Navajo on death row faces execution Wednesday, barring last-minute action
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court late Tuesday rejected a petition to delay the execution of Lezmond Mitchell, a Navajo on federal death row who is scheduled to be put to death Wednesday evening for the murders of a Navajo woman and her granddaughter.
‘A disjointed system’: Policing policies fuel criminalization of youth
After decades of police reform, kids of color are still vastly overrepresented in arrests and police use of force.
Months later, communities still await federal aid for the homeless
Congress rushed an aid package for the nation’s homeless residents, but four months after passage of the CARES Act, most of that $4 billion has not reached those in need.
COVID-19 is a ‘crisis within a crisis’ for homeless people
PHOENIX – Homeless people are extremely vulnerable to COVID-19, but its impact on them is largely a mystery as data collection is sparse and, minus any coordinated federal response, local governments must figure out how to protect their homeless during the pandemic.
ASU student project highlights differences between kids’ self image, how they feel schools see them
Dawn Demps launched a project asking kids who had been suspended to draw their feelings about school. Demps, a Ph.D. student at Arizona State University, found that most kids saw themselves achieving their dreams, but thought the school viewed them as failures. She is writing an article about her project to discuss the results.
Given history of discrimination, can community help Black-owned businesses survive COVID-19?
PHOENIX – Black-owned businesses were particularly hard-hit when the spread of COVID-19 shut down or restricted nonessential activity throughout the country last spring, leaving many to wonder whether they could survive the plummet in daily customers.
School-to-prison pipeline has deep roots in tangled history of tribal schools
PHOENIX - Juvenile incarceration disproportionately affects Native American youth, a disparity experts trace back to U.S. assimilation policies of the 19th and 20th centuries - which included tribal boarding schools and the trauma that some have linked to them.
Talking ‘the talk’: Black leaders in Arizona recall sobering rite of passage
PHOENIX - For any teen, a driver’s license is a rite of passage. But for Black teens in America, the freedom that comes with car keys also comes with “the talk”: The time when Black parents sit their children down to explain what to do if stopped by a police officer.
Crimes in Tucson, Phoenix fell in second quarter, as COVID-19 took hold
Crime fell in Phoenix and Tucson in the second quarter of the year, a period when a COVID-19 stay-at-home order was in effect, but while property crimes in both cities dropped aggravated assaults rose - possibly because of pandemic-related stress.
COVID-19 threatens migrant, officer safety at cramped ICE detention centers
PHOENIX - More than 440 detainees at the four Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers in Arizona have tested positive for COVID-19, and advocates are suing for the releas of detainees, which they insist is "the only appropriate remedy."
ASU study: ‘Team Kids’ may improve perception of police through cop-kid activities
PHOENIX - Racial differences in the perceptions of police legitimacy begin in childhood, but they may be improved by programs like Team Kids Challenge, where police and kids interact in non-confrontational settings, a recent study found.
As feds debate COVID-19 deal, clock is ticking on state eviction protection
WASHINGTON - Arizona renters may have breathed a sigh of relief last month when Gov. Doug Ducey extended a moratorium on residential evictions to Oct. 31 - but Oct. 31 could come as soon as later this month if renters don't file the right paperwork with their landlords.
