Empathy and humanity are at the center of Holocaust education in Arizona

PHOENIX – Arizona teachers, including some who have visited Holocaust sites, are looking for ways to teach middle and high school students about the Holocaust and other genocides. Experts say teaching it builds empathy and warns of “the dangers of staying silent in the face of evil.”

When Amanda Johnson was visiting the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp in Poland, she didn’t take photos of the heart-wrenching scenes at the memorial. Instead, she bought books to share with her students and help them learn about the millions of Jewish people who were killed during the Holocaust. Photo taken on Sept. 6, 2022, at Corona del Sol High School in Tempe. (Photo by Sophie Oppfelt/Cronkite News)

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is used ‘off label’ to treat brain injuries, but questions remain

CAVE CREEK – Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is being used to treat patients with traumatic brain injuries but has not been approved by the FDA.

Gordon Brown demonstrates how he has used the hyperbaric chamber at HBOT of Arizona in Cave Creek to help with his traumatic brain injury Photo taken Sept. 13, 2022. (Photo by Sophie Oppfelt/Cronkite News)

It’s electric: ADOT planning a statewide network of EV chargers along interstates

PHOENIX – Thanks to federal funding, the Arizona Department of Transportation will receive millions to upgrade existing electric vehicle chargers and install new ones along interstate highways.

More electric-vehicle charging ports will be installed along interstate highways in Arizona as early as 2024. ChargePoint already has some charging stations, similar to this one in downtown Phoenix, along several interstates. Each station will have four or more fast chargers capable of charging most vehicles in about 30 minutes. Photo taken Dec. 1, 2022. (Photo by Jennifer Sawhney/Cronkite News)

Colleges expect more undocumented students this spring after Prop 308

WASHINGTON - Arizona voters did a sharp about-face this fall, narrowly voting to allow in-state tuition for undocumented state residents, a 180-degree reversal of a policy that was overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2006 prohibiting such aid for Dreamers in the state.


HistoriCorps volunteers help preserve structures at Crescent Moon Ranch in Sedona

SEDONA – The nonprofit organization HistoriCorp partnered with Coconino National Forest to preserve historic buildings on the Crescent Moon Ranch in Sedona, founded in 1880.

HistoriCorps volunteer Yumi Shimizu, left, learns how to use a circular saw from project supervisor Pete Specht on Oct. 24, 2022, with Sedona’s Cathedral Rock as a picturesque backdrop. (Photo by Drake Presto/Cronkite News)

Report: Schools struggle to fill a range of jobs, in classroom and beyond

WASHINGTON - The state's longtime teacher shortage is well-known, but personnel officers said in a recent report that they have openings they cannot fill for everything from nurses to custodial employees, secretaries and administrators.


Not quite universal, but families flocked to universal voucher program

WASHINGTON - Arizona parents have flocked to apply for the state's new universal Empowerment Scholarship Accounts, which let any family apply for state funds to pay for their child's schooling, regardless of need.


‘Like a home:’ Filipino American students join to raise visibility, preserve heritage

LOS ANGELES – Young Filipino people turn to cultural clubs and organizations for a sense of community at the Universities to educate themselves and others. The struggle to better understand their culture and heritage has led them out of their homes and into classrooms.

Children try out the swings in Unidad Park in Los Angeles' Unidad Park, situated in the Historic Filipinotown section of the city, in this photo taken Nov. 21, 2022. (Photo by Emeril Gordon/Cronkite News)

Filipinos in LA look to a gateway as their ‘guiding star’ to salvage a neglected history

LOS ANGELES – Historic Filipinotown, or HiFi, is supposed to be the center of the Filipino community in Los Angeles, but it lacks key identifying factors that many cultural communities have in their respective districts. The strides to make this a reality have been slow, but community members have been working to make the Filipino community’s presence known.

Los Angeles' Historic Filipinotown was given a grand gateway to a community that Filipino Americans say has been overlooked, as seen in this photo taken Nov. 17, 2022 (Photo by Emeril Gordon/Cronkite News)

Valley homeowners take advantage of xeriscape incentives

MESA – Mesa and Chandler offer xeriscape incentives for homeowners to convert their grass lawns to more desert-friendly landscaping.

This yard in Mesa was converted to desert landscaping under the city’s Grass-to-Xeriscape incentive program. Photo taken Sept. 7, 2022. (Photo by Samantha Chow/Cronkite News)

Shuttle Endeavour conquered space. Now it has to survive a move to a new home in LA.

LOS ANGELES – The retired shuttle’s final frontier will be a new building, the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, next door to the California Science Center, where it’s displayed horizontally. The spaceship will be displayed upright, in launch position, with its enormous orange fuel tank appearing to be attached to its belly and two white booster rockets on either side and a launch gantry to view the shuttle at every viewpoint.

Space shuttle Endeavour doubled attendance at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, drawing thousands of visitors to stand in awe of the craft that went 122 million miles in space. (Photo by Emeril Gordon/Cronkite News)

Indigent and unclaimed: 494 people memorialized in André House candlelight vigil

LITCHFIELD PARK – André House of Arizona held its annual Thanksgiving Eve candlelight vigil for the indigent and unclaimed buried at White Tanks Cemetery in Litchfield Park, which is Maricopa County’s potter’s field.

Maria Ornelas, 14, looks at a program during an annual Thanksgiving Eve vigil at White Tanks Cemetery in Litchfield Park on Nov. 23, 2022, organized by André House of Arizona. (Photo by Samantha Chow/Cronkite News)