Solutions and struggle: COVID relief highlights complexity of issues facing Native people

The pandemic exacerbated different infrastructure issues in Indigenous communities across the country.


From farm to table, immigrants feed America

Immigrants held together every sector of American life during the COVID-19 pandemic yet faced inequities and little help.


Cancer diagnosis inspires physical therapist to attempt 1,200-mile off-road race

PHOENIX – A physical therapist who was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma during the pandemic is motivated to try a 1,200-mile, women's only off-road race. And she's determined.


Medical mistreatment, inequity lead to vaccine hesitancy for Black Americans

Historic and ongoing medical mistreatment and lack of access have informed Black Americans’ COVID-19 response: vaccine hesitancy.


Shawnee language classes move online during COVID-19 pandemic

Only about 100 people speak the ancient language of the Shawnee people, which has motivated tribal officials to educate more young people. 2020 was supposed to be the Year of the Shawnee Language in Oklahoma, but COVID-19 forced educators online. There were some positives.


A poor measure of need: Researchers urge update to decades-old federal poverty line

Researchers are suggesting a new way to measure poverty, saying access to billions of dollars in public aid are affected by a federal standard that has not been updated since the late 1960s.


Incumbents have edge, but redistricting scrambles House race outlooks

WASHINGTON - Arizona's congressional incumbents have the advantage of name recognition and massive fundraising leads - but analysts say they might need both as congressional redistricting has "put us all in a state of limbo" for the 2022 House races.


Nevertheless, she persisted: Woman keeps helping, despite COVID losses

She has lost 20 blood relatives and many more friends during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Kim Holmes keeps showing up for work as a property manager for the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma so she can be there for those who need help the most.


Politics by proxy: Arizona House members cast hundreds of remote votes

WASHINGTON - More than half of Arizona's House delegation cast votes by proxy this year, including two who were among the top remote voters in Congress and another who once called proxy voting "shameful and unconstitutional" but did it anyway.


Staying afloat: How Asian communities helped their small businesses survive COVID-19

As COVID-19 battered small businesses across the country, some Asian-owned businesses found the best relief came from their communities, not Congress.


Painstaking search for new planets begins on a mountaintop in Arizona

The NEID spectrometer is trying to detect more planets outside our solar system. It uses the gravitational influence a planet has on the star it revolves around to determine the planet’s mass.


In rush to restore budget earmarks, Arizona lawmakers made modest asks

WASHINGTON - When Congress restored budget earmarks this year, 332 House members rushed in with $7.1 billion in special requests to fund local projects. Arizona lawmakers were part of that rush, but with requests that were relatively modest compared to the rest of the House.