Search result for Andrew Romanov

Jimmie Johnson test drives NASCAR’s Next Gen car in Phoenix Raceway return

AVONDALE – It was a big week in the world of NASCAR at Phoenix Raceway. Not only was NASCAR testing new modifications to the Next Gen 7 car, seven-time champion Jimmie Johnson got behind the wheel of the new race car for the first time before his return to the sport.

Seven-time NASCAR Cup champion Jimmie Johnson test drove the Next Gen-7 car at Phoenix Raceway and shared his thoughts after the first day of testing. (Photo by Reece Andrews/Cronkite News)

‘We were always sovereign’: Hia-Ced O’odham seek federal recognition as a tribe

PHOENIX – In Arizona, 22 federally recognized tribes inhabit nearly every region of the state, but the Hia-Ced O’odham community isn’t one of them. Some members are working to change that, and others believe it may be too difficult to achieve.

Lourdes “Lulu” Pereira is a student worker at the Labriola Center and the official archivist for the Hia-Ced Hemajkam LLC, which was established in 2015 to work toward federal recognition and reclamation of ancestral lands. Photo taken Dec. 1, 2022, at Hayden Library in Tempe. (Photo by Campbell Wilmot/Cronkite News)

Big shoes to fill: New Saguaro football coach Zak Hill up for the challenge

SCOTTSDALE – New Saguaro football coach Zak Hill will have his hands full with one of the best high school football teams in the state. The former ASU offensive coordinator comes in after former coach Jason Mohn’s extraordinary 11-year run with the program.

Zak Hill is taking over as the head coach at Saguaro High School after serving as offensive coordinator at Arizona State. (Photo by Reece Andrews/Cronkite News)

Derrick Michael Xzavierro’s history-making odyssey lands him at GCU

PHOENIX – Derrick Michael Xzavierro’s journey to GCU has led him across the world from his home of Indonesia. Though he is taking a redshirt year this season, Xzavierro has already made an impact and history as Indonesia’s first Division I basketball scholarship player.

A long way from home, Derrick Michael Xzavierro has represented the country of Indonesia honorably on the basketball court and inside the Grand Canyon University locker room. (Photo courtesy of GCU athletics)

From NFL to high school sidelines, Conrad Hamilton has found success revitalizing Desert Mountain

SCOTTSDALE – In his fourth season at Desert Mountain, former NFL player Conrad Hamilton has reinstituted a winning culture as one of many former pro football players finding success in the high school coaching ranks.

Conrad Hamilton played six seasons for the New York Giants and Atlanta Falcons, equipping him with the tools to turn the Desert Mountain football program into a powerhouse as head coach. (Screen grab via Cronkite News video)

SRP researches cloud seeding in White Mountains to create snow amid historic drought

PHOENIX – SRP is researching cloud seeding along the Mogollon Rim as Arizona continues to struggle with its worst drought in 1,200 years. The partnership with the White Mountain Apache Tribe could bring Arizona its first cloud seeding operation.

A turboprop Piper PA31T Cheyenne II airplane sits in storage. These twin-engine airplanes carry both hygroscopic and glaciogenic flares to use for cloud seeding. (Photo courtesy of Gary Walker/SOAR)

Climate change and drought are muting bright fall colors as we know them

FLAGSTAFF – Visitors travel far and wide to view fall colors in northern Arizona, but climate change and ongoing drought are affecting fall foliage as we know it. The PhenoCam Network, based in Flagstaff, is tracking these changes.

A row of bright yellow aspen trees at Arizona Snowbowl north of Flagstaff show off their fall grandeur on Oct. 22, 2022. (Photo by Payton Major/Cronkite News)

Arizona students come to lobby as courts, Congress, fight over Oak Flat

WASHINGTON - A group of Arizona high school students and alumni was in Washington this week to lobby for a bill that would block development of a copper mine at Oak Flat, land that is sacred to the San Carlos Apache.


Southern border apprehensions hit record 2.4 million in fiscal 2022

WASHINGTON – Border officials encountered a record of almost 2.4 million migrants at the southern border in fiscal 2022, shattering the old record of 1.7 million set just a year earlier, according to numbers released late Friday by Customs and Border Protection.


Hamilton football star Terrell Suggs stayed home; it led to ASU Hall of Fame

TEMPE – Terrell Suggs, who still holds the NCAA Division single-season record for quarterback sacks, recently was inducted into Arizona State’s Athletics Hall of Fame and Distinction along with eight others. Suggs, who played at Hamilton High in Chandler, believes keeping the best local prospects at home is the key to future success in the ASU football program. He said interim coach Shaun Aguano is taking steps to make that happen.


Prop 132 called both rational tax safeguard, anti-democratic power play

WASHINGTON - When Arizona voted in 2020 to increase school funding by raising income taxes on higher earners, they did so by a comfortable 52-48% margin. Too comfortable for backers of Proposition 132, which would require 60% approval for any initiative that raises taxes.


DACA suffers another court setback, but program remains in place for now

WASHINGTON - A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that DACA, the deferred deportation program for young migrants, was unlawfully created in 2012 but that protection for current DACA recipients can continue for now.