Search result for Melissa Robbins

Former Ithaca swimmer Jack Wadsworth makes waves in first season with ASU

TEMPE – New ASU swimmer Jack Wadsworth, who transferred from Ithaca College in the offseason, quickly adjusted to the Sun Devils team after a cross-country move. As the season gets set to resume in two weeks, the junior is flourishing.

Arizona State swimmer Jack Wadsworth, a transfer from Ithica College, has found success in Tempe and has been a standout in backstroke competition. (Photo by Joe Robbins/NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

‘It’s changing’: As police officers quit the profession in droves, an opportunity for change emerges

PHOENIX – Police departments across the country are in a workforce crisis. Some leaders see this as an opportunity, and they’re trying harder to attract candidates who reflect the communities they serve, with a focus on women, people of color and members of the LGBTQ+ community.

Officer Ashten Hayes of the Iowa City Police Department checks her patrol car's computer before her shift begins on April 18, 2022. After going to school for nursing, Hayes switched career paths to law enforcement "because I saw law enforcement as a noble job.” (Photo by Kate Heston/News21)

Back to where it all began: Three Sun Devils reunite in Arizona Fall League

PEORIA – Gage Workman, Trevor Hauver and Justin Fall were part of a 2020 ASU baseball team that lost out on half a season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ending their college baseball careers. While Hauver and Workman were selected in the 2020 shortened draft, Fall was drafted the year after and the three reunited for the first time back where it all began, Phoenix Municipal Stadium.

Former Arizona State outfielder Trevor Hauver was acquired by the Texas Rangers as part of the Joey Gallo trade in 2021. (Photo by Brady Vernon/Cronkite News)

Fact-check: No, assistance to U.S. tribal nations isn’t foreign aid

Republican Arizona Corporation Commission candidate Nick Myers said financial assistance given to tribal nations would be foreign aid. Federally recognized tribal nations are sovereign “domestic dependent nations” within the United States and are not considered foreign governments. Federal support in tribal areas mainly comes from the Interior Department. None comes from the State Department.


Empty Bowls event raises money to combat food insecurity, cut food waste

PHOENIX – Arizona nonprofit organization Waste Not raises funds to help food insecurity through its annual Empty Bowls event by selling handcrafted clay bowls. Proceeds go toward rescuing perishable foods from local businesses and delivering it to agencies that feed the hungry.

A mix of colorful handcrafted bowls are set up at the Arizona Center in downtown Phoenix for the Empty Bowls event hosted by the Waste Not Arizona on Oct. 14, 2022. (Photo by Scianna Garcia/Cronkite News)

‘We can figure this out’: Police, public and policymakers work to improve responses to mental health crises

SALT LAKE CITY – Police have become the de facto mental health responders across the country, often with tragic results. Most strategies to deal with mental health calls focus on shifting funds to social services, creating diversion programs and better training for officers. Experts say the solution relies on a combination of efforts.

Rae Duckworth holds a “Justice for Bobby” sticker on July 2, 2022, near murals in Salt Lake City remembering the victims of police shootings. After her cousin, Bobby Duckworth, was killed during a mental health call in 2019, Duckworth began passing out these stickers to keep his memory alive. (Photo by Laura Bargfeld/News21)

Do look up: Arizona scientists have hand in first ‘planetary defense’ test

WASHINGTON - When NASA smashes a spacecraft into an asteroid Monday evening to test whether it's possible to deflect a future killer asteroid, several Arizona scientists will be watching as part of the project.


Rent hikes, downtown boom spur gentrification of older Tucson neighborhoods

TUCSON - Rents are rising all over the country, but Tucson, once a sleepy, affordable city, has seen a particularly painful spike. And with rising prices, gentrification is pushing people out of neighborhoods that once were affordable.


Reputation of MMA Lab grows with recent success of fighters

PHOENIX – The reputation of Arizona's MMA Lab continues to grow after 6 fighters from the gym have brought wins back to the Valley in recent weeks.


Arizona’s public universities lift mask mandates under new CDC guidelines

PHOENIX – Following updated CDC guidance that masks are not necessary for everyone in areas of low to medium transmission risk, NAU, ASU and UArizona lift indoor mask requirements.


Cahokia artspace, owned by women and led by Native Americans, cultivates ‘creative placekeeping’

PHOENIX – Cahokia is an artspace owned by women and led by Native Americans that opened Oct. 11 in downtown Phoenix. Its goal is to uplift Indigenous representation in the art world and “creative placekeeping.”


Webb telescope will use UArizona sensor to observe first galaxies

On Dec. 18, an international partnership will launch the James Webb Space Telescope, a cluster of infrared instruments that will peer back to just after the Big Bang. Astronomers from UArizona are involved.