANYON VILLAGE — One hundred years ago last month, President Woodrow Wilson signed the law designating Grand Canyon a national park. That first year, the park welcomed about 38,000 visitors, the majority of whom arrived by train. Today, more than 6 million visitors from around the world visit the canyon every year, and most.

TUCSON – On the corner of 12th Street and Sixth Avenue, several Venezuelans stood with arms linked, singing along to an acoustic guitar and dancing against a vibrant backdrop of large yellow, blue and red flags. “Cese de la usurpación, gobierno de la transición y elecciones libres,” they chanted Saturday. “Cease the usurpation, transitional government.

PHOENIX – Ten months after the U.S. Supreme Court cleared a path for states to allow gambling on sporting events, a movement is underway to allow Arizonans to wager on their favorite teams. SB 1158, introduced Jan. 23 by Sen. Sonny Borrelli R-Lake Havasu City, would allow sports gambling in the state by giving Native.

PHOENIX – Every day is a challenge for Bruce Gran, 52, who was diagnosed with West Nile virus seven years ago. “From Day 1, it’s been a migraine-caliber headache,” the Tucson resident said. “My short term-memory is terrible. I’m not old enough to be having the effects that I have. ” Gran is one of.

NOGALES – The City Council unanimously voted Wednesday night to approve a resolution condemning the recent addition of concertina wire along the border fence within Nogales city limits. The resolution demands that Customs and Border Protection immediately remove the wire. It also states that the city’s development code bans the use of this type of.

PHOENIX – President Donald Trump has threatened to declare a national emergency to get a wall built on the southern U.S.-Mexico border. But experts believe there are obstacles to using that power. Cronkite News reached out to Liza Goitein, a co-director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice in.

TUCSON – Sue McConnell cries almost every time she tells the story. In 2012, she stood in a small county courthouse in Kelso, Washington, with other people seeking to change their legal names. After hearing their individual cases, the judge dismissed the group and a clerk came out with a stack of legal documents containing.

WICKENBURG – Jerry Tyra started working underground in 1960, drilling ore samples to help mine companies figure out whether to develop a mine site. Since 2007, the 75-year-old has been doing a different kind of exploration: scouring the state for the thousands of abandoned mines some of his former employers may have left scattered throughout.

PHOENIX – After he started hallucinating, John Waddell began to believe he would die. He had fallen 100 feet to the bottom of an abandoned gold mine in western Maricopa County, leaving him with a broken leg and rope-burned hands. “It’s like a black cloud that’s a little stringy, and these figures were coming out.

TONTO NATIONAL FOREST – LeRoy Shingoitewa dug his hiking boots into loose gravel and sand, watching the early November morning sunlight slowly spread across shrubby hills and rocky valleys near the proposed site of an enormous copper mine. Resolution Copper plans to develop the mine east of Superior and predicts the mine will meet about.

CHINLE – Even with modern technology, it’s nearly impossible to find the homemade boxing gym identified by a tattered wooden sign that reads, “Damon-Bahe Boxing Gym.” In and around this small town on the Navajo Reservation, house numbers rarely exist. And Google Maps can’t quite explain that, off Indian Route 7, less than a quarter.

PHOENIX – During a time when two of Arizona’s top franchises have played to a combined 7-29 record, the sports community took another hit with news that the Diamondbacks had traded their best-known player. Paul Goldschmidt was sent to the St. Louis Cardinals on Wednesday in exchange for three young players and a draft pick..

TUCSON – The click of container lids and swoosh of zippers filled the air on a still morning in Saguaro National Park East. Tom Orum and his wife, Nancy Ferguson, pulled measuring equipment from the trunk of their dusty white truck, parked in a flat landscape of majestic saguaros towering over teddy bear cholla, prickly.

SOLEDAD, Calif. – There is a calming resonance of nature’s finest and subtlest sounds at Pinnacles National Park. Leaves rustle and birds warble as the wind flows between the rolling mountains. On a good day, park visitors might see endangered California condors circling overhead, riding thermals on wingspans stretching up to 10 feet. The park.

SHOW LOW – Dr. Osaf Ahmed walked through the clinic owned by Summit Healthcare, the local hospital, happily greeting co-workers as he prepared to see patients that day. For Ahmed, who came from Pakistan in 1995, this city in the White Mountains of eastern Arizona is home. The former international medical student has lived in.

WASHINGTON – Tucson resident Danny Howe made sure to vote in this election – because Howe knows what it’s like to have that right taken away. “Most people just don’t know,” Howe said. “Once you’ve been convicted of a felony you’re a felon your whole life.” Howe is one of the lucky ones, a former.

WASHINGTON – James Bond and Cesar Chavez are both on the ballot in Arizona this year – just not the James Bond or the Cesar Chavez most people think of. Bond, a property manager and first-time candidate for Congress, and Chavez, who is running for re-election to the Arizona House of Representatives, are just two.

WASHINGTON – Open enrollment began Thursday for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, with most Arizonans seeing more choices and better prices, a sharp change from recent years when the state was the poster child for Obamacare problems. The Department of Health and Human Services said five companies will offer 18 qualified health insurance.

WASHINGTON – Arizona election officials are optimistic they will have the thousands of poll workers needed for Election Day, but they said the long days and an aging pool of workers is making it harder to staff up every year. That mirrors a 2017 U.S. Elections Assistance Commission report that said “nearly 65 percent of.

PHOENIX – Monica Strauss pulls on a pair of plastic gloves every morning to dig through blue recycling bins set out on curbs in parts of the city. The Phoenix Public Works Department employee is methodical as she approaches each blue bin and sorts through the paper, cardboard boxes, plastic waste and other contents. She.

PHOENIX – Black-and-white portraits of people without homes, people who often are ignored and misunderstood, hang on a wall at André House. Each photo reveals a single moment in a singular life. Contentedness juxtaposed with melancholy. Silliness tucked beside seriousness. Samuel MacDonald started shooting the portraits in 2015 when he worked at André House, fitting.

WASHINGTON – More than 2,400 law professors, including at least 21 from Arizona, have signed an open letter of opposition to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The professors, whose numbers skyrocketed after the letter first appeared Wednesday on the New York Times online editorial pages, raised concerns about Kavanaugh’s temperament and.

TEMPE – The name of Arizona’s newest professional football team has received support from fans, but it also has raised concerns about whether it exploits the memory of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. The Alliance of American Football, which will begin its inaugural season in February, said it chose the name Hotshots as a tribute to.

PHOENIX – As a pan sizzles, grins and laughter fill the room. Young chefs chop carrots and thinly slice onions. Besides a meal, the students in this cooking class are preparing for job potential. The teacher, Kris Mill, owner of Wok This Way, operates food trucks for a cause. Besides running a vegetarian and environmentally.

GRAND CANYON VILLAGE – The Grand Canyon twists through northern Arizona, a deep gash cut by the Colorado River. But the river had help from wind, rain and scorching sun, which also has battered its lodges, roads, and utility structures. On Saturday, Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke visited Grand Canyon’s windswept roadways, sunbaked cabins.

PHOENIX – Millions of immigrant families who use public federal assistance could find it harder to obtain permanent residence status under new rules being proposed by the Trump administration. On Saturday, the Department of Homeland Security proposed to limit access to green cards for immigrants who use or qualify for public assistance. According to DHS,.

PHOENIX – Heavy street traffic in Phoenix is common. With more than 4.7 million people now calling the metropolitan area home, it is no surprise people seek solace on the hiking, biking and horseback trails across the city. Crowds, however, have become an issue on some of the more than 200 miles of trails that.

CAMP VERDE – Zach Hauser, like many farmers in the Verde Valley, takes pride in his land and the crops he grows. Normally this time of year, rows of corn, alfalfa, carrots and watermelon would cover his acreage. But today, two large sections of his property look like a farmer’s worst nightmare: fallow land strewn.

GILBERT – A new Arizona law, pushed by advocates who say playtime burns off energy and helps younger students learn, requires public schools to expand recess from one period daily to twice a day for students in kindergarten through third grade. Expanded recess in district and charter schools, which started this semester, will be extended.

PHOENIX – America had just entered the “war to end all wars” in Europe. Demand for metal ore was rising. Unionists and radical socialists of the International Workers of the World – known as the Wobblies – were demanding better wages and conditions from corporations across the country. A strike against copper giant Phelps Dodge.

WASHINGTON – The long-running fight over the Mexican gray wolf moved from southeast Arizona to a paneled Washington conference room this week, where scientists will try to answer the question that could determine the animal’s fate. Is a Mexican gray wolf just another wolf, or is it a distinct – and endangered – breed of.

PHOENIX – A Canadian energy company will add to its helium operation with more than 3,000 acres of newly leased federal land near Petrified Forest National Park in northeastern Arizona. But an environmental group and Arizona U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran worry that operations could threaten key water sources and at least two endangered species. Desert.

WASHINGTON – If you want to boost votership, you go to where the voters are. And in the case of millennials, that’s probably the internet. So when Mi Familia Vota announced its plan Tuesday to reach millennial Latino voters ahead of November’s elections, it unveiled a campaign heavy on use of social media, text messaging.

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Responding to a steep rise in reports of hate crimes on campus, at least 260 colleges and universities have implemented bias-response teams or other reporting policies to track such incidents. But the teams have created friction of their own, as conservative students, controversial speakers and followers of the alt-right movement claim.

NEW YORK – A group of Navajo environmentalists on Monday took their fight against the Navajo Generating Station to Manhattan, where they protested outside the offices of an investment firm that might save the coal-fired plant. Bundled in boots, coats and layers, the group rallied outside Avenue Capital Group for several hours, standing without umbrellas.

WASHINGTON – Just days after President Donald Trump threatened to shut down the government if Congress does not act on immigration reform, the Senate joined the House last week for their August recess. After a year of squabbling on immigration reform, and despite the nudge from the president, experts say it’s increasingly unlikely that anything.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Transportation is pushing ahead on construction of the South Mountain Freeway, even through 115-degree temperatures, by ensuring its workers remain safe and hydrated. The long-envisioned project, which began in early 2017, is meant to cut congestion and drive times in central Phoenix by diverting traffic off Interstate 10 onto.

PHOENIX – As visitors stroll through the aisles of Barbie dolls arrayed at a national collectors’ convention in Phoenix, one doll among hundreds stands apart. A tan-complexioned Barbie with long, braided black hair and traditional Native American dress is perched proudly on a pedestal hand-painted to resemble grass. Pabboo Redfeather, an artist and designer, reimagined.

PHOENIX – The Environment Arizona & Policy Center released a report on Tuesday that focuses on how well the nation is utilizing renewable energy. Arizona has dramatically increased renewable energy production since 2008, the report said, and ranks high in several categories. Renewable energy is within reach, according to a news release from Environment Arizona..

FLORENCE – Officer Laura Orscheln sets up her binoculars and tripod and stands on a ridge overlooking the quiet desert near Florence. Scanning the desert for any movement, the Arizona Game & Fish Department wildlife manager spots something dark moving about a mile away. It’s just trash, so she sweeps her binoculars elsewhere. She’s “glassing”.

PHOENIX – Monsoon season is a time of peril in the Southwest. Summer storms develop quickly and play out furiously, and it’s important to know what to do when conditions turn dangerous. Monsoon storms spawn dust storms (sometimes called haboobs), lightning, torrents of rain and the resulting flash flooding. Stay safe this season with tips.

PHOENIX – Wildfires have burned through about 75,000 acres in Arizona already this year, but experts say those numbers aren’t bad compared with last year. At this time last year, large fires had burned about 130,000 acres, according to the National Interagency Fire Agencies Southwest Coordination Center. The agency considers “large” fires anything that has.

WASHINGTON – Our social media platforms are bombarded with images showing seemingly perfect people living seemingly perfect lives. What they don’t show is the effect that mental health experts say can come with that torrent of images: Increased social media use can be tied to depression and anxiety, they say. Dr. Brian Primack, a researcher.

SAN LUIS – Eduardo, 14, crosses his legs and swings them under the dining table. He pokes at the royal-blue putty he has just mixed up, staining his hands. Gel shapes his black hair into peaks. His chubby cheeks perk up when he smiles. He is a child whose innocence has been shaped by an.

PHOENIX – Tens of thousands of educators will march Thursday from Chase Field to the Capitol to demand higher teacher pay and more classroom funding as part of the Red for Ed movement, in a historic walkout across the state. Here are the answers to some common questions: How many people will this walkout affect?.

WASHINGTON – When a 14-year-old fatally shot himself in a Coronado K-8 Elementary School bathroom on Jan. 9, the incident was announced by the Sierra Vista Unified School District and the Cochise County Sheriff’s Department. But it did not show up in any larger school system database. Had it occurred two years earlier, the shooting.

WASHINGTON – When Maricopa County authorities got a DNA match last year from a test on a 17-year-old rape kit, they did not have to go far to find their man. Nicholas Blackwater was serving 54 years for a series of sexual assaults between 1997 and 2001 when his name came up in the test,.

PHOENIX – About 100 student activists demanding more effective gun laws staged “die-ins” across the Capitol on Friday afternoon, sprawling on floors outside the governor’s office and in the lobbies of the House of Representatives and Senate. Activists promised to stay through the night, if necessary, until Gov. Doug Ducey met with them. The governor,.

PHOENIX – Arizona educators have overwhelmingly voted to walk out to demand higher pay and more dollars for the classroom. Speaking Thursday night in front of the Phoenix headquarters of the Arizona Education Association, organizers with Arizona Educators United, one of the grassroots groups backing the Red for Ed movement, said 78 percent of the.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Supreme Court on Monday unanimously ruled that DACA recipients no longer will be eligible for in-state tuition, saying state and federal laws prohibit it. The high court upheld an Arizona Court of Appeals ruling nearly a year after the Arizona Board of Regents announced it would continue to offer in-state tuition.

PHOENIX – An LGBTQ protest against police involvement in the Phoenix Pride Parade was short-lived on Sunday as a phalanx of police officers used bikes to force the crowd from the streets onto the sidewalk. Parade organizers had given permission for Trans Queer Pueblo, a community organization advocating for undocumented LGBTQ people of color, to.

SANTA TERESA, New Mexico – The sign flashes red, day and night, in English and in Spanish: “Be Prepared to Stop,” a warning to the thousands of vehicles and people passing through the Santa Teresa Port of Entry. Here in this stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is expediting the.

PHOENIX – With the Phoenix Pride Festival and Parade just one day away, organizers and members of Trans Queer Pueblo, a community organization providing political, economic and social services to undocumented LGBT people of color, have wrapped up a week of action leading up to Sunday’s events. It included a vigil Monday evening outside the.

WASHINGTON – Arizona will send about 150 National Guardsmen to the border next week as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to send troops to the border, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey announced Friday. While the White House and the governors of the four border states are still working on details of Trump’s Tuesday call to.

Cronkite News presents “Full Circle,” a first of its kind, special edition newscast that takes you behind the scenes as a stories are produced, reported, edited and eventually broadcast live.

GLENDALE – Teachers and parents rallied at a Glendale elementary school and at campuses around metro Phoenix on Wednesday during “walk-ins” meant to raise awareness of the Red for Ed mission, one week after Arizona educators demanded public officials give them a 20 percent pay raise. Education supporters gathered around the flagpole outside Bicentennial South.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s announcement Tuesday that he plans to send U.S. troops to patrol the border left southern Arizona sheriffs looking for details before committing to the president’s “big step.” “To what extent they’re looking at the military right now, nobody knows, that’s just a statement,” said Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot, who.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court reversed a lower court Monday and said a Tucson police officer cannot be sued for shooting a woman who refused to drop a knife as she stood in her driveway. The court took the unusual step of issuing its decision without holding a hearing on the case. It said University.

WASHINGTON – A five-year-old law that let Native American tribes prosecute non-Natives in domestic violence cases “has fundamentally changed the landscape of tribal criminal jurisdiction in the modern era,” according to a new report. The study released last week by the National Congress of American Indians said the 18 tribes that took part in a.

WASHINGTON – The number of solar jobs in the U.S. fell last year for the first time since 2010, but Arizona bucked the trend and remained one of the biggest states in the country for solar jobs, a new report says. The Solar Foundation’s annual Solar Census, released Wednesday, said jobs in Arizona grew 15.

WASHINGTON – For the first time in 70 years, Americans will be asked to report their citizenship status when they fill out their 2020 Census forms, a change that has angered immigrant advocates who fear it will harm minority representation. Critics said the change, announced by the Commerce Department Monday night, will lead to a.

SCOTTSDALE – The uncertainty surrounding DACA’s future is wreaking havoc beyond the nearly 800,000 young immigrants whom the program shields from deportation. The restaurant industry, in particular, would take a tremendous economic loss if the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program ends. Louis Basile, founder and CEO of the Wildflower Bread Co., hopes that his.

PHOENIX 一 More than 350 teachers sick of low pay called in sick Wednesday, shutting down nine Glendale schools and packing a legislative meeting considering further tax cuts to the wealthy. Instead of heading into their classrooms, Pendergast Elementary School District teachers traveled to the state Capitol, clad in #RedForEd T-shirts. “Our state doesn’t really.

TUCSON – Microchip IDs similar to those in pets have been embedded in hundreds of cacti at Saguaro National Park near Tucson to guard against theft. Officials said the chips can be used to identify stolen saguaros, but they acknowledge the technology can’t track them. Instead, officials are counting on the devices to deter thieves..

WASHINGTON – Witnesses and panelists on a House subcommittee agreed Tuesday that something needs to be done to close an $11.6 billion maintenance backlog in the national parks, but differed on how to pay for it. The latest report from the National Park Service says more than $530 million of the deferred maintenance is in.

GLOBE – The residents of Wind Spirit live on 16 acres surrounded by citrus and olive trees, stony hills and played-out mines. They’ve built their homes from materials ranging from a dirt-straw concrete mix called cob to canvas teepees to buses painted blue, purple and yellow. Outdoor sinks have signs requesting visitors use tree-friendly soap..

WASHINGTON – Outgoing Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake doubled down Thursday on his criticism of President Donald Trump and the GOP’s “seeming amnesia” in the face of Trump’s attacks on democratic institutions. “It is a measure of how far we have fallen that we must fight for the basic ideas of American liberty and the.

The Parkland, Florida school shooting has spurred rallies, school walkouts and a national conversation about guns. Cronkite News spoke to protesters at a rally at the Arizona state Capitol on Wednesday, the one-month anniversary of the shooting. Hover or tap on the portraits to hear their views. Christiana WarrenSenior, 18 Mountain View High School “…I’m.

PHOENIX — Brewers first baseman Ji-Man Choi isn’t the only person in Milwaukee’s clubhouse who speaks fluent Korean. However, the first time he encountered the one other person who does — his translator, Daniel Cho — it wasn’t without some uneasiness. “It was super awkward,” Choi said through Cho on Wednesday, prompting both to burst.

Students and activists in Arizona and from coast to coast spoke at rallies, walked out of schools, registered to vote and observed 17 minutes of silence for the 14 students and three teachers shot to death one month ago in Parkland, Florida. National Walkout Day offered a connected, collective moment of anger and sorrow to.

WASHINGTON – The tips Jonathan Teslevich earns are “crucial to my life,” which is why the Phoenix bartender worries that a new Labor Department rule on tip pooling could cost him the majority of his income. The proposed rule change would reverse decades of departmental policy by letting employers pool tips received by any workers.

TEMPE – A gorilla with a laser gun draws a bead on a cybernetic archer with metal limbs. A black-clad assassin aims her sniper rifle at the Grim Reaper, who’s armed with two shotguns. Surrounded by fans and cosplayers, with thousands watching on their phones, laptops and desktops, four teams of esports competitors battled in.

MARANA – Most people believe bats primarily live in caves, but the concrete crevices under the old Ina Road bridge in Marana have provided thousands of migratory Mexican free-tailed bats with perfect roosting habitat for years. However, the crevices – the bats’ usual winter and summer homes – are gone due to construction and replacement.

SUPAI – The beat of a single drum rang out as Dianna White Dove Uqualla sang a prayer for a group of runners about to climb out of the deep crevasse of the Grand Canyon. “This is a blessing song for all of you,” said Uqualla, who hails from a long line of respected healers.

PHOENIX — The University of Arizona put on a proverbial full-court press Thursday, discrediting allegations made in a report about Sean Miller’s recruitment of a star player and saying it will retain the men’s basketball coach. Beginning with a statement in Tucson, Miller insisted he “never knowingly violated NCAA rules,” calling an ESPN report that.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Monday let stand an Arizona ruling that said paternity should be applied the same way in same-sex marriages as it is in opposite-sex marriages when it comes to determining parental rights. The court’s refusal to hear the case means Suzan McLaughlin still has parental rights over the child that.

WASHINGTON – When Sen. Jeff Flake said he would work to restrict access to AR-15s for those under 21, he somehow managed to unite pro-gun advocates and gun control groups who think little of his response to the Florida high school shooting. The Arizona Republican tweeted this week that he will work with Sen. Dianne.

WASHINGTON – Minutes after a gunman opened fire at a Florida High School last week, live images of the attack were being streamed into the phones of students across the country through social media. Within hours, those same social media accounts were being used by students to express grief, to send condolences and to rally.

MESA – The captain of the Mesa High School basketball team started the protest on Snapchat. A 15-year-old sophomore merged the social media brainstorming into a solid plan. At noon Wednesday, 300 students streamed out of their classes, met at a flagpole and walked half a mile to a nearby park to rally in support.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Legislature likely won’t debate a single piece of gun control legislation this session, after House Democrats failed Tuesday to force a vote on a bill to ban bump stocks, which were used in the Las Vegas mass shooting. Rep. Randall Friese and Rep. Daniel Hernandez, both Democrats from Tucson, co-sponsored a.

WASHINGTON – A week before the special primary to fill former Rep. Trent Franks’ seat in Congress, new campaign finance reports show a Democrat has raised and spent more than any candidate in the heavily Republican district. Federal Election Commission reports show Hiral Tipirneni had raised $306,318.78, well over the $270,491.38 raised by the next-highest.

PHOENIX – Five days after the inauguration of President Donald Trump, singer Andria Bunnell and mariachi performer Melissa Marie Medina found themselves creating a six-woman band. With their desire to give Arizonans a taste of Latin American folkloric music, along with their idea to use their art form as a way to express their post-election.

MESA – Anthony Rizzo didn’t just attend the Florida school that faced unthinkable tragedy. He played for the football coach who lost his life when he jumped in front of students to shield them from incoming fire. “Whenever I go back, I always saw coach (Aaron) Feis,” the Chicago Cubs first baseman said. “Every single.

WASHINGTON – DACA recipient Juan Escalante has been on a “roller coaster of emotions” since September when President Donald Trump announced plans to end the deferred deportation program. The roller coaster continued this week after the Senate failed to agree on any DACA measures, despite several days of open floor debate dedicated to the issue..

PHOENIX – Students from at least two Arizona high schools have indicated they will participate in planned walkouts to pressure legislators to pass gun reform. The schools signed up as host schools on The Action Network website. The walkout, scheduled for March 14, is part of a national effort to raise awareness and spur change.

PHOENIX – Dozens of states in the U.S. regulate the tattoo industry. They often require the businesses to have licenses and the customers to remain sober. Yet Arizona is one of the few states that has minimal restrictions. The state requires tattoo artists to use sterilized needles and prohibits minors from getting tattoos without an.

WASHINGTON – A Bureau of Indian Education official told lawmakers Wednesday that his agency is making “strong improvements” in the oversight of tribal schools, despite a long history of problems and proposed cuts to the bureau’s budget. But BIE Director Tony Dearman’s testimony to a House Education and the Workforce subcommittee was criticized as “pretty.

PHOENIX – Tom Messier turned his Mesa home into a winery. Four-foot-tall metal buckets line his living room. A humidifier and two wooden barrels, covered by a plastic sheet, occupy a corner of his kitchen. Stacks of red, white and fruit wines in glass jugs decorate his spare room. Messier belongs to AZ WineMakers, a.

Charmaine Tyler curls a blanket around her shoulders as she sits on a curb in downtown Phoenix, bracing herself against a 37-degree predawn in three tattered sweaters, sweatpants, socks and sandals. Anne Scott approaches with a smile and a clipboard. Good morning, ma’am. I’m talking to people who may be homeless for our survey. Can.

WASHINGTON – The federal tax overhaul passed in December is “completely unacceptable” to Native Americans, just another example of what can happen when tribes are not included in federal decision-making, a tribal leader said Monday. National Congress of American Indians President Jefferson Keel said in the annual State of Indian Nations address that the government-to-government.

WASHINGTON – The House gave final approval Tuesday to measures aimed at protecting congressional workers from sexual harassment and making it easier for them to come forward if they feel they have been victimized. The fast-track, voice-vote approval came one week after Senate approval of the measures, which followed a wave of harassment allegations in.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain introduced a bill Monday that gives DACA recipients a path to citizenship and calls for beefed-up border security – but it excludes funding for a border wall, causing the president to brand it a “waste of time.” The bill by McCain, Republican of Arizona, and Sen. Chris Coons, Democrat of.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump bragged this week that African-American joblessness is at the lowest rate ever, but advocates and experts say there is still a long way to go from what one called “depression-type” black unemployment in Arizona. Despite an improving employment picture, African-Americans still lag other populations in the state on a number.

WASHINGTON – With a week to go before the budget expires, and Congress not meeting again until Monday, there is little outward sign of progress on spending or DACA bills that could head off the next government shutdown. But officials were optimistic Thursday that a deal would get done – if only to keep from.

PHOENIX – The Arizona House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly voted to expel Rep. Don Shooter following the recommendation of Speaker of the House J.D. Mesnard. The House had been scheduled to vote on censuring Shooter until the release of a letter, written by Shooter, purporting to support the victim of sexual assault. Mesnard moved.

QUEEN CREEK – For the 500 miles of trails in the Maricopa County Park system, increasingly destructive monsoon storms are causing more erosion, more damage and potentially more costly repairs. Researchers predict the summer storms, likely driven by climate change, will become stronger and more intense in Arizona. For parks, storm damage affects everything from.

WASHINGTON – The White House promised that President Donald Trump’s first official State of the Union address to Congress and the nation would be a unifying message, but Arizona lawmakers found little to agree on Tuesday. The sweeping hour-and-20-minute speech was a litany of the administration’s achievements over the past year and a wish list.

WASHINGTON – Leaders of five tribes accused lawmakers Tuesday of “cherry-picking” tribal members to support an 85 percent reduction in the Bears Ears monuments, and said proposed tribal management of the new monument would be in name only. The testimony from Navajo, Hopi and other leaders contradicted lawmakers from Utah and some local tribal officials..

MESA – Rolando Palacios is just a few weeks away from becoming a first-time business owner. After working for 15 years as a landscaper and plumber, Palacios and his wife began investing in their American dream: a restaurant to call their own. “The United States gave me the opportunities that El Salvador did not,” Palacios.

WASHINGTON – A White House plan to give a path to citizenship for 1.8 million immigrants in exchange for a border wall and tougher immigration policies was attacked from all sides Friday, called racist by one side and a shameless giveaway by the other. The one-page “Framework on Immigration Reform and Border Security” released late.

PHOENIX – On any given school night, hours worth of homework are laid out on the kitchen counter. Before dinner, Wilber Delgado and his wife, Eva Pineda, challenge their children to a spelling contest, and laughter fills the air. But beneath the laughs, the Salvadoran parents are facing a mountain of worry. The Trump administration’s.

WASHINGTON – A reported White House plan that could give “Dreamers” a path to citizenship over 10 or more years will help those working toward an immigration reform compromise “a great deal,” Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake said Thursday. President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday that he plans to introduce a bill giving recipients of the.

NACO, Mexico – If you travel to the small border town of Naco, the first thing to catch your eye is a small, gloriously colored building that sits fewer than 500 feet from the port of entry. It’s called Studio Mariposa, an idea that began with Bisbee artist Gretchen Baer’s desire to provide a place.

NOGALES — Eight humanitarian aid workers with the advocacy group No More Deaths are facing multiple federal misdemeanor charges, while another volunteer has been charged with harboring undocumented immigrants, a felony. That ninth volunteer is Scott Daniel Warren, who also teaches environmental studies classes online at Arizona State University. The complaint against Warren states he.

WASHINGTON – New tariffs imposed Tuesday by the Trump administration on imported solar products will benefit domestic manufacturers, but could hit consumers and other parts of the solar energy industry hard, experts said.

WASHINGTON – Arizona was one of the worst states in the country for highway safety in 2017, based on the state’s comparative lack of driving-safety laws, according to a national report released Monday. The 2018 Roadmap of State Highway Safety Laws, by Advocates for Highway & Auto Safety, ranked states according to 16 laws, including.

WASHINGTON – As Congress met throughout the weekend to end the government shutdown before it could enter its third full day, the costliest impacts of the shutdown in Arizona have been blunted – for now. Privately run shops, lodging and other businesses at Grand Canyon National Park remain open and the park itself is accessible,.

WASHINGTON – Mexican attitudes toward Americans have gone through a “stunning reversal” since the election of President Donald Trump, with most Mexicans holding an unfavorable view of the U.S. for the first time. That was a finding of two studies released Thursday at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington, D.C., which included several polls of.

WASHINGTON – Arizona’s two senators took President Donald Trump to task in separate forums Wednesday, saying his attacks on the press and “fake news” claims embolden dictators to crack down on news media abroad and endanger democracy at home. The rebukes by Republican Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake came the same day that the.

WASHINGTON – Arizona emergency management officials said Tuesday they have safeguards in place that should prevent a false alarm like the one that rattled Hawaii residents, who received an erroneous report Saturday of a ballistic missile attack. It takes more than one person in Arizona to trigger an alert like the one that caused widespread.

PHOENIX – Rep. Martha McSally, R-Tucson, announced her bid for Senate Friday, immediately becoming the frontrunner in a crowded Republican primary field whose winner is expected to face an unusually tough Democratic challenge this fall. McSally’s candidacy comes just days after former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s unexpected announcement that he would run for the.

WASHINGTON – Federal officials issued guidelines Thursday that will let Arizona and nine other states move ahead on proposals to require that able-bodied Medicaid recipients are either working or involved in “community engagement activities” to be eligible for coverage. The guidance released by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services is not final approval of.

WASHINGTON – Frontline border agents told a House panel Tuesday that a wall is just one thing needed to secure the southern border, saying they also need better technology, more officers and better incentives to attract and keep agents. The officials from the unions representing Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection workers said their.

WASHINGTON – Transgender individuals will be able to openly enlist, re-enlist and serve in the military without hiding who they are or being labeled by the military as mentally ill, beginning Jan. 1. The change, which caps years of policy and court battles over transgender rights and the role of transgender individuals in the military,.

LA SIERRA GORDA, Queretaro, Mexico – Martha Isabel “Pati” Ruiz Corzo has spent her life fighting for the Sierra Gorda Biosphere Reserve, a national conservation area that covers one-third of the central Mexican state of Queretaro. “The Sierra Gorda is a national treasure,” says Ruiz, who was the federal director of the reserve for 14.

TEMPE – On New Year’s Eve 20 years ago, Pat Tillman walked off a field in El Paso, Texas, representing Arizona State football for the last time. No one knew how the next 6½ years would unfold, that he would become a symbol of perseverance, of selflessness, of bravery, and, ultimately, of sacrifice. “I wasn’t.

QUERETARO, Mexico – Mexico is facing something it never thought would happen: the possibility that NAFTA, the trade agreement that shaped the country’s economic policies over the last two decades, might disappear. But just as some Mexican officials try to convince President Donald Trump that the North American Free Trade Agreement has been beneficial for.

Since the North American Free Trade Agreement was signed between Mexico, the U.S. and Canada in 1993, Mexico has experienced rapid economic growth. As education levels and financial status have risen and a booming aeronautics and auto industry has emerged, Mexicans now want to be seen as an equal partner to the U.S. — and.

COLON, Queretaro, Mexico – From a stretch of highway in the heart of Mexico, rows of white rectangular structures appear against a backdrop of hills and low brush. A few minutes’ drive farther reveals an entry checkpoint resembling that of a military base. This formidable entrance opens to what could be the prototype for Mexico’s.

QUERÉTARO — Aurelio Martínez Moran stands on the land he’s worked for nearly 22 years. He leans against his red pickup truck and looks out at the fields where workers tend to rows of corn, chili, zucchini and tomatillo. At 18, he was like them, a field worker. Now he rents and farms 30 acres.

WASHINGTON – Recovery from the Great Recession has been slow in much of Arizona, but in Indian Country the pace has been glacial. A decade after the start of the recession, Native Americans posted poverty and unemployment numbers that were more than twice the overall state average, and per capita incomes that were less than.

WASHINGTON – When the Great Recession began 10 years ago this month, experts say Latino workers in Arizona were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Heavily represented in construction and agriculture, two industries that were particularly hard hit, and generally younger than the overall state population, unemployment among Hispanics in Arizona soared from.

WASHINGTON – Arizonans came out of the recession with more than twice the student debt that they carried 10 years ago, as economic forces that came with the recession created a “perfect storm” for rising debt. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said Arizonans carried $4,690 in student debt per capita in 2016, up.

WASHINGTON – Unemployment rates in Arizona inched down to 4.5 percent in October, falling to the lowest rate since the start of the Great Recession and capping one of the longest recoveries on record in the state. Some experts said there may yet be improvements in the overall jobless rate, but all agreed that employment.

WASHINGTON – The global scale of the so-called Great Recession that began 10 years ago in the U.S. may have been illustrated best by the steep drop in remittances, or money that immigrants send to family back home. “For the first time in recorded history, remittances to developing countries actually declined,” during the recession, said.

WASHINGTON – It was what one expert called “the mother of all booms.” Just over a decade ago, Arizona’s construction industry was leading the country in residential and commercial building. People were waiting up to a year for a house, even as builders were throwing new homes up on spec for the residents who were.

WASHINGTON – States, federal and Mexican officials hailed a binational agreement this fall that they said could lead to a radical shift in how the region prepares for and responds to drought. But three months later, they appear no closer to a drought contingency plan, as negotiations have pitted states and water districts against one.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Trent Franks, R-Glendale, abruptly announced his immediate resignation from Congress Friday, just hours after he said he would step down Jan. 31 in the face of a House Ethics inquiry. Franks’ office released a statement Friday saying he was quitting after his wife was admitted to the hospital for treatment of “an.

WASHINGTON – With one week left to sign up for coverage under the Affordable Care Act, advocates are urging Arizona consumers to “window shop” for insurance plans that may be cheaper than they expected or, in some cases, essentially free. “People don’t know about the discounts until they try,” said Allen Gjersvig, director of navigator.

SCOTTSDALE – Mother Teresa, the Roman Catholic nun who devoted her life to serving the poor, was exorcised on her deathbed in late 1996, according to published reports, because the Archbishop of Calcutta feared she was “being attacked by the devil.” Exorcisms, the religious practice of driving the evil spirit or demon out of someone.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Trent Franks, R-Glendale, said Thursday he will resign in the face of a House investigation of his discussions with female staffers about his and his wife’s search for a surrogate mother to help them have more children. Franks said in a statement released by his office that he wanted to take full.

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court justices wrestled Tuesday with the line between art and commerce in the case of a Colorado baker who said making a wedding cake for a same-sex couple would violate his First Amendment rights. An attorney with the Scottsdale-based Alliance Defending Freedom said forcing Jack Phillips to bake the cake, which he.

WASHINGTON – Naturalization applications in Arizona jumped 48 percent over the past three years, to more than 19,000 last year, a number that advocates expect will continue to rise as immigrants look for reassurance in the current political climate. The Arizona numbers reflect a national increase of 35 percent over the same period, according to.

WASHINGTON – Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake ended his holdout Friday and agreed to vote for the GOP tax-cut plan, joining fellow Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain and helping Republican leaders get the margin they needed to pass the bill. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would cut taxes by $1.4 trillion over 10 years, but.

PHOENIX – Several Arizona funeral home directors say a new online system to process death certificates has led to delays in cremations and burials. One funeral administrator said Messinger Mortuaries used to handle about 30 cremations a day, but that dropped to four per day after the Arizona Department of Health Services launched the system.

WASHINGTON – Halfway into the Affordable Care Act’s open enrollment season, the number of people signing up per day is sharply higher than it was last year, with about 500 more Arizonans signing up every day this year. The increase, at both the state and national levels, has come as a pleasant surprise to advocates.

BUCKEYE – They were teenagers from Venezuela, drawn to Arizona’s Elite 1 Academy with hopes of playing college basketball or making it to the NBA. Luis Velasquez and Robinson Dominguez said they were promised safe housing, meals, an education and the opportunity to make money to help their families back home. Almost all it, they.

WASHINGTON – A House committee gave preliminary approval Wednesday to a bill that would let gun owners with concealed-carry permits cross state lines without prior approval, as long as they followed local concealed-carry laws. The strict party-line vote by the House Judiciary Committee followed a full day of debate, during which Democrats called the bill.

WASHINGTON – Federal regulation of waterways may not be the first issue that comes to mind in a desert state like Arizona, but don’t tell that to Pima County cattle rancher Jim Chilton. Chilton was one of two Arizonans invited to testify Wednesday on the Waters of the United States rule, an Obama administration plan.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump was on Capitol Hill Monday to lobby senators for a GOP tax cut plan – and so was Tucson resident Cindy Winston, who was there to lobby against the measure. The Tucson schoolteacher was one of a handful of state residents at the Capitol hoping to influence Arizona Sens. John.

WASHINGTON – Tribal groups reacted swiftly Monday after President Donald Trump used an event honoring Native American Code Talkers to call a Democratic senator “Pocahontas,” what critics called a slur that marred an otherwise positive event. The comment came during an Oval Office event during which Trump largely heaped praise on the Code Talkers, Native.

The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication has rescinded the 2015 award of excellence given to news anchor Charlie Rose after the longtime anchor was accused of several instances of sexual misconduct. Christopher Callahan, dean of the school, announced the decision Friday in a letter to the Cronkite School community. Each year, the.

WASHINGTON – The Federal Communications Commission is moving to rein in a low-cost telephone service for low-income customers that critics say will hit Indian Country hard if fully implemented. But FCC Commissioner Ajit Pai and other supporters say the reforms would close the digital divide between urban and rural Americans by ending “ongoing waste, fraud.

PHOENIX – Companies interested in providing a safe work environment must do more than just run training sessions, say human resources experts as high-profile allegations of sexual harassment and assault surface almost daily. “A lot of companies give out a handbook on the first day and never talk about it again, or you really only.

WASHINGTON – A new report says death rates in Arizona from drugs, alcohol and suicides could grow by 38 percent over the next decade unless action is taken now to head off the problem. The report by the Trust for America’s Health and the Well Being Trust used data from the Centers for Disease Control.

FLAGSTAFF – If it wasn’t for little more than a mile stretch of man-made snow spanning 25 acres atop the Arizona Snowbowl, one might think it was summer in Flagstaff. It’s late November and the snow trail looks bleak among the surrounding greenery. But thanks to snow-making machines and freezing temperatures last weekend, ski and.

TUCSON – The groups were separated by a street, metal barriers and police officers. On one side, a man shouted into his megaphone. “The people united will never be defeated!” On the other side, a woman yelled into her megaphone. “The people united, are gonna be deported!” On Saturday afternoon in Tucson, ex-White House Chief.

PHOENIX — Kayla White was 12 years old that winter morning when her life was changed forever. On Jan. 2, 2009, White’s mother was killed by her father, becoming a victim of domestic violence. “That’s when I heard my uncle say, ‘I don’t know how you’re going to tell Kayla your mom didn’t make it,’”.

WASHINGTON – Arizona lawmakers fell in line with their respective parties Thursday as the House voted 227-205 for a $1.5 trillion tax-cut plan, making good on Speaker Paul Ryan’s promise to get a bill passed before the Thanksgiving recess. Thirteen Republicans joined all 192 voting Democrats to oppose the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but.

WASHINGTON – It’s been almost six years since Gabrielle Giffords walked the halls of the Capitol, but her time away does not appear to have reduced the number of friends and supporters the former Tucson congresswoman has here. Close to 100 people turned out Wednesday as lawmakers renamed a Democratic meeting room to honor Giffords.

WASHINGTON – Anyone who doubts the lure of Route 66 should talk to Winslow Chamber of Commerce CEO Bob Hall, who said that capitalizing on the historic highway was key to revitalization of the historic downtown. “Fifteen, 20 years ago the population was dwindling and we decided we had to do something,” Hall said. “We.

PHOENIX ‒ As a border state, Arizona plays a dual role in some of President Donald Trump’s policy proposals. It wants the border to be shielded from drug smuggling and undocumented immigration, but still be open for trade with Mexico. Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican who endorsed Trump during his campaign, has distanced himself.

PHOENIX – Memories of the battlefield were brought back to life at “Los Veteranos De Arizona” art exhibit. Those behind the show said the idea behind it is to serve as a platform for local Latino veterans to come together and share their stories of war through art. In honor of Veterans Day, The Sagrado.

WASHINGTON – A report Monday revealed for the first time “a very real drop” in new enrollment by international students in U.S. colleges and universities in 2016-2017. New enrollment for international students for the 2016-2017 academic year was about 290,000, lower than the past two years, and the first drop in at least the past.

WASHINGTON – On a cool November morning, New Hampshire resident Howie Howe came to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington and stopped to see the names of two foster brothers that are etched on the wall. As volunteers under a nearby awning continued to read the more than 58,000 names on the black stone wall,.

GRAND CANYON – A spring used to rush through a hillside on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, nourishing bats, mule deer and other wildlife — that is, until bison trampled the watering hole into a mud puddle. The herd has proven to be an environmental nuisance, depleting water sources, mowing down once-flourishing meadows.

WASHINGTON – Hundreds of protesters packed the lobby of a Senate office building Thursday, their chants echoing off the marble walls as they demanded that Congress vote to protect DACA recipients. Fifteen were arrested, including one protester from Arizona who later said on social media that she was willing to risk arrest in order to.

WASHINGTON – A GOP tax-reform plan to eliminate deductions for state and local income and sales tax payments would affect one in five Arizona taxpayers, who used it to deduct more than $3.5 billion from their 2015 income. But Arizona filers will not see nearly the hit of higher-tax states like California and Maryland, which.

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that an online job-rating site has to turn over the identities of anonymous users who posted comments about a company being investigated for its handling of a Department of Veterans Affairs contract. Glassdoor.com was subpoenaed by a federal grand jury in Arizona for information – including emails.

PHOENIX — “They’re our brothers and sisters that are just a couple states away,” Margarete Nasir said. “The church was a small church like ours.” On Sunday, a gunman opened fire inside the First Baptist Church in the small town of Sutherland Springs, Texas. After the rampage, 26 people were dead. While details of the.

WASHINGTON – Rep. Martha McSally, R-Tucson, has told House colleagues that she will run next year for the seat being vacated by Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, setting the stage for what could be a fractious primary fight with Kelli Ward. Flake announced last month that he would not seek re-election because he did not.

WASHINGTON – Arizona immigrants with Temporary Protected Status who were looking to the Department of Homeland Security for clues to their future in the U.S. may have been left with more questions than answers after an announcement Monday. Acting DHS Secretary Elaine Duke said late Monday that the department would end protective status for about.

WASHINGTON – The House began work Monday on the largest tax reform push in over three decades, with most Arizona lawmakers tentatively embracing the concept even as they expressed reservations about details in the 429-page bill. GOP leaders who unveiled the plan Thursday said it will spur the economy by cutting corporate and individual tax.

WASHINGTON – The House Friday passed a GOP bill to extend the Children’s Health Insurance Program for five years by pulling funds from other programs under Obamacare, angering Democrats who called the cuts unnecessary. It’s unclear how far the bill will go in the Senate, which is working on its own proposals, but if action.

PHOENIX – Students exhale loudly as they do their breathing exercises in the theater, preparing for a play one year in the making. Two boys jump up and down, vibrating with excitement as they don military uniforms under the house lights. Stage hands run a red gel over the stage backdrop to cast a scarlet.

WASHINGTON – A White Mountain Apache leader told House members Thursday that the tribe desperately needs to “replace the failing and terminal groundwater well system,” but that current Interior Department regulations are preventing the tribe from moving forward on the project. Tribe Vice Chairman Kasey Velasquez told a House Natural Resources subcommittee that Interior officials.

WASHINGTON – The Trump administration may reverse a 20-year moratorium on new uranium mining claims on 1 million acres around the Grand Canyon, a move that environmental groups said could lead to long-term harm to water quality and wildlife in the region. The recommendation was one of 15 released Wednesday by the Agriculture Department in.

WASHINGTON – A divided House on Wednesday approved a bill that supporters said would boost wildfire prevention efforts, in part by excluding forests from environmental requirements. Streamlining regulations will allow more logging, which removes the forest undergrowth that can feed wildfires, thus reducing the chances of a catastrophic blaze, supporters said. But critics said the.

WASHINGTON – A day before House Republicans were expected to unveil their plan to overhaul the tax code, tribal leaders and senators complained Wednesday that Indian Country once again does not have a seat at the table. Tribal leaders told members of the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs that tribes struggle with economic growth because.

WASHINGTON – Arizona is one of the few states expected to see a decrease in average premium costs during the Affordable Care Act open enrollment period that opened Wednesday – if consumers can figure out how to sign up. The window to enroll has been cut in half from previous years, to 45 days, hours.

PHOENIX – Maricopa County jail inmates went on a three-day hunger strike over the quality of meals served behind bars, but Sheriff Paul Penzone said Wednesday that taste is not the point. “Meeting the needs of this county as it relates to public safety and attention is 1A for me,” Penzone said. “Down at the.

WASHINGTON – An emotional Sen. John McCain returned Monday to the U.S. Naval Academy where he entered public service more than 60 years ago, and called on midshipmen there to always to “do the right thing” and fight for American ideals. Those ideals are currently “under attack” by forces at home and abroad, said McCain,.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court let stand a ruling that a Scottsdale police officer was justified when he shot and killed a man who threatened two people with a knife and advanced toward officers with two halves of a pool cue in his hands. The high court on Monday refused without comment to hear an.

WASHINGTON – When Congress first authorized military action against terrorists in 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, Jeff Flake was a freshman member of the House and Tim Kaine was still mayor of Richmond, Virginia. Today, both men are U.S. senators and the county is still waging war under the 2001 Authorization for.

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has refused to hear an Arizona case that pitted a non-Indian mother and Indian father against one another in a fight for custody of their children. The decision Monday lets stand lower court rulings that invoked the Indian Child Welfare Act, a 1978 federal law that aimed to keep the.

PHOENIX — “This connects us to our ancient, indigenous past.” Día de los Muertos, an annual holiday celebrated in Mexican culture and by those of Mexican descent, has rituals dating back 3,000 years. In anticipation of the multi-day festivities honoring those who have passed on, hundreds gathered over the weekend at Steele Indian School Park.

TEMPE – When Patricia St. Vincent bought a 1910 colonial revival house in Tempe more than 30 years ago, the seller congratulated her and said, “You bought yourself a haunted house.” That didn’t bother St. Vincent when she closed the deal on the Ash Street property. She transformed the house into Casey Moore’s Oyster House..

PHOENIX ‒ With only four months left to pass legislation to protect DREAMers, dozens of Arizona State University students gathered Thursday on the Tempe campus to advocate for a solid DREAM Act, while also protesting against the lawsuits that would deny them access to in-state tuition. On Sept. 5, President Donald Trump cancelled the program.

TEMPE — One takeaway from the Arizona Computer Assisted Language Learning conference was that mixing technology and languages, could soon make textbooks a thing of the past. For the intermediate Spanish students in Silvana Domaz’ virtual classroom, some assignments have involved the use of WhatsApp, a free mobile application which lets users chat in real.

TUCSON — Artist Alvaro Enciso lives on the Northeast side of Tumamoc Hill in a house full of art, including three-foot white crosses created to deliver a deeper message about death. “The Sonoran Desert has a secret,” the artist said. “Not very many people know about 3,000 casualties here, 2,000 people missing.” Enciso’s art is.

WASHINGTON – Arizona lawmakers and advocates are condemning proposed fee increases at the Grand Canyon and 16 other parks, a move the National Park Service said is badly needed to fund billions in backlogged maintenance projects. The proposal unveiled this week would create a new peak-season entry fee that would at least double fees at.

PHOENIX – The founder and owner of the Chandler-based pharmaceutical company Insys Therapeutics Inc. was arrested in Phoenix on Thursday, charged with using bribes and fraud to profit from illegal distribution of a fentanyl spray meant for cancer patients. John Kapoor appeared before U.S. District Judge Michelle Burns on Thursday afternoon for an initial appearance..

WASHINGTON – Democratic lawmakers said Wednesday that there is a growing sense of urgency for a Dream Act vote – and a growing sense that they will delay the next budget bill in December if there is not a vote by then. “We are making it apparent and clear to our own leadership that this.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, walked away from a 2018 re-election bid Tuesday, saying in a speech on the Senate floor that he “will not be complicit or silent” about the ongoing degradation of the political climate. The surprise announcement follows months of sparring between the junior senator and President Donald Trump, who has.

WASHINGTON – Yesenia Chavarria traveled from Arizona and joined scores of immigrants outside the White House Tuesday to plead for an extension of their temporary protected status, a problem one expert calls “the most important issue most people have never heard of.” The program currently protects at least 300,000 immigrants – 1,100 of them in.

PHOENIX – Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake announced Tuesday he would not seek re-election in 2018. The Arizona Republic reported the state’s junior senator will serve out the remainder of his term but cites the “nastiness of Republican politics” as a reason he will not run next year. The Republican, a vocal critic of President Donald.

MESA – Visitors to antique shops on Main Street in Mesa will see stores crammed with primarily benign American memorabilia. A 19th century record player, a vintage 1990s Barbie, or a campaign button promoting Richard Nixon for president line the shelves. Then, the eyes flit across something more startling. A set of spice jars in.

WASHINGTON – Colleges and universities may not be able to change immigration law, but they can do more to help those students faced with losing their protection from deportation. That was the message from a panel of immigration advocates this week who urged college students across the nation to push school administrators for policies that.

PHOENIX – Leaders of a major Arizona teacher organization said Friday they were outraged when Gov. Doug Ducey reportedly gave several members of his staff 20 percent raises while teachers are getting a one percent salary increase, saying educators deserve more money. “Our teachers are waiting for a one percent stipend, that’s what the Legislature.

PHOENIX – Tiny meows echo through the room as volunteers in yellow smocks feed, weigh and record every kitten in the Arizona Humane Society’s Bottle Baby Intensive Care Unit. When a rescue worker showed up at the nonprofit’s Phoenix facility with a cardboard crate in her hands on a recent Friday afternoon, a spokeswoman looked.

WASHINGTON – The Air Force will begin testing the groundwater at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for contamination from dangerous chemicals in firefighting foam that was used at the base, according to the U.S. Air Force Civil Engineer Center. The Davis-Monthan inspection follows similar testing at Luke Air Force Base in Glendale and the former Williams.

WASHINGTON – An empty chair fielded question after question from an angry Senate panel Thursday, after a White House cybersecurity coordinator invoked executive privilege and skipped the hearing. Representatives from the FBI, the Pentagon and the Department of Homeland Security testified beside the empty chair, telling the Senate Armed Services Commitee they are working to.

PAGE –  Ecologist Mark Anderson still sometimes tears up thinking about March 3, 2013, when an adult quagga mussel was discovered — the definitive sign of a possible aquatic apocalypse — clinging to a boat hauled from the waters of Lake Powell. “We had finally lost the long-fought battle,” Anderson said. The adult quagga mussel.

WASHINGTON – Attorney General Jeff Sessions told a Senate panel Wednesday that he could accept a DACA replacement bill if it is coupled with border security measures, and that any deal has to be “more than just an amnesty.” Sessions also defended the administration’s decision to rescind the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program,.

PHOENIX – A woman sat at a table, patiently sewing an orange sugar skull with blue eyes and a pink button nose. She untangled a ball of yarn and worked nimbly, adding a flower bow and a black mouth. At a different table in the same room, someone cut purple paper and taped it to.

WASHINGTON – Arizona Sen. John McCain and President Donald Trump have been at odds for years, but the sparring reached a new height Tuesday when Trump warned that he will fight back at some point “and it won’t be pretty.” The comments came just hours after McCain gave a speech calling on the U.S. to.

WASHINGTON – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement plans to boost its efforts targeting businesses by “four to five times” and will prosecute employers who knowingly hire illegal workers, the acting director of the agency said Tuesday. Thomas Homan said the goal of the new policy is to cut off the supply of jobs that will.

PHILADELPHIA – An emotional Sen. John McCain called on the U.S., “the most wondrous nation on Earth,” to resume its role as world leader and reject “half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems.” The remarks came during a ceremony that veered from humorous to serious as the.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s actions this week to dismantle Obamacare created what health experts called “political smoke” just weeks before the next open enrollment period, which they said could hurt enrollment for 2018. Trump, citing Congress’ inability to repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act, issued an executive order Thursday to let businesses group.

WASHINGTON – Arizona utilities and regulators said they plan to continue working toward the lower carbon emission goals that had been set in the EPA’s Clean Power Plan, even though federal officials said this week that they are scrapping the program. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said Tuesday that he will revoke the Obama-era.

WASHINGTON – The National Park Service has a “significant problem” with harassment of its workers, a culture that is going to change starting “here and now,” administration officials promised Friday. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke joined National Park officials to make that pledge at Grand Canyon National Park, where they cited results of a general employee.

PHOENIX — Even when he was 20 years old, Paul Penzone knew he wanted a career in law enforcement. Now as Maricopa County Sheriff, he’s working on changing the legal and political legacy of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio. “He was, you know, given the freedom without any accountability, whereas we are, and will continue to.

PHOENIX ‒ Dolores Huerta is a woman of many facets. Political activist, union leader, mother and a civil and women’s rights icon. She is also one of the most underrated public figures in recent history. In her early 30s, Huerta was one of the first minority women to work as a lobbyist in the California.

PHOENIX – Tiny housing has been a hot topic the past few years, with shows such as “Tiny House Hunters” and others appearing on HGTV and tiny house communities popping up across the country. The trend has flourished in densely populated cities such as New York and Seattle. Some smaller communities – such as Spur,.

TUCSON — Tucson and other parched Arizona cities offer rebates for businesses and homes that harvest rainwater, but the practice struggles to gain momentum in the Valley. The ancient method can conserve thousands of gallons of water, reducing reliance on groundwater and other sources. Rebates can motivate people to put in water-collection tanks or landscape.

PHOENIX – Pavement originally built for durability and noise reduction can curb rising temperatures from urban heat islands – meaning the ribbons of freeways threading the Valley may lessen the effect of climate change, according to a new report. Arizona State University professor Kamil Kaloush, who has studied heat islands for decades, and leaders at.

NOGALES, Mexico – Sixty truck drivers scribbled notes in a Mexican warehouse last month as they listened to a United States border inspection officer describe the types of things officers examine during border inspections. Flat tires. Broken headlights. Cargo that’s not secured. The group gathered as part of a new program the Arizona Department of.

WASHINGTON – More than one in four of the estimated 154,200 immigrants who stand to lose their DACA protection in the next five months did not meet Thursday’s deadline to apply for a renewal, according to numbers from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The Oct. 5 deadline was set last month when the Trump administration.

PHOENIX — Jose Guadalupe Conchas stood in front of five candles adorned with black roses, and carefully lit each one as a symbolic tribute to the recent string of disasters, natural and man-made. The most recent one being the deadly massacre in Las Vegas on Sunday night. The next night, the United States flag waved.

WASHINGTON – A Senate committee Wednesday chastised the former head of Equifax for a data breach that exposed financial data of as many as 143 million Americans to hackers – a number that one Arizona expert said could be even higher. Jamie Winterton, director of strategy at the Global Security Initiative at Arizona State University,.

WASHINGTON – Senate sponsors of the latest Dream Act assured over 100 young immigrants Wednesday that “the nation is poised to do the right thing” and protect them after the DACA program expires next year. The comments came at a “DREAMer Advocacy Day” event at the Capitol where DACA recipients from across the country, dressed.

PHOENIX – Immediately after Magan Carter’s baby was born, doctors put feeding tubes down his throat and hooked him up to an oxygen machine. He couldn’t breathe and had to use a feeding tube. Amari was in an incubator for three months. Carter’s pregnancy lasted 26 weeks and four days. As an African-American woman, the.

WASHINGTON – Senators agreed Tuesday that a legislative fix will be needed to protect DACA recipients, but differed over how far it should go and how to get there with just five months until the current program expires. The comments came in a Senate Judiciary Committee oversight hearing on the Trump administration’s plan to eliminate.

WASHINGTON – The House voted along party lines Tuesday to approve Rep. Trent Franks’ bill that bans abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy except in cases of rape, incest or threats to the life of the mother. The Glendale Republican said his Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act addresses what he called the “greatest and most.

“Dad! Look!” Three-year old Anthony Contrades runs toward his dad as he watches a life-size Tyrannosaurus rex lean down and roar. Visitors of all ages pointed and gawked as they walked through the Phoenix Zoo’s newest exhibit, Dinosaurs in the Desert. The interactive experience features 23 dinosaurs, 17 of which are animatronic, spread out along.

WASHINGTON – Former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords turned and shook her fist toward the Capitol Monday after telling lawmakers “the nation is counting on you” to act in the wake of Sunday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas. Giffords, the victim of a 2011 mass shooting in Tucson, was joined at the Capitol by her husband,.

WASHINGTON – Navajo leaders expressed hope Monday that the Navajo Generating Station will be able to continue operations past 2019, after Peabody Energy said it had come up with a list of potential investors in the plant. Peabody, which mines the coal to power the plant, did not identify the prospective buyers it presented to.

PHOENIX — In a warehouse in north Phoenix on Saturday morning, a woman sat on the floor among piles of toothbrushes, toilet paper and soap. She packed a cardboard box full of diapers then taped it shut. A man picked up the box and set it against the wall. The woman started fresh with a.

PHOENIX – As Arizona joined the rest of the nation in grief and horror over a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas where at least 59 people were killed and more than 500 wounded, Arizona residents scrambled to see whether loved ones and family who had attended the concert were safe. A University of Arizona.

WASHINGTON – With Congress focused on the fight over an Obamacare replacement, lawmakers failed this week to take action on programs that protect 22,000 low-income kids in Arizona and help pay for uncompensated care at state hospitals. The Children’s Health Insurance Program – which goes by the name KidsCare in Arizona – is set to.

WASHINGTON – One day after Rep. Kyrsten Sinema’s long-anticipated announcement of a 2018 challenge to Republican Sen. Jeff Flake, a liberal group was pledging to raise money for her and two political consultants changed their outlook on the race to “toss up.” The Phoenix Democrat has positioned herself as a moderate and is considered a.

PHOENIX – Local economist Elliott Pollack said he’s optimistic about the future of both the regional and national economy, pointing to positive indicators such as employment, population and housing growth. However, Pollack also expressed plenty of caution when he spoke to a crowd of about 750 people gathered in downtown Phoenix for the Greater Phoenix.

PHOENIX – A woman woke up one morning and found the menorah adorning her yard had been twisted into a symbol of hate overnight: a swastika. Some might think this happened in Nazi Germany in the 1940s, but no. This particular act of hatred took place last December in Chandler. Incidents of hate crimes involving.

PHOENIX — When the White House announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, undefeated boxer Alexis Zazueta began his most important fight yet: to stay in his hometown of Phoenix. “President Trump removing DACA is like removing his wings and preventing him from flying,” said his mother, Rafaela Zazueta Aceves, of.

TOLLESON – Jose Valadez thought he’d never be able to have “the really nice things,” like a college education. Now, he’s a college senior, learning to be a teacher. “I wanted to give back to the community that raised me,” Valadez said. Much of his education is free as part of the newly launched Arizona.

GILBERT – The co-owner of a Gilbert deli shop said he doesn’t base his success on the number of customers who walk through his doors – he’s more interested in the number of jobs he can provide. Not Your Typical Deli hires employees diagnosed with autism and other developmental issues. Cashier Cordell Sherwood, who was.

WASHINGTON – Senate leaders abandoned their latest effort to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, saying Tuesday that they would turn their attention to tax reform after key GOP defections doomed the health care proposal. The announcement came one day after Sen. Susan Collins of Maine joined fellow Republican Sens. John McCain of Arizona.

WASHINGTON – The 2017 wildfire season is already one of most expensive on record, with a $2.35 billion price tag burning through the Forest Service’s budget, lawmakers and Agriculture Department officials said Tuesday. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and five Western senators, including Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Arizona, called for an end to the ongoing underfunding of.

WASHINGTON – House leaders said they hope to have a vote as soon as next week on a bill by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Glendale, that would prohibit abortions in most cases after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Franks has introduced the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act at least three times, and it has failed each time,.

TEMPE – The typical college dorm doesn’t have 3-D printers, laser cutters and Bluetooth-enabled washers and dryers on-site. But the new Tooker House on Arizona State University’s Tempe campus touts the kind of technology and innovation the students living there hope to one day create. The $120 million residential community houses 1,600 ASU students, largely.

WASHINGTON – Despite posting a sharp decrease in its poverty rate over the last two years, Arizona continued to have some of the highest poverty in the nation in 2016, the latest Census numbers show. Arizona’s poverty rate of 16.4 percent was well above the national rate of 14 percent that year, and ranged from.

PHOENIX – Wastewater. We use it to irrigate fields, to flush toilets and to make one of America’s favorite beverages – beer. The inaugural Arizona Pure Water Brew Challenge brought together 26 breweries from across Arizona and tasked them with creating the best-tasting beer using treated wastewater. “We had no idea how many breweries would.

PHOENIX — As the weeks go by, DACA recipients know time is running out. That’s why on Wednesday morning, several of them walked into the Phoenix offices of Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA). They wrote their names on a sign-in sheet and carried folders of paperwork. They took seats next to volunteers. It.

SCOTTSDALE – What’s the biggest threat to the future of the United States economy? Former White House economic advisor Todd Buchholz said it’s not global warming or the debt – it’s the lack of postsecondary education. “If you don’t have at least a high school education in this globalized economy, you are competing with the.

Democratic Rep. Raúl Grijalva of Tucson was arrested Tuesday morning during a protest in front of the Trump Tower in New York City, according to information from his campaign office. Democratic Reps. Luis Gutiérrez of Illinois and Adriano Espaillat of New York, and Speaker of the New York City Council Melissa Mark-Viverito were also arrested,.

CASA GRANDE — Italian pasta chefs are known for crafting dishes that are as much local culture as they are food. What is less well-known is that Arizona’s desert durum wheat is a common ingredient in Italian pasta. Arizona plant geneticists have spent decades developing the desirable durum through seed breeding. By combining two ‘parent’.

PHOENIX — “It’s like another board game for them. Both the Democrats and the Trump administration. It’s always a game and they’re gambling with our lives,” Francisco Luna said. Last Wednesday, President Donald Trump had dinner with Democratic heavyweights Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. It was after that dinner when reports.

PHOENIX – Wages in the Phoenix metro area increased more than anywhere else in the United States in the past year, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data. From July 2016 to this July, hourly wages grew 7.6 percent, according to a release from the city of Phoenix using the latest labor numbers. The.

PHOENIX – Diane Douglas, Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction, discussed her lukewarm attitude toward the AzMERIT test and seemed puzzled when asked about Proposition 305, a ballot measure asking voters to stop the expansion of school vouchers in Arizona. Recent AzMERIT results showed a slight improvement over the previous year. The new voucher, passed by.

PHOENIX – Expect more online scams after the latest online hack at Equifax compromised the personal information of as many as 143 million Americans, Arizona experts said. The credit reporting service announced the cybersecurity breach in early September, weeks after company officials discovered it on July 29. Bloomberg reported three Equifax executives sold nearly $2 million.

WASHINGTON – It was the greatest political deal that was – until it wasn’t. Unless it still is. After Democratic leaders said Wednesday night that they had reached a deal with President Donald Trump to preserve DACA, without a border wall requirement, social media exploded – along with some Republican members of Congress. But official.

SCOTTSDALE – Business owners in Scottsdale horrified by a string of wrong-way collisions in Arizona have developed new technology designed to help motorists stay safe. Nearly 80 people have been injured and 14 people killed in wrong-way crashes this year, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Maria Wojtczak, owner of Driving MBA in Scottsdale,.

PHOENIX – Tall corporate buildings, brand new modern apartment complexes and fancy restaurants compose most of Central Avenue in downtown Phoenix. However, just a few miles down, south of Salt River, it’s a different story. Small, family-owned businesses, abandoned buildings and empty lots become the scenery. The “south side,” as it’s commonly known, is home.

WASHINGTON – Hispanic House members took a page from President Donald Trump’s playbook Friday, saying they are willing to risk a government shutdown later this year if they cannot get a vote on the DREAM Act. Democratic Reps. Raul Grijalva of Tucson and Luis Gutierrez of Illinois said the “vast majority” of Democrats are behind.

PHOENIX — On Thursday evening, Arizona State University students crowded into a makeshift conference room, pulling chairs into a circle. When there wasn’t any room left, some students sat on the floor in the middle. They took turns introducing themselves – sharing their names, their majors and their fears about the repeal of DACA. The.

PHOENIX — After President Donald Trump’s official DACA decision was announced earlier this week, DREAMers now turn their focus to what could be next for them. DACA recipients and supporters came together at a local church Wednesday in Phoenix to learn more about the president’s latest policy changes. Hosted by Daniel Rodriguez, Arizona’s first undocumented.

BUCKEYE — Local leaders say salt cedar trees are invading the Gila River, causing flood andfire hazards and choking native vegetation and wildlife habitats. They say it’s time for the trees, planted a century ago to slow erosion, to make their final stand. Buckeye Mayor Jackie Meck said the trees are an invasive species and.

WASHINGTON – The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality got $315 million in funding for specific federal programs over the past five years – funding that could be endangered by proposed cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency budget. That was the finding of an Environmental Defense Fund analysis of the fiscal 2018 EPA budget request being.

WASHINGTON – Three Arizona lawmakers were among the scores of House and Senate members who filed a court brief Thursday defending the Colorado cake shop owner who was sued for refusing to make a wedding cake for a same-sex couple. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the appeal of Masterpiece Cakeshop owner Jack Phillips,.

PHOENIX — It’s a blindingly bright Tuesday morning in Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row arts district. Despite the lack of people on the sidewalks, it is anything but quiet. The sounds of construction fill the air at the intersection of Third and Roosevelt streets, and a promotional sign for the new Broadstone Roosevelt Apartments, which formerly read.

PHOENIX – Levi Conlow and Nathan Cooper have been “boarding” all their lives — skateboarding, wakeboarding and snowboarding. The pair met at a Minnesota mixer prior to college, but when they reconnected in a dormitory hall at Grand Canyon University, they realized their passion for boarding could make a great business. They launched Lectric Longboards.

CHANDLER – Leaders of the Phoenix area chapter of the Little People of America are upset organizers of a Chandler festival hired and promoted an “extreme midget wrestling” event, saying the term is derogatory, painful and may violate federal laws protecting people with disabilities. Ed Myers, a former disability-issues attorney who is president of the.

PHOENIX — Through DACA, Lili Sanchez has been able to obtain work as a licensed real estate agent and provide for her two young children. The fate of her profession and source of income now rests entirely in the hands of President Donald Trump. If the program is repealed, Sanchez will have few options left.

PHOENIX – The city is hiring an outside firm to conduct an independent review of the controversial police response to protesters after last week’s presidential rally. “With the high profile nature of the events and community concerns and support expressed, it is important to use outside expertise to add a layer of objective review in.

TEMPE – More than a million international students attend American colleges and universities, but often struggle with homesickness, learning the nuances of the English language and making friends outside of people from their home country. Simply trying to navigate everyday life in Arizona, such as picking up a package from the post office or getting.

On this episode of In Focus, we discuss wrong-way driving and the new technology that the Arizona Department of Transportation is installing on the Interstate 17. Digital Producer Alexis Kuhbander speaks to someone who barely avoided a wrong-way collision, along with a public safety official and vehicle-detection system expert, who highlight the importance of the.

PHOENIX – Women plan travel and men go along with the plans, according to new marketing research that also shows generational differences among millennial, Gen X and boomer women who travel. “Women are the CVPs of vacation: the chief vacation planners,” said Melissa Luebbe of Meredith Travel Marketing, who presented findings of a 2015 survey.

GRAND CANYON – An aging pipeline bringing water to residents, resorts and 6 million visitors a year at the Grand Canyon has broken about 80 times since 2010 and needs a multimillion-dollar replacement, park officials say. Officials have sutured the breaks over the years, but that is no longer enough, said Kirby-Lynn Shedlowski, Grand Canyon.

PHOENIX – Arizona universities are working to drive up Arizona college graduation rates, smoothing the way for students transferring from community college, offering financial aid and adding online classes to draw non-traditional students. Less than one out of three students in Arizona in 2013 earned a four-year degree in six years or less, according to.

PHOENIX — Jonathan Meldrum, a former offensive lineman at Syracuse, struggled through his sophomore year in college. “I didn’t want to wake up, I didn’t want to get out of bed and I felt physically ill every single day.” After battling depression in high school, he took antidepressants, saw counselors and therapists and eventually managed.

PHOENIX – In the rising heat of a recent summer morning, teenage boys congregated on Phoenix Christian School’s football field, waiting to take turns going long for passes. Mike Chavez, sports director for Heart for the City, ignored the thickening Valley air. Chavez, 27, said he makes sure they exercise safely and get enough water,.

PHOENIX – The driver who was at the heart of former Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s contempt of court case said the sheriff’s guilty verdict shows “justice is being served,” but he is still affected by the encounter seven years ago. “It was quite humiliating and traumatic for me as well as it was for my wife,”.

TEMPE — Despite an eye-opening study about trauma found in the brains of deceased NFL players, it won’t keep them from playing the sport they love, several Arizona State athletes said. “It don’t bother me,” running back Demario Richard said. “It’s football. It’s a gladiator sport. It’s either you are with it or you’re not.”.

WASHINGTON – When Sen. John McCain took to the Senate floor last week to lecture his colleagues about governing, it reminded John Fer of similar conversations he’d had with McCain – in a North Vietnamese prison. Fer, a retired Air Force colonel who was a cellmate of McCain’s when both were held in Hao Lo.

WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security invoked a waiver of environmental and other regulations Tuesday to speed