Search result for Jessica Watts

Phoenix Police Department plans to recruit more female officers, diversify staff by 2030

PHOENIX – Phoenix signed the national 30x30 Initiative in January, pledging to recruit more female police officers and setting a goal of having 30% of its sworn Phoenix Police Department officers be female by 2030

The Phoenix Police Department is seeking more female police recruits and is working to make sure 30% of its officers are women in the next seven years. (Photo by Gianna Abdallah/Cronkite News)

With pandemic in the rearview mirror, Memorial Day travel expected to boom

WASHINGTON - Memorial Day weekend travelers are expected to pack roads and airports at or above pre-pandemic levels this year, with experts saying that an estimated 42.3 million Americans are likely to travel. Of those, about 887,000 will be from Arizona.


Where did the snow go? Researchers probe gap between snowfall, runoff

Every winter, high-altitude snow melts and fills reservoirs in the Colorado River basin, but some years see a big gap between the snow that falls and the water runs off. There is little data on why it happens, but researchers hope to find answers high in the Rockies.


Brice Turang before the Bigs: Eighth-grade draft hopeful, USA baseball alum, $100 home run hitter

PHOENIX — Brice Turang was the Brewers’ first round pick in the 2018 MLB Draft, but he was still considerable steps away from tapping into his upside. In bridging the gap between his strengths and weaknesses through four grueling minor league seasons, parallels to past experiences arose that revealed his readiness when his call-up came this spring.

Brice Turang finally received his call-up to the majors and made an immediate impact. On April 3, the Milwaukee Brewers infielder hit a grand slam for his first career home run in a 10-0 win over the Mets. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

Arizona will fail clean-air standards if other states aren’t ‘good neighbors’

WASHINGTON - Arizona is doing all it can to improve air quality but will not meet federal standards as long as pollution from other jurisdictions can drift across its borders, the director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality testified Wednesday.


Trademarking their turf: Jack Daniel’s, Arizona dog-toy maker spar in court

WASHINGTON - An Arizona dog-toy manufacturer told the Supreme Court Wednesday that its "Bad Spaniels" squeaky toy is a "playful parody" of Jack Daniel's that does not infringe on the distiller's trademarks - arguments the distiller rejects.


California to store more rainwater as it vies with Arizona for flow from Colorado River

LOS ANGELES – California is taking advantage of extreme weather with a new approach: Let it settle back into the earth for use another day. As the latest batch of storms lashed the Golden State, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order this week to hasten projects that use rainwater to recharge aquifers, reversing decades of an emphasis on channeling it into drains and out to sea.


Pac-12 marks Title IX anniversary with first all-female Hall of Honor class

LAS VEGAS – The Pac-12 Conference celebrated the 50th anniversary of Title IX with its first all-female Hall of Honor class. The event’s success sparked possibilities for more female representation in future years.

Former Arizona softball player Susie Parra, left, and Arizona State track and field athlete Jackie Johnson-Powell were among 12 Pac-12 Hall of Honor inductees. (Photo by Nicholas Hodell/Cronkite News)

Top dog? Phoenix pooch paw-ticipates in Corgi Winter Nationals

ARCADIA, Calif. – The rambunctious stubby-legged dogs put their paws to work at the Corgi Winter Nationals in Southern California. A hundred corgis raced for the opportunity to become the top dog at this annual race.

It's a race to the finish line for the Corgi Winter Nationals held Feb. 19 at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. (Photo by Ayana Hamilton/Cronkite News)

SRP solar plant northwest of Flagstaff expected to offset 1 billion pounds of CO2 each year

FLAGSTAFF – SRP partnered with Clenera to develop the largest solar plant in Arizona. Solar and clean energy expansion in the state could lead to a low-cost carbon-free future.

SRP and Clenera will begin construction on Arizona's largest solar plan in 2023 northwest of Flagstaff. SRP has been working to expand solar, including at East Line Solar in Coolidge, shown here, which was initiated by SRP and is owned and operated by a subsidiary of AES. (Photo courtesy of SRP)

Vietnamese EV survives Arizona’s heat, but navigating a tight U.S. market will be tougher

LOS ANGELES – Although it performed well in Arizona’s heat, the Vietnamese EV VinFast won’t have it easy competing against a cascade of new electric models on the way from established automakers, experts say.

The VinFast VF8 is coming to the U.S. in early 2023, company officials say, along with the VF9. Photo taken Nov. 17, 2022, at the Los Angeles Auto Show. (Photo by /Cronkite News)

Fighting hate: Approaches range from expanding hate crime definitions to gathering data

LOS ANGELES – The system for reporting hate in America is broken. The FBI’s database has limited scope, and people often don’t – or sometimes can’t – report hate crimes to authorities. But federal, state and local entities are tackling hate in a variety of ways – from expanding definitions and launching hotlines to capturing data.

A chalkboard filled with drawings of staff and a large rainbow hangs near the front desk at the TransLatin@ Coalition office in Los Angeles on July 5, 2022. Jimena Sandoval, the group’s communications and marketing coordinator, says it was drawn for Pride Month. (Photo by Jessica Alvarado Gamez/News21)