Search result for Nicole Hernandez

Girls Ranch group home provides safe haven for teen moms

SCOTTSDALE — Girls Ranch, a licensed residential group home in Scottsdale, provides housing and comprehensive services to pregnant and parenting teens ages 12-18. Nonprofit Florence Crittenton, which runs Girls Ranch, helps these young mothers by offering child care, parenting skills and more.

Girls Ranch is a residential facility for pregnant and parenting teens. Pictured is the back of the house and entrance to the backyard on April 19, 2023. (Photo by Izabella Hernandez/Cronkite News)

The March of Dimes Mom and Baby Unit brings care to southern Tucson

TUCSON – The March of DImes Mom and Baby Unit isn’t a standard health care clinic, it’s a bright purple recreational vehicle. Inside are two small exam rooms, and a friendly staff prepared to help the city’s vulnerable residents with free maternity and basic health care.

The bright purple, March of DImes Mom and Baby Unit, provides health care to the uninsured, underinsured and people who are homeless in Tucson. (Photo by Lux Butler/Cronkite News)

Phoenix Union school district considers return of school resource officers on campuses to address school safety

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Union High School District is considering bringing back school resource officers on campus after dropping its contract with the Phoenix Police Department nearly three years ago. The move brings great debate among students, faculty and parents.

Officer Edward Toves, shown in a 2018 file photo, when he worked at Westview High School as a school resource officer. His job included visiting classes to teach students about the law. (File photo by Faith Miller/Cronkite News)

Arizona’s veterinary medicine grads aid shortfall of vets in nation, state

GLENDALE – Arizona’s veterinary loan assistance program will repay up to $100,000 in loans for graduates who have practiced in the state for four years. Midwestern University and the University of Arizona hope to graduate more veterinary medicine students to fill the vet shortage.


Diagonal crossing? Tempe tests all-pedestrian crosswalk

TEMPE – Tempe recently wrapped up a four-week pilot program for an all-pedestrian crosswalk at the busy intersection of Mill Avenue and Fifth Street. Pedestrians could cross in any direction — even diagonally — when traffic was stopped.


Donate Life Arizona advocates for organ donations at the Arizona Capitol

PHOENIX – Donate Life Arizona brought together legislators and families of both organ donors and recipients at the Arizona Capitol to celebrate a record number of organ donations in 2022.

Kelsey and Zaccarri Krasnov tell how an organ donation saved their son, Valen’s, life when he was 3 years old. Photo taken during Donate Life Living Donor Day in Phoenix on April 5, 2023. (Photo by Drake Presto/ Cronkite News)

Unmistakable rhythm of cumbia music grows louder in Phoenix as local DJ duo and fusion band work to create thriving scene

It’s an unmistakable rhythm that catches you by the ear and doesn’t let go. It’s the booming heart of Latin music and dance known as cumbia, and it’s a form of Latin culture that local DJ duo, Vinyl Vagos, and a cumbia fusion band known as Las Calakas are cultivating in Phoenix.

Eduardo Pym, left, and Felix Trejo, of the DJ duo Vinyl Vagos, get ready to hype up the dance floor with their cumbia music mix at The Womack in Phoenix on March 17, 2023. (Photo by Fernando Hernández)

Jonathan Gannon settles in as new Cardinals coach, expects DeAndre Hopkins back

PHOENIX – The Arizona Cardinals' new front office is beginning to build a new roster together with rumors and headlines swirling around the organization. On Tuesday, new coach Jonathan Gannon gave an update on the process.

New Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon shared the latest developments in the organization during Tuesday's NFL owners' meetings at Arizona Biltmore. (Photo by Olivia Eisenhauer/Cronkite News)

Glendale breaks ground on first complex to use state affordable housing tax credit

GLENDALE – Centerline on Glendale will be the first housing complex in Arizona funded in part by the state affordable housing tax credit. The complex will have 368 new affordable apartments for Glendale residents by 2024.

Officials attend the groundbreaking ceremony for Centerline on Glendale, a 368-unit complex designed for mixed-income housing and funded in part by a state low-income housing tax credit. Photo taken on March 24, 2023. (Photo by Izabella Hernandez/Cronkite News)

Women entrepreneurs focus on business, personal growth in new program

PHOENIX – A new business growth mentorship program provides women entrepreneurs with tools and resources to run a successful business. The program is run by the ImagiNexGen Institute of Excellence and the Chicanos Por la Causa Prestamos Women’s Business Center.

Raquel Solis is one of 12 graduates of the business growth mentorship program put on by the ImagiNexGen Institute of Excellence and Chicanos Por la Causa Prestamos CDFI Women’s Business Center. Solis says the “program really focused us on ourselves as women first,because in order to run our business, we need to be self-sufficient and make it a habit to prioritize our mental, emotional, physical and spiritual wellness first.” Photo taken on March 13, 2023, at Lash Bottega Salon in Phoenix. (Photo by Izabella Hernandez/Cronkite News)

Arizona Game and Fish asks volunteers to help eradicate invasive apple snails

MESA – People can help the Arizona Game and Fish Department control and stop the invasive apple snail by knocking down their pink egg masses from reeds or taking snails to the dumpster. The apple snails have been documented in several bodies of water in Arizona and are moving up the lower Salt River.

Apple snail owners who no longer wanted the animal dumped the snails into the Salt River, causing the population to grow immensely within the last 12 years, according to Jeff Sorensen, invertebrate wildlife program manager for Arizona Game and Fish. Photo taken on Feb. 24, 2023. (Photo by Izabella Hernandez/Cronkite News)

Arizona governor signs executive order banning discrimination based on hair style or texture

PHOENIX – The CROWN Act, banning hair-based discrimination in the workplace, was enacted in Tempe and Tucson in 2021. Gov. Katie Hobbs’ executive order extends those protections to state workers. She hopes the order inspires similar legislation “across the board.”

Gov. Katie Hobbs sits at a desk and signs an executive order surrounded by community members in support of the order.