- Slug: BC-CNS-Navajo Emissions,640
- Photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
By SALVADOR RODRIGUEZ
Cronkite News Service
WASHINGTON – Power plants on Navajo Nation land need more time to meet new emissions standards or they could be forced to close, throwing thousands of Navajo out of work and costing the tribe millions, an official said Wednesday.
Navajo Attorney General Harrison Tsosie told a House committee that while the tribe supports clean-air standards, the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed Utility Maximum Achievable Control Technology rule – intended to lower mercury emissions from power plants – is too harsh.
“Indian nations are often cited as being pockets of poverty … and the one common denominator is pervasive federal control,” Tsosie told members of a House Energy and Commerce subcommittee. “The United States EPA MACT rule is no exception and adds yet another regulatory burden tribes are left to contend with.” Read More »
Wednesday, February 8 – 18:50
- Slug: BC-CNS-Hunting Bills,650
- Sidebar: Some other hunting bills.
- File photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
By IVY MORRIS
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – Some state lawmakers are out to guarantee that hunters can use silencers. Others want to eliminate size limits on hunters’ gun magazines. One wants to outlaw hunting remotely by computer.
Those are among more than a dozen bills addressing where, when and how people go about hunting in Arizona.
Rep. Jack W. Harper, R-Surprise, said rules set by the Arizona Game and Fish Commission have eroded hunters’ rights over the years.
“People used to hunt for food, and now it’s out of reach,” he said.
Read More »
Wednesday, February 8 – 18:46
- Slug: BC-CNS-School Grades, 390
- Sidebar: Grading mechanism.
- Photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By BRITTANY SMITH
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – Allowing education officials to immediately assign schools failing grades under Arizona’s new system for measuring performance would allow troubled schools to get help faster, a state lawmaker contends.
Under the state’s new system of letter grades, a school can only be assigned an F, for failing, if it receives a D, or below-average performance, for three consecutive years. Current law calls for the state to intervene when a school gets an F.
Rep. Kimberly Yee, R-Phoenix, has authored a bill that would allow the State Board of Education to immediately assign a grade of F if it determines that a school isn’t reasonably likely to improve to a grade of C, denoting average performance, within two years.
“This is really about embracing those underperforming schools much more quickly, so those students can achieve academic success,” Yee said.
Read More »
Wednesday, February 8 – 16:14
Here is the Cronkite News Service lineup for Thursday, Feb. 9. Please contact Steve Elliott at 602-496-0686 or steve.elliott@asu.edu with questions on Arizona stories, Steve Crane at 202-684-2400 or steve.crane@asu.edu with questions on Washington coverage and Sue Green at 602-496-0687 with questions on video reports.
Read More »
Wednesday, February 8 – 6:15
- Slug: BC-CNS-Tuition Bill,850
- Photos and graphic available (thumbnails, captions below)
- Multimedia: YouTube video
By TARRYN MENTO
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – Grants covering tuition and fees as well as a work-study job that brings in $200 every other week allow Alisha Raccuia to pursue a psychology major and social justice minor at the University of Arizona.
“I didn’t have to really think if I needed to take another job on top of the one I have,” she said. “I’m able to have my weekends free to be able to study and actually try to get an education, because that’s why I’m here.”
Raccuia said a state lawmaker is asking a lot by proposing that students in her situation pay at least $2,000 a year toward their education.
“How am I going to be able to shift my budget to where – it’s really, really slim, I go down to the penny at the end of the semester – to where I can afford an extra $2,000?” she said.
Read More »
Tuesday, February 7 – 19:20
- Slug: BC-CNS-Cannon Kid,605
- Photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
By SALVADOR RODRIGUEZ
Cronkite News Service
WASHINGTON – Before he presented his Extreme Marshmallow Cannon at the White House on Tuesday, staffers urged 14-year-old Joe Hudy of Phoenix not to encourage President Obama.
But when the commander in chief asks to fire your science project, “You really can’t say no,” Joe said.
That’s how the eighth-grader from Canyon Springs School found himself blasting marshmallows across the State Dining Room on Tuesday as part of the administration’s second annual White House science fair.
“The Secret Service is going to be mad at me about this,” said Obama, who asked reporters to step aside before helping pump up the cannon and then letting Joe fire his invention, which can shoot the sweet snacks as far as 176 feet. Read More »
Tuesday, February 7 – 18:48
- Slug: BC-CNS-Reauthorizing Referendums,530
- Sidebar: Bill facts.
- Photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By SARA SMITH
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – In 1998, Arizona voters decided to bar the Legislature from making changes to initiatives and referendums without a three–quarters vote in each house.
For all intents and purposes, a state lawmaker contends, that means some voter–approved measures committing money to particular uses will stay in place after they no longer serve the public good.
“There’s a lot of initiatives and things that have been passed that we’ve been collecting money for, and I’m not sure that they’re meeting the same needs,” said Rep. Chester Crandell, R–Heber.
Crandell has proposed that any voter-approved measure using public funds later face reauthorization votes by the public.
Read More »
Tuesday, February 7 – 18:39
- Slug: BC-CNS-Foreclosure Deal,660
- Sidebar: Highlights of settlement.
- File photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By DUSTIN VOLZ
Cronkite News Service
WASHINGTON – Arizona is one of a handful of states that have not yet agreed to a potential $25 billion mortgage settlement for suffering homeowners, but the state hopes to join soon, officials said.
State Attorney General Tom Horne was still weighing the terms of the settlement Tuesday, according to his office, but is leaning toward joining more than 40 states that had signed on to the deal by Monday.
The settlement, between state attorneys general and the nation’s five largest mortgage lenders, could be worth as much as $25 billion from the banks if all 50 states sign on.
Aimed at addressing abusive foreclosure practices, the settlement would reduce loans for homeowners who are “under water” – or owe more than their home is worth. Some advocates have said they expect an average payment of about $20,000 per homeowner, but others say it is too early to predict an amount. Read More »
Tuesday, February 7 – 17:31
Eds: The story on today’s digest slugged BC-CNS-Selective Abortion will not move tonight. The House Judiciary Committee postponed today’s meeting on the bill. We will pursue later this week if the committee takes up the issue. If you have questions, please contact Steve Crane in the Washington bureau at steve.crane@asu.edu or 202-684-2398.
Tuesday, February 7 – 16:25
- Slug: BC-CNS-Foreclosure Bills,650
- Photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By DEVIN MCINTYRE
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – Allowing owners of foreclosed homes to remain as renters for at least a year would stabilize neighborhoods and minimize the fallout for families, a state lawmaker contends.
A bill by Rep. Anna Tovar, D-Tolleson, that would grant homeowners on the brink of foreclosure the right to rent houses they can no longer afford to own is among several that Democratic lawmakers say would help address the state’s lingering foreclosure crisis.
“When you foreclose on a home you have to uproot your children and move to a different community,” said Tovar, the House minority whip. “So being able to stay in the same home that you once owned now as a renter would keep the family a part of their community. That way the home is filled, not vacant and being broken into, and those are some really good effects.”
Read More »
Monday, February 6 – 18:56
- Slug: BC-CNS-Seniors-Drinking,600
- Sidebar: Dangers of binge drinking.
- Photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By BRITTANY SMITH
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – Binge drinking is most common among young people, but a government report on the problem also places a red flag next to senior citizens.
It turns out that those 65 and older who engage in binge drinking do so more frequently than any other age group, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dafna Kanny, senior scientist with the agency’s Alcohol Program, called the results surprising.
“We didn’t think we had a problem with the elderly, because prevalence was down in that age group,” she said.
Read More »
Monday, February 6 – 14:57
- Slug: BC-CNS-Franks Funds,650
- Sidebar: Funds for other Arizona incumbents in Congress
- File photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By DUSTIN VOLZ
Cronkite News Service
WASHINGTON – Rep. Trent Franks has a problem that most members of Congress wouldn’t mind sharing: The Glendale Republican is so popular in his district that potential campaign donors don’t think he can lose.
That helps explain why Franks ended 2011 with just $9,194.81 in his campaign account, a paltry sum compared to the bankrolls of six figures or more for every other member of the state’s congressional delegation.
And while the delegation raised a combined $1 million in the fourth quarter of the year, Franks accounted for only $25,225 of that amount, according to the latest reports with the Federal Election Commission.
“Because I’m in a strong district and have been strongly re-elected each time, less funds are often necessary and often more difficult to raise,” Franks said. “They think you can’t lose.”
But Franks, now in his fifth term in Congress, has been down this road before. Read More »
Friday, February 3 – 17:27
- Slug: BC-CNS-Phoenix Jobs,630
- Sidebar: Job numbers for Phoenix, Tucson
By SALVADOR RODRIGUEZ
Cronkite News Service
WASHINGTON – The Phoenix metro area has posted the nation’s second-highest rate of job growth in the private education and health services sector since the end of the recession, according to a new report.
Phoenix gained 34,200 jobs in those fields, according to an interactive report from the Urban Institute, which said the 14.9 percent growth from mid-2009 to November was second only to the New Orleans’ metro area job growth in that sector.
Experts say the growth in Phoenix is being driven by the expansion of for-profit colleges there and by a health sector that is playing catch-up to its population. The growth over the last five years was an even greater 25.1 percent, so that the health and education sector now accounts for 15 percent of Phoenix’s overall job market. Read More »
Friday, February 3 – 16:38
- Slug: BC-CNS-Public Notices,850
- Sidebar: Examples of public notices.
- Photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By NICOLE GILBERT
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – Under Arizona law, cities, towns and counties, as well as local boards and commissions, must alert the public to meetings, budgets and many other matters by publishing notices in a newspaper. The same goes for many matters in the private sector, such as corporation documents.
But with budgets tight and the world increasingly connected by the Internet, state lawmakers and publishers are wrangling over whether the future of such notices should include paying for ads to run in newspapers.
Continuing a string of similar bills in recent years, Rep. David W. Stevens, R-Sierra Vista, has proposed removing the requirement that statutory public notices be published in newspapers. HB 2403 would provide the option of putting a notice instead on “a designated site” online.
“We need to embrace technology because if you don’t embrace it, you’re going to get run over by it,” said Stevens, who has worked as a computer database administrator.
Read More »
Friday, February 3 – 16:04
- Slug: BC-CNS-Parks Bill,300
- Sidebar: State parks facts.
- File photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
By JESSICA TESTA
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – A bill that would protect Arizona State Parks revenues from budget sweeps and allow the agency to use the money for operations took its first step Thursday in the state House.
The House Agriculture and Water Committee unanimously endorsed HB 2362, which Rep. Karen Fann, R–Prescott, proposed in response to the massive budget cuts to Arizona State Parks.
The Legislature has swept $82 million from the agency since 2008. That money not only funded the operations and maintenance of the state’s park but also funded grants for municipalities to develop and sustain community parks and trails.
Read More »
Thursday, February 2 – 18:35
- Slug: BC-CNS-Blasting Furious,750
- Photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
- Multimedia: YouTube video
By VICTORIA PELHAM
Cronkite News Service
WASHINGTON – House members accused Attorney General Eric Holder on Thursday of stonewalling their probe of Operation Fast and Furious, and threatened him with contempt unless the Justice Department hands over thousands more documents.
“We have every right under the Constitution to check on what you’re doing,” said Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind. “I think you’re hiding behind something here that will not stand up…. For you to deny this Committee something like this (the documents) is just dead wrong.”
But Holder – making his sixth appearance before a congressional committee investigating the operation – said there are some documents his department will not release, citing the ongoing gun-running investigation and the separation of powers between the legislative and executive branches. Read More »
Thursday, February 2 – 18:32
- Slug: BC-CNS-Booster Seats,365
- Sidebar: About the bill.
- File photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By CONNOR RADNOVICH
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – The House Transportation Committee unanimously endorsed a bill Thursday that would require automobile passengers between the ages of 5 and 8 and under 4 feet 9 inches tall to use booster seats.
Arizona remains one of three states that don’t require booster seats despite the National Transportation Safety Board recommending such laws.
Current state law requires children age 4 and younger to be in car seats. After that, child passengers must be secured by a seat belt until age 16.
Experts say seat belts don’t fit optimally until children are tall enough, leaving kids at risk for serious injury.
Read More »
Thursday, February 2 – 17:24
- Slug: BC-CNS-Pickups-Kids,450
- Sidebar: Bill facts.
- Photo available (thumbnail, caption below)
By SARA SMITH
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – While attempts to bar minors from riding unrestrained in pickup truck beds have failed for years at the Legislature, state leaders have three new reasons to act, a lawmaker said Thursday.
They are teenagers killed in accidents that ejected them from truck beds, Rep. Doris Goodale, R–Kingman, told the House Transportation Committee.
“The loss of three young men in the past eight months because they were riding in trucks really oversteps the ability to ignore this situation any longer,” she said.
Goodale is the author of HB 2224, which would have Arizona join 30 states – and the District of Columbia – with bans.
Read More »
Thursday, February 2 – 16:59
- Slug: BC-CNS-Renewable Energy,775
- Sidebar: The bills.
By JESSICA TESTA
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – Give money to schools to install solar panels on their roofs. Eliminate extra paperwork for homeowners seeking to install panels on their roofs. Endorse a plan that encourages utilities to invest in the state’s renewable energy industry.
These are just a few proposals from House Democrats who have either designed or revived initiatives this session to promote renewable energy, despite anticipated opposition from Republicans.
“I have to have optimism; I’m a Democrat here,” said Rep. Steve Farley, D–Tucson, author of one of the bills.
Read More »
Thursday, February 2 – 15:47
- Slug: BC-CNS-Veterans-Campuses,450
- Sidebar: Requirements for certification.
By DEVIN MCINTYRE
Cronkite News Service
PHOENIX – A Republican lawmaker wants to build on a new state law that allows community colleges and universities to be certified as “veteran supportive campuses.”
One bill by Rep. J.D. Mesnard of Chandler would require schools that have earned the designation to report graduation numbers for veterans. Another would require the state Department of Veterans Services to promote the opportunity to receive certification.
As an adjunct faculty member at Mesa Community College, Mesnard said he sees firsthand a lack resources available to veterans. The problem, he said, is that schools don’t know how best to support them.
“I believe veterans deserve to be treated better when they return to school,” Mesnard said. Read More »
Wednesday, February 1 – 18:38
