Can’t hurt to ask: Arizona lawmakers raise earmark requests by $194 million

WASHINGTON - For a second straight year, Arizona Republicans refrained from requesting any funding for local projects in Congress, while Democrats boosted requests by $194.5 million, a 43% increase over last year, when earmarks were restored after a decade-long hiatus.


The ‘veterans’ of LA Kings development camp embrace new leadership role

LOS ANGELES – At the Los Angeles Kings development camp, the oldest of the prospects take on a new leadership role, helping the youngest players through their first camp experience.


Jamaican ‘Reggae Girlz’ soccer team continues to break new ground

LOS ANGELES – Caribbean island nation Jamaica proves that sporting achievements go beyond track and field as their women’s national soccer team qualifies for the World Cup a second year in a row.


Oklahoma tribes split over tribal status of former slaves’ descendants

WASHINGTON – Oklahoma’s five largest tribes split Wednesday on the terms of treaties signed more than 150 years ago regarding their treatment of descendants of their former slaves, and on what those treaties require.


It’s a TikTok party: Social media helped two businesses survive the pandemic

PHOENIX – TikTok, which has more than 1 billion users, has helped two Valley businesses take off. Viral videos for Jump Into Bliss, which rents bounce houses, and Decor by Jess, which makes party decorations, gave the businesses much-needed exposure during the COVID-19 pandemic and led to new customers.


From high schools to the NBA, Arizona evolving into a hotbed for elite hoops talent

PHOENIX – The surge of prep academies in Arizona has led the state to be the one who sent more basketball players to the 2022 NBA Draft, with six (and three more from college). DeAndre Ayton led the way, and this year, Dalen Terry and others followed him


Black migrants see nothing in Tapachula but racism and a dead end

TAPACHULA, Mexico – Black migrants fleeing violence and economic or political instability in their home countries are finding overt racism in Tapachula, where they await documents from Mexico that will allow them to continue their journeys north. But the glacial pace of the process has made the situation untenable.


Beavers engineering resistance to onslaught of climate change

BOULDER, Colorado – Across North America, beavers create marshy mosaics to keep themselves safe, but their industriousness also is a powerful tool in fending off the damage of climate change, researchers say. But laws regarding beavers as pests need to be changed, they say.


‘We showed them what we’re about’: NAU’s Grijalva, Nur compete in track world championships

EUGENE, Ore. – Former Northern Arizona teammates and roommates, Abdihamid Nur and Guatemala’s Luis Grijalva, competed against each other in the men’s 5,000-meter final Sunday at the World Athletics Championships.


From the desert to the beach: Sarah Sponcil shows off skills at AVP Hermosa Beach Open

LOS ANGELES – Sarah Sponcil, one of the best beach volleyball players to come out of Phoenix, competed with Terese Cannon at the 2022 AVP Pro Series Hermosa Beach Open and the pair won its first-ever AVP title.


‘Five-alarm crisis’: Teachers face mental health crisis due to low pay, pandemic stress, scant support

Navigating low salaries, pandemic worries and burnout: Many teachers will tell you this is the job description of modern educators. The result is an expanding mental health crisis among U.S. teachers – a problem so dire that many are leaving the profession.


Arizona donors double down after Jan. 6 panel questions Trump election fund

WASHINGTON - Thousands of Arizonans gave a total of $1.5 million to former President Donald Trump's election defense fund, but the Jan. 6 committee said that money went to other Trump funds in what it called "a big rip off." But Arizona donors say they don't feel ripped off.