‘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)

As cartels turn to social media to push fentanyl, experts teach parents how to keep kids safe

GLENDALE – Opioid use, particularly the use of powerful synthetic opioids like fentanyl, remains a pressing problem. As cartels do more to target young people on Snapchat and other social media, Arizona drug prevention groups are letting parents, kids and educators know what to look out for to stay safe.


High school students learn about artificial intelligence and related career paths

TEMPE – DriveTime, an online used-car dealership and finance company based in Tempe, partnered with the Mark Cuban Foundation to host an AI boot camp for high school students in the Phoenix metro.

Alec Evans, assistant director of data science for DriveTime, guides Miguel Fernandez, 16, left and Zyron Hilsee, 16, as they work to create a chatbot through Microsoft Azure during the Mark Cuban Foundation AI Boot Camp at the DriveTime corporate office in Tempe. Photo taken Oct. 22, 2022. (Photo by Justin Spangenthal/Cronkite News)

‘We see value in you’: Arizona organization helps bridge gaps between foster kids and families

PHOENIX – An estimated 80% of the more than 400,000 children in foster care across the U.S. struggle with significant mental health issues. In Arizona, one nonprofit is working to help children persevere – by offering services for foster youth and parents alike.

Russ Funk, left, is director of community engagement for Aid to Adoption of Special Kids in Phoenix. Funk and his wife have been foster parents, and two of their four children are adopted and biracial. “They integrated into our home at a very early age, and so it was just a natural thing,” he said, adding that those experiences are what drove him to work with other foster families. (Photo courtesy of AASK)

‘Sentimental thing:’ Neon signs still cast an eerie glow, but mostly in museums

GLENDALE, Calif. – The warm glow of neon is being preserved in cities like Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Casa Grande, Arizona. Some find it soothing reminders of yesteryear. Others just get a laugh out of some of it.

This iconic sign belonged to Paramount Pest Control in the Frogtown section of Los Angeles. Photo taken Sept. 16, 2022, at the Museum of Neon Art in Glendale, California. (Photo by Emeril Gordon/Cronkite News)

First in the nation law requires tech companies to take steps to improve kids’ well-being

PHOENIX – Research shows that more young Americans are facing mental health struggles, and technology is partly to blame. A new California law requires tech companies to do more to protect the privacy and data of children online. The measure could pave the way for similar laws elsewhere.

Research shows that more young Americans are facing mental health struggles, and technology is partly to blame. A new California law requires tech companies to do more to protect the privacy and data of children online. The measure could pave the way for similar laws elsewhere. (Photo illustration by Alexia Faith/Cronkite News)

‘Somebody special for our 500th ride’: 100-year-old WWII veteran flies with Grounded No More

MESA – Grounded No More, a Mesa nonprofit that takes veterans on “honor flights,” took its 500th flight with 100-year-old WWII veteran Ted Giannone, who joined the Navy at 19.


Symptoms of COVID ‘long haulers’ baffle doctors looking for treatment options

LOS ANGELES – With COVID-19 restrictions having faded away, doctors are seeing an influx of patients with long-term symptoms that are similar to the severe symptoms shown at the peak of the pandemic but are not as lethal. Doctors and other health care providers in Southern California are working with patients to correctly diagnose them and provide proper care to ease their suffering.