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MESA – On a regular school night, the Abajian family gathers to prepare dinner. Deborah Abajian cuts cucumbers while her husband, Gabriel, teaches their 6-year-old daughter how to peel carrots. “You always want to go away from your body,” he tells Delainey, tucked into a black apron, her hair pulled safely back into a ponytail..

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Shanti Group, a nonprofit that has been serving HIV+ patients with a history of drug abuse or homelessness since 1987, will close next year. Lack of funding played a major factor in the closure, even with new cases of HIV, the virus That causes AIDS, on the rise in Maricopa County..

PHOENIX – The Department of Health and Human Services has distributed $1.48 million to six clinics in Arizona that help underserved communities to improve their dental programs. Affordable oral care can be difficult to obtain, leaving many people vulnerable to tooth loss, gum disease but also more serious issues, including cardiovascular disease, pneumonia, diabetes and.

WASHINGTON – Rising rates of preterm births in 30 states – Arizona included – are a sign that health care providers are “failing our many mothers and babies,” maternal and infant health advocates said Thursday. Their comments came as the March of Dimes released its 2019 report card that showed a slight increase in the.

PHOENIX – For more than three decades, Jill Guernsey de Zapien has fought to improve public health in underserved communities across the Southwest. She helped start a program in southeastern Arizona to bring better care to rural residents, and farmworkers in particular. She was inspired by her father, a labor organizer. Guernsey de Zapien, director.

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – California and Arizona make up more than 95% of all U.S. cases of valley fever – an infection caused by a fungus that lives in soil in the Southwest – largely because they share arid climates and have an abundance of outdoor workers. New research finds that as climate change alters.

PHOENIX – A new health initiative is helping Arizona companies create and promote a culture of wellness among their Hispanic employees, some of whom may not speak English. The free initiative, Por Tu Salud, is the Spanish-language version of Wellness AtoZ, a health care program launched by the Greater Phoenix Chamber Foundation. Por Tu Salud.

PHOENIX – More medical services will be available to Native Americans in metro Phoenix, thanks to a $200,000 federal grant awarded to Native American Connections. The Indian Health Service grant will allow the organization to begin offering primary care services, such as immunizations and wellness checks. “This grant money will allow us to be able.

PHOENIX – Amid calls to end “period poverty,” dozens of activists from across Arizona convened for the first National Period Day protest to call for an end to sales taxes for menstrual products and more widespread availability of items to help those who can’t afford them. The “menstrual equity” movement has been gaining steam globally,.

PHOENIX – A new nonprofit, 100 Angels Foundation, provides medical supplies and health care to those arriving from Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras – even Russia. Medical professionals volunteer their services and provide medicine and treatment for immigrants who get sick or injured during their arduous journeys to the U.S. border. Cecilia García, founder and.

WASHINGTON – The Phoenix metro area had the sixth-highest rate of firearm suicides among the nation’s urban areas, according to a new report tying the availability of guns to the prevalence of firearm suicides. The report, by Democrats on the Joint Economic Committee, said there has been a steady increase in such deaths since 2000,.

PHOENIX – Hispanics, Native Americans and African Americans are most at risk for diabetes, with racial and ethnic minorities reporting the highest rates of the debilitating disease in the U.S. But experts say diabetes could be slowed if people were aware of the risks of prediabetes and took action. Marcia Angulo was devastated when she.

WHITERIVER – On a cool evening, crickets chirp in tall grass. A fresh breeze carries the songs of cicadas, and as members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe come together, a murmur of voices can be heard. Several dozen men, women and children form a circle around tribal elder Lenora Ethelbah, and she begins to.

WASHINGTON – No one disputes that Nicole Weber was injured – including losing some of her eyesight – by a leaking breast implant, but a federal appeals court ruled Friday that federal law protects the manufacturer from the Arizona woman’s lawsuit. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was.

This story was updated at 12:55 p.m. MT PHOENIX – The Trump administration’s proposed changes to the so-called public charge rule have caused widespread confusion among immigrant communities across Arizona and the U.S. Under the new policy, use of such benefits as food stamps, housing assistance and Medicaid would be among the considerations used to.

More than half of Americans 65 or older have a chronic condition, such as diabetes, cancer or Alzheimer’s disease. Many have multiple conditions, which can make a trip to the emergency room a struggle for both patient and provider. But Banner University Medical Center in Phoenix and a handful of other hospitals are changing the.

WILLCOX – A handful of voices softly chattering in Spanish filter into a building that’s become the heart of Winchester Heights, a Willcox neighborhood filled with farmworkers. The community center is dedicated to connecting southeastern Arizona residents – with one another and with better health care. As the clock nears 6 p.m., more men and.

WASHINGTON – The number of people who showed up at at Indian Health Service facilities with health insurance rose from 64% of patients in 2013 to 78% in 2018, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The report said growth in coverage was highest in states, like Arizona, that expanded their Medicaid.

LONG BEACH, Calif. – At least every other day, Selene Zazueta has to tell her 8-year-old daughter that she can’t play outside with her friends. As upsetting as that is, the girl has asthma, and the family lives just off Interstate 710 in Long Beach, in an area known as “Asthma Alley.” “It’s a nightmare,”.

PHOENIX – Spurred by a wet winter, cases of West Nile virus are at a record high in Arizona, with 156 cases and 16 deaths reported so far this year, state health reports show. The Arizona Department of Health Services blames the wetter winter for bigger mosquito populations this year. Mosquitoes carry West Nile, which.

PHOENIX – Native American advocates are seeking more funding and new ways to tackle the opioid crisis in Indian Country as overdose death rates continue to rise. Native Americans have the second-highest death rate related to opioid use in the nation – a number that’s been on the rise for nearly two decades. In 2017,.

WASHINGTON – The number of Arizonans without health insurance rose by about 55,000 people last year, according to new data from the Census Bureau, as a relatively strong economy was offset by hefty cost increases for coverage. The change from 2017 to 2018 raised the total number of uninsured in the state last year to.

PHOENIX – Moving boxes clutter the hallway, while family portraits rest unhung against a stark white wall. In the living room, two couches are positioned near one another; they’re some of the only furniture in the home. This little house in far west Phoenix is, in essence, a clean slate. It’s the beginning of a.

WASHINGTON – Arizona vape-store owners were alarmed by the Trump administration’s announcement Wednesday that it plans to begin enforcing rules that would drive flavored e-cigarettes out of the market, an industry official said. The surprise White House statement was in response to recent reports that vaping-related lung illnesses have been confirmed in 33 states and.

WASHINGTON – Despite repeated failures, Republican leaders rallied Tuesday in support of their latest version of the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, called “the most important bill in Congress.” She was one of a score of GOP lawmakers at an hours-long hearing where lawmakers and health care providers called for.

WASHINGTON – Arizona will get more than $20 million in State Opioid Response grant funds from the federal government, part of $1.8 billion in grants the Trump administration said it was releasing to states Wednesday. The grants, now in their second year, are designed to give states the flexibility to “meet the needs of their.

MOORE, Okla. – After a natural disaster, research shows survivors can have psychological fallouts for weeks, months – even lifetimes. Xavier Delgado was 10 in May 2013 when an EF5 tornado hit Moore. He nearly was one of the town’s 24 fatalities as the storm, with its 210 mph winds, struck Plaza Towers Elementary School..

PHOENIX – Outside the Burton Barr Central Library on a sweltering summer afternoon, Yahshua McDuffie offers free water and soda from his ice chest. It’s 112 degrees, and the sun is baking the blacktop of the library parking lot. “A lot of people out here suffer from heat stroke,” McDuffie said. “I’m trying to prevent.

WASHINGTON – Officials called a $20 million grant for suicide prevention programs in state schools an important first step to deal with a growing problem, even as they said much more needs to be done. The Arizona Board of Education on Monday approved a $20 million plan to hire additional counselors, social workers or school.

WASHINGTON – As state and Flagstaff officials battle over who should bear the cost of the city’s higher minimum wage, service providers for people with disabilities say they feel caught in the crossfire. Under a law that took effect Tuesday, the state can charge Flagstaff for added costs to state contracts that result from the.

Arizona in Focus is a podcast from Cronkite News, the news division of Arizona PBS. Each season we dive deep into a particular topic or story to bring you stories you haven’t heard elsewhere. Check out the rest of our episodes here, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. GOLD CANYON – Bobbi.

PHOENIX – For young people faced with poverty and unemployment, gang life can offer power and control. But the International Federation of Muaythai Associations wants Thai boxing to be the gang for disenfranchised youth. The federation, in collaboration with the Peace and Sport Organization, has conducted the “Sport Is Your Gang” initiative since 2011, focusing.

WASHINGTON – “Deaths of despair” have grown more slowly in Arizona than in the nation as a whole since 2005, but death rates in the state still exceed the nation in every category, according to a recent national survey. Deaths of despair – the catchall name for deaths from drug overdoses, alcohol and suicide –.

Arizona in Focus is a podcast from Cronkite News, the news division of Arizona PBS. Each season we dive deep into a particular topic or story to bring you stories you haven’t heard elsewhere. Check out the rest of our episodes here, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. GILBERT – School’s out.

PHOENIX – Avoiding hot summer temperatures is impossible for Arizonans who make their living beneath the scorching sun. Earlier this month, Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Tucson, introduced a bill that would establish a federal safety standard for workers who labor in the heat, both inside and outdoors. The bill is named after Asunción Valdivia, a California.

ARIZONA – Monsoon storms, haboobs, scorching temperatures: Let’s face it, summer in Arizona comes with some big hazards. So it could be easy to forget one of the tiniest perils. Yes, mosquitoes, those buzzing, blood-sucking little demon insects. The mere mention of the pests is enough to make your skin itch, triggering flashbacks of outings.

SCOTTSDALE – Drugs have been a part of half of Perie Prickett’s life, and she’s only 24. In addition to those 12 lost years, drugs have stolen most of the experiences and memories that come with adolescence and early adulthood. It started with peer pressure, wanting to fit in and be accepted by classmates. Drugs.

PHOENIX – While the debate around laws that would allow clean needle exchange programs to operate legally in Arizona continues, one organization continues working in a legal gray area to help stop the spread of disease. Shot in the Dark is a nonprofit that provides drug users with clean needles, educational materials, treatment referrals and.

WASHINGTON – Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich asked the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday to stop the Sackler family from “looting” Purdue Pharma of billions of dollars being sought by victims of the opioid crisis the company is accused of helping create. Taking a case directly to the court is highly unusual, but Brnovich said it.

WASHINGTON – Five years after the Veterans Affairs hospital in Phoenix made national headlines for falsifying records about patient wait times, agency officials told House lawmakers Wednesday that the system has seen a “tremendous transformation.” Dr. Teresa Boyd of the Veterans Health Administration said wait-times are down nationwide, in many cases better than times in.

PHOENIX – Mosquitoes, beyond irritating people with bites that itch, transmit the West Nile virus. The pests have helped lead to a rise in people infected with the deadly virus in Arizona this year. As of July 19, the Arizona Department of Health Services has reported 34 confirmed cases and 23 probable cases of West.

PHOENIX – The Police Department is training more first-responders to use a nasal spray that can counter the effects of an opioid overdose, and it hopes to have nearly half of the force’s sworn officers trained by the end of next month. Although Narcan – a nasal-spray form of naloxone – is used by other.

PHOENIX – A recent Arizona State University study has shed new light on antibiotics produced by ants, and the lead author thinks the work could be applied to improving human health. “What is really fascinating to me is that these ants might actually help save our lives one day,” said Clint Penick, lead author of.

PHOENIX – Arizona’s 7th Congressional District is the most dangerous district for pedestrians in the U.S., according to a new report by a coalition that advocates for safe streets. From 2008 to 2017, 344 pedestrians were killed in the district, which includes downtown Phoenix, south Phoenix and parts of Glendale and Tolleson, the report by.

PHOENIX – The American Red Cross has issued an emergency call to address a shortage of blood across the country. The organization, which generally keeps a five day supply of all blood types on hand, has less than a three-day supply of types A and B blood and less than a two-day supply of type.

PHOENIX – Arizona summers are brutal, especially for those facing homelessness. Every summer, a coalition of organizations known as the Heat Relief Network provides hydration stations, refuge locations and water donation sites across metro Phoenix to prevent heat-related deaths among vulnerable populations, according to MAG, the Maricopa Association of Governments, which coordinates the network. Last.

Arizona in Focus is a podcast from Cronkite News, the news division of Arizona PBS. Each season we dive deep into a particular topic or story to bring you stories you haven’t heard elsewhere. Check out the rest of our episodes here, and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or Spotify. GILBERT – School is.

PHOENIX – David Jarmusz has been through a lot in his 55 years. Diagnosed with HIV in 2009, he suffers from neuropathy, or numbness in his peripheral nerves, and has a hernia in his lower abdomen. He is also a recovering drug addict and a widower who has been homeless off and on for more.

PHOENIX － Families and guardians of Hacienda HealthCare residents on Monday called the intermediate care facility a wonderful place, despite the rape of an incapacitated patient last year and moves by state officials last month to revoke its license for inadequate care. “Losing this facility will destroy my son’s quality of life,” said Alan Strobel,.

PHOENIX – The State of Arizona Acupuncture Board of Examiners has entered the fight against opioid abuse, approving chemical dependency programs for a form of acupuncture that involves the outer ear. Supporters say auricular acupuncture helps people break free of addiction, but a skeptic says there’s zero evidence acupuncture relieves any condition. “I don’t think.

PHOENIX – Marijuana-laced massage oils, vaping products and brownies and other edibles likely will emerge as the future of the multimillion-dollar medical marijuana industry in Arizona, thanks to a court decision last month, industry representatives say. Concentrates, or extracts of the active ingredients in marijuana, such as THC and CBD, are considered legal under an.

PHOENIX – A national outbreak of hepatitis A, which can cause nausea, jaundice and, in rare cases, kill, is sweeping through the state, Arizona health officials reported. Two people have died of the liver disease in Arizona. Since November, 353 cases have been reported, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Nearly 90 of.

PHOENIX – When Katrina Huynh gave birth for the first time four years ago, she chose a modern tradition – a local hospital. But she chose a Phoenix birthing center when her daughter was born in October. Huynh, an executive at a health-insurance company in Arizona, said it was an unconventional and, for her, perhaps.

PHOENIX – Black socks peek from Roman Phillips’ shiny loafers, his cherry-red polo neatly pressed and tucked as he sits in the backseat, tapping on his mother’s smartphone. The ride to school is the only time his mom, Jacquelyn Phillips, allows her 12-year-old son to play video games. The Gilbert mom heads to her regular.

PHOENIX – Health officials warn that vaccination rates are deteriorating across Arizona, risking public health as parents continue to opt out of immunizations. Immunization levels in the past year fell further below the necessary rate to guarantee community protection against the outbreak of vaccine-preventable diseases. The reason: Personal exemptions from vaccinations are on the rise,.

TONTO NATIONAL FOREST – “There’s a certain element of trauma that comes when you are removed from your comfort zone and taken to a place you don’t really know or understand or want to be in,” said Dan Santovin, who works with troubled youth and their families in the Anasazi wilderness behavioral program. Teenagers and.

PHOENIX – After years of riding the school bus to and from school in south Phoenix, Angelica Beltran Cuevas noticed she was battling for breath. “It just got so bad at times that I had to go to the hospital. I couldn’t breathe anymore,” she said. Beltran Cuevas was diagnosed with asthma in the third.

PHOENIX – It was a Sunday night, about 11. Sheila Pott heard sirens wailing and then a knock on her front door. A police officer stood outside, demanding her daughter’s phone. A day earlier, Pott had spoken at the funeral for her 15-year-old daughter, Audrie, who had commited suicide that week. Pott knew little about.

GILBERT – On a sunny, warm afternoon, Ben Bonorati, 15, watches TV in a house brimming with his artwork, a few hours before it’s time to head to his beloved church youth group. His mother, Heidi Bonorati, asks whether he wants to go outside to play with his friends from across the street. Ben jumps.

TEMPE – Doctors treat minority patients differently from others, with physicians less likely to send African-Americans and Hispanics to specialists for treatment, a University of Arizona researcher says. Dr. Khadijah Breathett, a clinical scientist who also is a Tucson cardiologist, said unconscious bias, inconsistent training and a lack of racial and ethnic diversity among doctors.

PHOENIX – First, the needle’s sting. Then the blood, flowing from the vein into a plastic testing card, the membrane unit. The waiting begins. This morning, inside the Southwest Center for HIV/AIDS in downtown Phoenix, the client’s heart beats faster than the steady tick of the clock. The deep-blue rubber tourniquet that had snapped into.

  CHOOSE YOUR NEWS Migrant medical costs, Arcosanti experiment and day care inspections PHOENIX – Cronkite News wants to bring you the stories you want to see. We first asked audiences to vote on stories in three topic areas: health, sustainability and borderlands. Our reporters put together news stories exploring various aspects within those areas,.

PHOENIX – Arizona law requires doctors to check a state database before they write a new prescription for a controlled substance, such as opioids. Yet less than 40% do. Sheila Sjolander, an assistant director at the Arizona Department of Health Services, said department officials know that’s a problem they’re “all struggling” to address in the.

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Police Department is the largest law enforcement agency in Arizona whose officers don’t carry the opioid overdose-reversal drug Narcan, a nasal spray form of naloxone. Officers at other area police departments, including Avondale, Glendale, Goodyear, Mesa, Scottsdale and Surprise, have access to Narcan and are allowed to administer the drug. In.

PHOENIX – Baltimore and Phoenix are two completely different cities culturally and geographically, but they’re both experiencing the same problem: increased deaths due to opioid overdoses, specifically those involving fentanyl. From June 2017 to April 2019, there were a little more than 2,800 suspected opioid deaths and just more than 20,500 opioid overdoses in Arizona,.

PHOENIX – Health care professionals are urging the public to make some of the toughest decisions they’ll ever face for themselves or loved ones: filling out advance directives on whether they want doctors to take extreme measures to keep them alive after a catastrophic illness or accident. The directives tell health care professionals what patients.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Department of Health Services issued a report on Friday warning that higher exemptions from vaccines are putting the state at risk this year for an outbreak of such preventable diseases as measles and mumps. Immunization information is reported for three grade levels of children, but the health department uses the kindergarten.

WASHINGTON — Scott and Mark Kelly were identical twins when Scott went into space, but would they be identical when he came back to Earth 340 days later? NASA says yes – eventually. Long space travel does bring “significant changes” to the human body, but most are reversed a few months after returning to Earth,.

PHOENIX – Planned Parenthood Arizona filed suit in federal court Thursday challenging the legality of a number of Arizona abortion restrictions. “These intrusive measures, based on zero medical evidence, make it unduly difficult for patients to access the health care they need,” said Bryan Howard, president and CEO of the organization. Howard said they are.

PHOENIX – Virulent Newcastle disease has been found in an Arizona chicken flock for the first time since the outbreak began last year in California. It’s been found in Arizona near Flagstaff in a backyard flock of eight birds, and tests show the strain is part of the Southern California outbreak. Arizona state veterinarian Peter.

PHOENIX – A joint cancer screening program for Valley police and firefighters that began in November has detected two cases of prostate cancer, two cases of skin cancer and a thymus tumor, but all were caught early enough to successfully treat, officials said at a news conference Thursday. The partnership between the city and Vincere.

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,.

PHOENIX – The case of two Phoenix police officers who were hospitalized this week after accidentally being exposed to a white powder comes as police departments are training officers and changing their policies on how to handle suspicious substances. The unidentified officers were hospitalized Tuesday for a suspected fentanyl exposure, according to media reports. One.

PHOENIX — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the first treatment designed to tackle postpartum depression, a potentially life-threatening condition that affects nearly 1 in 7 new mothers in America. However, the 60-hour intravenous drip will cost $20,000 to $35,000 and require a stay in a medical facility, and it’s unclear whether insurance.

SUPERSTITION MOUNTAINS – Green vegetation dots the mountain range from Quarter Circle U Ranch headquarters to the edge of the Superstition Mountains, where genetically selected black Angus cattle roam rocky trails, eating cacti and dry hay. Chuck Backus is a ranch owner cloaked in science, his background in engineering leading him to choose the right.

PHOENIX – Jan Vesely, superintendent of the Kyrene School District, asked middle school students in a focus group last year what their biggest concern was. Their answer surprised her. It wasn’t their friends, course work or teachers. The students told her how they go all day without using the restroom, fearful they’d encounter other students.

PHOENIX – Virtual doctors visits connecting patients and physicians who are miles apart are increasing, but insurance coverage hasn’t caught up with the move toward telemedicine, Arizona doctors and lawmakers say. A proposed law would expand insurance beyond the sliver of conditions that are covered now. Private insurers are required to cover telemedicine care in.

NOGALES – Despite record seizures of fentanyl at U.S. ports of entry on the southern border, a rise in overdoses is forcing law enforcement officials in some border communities to change their tactics, emphasizing information and public engagement, as well as drugs to reverse opioid overdoses. Customs and Border Protection officers on Jan. 26 found.

PHOENIX – Arianna Dodde gave birth to her third child, Adrian, in August. Three days later, bleeding internally from a torn uterus, she had a heart attack and died. She was 23. Dodde had a healthy pregnancy, nothing out of the routine. As her stepmother, Leticia Garcia, said, “I don’t think people think anything is.

WASHINGTON – Tayler Tucker said a Trump administration plan to prohibit funding of family planning clinics that provide abortions will have a “huge impact” on the ability of Planned Parenthood Arizona to continue its work. But she’s just as certain when asked if the organization plans to back down in the face of the funding.

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.

PHOENIX – Alzheimer’s advocates are asking lawmakers to require dementia training for health care professionals, first responders, caregivers and others involved with people diagnosed with dementia. Senate Bill 1357 would create a coalition of Arizona lawmakers, representatives of nonprofits dealing with dementia and state government officials to recommend training policy and standards, the bill says..

TUCSON – A transgender University of Arizona professor has sued the state over financial access to surgery his doctor said is medically necessary. Russell Toomey last month filed a class action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Tucson on behalf of state employees and their dependents. The suit, backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

WASHINGTON – It was almost a throw-away line in a State of the Union address focused largely on border security and partisanship, but President Donald Trump’s call last week for a ban on late-term abortions got plenty of notice from pro-life groups. “I think we were really encouraged to see the president raise the profile.

PHOENIX – Arm injuries among high school baseball players have been on the rise in recent years due to overuse while playing the game. This has caused not only pitchers to take care of their bodies better, but also a change in how pitch counts are managed in game. Approximately 30 percent of 203 youth.

WASHINGTON – Arizona was one of seven states that met with federal officials and veterans groups in Washington this week to map out a strategy for reversing the complex problem of suicides among vets. The problem is real in Arizona, which had the sixth-highest veteran suicide rate in the nation in 2016, due in part.

PHOENIX – Arizona teachers, parents and legislators teamed up last year for the sake of children’s health, pushing for legislation that would require more recess or unstructured playtime for elementary school children. The early results of that effort are promising, educators say. In April, Gov. Doug Ducey signed SB 1083 requiring schools to provide two.

PHOENIX – Debra Hickey, who has lived with chronic pain for two decades, recently went to her medical specialist for her regular dose of 30 milligrams of oxycodone. The doctor told her she had to reduce the dosage because of state regulations to decrease the number and dosage in patients’ opioid prescriptions. Hickey, 63, of.

PHOENIX – Supporters of “hands-free” driving hope this legislative session will finally lead to a statewide ban on distracted driving, with a Republican-led bill perhaps gaining momentum after the recent death of a police officer. Sen. Kate Brophy McGee, R-central Phoenix, introduced the proposal at a news conference Thursday, standing with the family of Salt.

PHOENIX – Arizona’s drug overdose crisis shows no sign of slowing. Yet like much of the country, there aren’t enough doctors in the state who are trained to treat addiction. That’s beginning to change, though. For the first time, Arizona will have a path for aspiring addiction doctors to become specialists in their field through.

WASHINGTON – Arizona’s schoolkids are doing better than their peers nationally when it comes to physical activity, according to a national report card. But that’s nothing to brag about: The report card said kids nationwide are not even close to being active enough. The 2018 U.S. Report Card on Physical Activity for Children and Youth.

LAVEEN – It’s nearing 7 p.m., into the evening hours of a long day of caregiving for the daughters of Santiago González – a life that has become routine in the decade since their father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Maury González asks her father if he’s ready for dinner. She spoon-feeds him applesauce while.

PHOENIX – An estimated 5.7 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, and a great deal of research and support focuses on them. But their caregivers, who are often family and friends, also face devastating financial and lifestyle challenges. People with moderate and late-stage Alzheimer’s rely heavily on the supervision and care of loved ones. Generations of.

LOW MOUNTAIN – On a late-September morning deep within the Navajo Nation, Larron Badoni practiced his golf swing. Sun blanketed the plateaus and mesas surrounding the Lowerville Stingers Golf Club – nine holes scattered over a rocky, hilly, shrubby landscape dotted with blue shade structures, weathered carpets and pins flying red and white flags. It.

PHOENIX – Expect people who are living on the streets to be exhausted from carrying around everything they own, all the time, Bonnie Ervin told her volunteer trainees. Also expect them to be hypervigilant, she added, so don’t walk up on them without warning. Ervin, a social work instructor at Arizona State University, knows how.

PHOENIX – He holds out his forearm, pointing to an area right below a bandage near the crook of his elbow. One of his veins is much thicker – it looks like a caterpillar under his skin. It’s a fistula serving as the entry port for his hemodialysis treatment. “It’s like they stitch two of.

PHOENIX – The pink bollworm has destroyed cotton crops in the United States for a century, but it now has been eradicated from cotton-producing areas in the Lower 48. An undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture was in Arizona last month to celebrate the demise of the pink bollworm, which first invaded Texas from.

PHOENIX – State health officials have declared a statewide outbreak of syphilis after a spike in reported cases, mainly affecting women and infants. They’re trying to get out the word on this sexually transmitted bacterial disease, whose symptoms can easily be overlooked. And that can lead to problems with the skin, eyes and brain –.

WASHINGTON – Jennifer Wethe knows the importance of getting treatment for a concussion as soon as possible. She also knows how often concussions can be overlooked in those critical first few moments. “What we find instead is a lot of times people making excuses: ‘Oh well they’re just dehydrated,’ or ‘They got the wind knocked.

PHOENIX – Federal research funds that could prevent or lead to the cure for Alzheimer’s disease have reached $1.9 billion annually but still lag far behind research money for cancer and HIV/AIDS, experts said. Funds from the National Institutes of Health, the federal research agency that funds grant proposals, tripled from 2015 to 2018. By.

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.

PHOENIX – Researchers are turning to tech to help figure out why some people live long lives without brain problems while Alzheimer’s and similar forms of dementia rob others of their ability to form memories and perform daily tasks that once were routine. The Translational Genomics Research Institute, known as TGen, founded and conducts MindCrowd,.

WASHINGTON – Three weeks into this flu season, the Arizona Department of Health Services already had confirmed 96 cases, slightly above last year’s numbers but close to three times the number of confirmed cases at this point in a typical year. “We are seeing some similar case numbers, maybe even a little bit of an.

Name: Joe Hart Political party: Republican Position sought: State Mine Inspector City of residence: Kingman Occupation: State Mine Inspector What is the greatest issue Arizona residents face? If re-elected, how would you address this issue? Hart, who has been in office for 12 years, said in an email interview he wants to continue working to.

Name: Bill Pierce Political party: Democrat Position sought: State mine inspector City of residence: Mesa Occupation: Retired engineer What is the greatest issue Arizona faces? If elected, how would you address this issue? “One of the main issues is the small budget and lack of field inspectors,” Pierce said. “There’s over 400 mines in Arizona.

WASHINGTON – Talen Spitzer was a healthy 10-year-old from Queen Creek a little more than two years ago when, in a matter of minutes, he lost control of his muscles and his hands were paralyzed. His mother, Rochelle Spitzer, said doctors didn’t know what was wrong with him at first because everything else seemed normal..

PHOENIX – Arizona’s Medicaid agency has blended its health-care programs for mental and physical health for 1.5 million people in a move to increase efficiency and improve patient health. The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, known as AHCCCS, now contracts with organizations to manage coverage of such physical ailments as diabetes and heart disease,.

PAGE – Years into a record-breaking drought across the Southwest, officials of the seven states along the Colorado River finally forged an agreement in 2007 on how to deal with future water shortages. Then they quietly hoped that wet weather would return. It didn’t. Those states now are back at the negotiating table to hammer.

PHOENIX – Physical destruction from hurricanes is easy to see, but such disasters also bring psychological and emotional damage to victims. Lillian Ortiz was in Puerto Rico when Hurricane Maria struck just one year ago. “This is what was traumatic to me, leaving and knowing the conditions, wondering if I couldn’t survive a night, wondering.

TEMPE – Scientists intend to make Arizona a national hub for research on Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other degenerative brain diseases. Experts say the state has the second-highest growth rate in the nation for Alzheimer’s disease. The ASU-Banner Neurodegenerative Disease Research Center, part of Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, officially opened its doors Monday with plans.

WASHINGTON – After several years of double- and triple-digit increases in health insurance premiums, Arizona could see premiums fall more than 4 percent in 2019, one of only 11 states looking at a drop, according to a new analysis. It’s a sharp turnaround for Arizona, a state where a premium increase of 116 percent in.

WASHINGTON – Health care advocates Wednesday urged Attorney General Mark Brnovich to pull Arizona out of a multistate lawsuit that challenges the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, saying the court case could deny coverage to vulnerable state residents. Planned Parenthood, the Human Rights Campaign and Protect our Care delivered a July 9 letter from.

PHOENIX – Friday night, under the lights. Basha and Cesar Chavez high schools were battling it out in the third game of the 2014 football season. As the clock ticked down toward the end of the first quarter, Cesar Chavez threatened to score. On fourth and goal, the only thing stopping Cesar Chavez was one.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain has discontinued treatment for the deadly brain cancer he has been living with since last summer, his family announced Friday. The six-term Republican announced his diagnosis of glioblastoma in July 2017 and has already beaten the odds against the very aggressive form of cancer. It can be particularly hard on.

LOS ANGELES – Jazmarie Mader, an Arizona State women’s soccer player, was on a flight back home to Phoenix in 2016 when she felt nauseated. She headed toward the restroom and tried to push the door open. The next thing she said she remembered was waking up on the restroom floor, surrounded by flight attendants..

LOS ANGELES – Can’t leave the house without getting bitten? Legs swollen from scratching? Welcome to the crowd. Because yes, the mosquitoes are worse this year. Why? There’s a new type of mosquito hunting across the southern United States. You might have heard of it – the Aedes mosquito – which first showed up in.

CHANDLER – Every night, about two dozen men and women gather on a street corner and go through the same routine: A monitor searches their backpacks, suitcases and toiletry bags. They go over the rules, then board a bus to where they’ll “camp out,” eat dinner, say a prayer and bunk down for the night..

NOGALES – Some residents in Santa Cruz County are warning that the pipeline carrying raw sewage from Mexico into the United States could rupture as it did during last year’s monsoon, spewing millions of gallons of waste into the Nogales Wash over seven days. The wash is a main tributary of the Santa Cruz River,.

PHOENIX — Back when he played for Chaparral High School in Scottsdale, Danny Coulombe dominated on the diamond. A talented left-hander with a devastating curveball, Coulombe averaged more than two strikeouts per inning during his junior and senior seasons. But as his baseball career continued to unfold, setbacks abounded. The southpaw — who is now.

PHOENIX – In today’s sports environment, high school athletes are thrust into the limelight sooner and face higher expectations. Becoming an elite-level prep athlete can require a year-round commitment. From ESPN’s non-stop coverage of college football’s National Signing Day to high school freshmen deciding to commit to collegiate athletic programs, athletes with dreams of playing.

GILBERT – Vilma Bose places headphones over her ears and is greeted by the sounds of droning conversation, a fire engine and a door slamming. Next, she’s escorted to a dimly lit room and given a list of tasks to complete within five minutes. Find the white shirt, and put it on. Organize the pills.

WASHINGTON – A Navy widow whose husband died from kidney disease cannot sue the Veterans Affairs medical center that delayed his treatment, only to send a letter two weeks after his death urging him to seek immediate care. A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that Felisa Tunac waited.

PHOENIX – Arizona’s wettest month is upon us, but rain won’t be the only thing that arrives with these August monsoon storms. Standing rainwater provides optimum breeding conditions for mosquitoes, which have the potential to cause serious illnesses, including the West Nile virus. “It’s really important that after a rainstorm comes through that you clean.

TEMPE – Tempe Meals on Wheels depends on volunteers to make deliveries and run the organization, but Arizona’s summer heat creates challenges – mainly, a shortage of hands. That can have dangerous consequences to elderly clients, many of whom live alone. “Everybody heads for the hills in the summer,” said Gwen Hanna, president of the.

LOS ANGELES – Mountains. Forests. Starry nights. Smog. Smog? Sadly, yes. The air in two popular national parks in California is as dirty as it is in Los Angeles – the smoggiest city in the country. “When you think of national parks, you think of these as being really pristine areas, almost areas you want.

PHOENIX – Grey Ruegamer described himself as a “tall, skinny fat kid” his freshman year at Arizona State University. At 6-foot-4, the center weighed 245 pounds. But by the end of his senior season, the scale read close to 290. On NFL Draft day in 1999, however, Ruegamer learned those extra 45 pounds wouldn’t be.

PHOENIX – Three years after the suicide of a decorated Army Ranger, friends and family of the victim are calling on state legislators to mandate the collection of data on suicide rates for military veterans in Arizona. At a news conference on Monday, State Rep. Jay Lawrence, Republican chairman the Arizona House’s Military, Veterans and.

WASHINGTON – The White House’s decision to suspend billions in Obamacare “risk adjustment” payments to insurance companies could hit tens of thousands of Arizonans in the pocketbook, as insurance companies grapple with new market uncertainty. That was the assessment of advocates and insurers both after the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Service this month stopped.

PHOENIX – Despite significant seizures of fentanyl over the past year, the lethal synthetic opioid keeps pouring into the country across Arizona’s border with Mexico, the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Arizona Department of Public Safety say. “We are the tip of the spear for drug trafficking,” said Doug Coleman, the DEA’s special agent in.

PHOENIX – Another football game hadn’t gone Joe Schiller’s way, and the thousands of dollars of debt he had accumulated from betting was about to bury him. With his life spinning out of control, he hopped in his car with his then-pregnant wife’s paycheck in his pocket and went into hiding for two months. Mo.

MESA – Mesa police have adopted their first therapy dog, primarily to provide smiles and comfort to those who have been traumatized by crime. Macy, a 16-week-old English Labrador puppy, will be trained to work in the special victims unit as a therapy dog for children and adults. “What we’re hoping is that down the.

PEORIA — Every year, football players around the country succumb to injuries that put their seasons in peril. For Zach Hunzinger, a pain revealed a far more serious issue. The Liberty High School football standout was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a bone cancer, in his knee and started chemotherapy soon after. The diagnosis came after Hunzinger.

PHOENIX – A dozen people waited at Phoenix Walgreens on a Wednesday in late June to get tested for HIV. One by one, they were called into a small room, asked a few general questions and had a finger pricked to draw blood. The results followed quickly – the entire process took about five minutes..

WASHINGTON – Rabies cases in Arizona have risen sharply this year compared with the same time last year, and state health officials said the problem is only likely to get worse as the temperatures rise. There were 81 confirmed rabies cases in animals reported to the Arizona Department of Health Services through May, up from.

PHOENIX – Metro Phoenix was among the Top 5 largest metro areas with the most days of smog in 2016, according to a national study released Wednesday by an Arizona research group. Experts say that’s a serious health concern for the 4.6 million people who live in the area because breathing contaminated air increases the.

PHOENIX – Arizona anti-abortion activists hailed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling supporting pregnancy centers as a win for free speech and religious rights. “The ruling means that Arizona city government will not be able to compel a pro-life pregnancy center to communicate a message that violates their deeply held convictions,” said Cathi Herrod, president of.

TEMPE – As Jordan Woodruff sits in his black and red gaming chair, he issues directives into his headset to an online crew playing the popular game “Overwatch.” “All right, push up with me, guys.” Woodruff, 28, who lives in Tempe, said he plays and livestreams video games on the popular streaming website Twitch approximately.

PHOENIX – Arizona is expanding drop-off services for unused and old medications to 13 pharmacies and additional police stations in a continuing battle against opioid abuse. “We know that so many times it’s friends, family, grandparents, kids that end up getting access to these dangerous opioids,” Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said, announcing the program.

PHOENIX – A recent study identified Phoenix as a “hotspot” for potential disease outbreak because of the high rate of parents who opt out of vaccinating their children. Arizona is one of 18 states that allow exemptions from vaccination because of personal beliefs, according to the study published in the Public Library of Science. Many.

PHOENIX – LGBTQ teens are at risk of high rates of depression, sexual assault and discrimination, according to a national survey released Wednesday by a human rights group. The survey of 12,000 youths – including 330 in Arizona – show many LGBTQ youths still suffer compared to those who are cisgender, leaders of the Human.

PHOENIX – When Mary Jo Fasani was pregnant, she needed 100 units of blood for her daughter to survive. “Being O negative is such a rare type,” she said. “I was having to get blood transferred from New Mexico, Kentucky, Ohio, all across the nation because we didn’t have enough in our own supply.” Fasani,.

PHOENIX – Mark Maddox is left with fragments of what should be his fondest memories: He’s lost the details of a family trip to Disney World, and forgotten most of what happened in the three Super Bowls he played in. Sometimes, he watches video of his games to help jog a memory impaired by too.

WASHINGTON – Methamphetamines were the drug of choice 10 years ago when Arizona began working on a coordinated program to keep drug-addicted parents and their newborn children together. The concept was not new, said Suzanne Schunk, vice president of family support services at Southwest Human Development, which helped the Arizona Department of Child Safety develop.

PHOENIX – High suicide rates have largely been associated with younger populations, but middle-age suicides are beginning to rise throughout the country, a new report says. In 2016, the population group at the highest risk for suicide was 45 to 54, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. recorded 8,437 suicides.

PEORIA – On a scorching summer day, children run and laugh as they pelt each other with dodgeballs in the gym of Sundance Elementary School. OK, guys, pipe down, a volunteer counselor tells them. Lunch is about to be served. They scramble over to rows of long tables, demolishing hamburgers and yogurt parfaits swirled with.

SCOTTSDALE – One-third of recreational waterborne disease outbreaks occur at hotel pools or hot tubs, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that urges people to take precautions regardless of where they swim over the summer. More than half of the outbreaks occur during the summer, but they also spike in March..

PHOENIX – Temperatures have soared above average for early June, and the National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings for parts of central Arizona. Local nonprofits are helping to combat the scorching conditions by providing water and air-conditioning to those in need. The Salvation Army’s Red Shield Survival Squad has set up hydrations stations.

PHOENIX – Sexually transmitted diseases reported in Arizona from January through April have increased 19 percent over the same period last year, possibly because of increased awareness and improved treatment, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Nicole Capone, spokeswoman for DHS, said 15,710 cases of chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis were reported from January.

SCOTTSDALE – As Robert “Bob” Lane wrapped his hand, boxing trainer Marty Barrett landed a verbal jab: “Let’s go, fat boy!” Lane, 71, looked over his shoulder to see Barrett smirking. “I guess that’s me. I say all these nice things about you,” Lane replied, prompting laughter. Barrett, who towers over Lane’s 5-foot frame, playfully.

PHOENIX – Rep. Martha McSally on Wednesday blamed the country’s lack of border security as one reason for Arizona’s opioid epidemic. “The overwhelming majority of drugs, up to maybe 90 percent, come through the nation’s ports of entry,” she told the House Border and Maritime Security Subcommittee. “In order to mitigate these illicit paths ….

PHOENIX – Meika Lively has her own language, understood by family members and others close to her. As a 33-year-old with Down syndrome and the speech and hearing problems common for those with the condition, she’s found a way to communicate, sometimes using hand signals or props. She expresses disgust, a universal “Eeckk,” as her.

TEMPE – Arizona State University scientists will work with Tempe to detect opioids and other drugs in city wastewater, an exploration that could serve as an early-warning system in the ongoing opioid crisis. The city and the ASU Biodesign Institute each will contribute $35,000 to study wastewater for opioids, cocaine, marijuana and other drugs as.

WASHINGTON – When Brophy College Preparatory student Diego Morris needed a life-saving experimental treatment that was not available in the United States, he and his family did the only thing they could do. They moved to London for a year where the drug regimen had already been approved. “It was time-sensitive,” said a cancer-free Morris,.

PHOENIX – When 7-year-old Monibelle Townsend heard her family’s smoke alarm go off and smelled smoke, she said she knew what to do, thanks to training she had received at school just days before. She woke up her grandmother and 6-year-old brother and escorted them to safety. Her home was destroyed by the fire, but.

FOUNTAIN HILLS – As the sun started to set beyond the red, rocky backdrop of McDowell Mountain Regional Park, hundreds of runners lined up to battle the 50-kilometer trail run that lies ahead. The Adrenaline Night Run is part of Aravaipa Running’s Insomniac Night Series, consisting of nine nighttime trail races orchestrated throughout Arizona’s hot.

WASHINGTON – The U.S. has only about a quarter of the beds that the Treatment Advocacy Center considers a safe minimum for mental health care. And Arizona has only about a third of the national rate. But despite the numbers – Arizona ranked 49th on Mental Health America’s 2018 report on the State of Mental.

PHOENIX – The Ultimate Fighting Championship first came into the public consciousness late in 1993. Few rules existed. Fighters were matched up against each other regardless of weight. A 400-pound man could, and did, fight a 220-pound competitor. Weight didn’t matter as much as knowing what your opponent didn’t know. A relatively unassuming 180-pound man.

Health and consumer reporters bring stories on the health and well-being of Arizona communities

WASHINGTON – Life expectancy for American Indians is decades longer than it was in the 1960s, nearly closing the gap with the rest of the U.S. population, according to government data. But that doesn’t mean every Native American has seen the same gains, according to experts, who say pockets of problems remain, particularly on traditional.

PHOENIX – Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski committed suicide Jan. 16. A day later, family and friends remembered Madison Holleran, a member of the track and field team at the University of Pennsylvania who jumped to her death off a parking garage four years earlier. In February, Toronto Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan tweeted in the.

PHOENIX – When Noah Altman moved from Yuma to Phoenix in 2010, he finally felt at peace. He suddenly went from a small border town to a city where there was “gay everything!” This included a gay Denny’s, affectionately known within Phoenix’s gay community as “Jenny’s,” at Camelback Road and Seventh Street, along with gay.

PHOENIX – If you think it’s hot now, just wait: Some climate researchers predict Arizona’s warming climate will have a substantial effect on water supplies and demand by 2060. Not all climate forecasts are so dire, but experts say Arizonans need to prepare for extreme heat, drought and related events. The problem is not centuries.

PHOENIX – Sister Adele O’Sullivan, a nun and doctor, once treated a homeless man who had scorched his feet walking on hot pavement. She took care of his burns, then realized she didn’t have shoes to give him. “We take care of whole people,” she said. “Bodies, minds, spirits. It didn’t take me long to.

PHOENIX – Businesses and research groups know a lot more about you than you might think. The recent Cambridge Analytica data breach at Facebook, where a political data firm connected to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was able to access private information on millions of users, shows the immediacy and power of data-collecting and aggregating.

PHOENIX — Gene therapy could be the key to curing rare and life-threatening diseases, but high costs and potential negative effects are slowing the fledgling field, experts say. In gene therapy, normal genetic material replaces missing or defective genes to cure disease. In December, the Food and Drug Administration approved Luxturna, the first commercial gene.

PHOENIX – Chronic sleep disorders can lead to heart attacks, hypertension, stroke and other major illnesses, according to sleep specialists. Insomnia and sleep apnea are familiar to most Americans, and up to 70 million adults in the U.S. are affected by sleep disorders, according to the federal Institute of Medicine. Aside from illnesses, sleep deprivation.

PHOENIX — Concussions in athletes have received attention in recent years, but experts are now looking to also address the needs of a large, yet overlooked, population – domestic abuse victims. One in three women and one in four men have been physically abused by an intimate partner in their lifetime. There are 10 million.

PHOENIX – ZIP codes may serve as significant indicators in assessing the health of metro Phoenix residents and just how long they might live. “Your ZIP code is more important to your health than your genetic code,” according to a report by the Arizona Partnership for Healthy Communities. That report found that transportation, safety and.

SCOTTSDALE – IVs commonly are associated with illness and hospitals. But in recent years, businesses across the country – including here in metro Phoenix – have begun using them to deliver health and wellness treatments. The Drip Room in Old Town Scottsdale provides a range of intravenous drips, from detox and anti-aging to hydrogen peroxide..

PHOENIX – Federal guidelines that govern genetic testing were relaxed last year, raising concerns about safety and accuracy, an Arizona legal expert says. “To be able to understand our own bodies and our own futures is wonderful. It’s just a matter of us making sure that we aren’t getting ahead of the science – that.

PHOENIX — Imagine you’ve just been diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor and need surgery. Instead of looking at shadowy black and white 2-D images you can’t decipher, you put on goggles and “walk through” the cancer using augmented reality. As a result, you can better grasp your disease, said Dr. Matthew Welz, a neurological.

PHOENIX – Computer hackers soon could cross into a new frontier, one that would give them power to kill through insulin pumps, defibrillators, pacemakers and other personal medical devices. With the availability of more technology for personalized health care, millions of patients are gaining access to tools connected to online networks, but the devices are.

PHOENIX – Stroke victims who have only minutes to get treatment before their brains suffer permanent damage are getting help faster through the eyes of cameras on a mobile stroke van, doctors at Barrow Neurological Institute said. “The fact is, we know time is brain,” said Gabriel Gabriel, a registered nurse who oversees the unit..

PHOENIX — Doctors can misdiagnose Valley fever, a fungal disease that lurks behind such common symptoms as coughs, headaches and fatigue, because they’re not familiar with the respiratory disease, medical experts say. That could prolong patient suffering and even result in death. Misdiagnosis not only hinders recovery, it can worsen Valley fever, said John Galgiani,.

PHOENIX – It was Cinco De Mayo in 2016 when 20-year Navy veteran Dave Delano found himself in the emergency room suffering a severe panic attack. Delano, who was part of 10 deployments, including two to Iraq, is one of many veterans who struggle with post traumatic stress disorder and depression. “I was fighting for.

CHANDLER – Joanna Sweatt is familiar with fear. Still, strapped into a race car with engines revving up in the desert, the Marine vet is a little nervous. Her fingers dig into her thighs and her face tightens as she sits in the passenger seat. Beside her is a professional drift-car driver who has done.

TEMPE – A student singing project. A short film. A dance concert on the library lawn. A collection of skydivers’ stories about sexual misconduct. These were among the concepts discussed at the kickoff event this week for Arizona State University’s CounterAct initiative, which aims to launch 880 creative actions to counteract the 880 acts of.

PHOENIX – Maricopa County residents who are deaf or have other disabilities now can text 911, expanding rapid response in a medical or police emergency to an underserved community. Officials said the text service will help more than 150,000 people in metro Phoenix who are deaf or hard of hearing, speech impaired or unable to.

TEMPE – Stepping into the evening darkness from their silver Kia, a mother and her 20-something daughter walked toward the line of orange and clear bins filled with packets of fresh hypodermic syringes. The daughter, dressed in a college T-shirt, leaned against her mother as they waited for two kits of “short needles” and alcohol.

PHOENIX – Christin Lipinski’s battle with flesh-eating bacteria started when she was diagnosed with the flu in January. The Peoria woman was only a little worried when she had pain and soreness in her upper left arm. She thought she had pulled a muscle. She remembers going to the hospital with a fever, but nothing.

TEMPE – A bearded man sporting a flannel shirt and worn Converse sneakers passes out syringes and vials of colorless liquid to a group of eager students. Nathan Leach of the Sonoran Prevention Works, a nonprofit for people affected by drug use, is arming the public with naloxone, a life-saving antidote to an opioid overdose..

SCOTTSDALE – Secretary of Interior Ryan Zinke met Monday with Arizona tribal leaders to discuss possible solutions for the national opioid crisis, which affects Native Americans more than any other minority. Plans to end the crisis, Zinke told a news conference, include sending first-responder tool kits directly to tribes, which are sovereign nations, rather than.

WASHINGTON – The opioid crisis has hit rural Native Americans significantly harder than any group in the nation, and the problem may be even worse because of racial misclassification on death certificates, federal data show. A report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said rural areas as a whole saw a 325 percent.

PHOENIX – The countdown ended. Phoebe Chang, a fourth-year medical student at the University of Arizona College of Medicine-Phoenix, wearing a tight grin, ripped open the ribbon on a box holding her future. Blue and red balloons were attached to a gold satchel that contained the news of where she will spend the next four.

PHOENIX – Supporters of abortion rights spoke out Tuesday against a Senate bill that would require women seeking an abortion to answer detailed questions, such as the reasons they want to end their pregnancy, before undergoing the procedure. Eight women stood silently on both sides of a lectern outside the state Capitol, wearing red cloaks.

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SCOTTSDALE – Parents and their children sat in a classroom at the Scottsdale Gun Club, just past rows of rifles, ammo and novelty T-shirts, including one with a picture of a T-rex and the caption “Small Arms Dealer.” Elementary school-age children fidgeted in their seats, next to mothers and fathers, listening to the instructor. In.

QUEEN CREEK – A suicide prevention group rallied Friday in front of Queen Creek High School to show support for students, who have lost five classmates to suicide since May. The fifth death was reported just this week. The event was hosted by Project Connect Four, created by mothers in the Valley concerned about rising.

As the nation continued to grieve the loss of 17 high school students in the Feb. 14 mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, Cronkite News took a look into how many deaths among Arizona children involve firearms. According to a 2017 report by the Arizona Child Fatality Review Program, firearms-related fatalities increased by 29 percent from.

PHOENIX – Since state officials identified dozens of Arizona public schools with elevated levels of lead contamination in water fixtures, nearly half the schools still are undergoing repairs or tests for levels that could affect students, faculty and staff members. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality in December said about 96 percent of the state’s.

Widespread flu activity has made the 2017-18 season one of the worst in years, especially in Arizona. Every county in the state has confirmed an influenza case this season, and about 19,000 more Arizonans have been infected compared with last year. The middle-aged and elderly in particular are being affected more than normal. Follow us.

SCOTTSDALE — The name John MacLeod means something in Arizona sports history. He is the Phoenix Suns’ winningest coach, amassing 579 victories in 13 seasons, and in 1976 became the first coach to lead Phoenix to the NBA Finals, a feat only one other man has accomplished. Although basketball is a significant part of MacLeod’s.

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.

TEMPE – The opioid crisis in Arizona is likely to grow, a DEA agent warned Wednesday, praising the state’s efforts so far and saying it’s time to stop playing the blame game. “For right now, unfortunately, it looks like the problem is getting worse before it gets better,” said Doug Coleman, a special agent for.

DOLAN SPRINGS – From his days as an undercover narcotics investigator, Jay Fleming knows what it’s like to watch someone in the throes of an overdose – and watch people run away rather than call for help. “People shouldn’t die over a bad decision,” said Fleming, who worked for the Spokane Police Department in Washington.

PHOENIX – Medical-marijuana businesses and advocates oppose a bill that would make it a felony to publish unverified information about dispensaries, saying it’s an effort to block business. Sen. David Farnsworth, R-Mesa, sponsored a bill to punish any “listing or menu service” in Arizona that publishes information about a dispensary without verifying its registration and.

PHOENIX – Gov. Doug Ducey on Friday signed into law a sweeping plan to confront the opioid crisis that provides $10 million for treatment, restricts timetables for opioid prescriptions and protects from drug prosecution Good Samaritans who call for emergency help if someone overdoses. Ducey, in the Capitol rotunda, signed the Arizona Opioid Epidemic Act,.

PHOENIX – Jovanna Calzadillas is heading home from a Phoenix hospital, three months after she was shot in the head after a mass shooting at a Las Vegas music festival. She was not expected to live but doctors – and her family – refused to give up. “I feel strong and positive,” the Queen Creek.

PHOENIX – Gov. Doug Ducey on Monday called a special legislative session to battle the opioid epidemic in Arizona, asking lawmakers to fund and expand healthcare. The governor, under what he calls the Arizona Opioid Epidemic Act, is asking lawmakers to dedicate $10 million to improving health care access for uninsured or underinsured Arizonans, increase.

WASHINGTON – Gilbert high school senior Melanie Marol complained about the Washington weather but little else Friday, as she joined thousands of pro-life marchers with high hopes for their cause under the Trump administration and a Republican Congress. “You don’t really hear people talk about abortion that much, but people high up were talking about.

PHOENIX – Health insurance for thousands of low-income children in Arizona’s KidsCare program would be preserved, even if federal funds are yanked, under a measure approved Thursday by an Arizona legislative committee. The House Health Committee voted in favor of HB 2127, the bill designed to prevent a funding freeze for KidsCare, the state’s version.

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.

PHOENIX — About one in five, 43.8 million, or 18.5 percent: these numbers all represent the number of people in the United States who experience mental illness in a given year, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in young people ages 10 to 24, according.

PHOENIX — Every time Catherine Baimonte visited her mother at an assisted-living facility in Colorado, her mother’s health worsened. Baimonte, a retired Avondale teacher, remembers one of those visits. Her mother forgot how to shower. Do you need help? Baimonte asked. She stepped in and out of the shower to help. “Finally, we got out,.

PHOENIX – Elyse Guidas wants to increase access to healthy foods in low-income areas. She works as the executive director of Fresh Express, a nonprofit that sells fruits and vegetables from a retired Valley Metro bus fitted as a mini grocery store. The truck sells the foods at cost, below market price. It makes 20.

PHOENIX – Some tap water might smell like chlorine. Or it looks a little cloudy. Or maybe it doesn’t taste quite right. Those are just some of the reasons millions of Americans turn to bottled water. Bottled water has become the No. 1 beverage choice in the U.S., with 12.8 billion gallons sold in 2016,.

SCOTTSDALE – They have names like Kale and Clover, Flower Child and Grabbagreen. If you’re searching for a vegan or vegetarian restaurant in Scottsdale, you likely don’t have to look far. HappyCow, which provides a dining guide for vegans and vegetarians, lists dozens of eateries in Scottsdale. The area has so many offerings, Wallethub recently.

PHOENIX – When the officials at the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in Phoenix found out they won a quarter million-dollar grant to improve their urban farm, they already had a plan to install an irrigation system, plant fruit trees and add shade to extend the growing season. Those improvements will help the nonprofit.

PHOENIX – “I love how you treat me,” was one of the last things 18-year-old Mitchell Warnock said to his mother before committing suicide a year ago. “I couldn’t stop screaming. My husband found him,” said Lorie Warnock, Mitchell’s mother. “If I had found him, I think that I would have to be institutionalized. I.

TEMPE — Scott Johnson, an avid Minnesota Vikings fan, has not missed watching a game in nearly 20 years, he said. He also admits to once skipping a good friend’s wedding to attend a Vikings game against the Lions and remembers watching another on his phone during a family member’s funeral. Sports fandom comes in.

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.

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.

PHOENIX – As he caught an edge on the ice and catapulted backward toward the boards, Sheldon Wilson abruptly hit his head and had to be removed from the ice. “I knew something was wrong,” said his mother, Jodie Wilson, a day after her son was sidelined because of an injury. “He was complaining of.

PHOENIX — When there’s an emergency, the first rule is to call 911. But St. Luke’s Emergency Department director Elizabeth Waack said it is also critical to use those minutes before help arrives to give assistance. “The time it takes for EMS and that help to arrive could be one, three, five, or even longer.

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.

PHOENIX — Arizona health professionals have educated 4,000 students on the effects of opioid abuse and plan to expand the program to student-athletes statewide by January. The program teaches student-athletes, parents and coaches about addiction, overdoses and deaths that have ravaged the nation. A pilot program in the Tempe Union High School District addressed the.

Jack Mills lived in a world of his own as an infant, unable to connect on a social or emotional level. “Jack was a very hard baby,” his mother, Jeni Mills, said. “He cried 24/7 for his first two years of life. At 15 months, he didn’t make much eye contacted and didn’t like to.

PHOENIX — Dolores Escobar takes a 30-minute bus ride every Sunday from her house to the closest water-vending machine and carries eight empty gallon jugs with her to refill them. During hot seasons, she travels twice a week. She spends nearly $50 a month on the water, plus her bus tickets. The Phoenix resident said.

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 — Even with an initial ruling of “blunt-force trauma,” questions and emotions run deep about the death of a Moon Valley High School football player. Carlo Sanchez, 16, collapsed after completing a play against Cactus High School on October 20 and passed away later in a local hospital. The Maricopa County Medical Examiner’s Office.

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 — Moon Valley High School captains brought out a No. 33 jersey to the coin toss. They placed white roses at the 33-yard line. And fans and players alike partook in 33 seconds of silence for the late Carlos Sanchez. As if senior night and the team’s last regular season home game were not.

PHOENIX – State leaders and public health officials on Thursday praised President Donald Trump after he declared a public health emergency on the nation’s opioid crisis, saying it’s a good first step. However, at least one local health care professional said it wasn’t enough. Doug Coleman, special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration.

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..

SCOTTSDALE – Maricopa County prosecutors, Mesa police and health care leaders are teaming up to research the prevalence of concussions in domestic violence victims. County prosecutors said a study could lead to better treatment for domestic violence victims as well as more prosecutions against their attackers.   The county attorney’s office dealt with more than.

PHOENIX — “Let’s all take one deep breath together, and I’d like you to turn to the person to the left, or right of you and I’d like you to say to them, ‘I’m glad you’re here and I will not forget this moment,’” said Jenny McLellan, in front of those who attended the 22nd.

PHOENIX – Maryvale residents said they were concerned about the recent announcement their nearest hospital would close, leaving some to question where they will go in an emergency. Abrazo Community Health Network on Wednesday announced it will close its Maryvale campus on Dec. 18. Leslie Jones, 64, said as a longtime resident of the West.

TEMPE — As Nick Crawford begins filling a chamber with fresh, oxygenated air, Brayden Smith puts on a robe and prepares for his weekly cryotherapy session at the Cryo Recovery Lab in Tempe. It has become a routine of sorts for the senior defensive lineman at Ironwood Ridge High School in Tucson. After a game.

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.

After a third concussion, Lisa Caiazzo was terrified for her daughter’s future. “She was talking funny. She didn’t make sense. She was so out of it. She just wanted to sleep,” she said of Alexa. “She walked out, she was … Oh God. Her eyes were like … It was like you were looking right.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, on Thursday promised a vote “sooner rather than later” on the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which passed the House earlier this week but has regularly died in the Senate. The bill, sponsored by Rep. Trent Franks, R-Glendale, would ban abortions after 20 weeks, except in some cases.

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.

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 – 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 – 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,.

TUCSON – Researchers at the University of Arizona say they’ve made progress in developing a vaccine that could protect dogs from Valley Fever, a potentially deadly respiratory disease common in the Southwest. The National Institutes of Health recently awarded the Valley Fever Center for Excellence a four-year, $4.8 million grant to speed up the development.

WASHINGTON – Sen. John McCain said Friday that he cannot “in good conscience” vote for the latest plan to replace Obamacare, a surprise announcement that may have killed the bill for Senate leaders who can only afford to lose two GOP votes. The Arizona Republican joins Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, in coming out against the.

WASHINGTON – Arizona Sen. John McCain, a key vote in the failure of the last Obamacare repeal attempt, refused to say Tuesday how he will vote on a new GOP plan, which is being supported by his fellow Republicans, Gov. Doug Ducey and Sen. Jeff Flake. The bill would strip out many provisions of the.

PHOENIX – Phoenix has been identified by the Department of Justice as a major human trafficking destination but a local hospital is training health care workers to spot and help the men and women who have fallen victim to prostitution. Personal accounts, prevention measure and treatment methods were part of a September training at St..

PHOENIX — Football now comes with a soundtrack. From high school to the NFL, athletes can be spotted before games with a popular piece of equipment. Headphones.   In the Valley, the music high school players and coaches listen to ranges from hardcore rap by Tupac to easy listening by Bette Midler. “Football is definitely.

TEMPE — The Arizona State women’s triathlon team took no time to see success at the NCAA level, and the Sun Devils already are tasked with repeating as national champions in just their second season. Following the team’s inception in 2016, ASU became the first triathlon team in the Pac-12 but had just seven athletes on.

PHOENIX – A new study shows people with heart disease still may be able to enjoy fatty foods. Increasing the intake of fats could be good for heart health. Brooke Haack considers that good news. She and her daughter Haley have the same genetic condition –  alarmingly high cholesterol that puts them at risk of.

PHOENIX – Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s new emergency department greets visitors with a plethora of brightly colored art installations – from plastic flowers that seem to blossom out of the ceiling, to framed Warhol-esque animal caricatures that line the hallways. But it’s not necessarily the child-friendly feel of the $65.5 million structure that has its employees.

PHOENIX – At 7 years old, Jean-Francois Favory walked into a government hospital for a surgical procedure in his home country of Mauritius. When he woke up, he learned the unthinkable: He no longer had use of his legs. During the procedure, a medical error left Favory a paraplegic. He left the hospital in a.

TEMPE — After suffering a right groin injury, Matthew Watson’s recovery was accelerated by learning he favored his left leg during competition. How did the Phoenix Rising FC defender find out? His wireless half-shirt, equipped with GPS, told him. As technological advances have become an integral part of professional athletic training, the Rising have utilized.

SCOTTSDALE – Arizona is in the middle of rattlesnake birthing season, leading to an increased risk of snakebites, according to poison control experts. “We have about 300 rattlesnake bites every year. We are right on track right now,” said Maureen Roland, a registered nurse for Banner Poison and Drug Information Center.     Some slither.

PHOENIX – Arizona environmental officials on Wednesday warned visitors and residents to only eat limited amounts of certain kinds of fish contaminated with mercury found in three fishing areas in the state, adding to a growing list of advisories against fish consumption in lakes and streams. Yellow bass in Canyon Lake in Maricopa County and.

PHOENIX – Arizona officials on Wednesday said they want to limit doctors to prescribing no more than five days’ worth of opioids for people who haven’t already been on the powerful pain medication. The proposal is part of the governor’s plan to combat opioid abuse in the state. Gov. Doug Ducey had asked the Arizona.

PHOENIX — Some refer to it as a marathon. Others allude to a battle of wits between the strong and the weak-minded. No matter how it’s phrased, MLB’s 162-game regular season is a grueling six-month fight from start to finish. For professional baseball players, early season success can be followed by bouts of struggles. Many.

PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against Chandler-based opioid manufacturer Insys Therapeutics Inc. and three doctors. The suit alleged that they participated in fraudulent practices, which led to overprescription of a powerful opioid drug, according to a statement released Thursday. The lawsuit claims the company used fraudulent marketing practices.

CROW AGENCY, Mont. – When John Doyle first noticed signs of trouble in the Little Bighorn River, he was still a young member of the Apsaalooke Nation in southeastern Montana. Stagnant water would pool in some areas, filling with algae. It wouldn’t even freeze in the cold of winter. Later, catfish would turn up with.

PHOENIX — After Coyotes forward Shane Doan announced his retirement in a letter to the team and his fans, members of the Arizona hockey community reflected on the impact he had on the sport locally. The Coyotes’ all-time leader in goals (402), assists (570) and games played (1,540), among many other statistics, made a lasting.

YUMA, Ariz. – Nestor Alaniz didn’t get a permit to build a well in his mother’s backyard, and he didn’t get it inspected. In fact, he didn’t even know how to dig a well. He learned by watching tutorials on YouTube while his brother, a construction worker, helped him drill the 25-foot-deep hole. They built.

PHOENIX – In Ringwood, New Jersey, Ford Motor Co. dumped more than 35,000 tons of toxic paint sludge onto lands occupied for centuries by the Turtle Clan of the Ramapough Lenape tribe, poisoning groundwater with arsenic, lead and other harmful chemicals. Today, more than 43 years after the dumping ended, those toxins are still in.

CASCO, Wisc. – Lynda Cochart did not realize her water was contaminated with coliform bacteria until she contracted MRSA, an antibiotic-resistant skin infection. She believed it came from the water in her well in Casco, Wisconsin. “There’s no other way I could have gotten it,” she said. A year later, U.S. Department of Agriculture microbiologist.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – When Ceon Dubose Palmore got thirsty at school, an administrator had to escort the 15-year-old past trash-bag-covered fountains to a faucet two floors down. Like many schools across the country, her Washington, D.C. middle school discovered lead in its drinking water, making most fountains unsafe to drink. It took months to install.

WOLFFORTH, Texas – As many as 63 million people – nearly a fifth of the country – from rural central California to the boroughs of New York City, were exposed to potentially unsafe water more than once during the past decade, according to a News21 investigation of 680,000 water quality and monitoring violations from the.

VICTORVILLE, Calif. – Once a fighter jet training base critical to the Cold War, little remains of the former George Air Force Base but rows of dilapidated houses, a dismantled military hospital and dangerous chemicals from pesticides, jet fuels and other hazardous wastes that have poisoned the water for decades. “Now when I see the.

PHOENIX — Exercising in the Arizona heat can be a dangerous — and mind-altering — decision. “(I) was doing 16 miles on the mountain and was coming down and started hallucinating,” former Arizona State runner Victoria Jackson said. “So I started thinking that I saw water bottles stashed out in the desert and was looking.

PHOENIX — With a floppy hat on her head and sunblock in hand, Viv Hynes prepares to play a round at the TPC Scottsdale golf club. It is above 100 degrees outside. “It’s mostly the prices,” the Scottsdale resident said. She’s not alone. With consistently nice weather and more than 300 courses — including ones that.

WASHINGTON – Faced with a “hard decision” on the budget, the Department of Veterans Affairs is again considering new limits on the Individual Unemployability benefit that currently helps more than 200,000 disabled veterans. Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, telling a House panel this summer that providing unemployment benefits to vets “above the age of 80.

PHOENIX — In the 2017 version of the Black Canyon Ultras 100-kilometer race, which began in Mayer and finished in New River, 74 participants — nearly a quarter of the competitors — did not finish the race. Some dropped out before even starting and some attempted to complete the race but could not. “I was running and.

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.

WASHINGTON – When a study showed American youth were significantly more obese than their European peers, it shocked the president into creating a council aimed at combating the childhood obesity epidemic and increasing physical fitness throughout the country. It wasn’t the current president, or the last one or the one before that who sprang into.

PHOENIX – When Christina Barth was a dietitian for an elite youth soccer team, she encountered many different eating patterns among, what she described as, the “mini-professional athletes”. “I saw athletes that ate terribly, but they still performed pretty well. But I would always tell them, “Just imagine if you were eating really well how.

SCOTTSDALE — The final whistle blows, bringing another Phoenix Rising FC practice to an end. Well, almost. Instead of heading into the locker room, manager Patrice Carteron marshals his team from the practice field to three red tents emblazoned with the club’s crest and begins handing out yoga mats. In a matter of minutes, the.

PHOENIX – Every morning, Blaise Becker wakes up just after 4 a.m., packs his hockey bag and heads off to Arcadia Ice Arena. The goaltender plays in a local adult league from 5:30 to 7:15 and follows that up with an individual training session with his goalie coach that runs until about 9 a.m. Then,.

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 – Sen. John McCain’s decision to buck his party early Friday and vote against a GOP plan to repeal Obamacare was both hailed as an example of “amazing courage” and derided as “betraying his conservative constituency.” The Arizona senator joined Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine to vote against.

WASHINGTON – Both Arizona senators joined the majority of their fellow Republicans and voted by the narrowest possible margin Tuesday to allow debate on measures that could repeal or replace the Affordable Care Act. The 51-50 vote marked the emotional return of Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, who said he could not vote for the “shell.

PHOENIX – Mike Johnson, a 50-year-old flight reservation agent, endures summer’s blistering heat and hours of relentless sun behind his home’s shuttered blinds, saying he loses sleep and weight. It isn’t clear whether he has summer depression, a rare seasonal disorder, but he feels especially sad and frustrated at this time of year. Medical experts.

SCOTTSDALE – Traci Temple St. John suppressed the trauma of her childhood for years. Adults said they loved her, then physically and sexually abused her, she said. Then, at 50 years old, she found the body of the man she loved. He had killed himself. A new therapy tool, a technology incorporating sound and touch,.

WASHINGTON – The outpouring of support following this week’s announcement that Arizona Sen. John McCain has an aggressive brain tumor came from the expected Washington heavyweights, including current and former presidents, lawmakers and Cabinet members. It also came from some unexpected sources: pro athletes like Larry Fitzgerald, authors like Stephen King and actress Rosie O’Donnell..

WASHINGTON – A Senate proposal to repeal the Affordable Care Act with no replacement plan in place “would immediately and painfully disrupt the health care system” and could force as many as 709,000 Arizonans off coverage, advocates said this week. “This bill not only will take us back to the days before health reform, when.

WASHINGTON – Sen. Jeff Flake said fellow Arizona Sen. John McCain “sounded great” in a phone conversation Monday, just three days after McCain underwent surgery to have a blood clot removed from above his left eye. “I hope that we can get him back here as quickly as possible, we need him,” Flake said of.

PHOENIX – David Barnard felt a pain in his chest. His vision blurry and his left arm limp, he turned to his friend. “We need to go to the hospital now,” Barnard said. “I was scared to death,” Barnard said. “I had just been in the gym that morning, completely fine.” The heart attack Barnard.

TEMPE – Chronic pain grips Lauri Nickel every day, day after day. “It’s like someone has got a claw that is made out of stainless steel and the points are sharp and it’s gripped around your spine,” Nickel said. “Then attached to it is a chain and a ten pound weight. That’s just what the.

WASHINGTON – As calls of “Trumpcare kills” and “health care is a human right” echoed through the halls of Capitol office buildings Monday, Lauren Klinkhamer stood quietly in Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake’s office and told staffers, “I don’t want to die.” The Tucson resident fears she would be among the 22 million Americans, and as.

TEMPE – Aryana Dahlgren, a 19-year-old college student, identifies as a gay woman, but has not come out to her family. Dahlgren said her family has strong ties to their traditional Indian culture and she fears that they would not understand. Dahlgren’s grandmother, who lives with them, is adamant about what she expects of her.

WASHINGTON – When protesters descended on Sen. Jeff Flake’s office this week to demand that he vote against the Senate’s health reform bill, it was just the latest in a campaign by local and national groups to pressure the Arizona Republican. Flake, one of just eight Republicans up for re-election next year, is among a.

WASHINGTON – Despite recent declines in the number of opioids prescribed in the U.S., prescriptions are still three times higher than they were in 1999 – and most Arizona counties are prescribing at rates well above the national average. Those numbers were included in a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report released Thursday, “Where.

Have you gone to the pool this summer? Maybe you have ventured to your local ice rink to play hockey or skate? With the peak of the summer upon us, people in Arizona are looking for ways to get out of the house and stay cool at the same time. But, the urge to cool.

WASHINGTON – A bipartisan group of House members unveiled a raft of proposals Tuesday aimed at combating the nation’s drug epidemic, saying they felt compelled to come together on what is not a partisan issue but “an American issue.” Recommendations from the Bipartisan Heroin Task Force – which focused on preventing overdoses, addiction recovery, synthetic.

PHOENIX – Arizona leaders of an array of organizations, ranging from AARP to Planned Parenthood, joined a chorus opposed to a Senate health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. A news conference Tuesday at Chicanos Por La Causa drew attention to the Congressional Budget Office’s estimate that the proposed plan would reduce the.

The heat in Arizona, specifically the Phoenix area, finds a way to affect everyone. According to Arizona Department of Health Services, approximately 2,000 people are sent to the hospital every year because they are suffering an illness caused by heat. While Arizona is known for its excessive heat in the summer, being active and exercising.

According to Stop Sports Injuries, 40 percent of sports injuries treated in hospitals are attributed to children ages 5 to 14. Cronkite News is writing a story about people 14 and under who became injured playing a sport in school and continued to play. Did you play sports in school and become injured? Are you.

WASHINGTON – The Congressional Budget Office said Monday that Senate Republicans’ plan to replace Obamacare would reduce the federal budget deficit faster than a House-passed health care bill, but would cost 22 million people their health coverage. That estimate, only slightly less than the House 23 million that the CBO said would be affected by.

Angry protesters rallied outside Sen. Jeff Flake’s Phoenix office Friday, demanding that he vote against a Republican health care bill that new analyses claim could hit Arizona particularly hard. The Senate plan to replace Obamacare would cost the state as much as $7.1 billion through fiscal 2026, according to an estimate released Friday by the.

WASHINGTON – The Senate Republican plan to replace Obamacare was quickly attacked by Democrats and kept at arm’s length by Arizona’s Republican senators, who seemed less than eager to comment on a bill few had seen before its release Thursday. The 142-page “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017” would cut deeply into Medicaid funding and.