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)

Native hoop dance coaches preserve history, tradition with new generation

PHOENIX – Indigenous intertribal hoop dance combines tradition and history with individuality and creativity. We tell the story of three dancers who are sharing their passion for the dance with the next generation.

Gianna Begay, who is Navajo and Anishinaabe, is an intermediate student in the Native American Hoop Dance Class at Ballet Arizona in Phoenix. Photo taken Feb. 8, 2023. (Photo by Izabella Hernandez/Cronkite News)

Arizona advocates win national recognition for work on Proposition 308

WASHINGTON - An Arizona nonprofit was honored here Tuesday for its push to win in-state tuition for undocumented students, a change that organizers said has moved the state from an "epicenter of hate toward immigrants into an epicenter of hope."


Blind skateboarder is a ‘sports junkie’ who inspires others

LOS ANGELES - Learning how to ride a skateboard takes dedication and confidence, sighted or not. You can’t be afraid to fall and crash. Blind skateboarder Coco Atama isn’t afraid of falling and certainly staying true to self.

Coco Atama, who is blind, uses his cane to alert him to a dropoff as he flip his skateboard back in this photo taken Jan. 26, 2023 in a skate park in the Encino section of Los Angeles. (Photo by Ayana Hamilton/Cronkite News)