Flagstaff competitions, businesses grow snowboarding community

FLAGSTAFF – Flagstaff clothing brand, Collective Supply Co., co-hosted a snowboarding contest with Sunset Terrain Park in Arizona Snowbowl. The company aims to grow the snowboarding community and bring people together.

Contestants at the “The Site” snowboarding and ski competition wait to do a run down Sunset Terrain Park on Jan. 28, 2023. Collective Supply Co., a clothing brand geared toward the Flagstaff snowboarding community, co-hosted the competition with the park. “Snowboarding is growing at a huge rate and obviously we are stoked on that,” said Rich Phillips, co-founder of Collective Supply Co. “Snowboarding is definitely alive and kicking, especially in AZ.” (Photo by Drake Presto/Cronkite News)

School advocates worry about keeping counselors as federal funding set to expire

CHANDLER – Federal funding provided during the pandemic allowed some schools to bring on extra counselors. School counselors and advocates emphasize the importance of keeping them on to work with students and families even when the funding ends.

Hamilton High School counselor Mandy Tietjen says “our kids see the same counselor, the same administrator all four years and we’re able to communicate if there’s a discipline issue we have a little insight about that and what social-emotional needs could be supported.” (Photo courtesy of Chandler Unified School District)

Virtual tour of Anne Frank’s house offers new way to teach about the Holocaust

PHOENIX – The Arizona Jewish Historical Society is opening a new interactive activity as part of its exhibit, “Stories of Survival: An Immersive Journey Through the Holocaust.” It utilizes virtual reality to guide visitors through the home of Anne Frank, the young girl whose life is memorialized in the diary she kept from age 13 until she was killed by the Nazis at age 16.

Holocaust survivor Andrew Schot, right, speaks at the Arizona Jewish Historical Society on Feb. 24, 2023, with Anthony Fusco Jr., who is the society’s education coordinator. (Photo by Shira Tanzer/Cronkite News)

Black artists connect family, culture and history

PHOENIX – Black art is the great connector – of humanity, of Black history, of family, culture and a vision of life’s value and purpose, according to several Arizona artists who paint, sculpt and create.

Rhonda “Shakur” Carter said she finds inspiration from family, community and history. “I have this piece that looks like Harriet Tubman and she’s running to freedom. It kind of feels like we’re still fighting for freedom and to be heard,” Shakur said. (Photo by Sierra Alvarez/Cronkite News)

Super Bowl brings more opportunity for Phoenix artists

PHOENIX — Super Bowl LVII has come and gone, but its impact on the local arts community remains in the form of a larger national profile it has given several Arizona artists.

A gif showing the progression of the mural's creation through five photos.

Inner-city students receive new space to play

PHOENIX – Kaboom, a nationwide nonprofit, and Fairytale Brownies, a bakery in Phoenix, sponsored a new playground for Loma Linda School in Phoenix. The playground will help Kaboom reach its goal of ending play space inequity.

Rebekah Gonzales, 11, plays on the monkey bars at Loma Linda Elementary School in Phoenix while she waits for the new playground unveiling. Her biggest wish for the new playground was for it to have a zip line, which it does. Photo taken on Feb. 23, 2023. (Photo by Evelyn Nielsen/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)

‘Soundies’ showcase Black history on film, racism and all

LOS ANGELES — For Black History Month, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures highlighted its exhibit "Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971." It features rarely-seen film excerpts restored by the Academy Film Archive.

Museum guests point and admire the photos of iconic Black stars like Sidney Poitier and Hattie McDaniel. It was part of an exhibit on early Black films at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in a photo taken Feb. 4, 2023, in Los Angeles. (Photo By Ayana Hamilton/Cronkite News)

Federal grant could extend broadband to 127,000 Arizona homes, businesses

WASHINGTON - The Treasury released $99.4 million in broadband funding to Arizona Tuesday, money that officials said could bring broadband internet service to an estimated 127,807 households and businesses around the state.


California banned fur sales. Will Arizona and other states follow?

LOS ANGELES – California bans the sales and manufacturing of fur, targeting a new market driven by a Gen Z consumer market that overwhelmingly prefers anti-fur products.

A new California law prohibits the sale and manufacture of fur in the Golden State. Here, PETA activists dressed as Grim Reapers hold a “Fur is Dead” rally along Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California, in 2018. (File photo by Frederic J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)

Arizona House considers making schools offer firearms safety training in grades 6-12

PHOENIX – Arizona’s House of Representatives is continuing to advance a bill mandating that Arizona’s public middle and high schools offer training on properly handling firearms. A bill similar to HB 2332 failed last year in the state Senate, with opponents concerned the bill creates a gun culture in schools.

Gun, bullets and magazine on a table.

Astronaut and artist Sian Proctor headlines ASU’s Space2Inspire events this weekend

Astronaut and artist Sian Proctor is headlining Space2Inspire this weekend at Arizona State University as part of ASU’s Black History Month celebration.

Astronaut and artist Sian Proctor is headlining Space2Inspire this weekend at Arizona State University as part of ASU’s Black History Month celebration. (Photo by Charlie Leight/ASU)