• Slug: BC-CNS Common Voting Mistakes, 1,150 words.
• 1 photo and caption below.

By Alicia Moser
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – As Election Day looms, the biggest worry for many Arizona voters is whether their votes will be counted.

Ballot rejection is a possibility. Voters may forget to sign mail-in ballots, use the wrong color ink to mark the ballot and mail an early ballot too late for delivery by Nov. 3.

Thousands of Arizona residents have already voted, but it’s not too late for those who haven’t yet turned in early ballots or plan to vote in person Nov. 3. Data Orbital shows that nearly two million early ballots have been returned so far.

Sophia Solis, spokesperson for the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office, Pam Fessler, a voting issues correspondent with NPR, and Diana Solorio, spokesperson for the Maricopa County Recorder’s Office, said common mistakes can be avoided. Continue reading “7 common mistakes to avoid when voting”

Here is your Cronkite News lineup for Thursday, Oct. 29. If you have questions on news stories from the Phoenix bureau, please contact Executive Editor Christina Leonard at 602-361-5893 or christina.leonard@asu.edu, while questions about stories from our Washington bureau should go to Steve Crane at 202-684-2398 or steve.crane@asu.edu. Sports story questions can be directed to Paola Boivin at paola.boivin@asu.edu. Clients who want to use Cronkite videos can find clean versions, and scripts, for download in a Dropbox – if interested, contact Executive Editor Christina Leonard at christina.leonard@asu.edu for access. Stories promised for today, along with photos and links to multimedia elements, will post to our client site at cronkitenews.jmc.asu.edu/clients. Continue reading “Cronkite News Digest for Thursday, Oct. 29”

• Slug: BC-CNS LA Fans React, 840 words.
• 1 photo and caption below.

By Johnny Messiha
Cronkite News

LOS ANGELES – The Dodgers won their first World Series since 1988 Tuesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays, leaving Los Angeles sports fans eager for an official celebration despite the rising cases of COVID-19 in the county.

Thousands of fans gathered downtown, at Dodger Stadium and in other parts of LA to watch Mookie Betts and the Dodgers clinch the World Series with a 3-1 Game 6 win over the Rays. Scottsdale native Cody Bellinger was an important piece of the championship run, with four home runs and 13 RBIs in the postseason.

The tense win sent fans into a frenzy before police intervened, arresting eight people suspected of looting and vandalism. Three officers were injured, according to ABC7 in Los Angeles.

The celebration – and a similar one Oct. 11 after the Los Angeles Lakers won their first NBA championship since 2010 – has health experts concerned. Continue reading “Los Angeles just won NBA, MLB crowns, but COVID-19 has parades on hold”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Masks COVID,920
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By Josh Ortega
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Payson Mayor Tom Morrisey thinks mask-wearing is one of the best ways to stop the spread of COVID-19 in his town – but he doesn’t want to force residents to do it.

Payson is one of a number of local governments that have lifted facemask ordinances in recent weeks, even as infections in the state have started to surge again, adding almost 4,500 new cases just since Sunday.

One health expert said relaxing mask mandates now is “foolish” for local officials that want to reopen their communities because it could lead to a surge that might bring on new, harsher shutdowns. Continue reading “As COVID-19 cases surge anew, some towns lift mask mandates”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Hotspot Arizona,690
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By Rob Winder
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump and Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris were back stumping in Arizona Wednesday, evidence of what one report calls the high “voter power” of residents of the swing state.

The WalletHub report, “2020’s States with the Most and Least Powerful Voters,” rated Arizona the state with the fifth-most powerful voters, based largely on Arizona’s relatively newfound status as a toss-up state. Continue reading “Arizona’s status as a toss-up gives voters clout, draws Trump, Harris”

• Slug: BC-CNS Chalk the Vote, 610 words.
• 2 photos and captions below.
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By Mitchell Zimmermann
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Divya Yoder and her family were out on the sidewalk in front of their home one recent Sunday, writing chalk messages to encourage their neighbors to vote.

“Vote early,” one read. “United we stand,” read another.

The Yoders weren’t the only family taking chalk to concrete with similar messages in recent days. Hundreds of Arizonans were doing the same, along with thousands of families across the country as part of #ChalkTheVote, which was created by the non-profit organization ParentsTogether to urge families to vote Nov. 3.

Yoder, who’s of East Indian descent and the mother of two young boys, wanted them to understand the importance of voting – a right that isn’t available to everyone.

“You know, we live in a community with our loved ones, friends, neighbors, and children, and some of them don’t have the privilege and we make the decisions to vote for ourselves and for the ones around us,” said Yoder, who became a U.S. citizen six years ago and voted for the first time in 2016. Continue reading “#ChalkTheVote: Arizona families hit the sidewalks to encourage voting”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Air Trump,830
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By Josh Ortega
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – When Air Force One touches down in Arizona for President Donald Trump’s campaign visits to Bullhead City and Goodyear on Wednesday, it will be at least the 20th campaign stop for the jet in the past eight days.

Who pays for those trips? You do. Maybe. Or maybe the Trump campaign does. Or a little bit of both. Government watchdog groups say they have not been able to get a full accounting of the expenses related to the president’s use of Air Force One, despite years of trying. Continue reading “Air Trump: Cost of trips to campaign events still hard to pin down”

• Slug: BC-CNS Plastic Pollution Study, 1,265 words.
• 1 photo and caption below.

By Alison Cutler
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – The ugly truth was laid bare when an international team of researchers ran their final model on plastic pollution in the Pacific. The results would reveal just how much the world would have to reduce plastic waste to prevent more than 8 million metric tons from entering the oceans, lakes and rivers every year – and whether that was even possible.

Three words came to mind for Arizona State University graduate student Erin Murphy, who was part of the team.

“Not even close,” Murphy said.

No matter what hypothetical the researchers punched into the module to reduce plastic production and increase global waste management, the conclusion was the same: The production of plastic worldwide continues to drastically outpace efforts to reduce it.

Even with ambitious and rigorous global standards of recycling, managing and reducing waste, the amount of plastic produced around the world could grow to six times the current amount by 2030, the researchers found. Continue reading “The problem with plastics: Production outpacing efforts to keep it out of rivers and oceans”

• Slug: BC-CNS Prop 208, 1,040 words.
• 1 video here.

By Anthony J. Wallace
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Amid a pandemic that has prompted some teachers to leave their profession, Arizonans are considering a proposal to raise taxes for high earners to help schools pay for salary increases and hire more staff.

Proposition 208 would add a 3.5% surcharge to taxable income above $250,000 for individuals or $500,000 for couples, increasing the overall tax rate on any income over those thresholds to 8%. The move would potentially raise $830 million a year dedicated to the state’s Student Support and Safety Fund.

With Election Day next week, debate over the proposal has intensified, with supporters saying education funding is more important than ever, given Arizona’s dismal spending on public schools and a pandemic that’s increased hours and brought new challenges teaching virtually. Critics agree that funding is needed but argue the surtax would derail the economy. Continue reading “As COVID adds hours and challenges, teachers look to Proposition 208 for more school funding”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Border Deaths,870
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By Claire Chandler
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona conservative groups hailed the confirmation of “capable, brilliant” Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court, after a rushed vote Monday that split the Senate along party lines.

Barrett’s confirmation comes less than six weeks after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and cements a conservative majority on the high court for years to come – what Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer called a “decades-long effort to tilt the judiciary to the far right.”

No Democrats voted for Barrett, who was sworn in Monday night at the White House by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas within hours of the 52-48 Senate vote. Maine Sen. Susan Collins was the only Republican to vote no on the nomination. Continue reading “Arizona senators split as divided Senate puts Barrett on Supreme Court”

• Slug: BC-CNS Judicial Retention Elections, 630 words.

By Kenechi Anigbogu
Special for Cronkite News

With the election just days away, Cronkite News is profiling issues on the Nov. 3 ballot.

Voters in Arizona’s four largest counties have the right to decide whether to retain Superior Court judges, but how can they know whether a judge is fit to remain on the bench?

In Maricopa, Coconino, Pima and Pinal counties, which each have populations of more than 250,000 people, judges are chosen for the bench through merit selection rather than direct election, as they are in Arizona’s 11 smaller counties. After being appointed, judges must go through periodical retention elections to continue serving. Supreme Court justices and appellate court judges also are subject to retention elections statewide.

In Maricopa County, there are 40 Superior Court judges, 11 Court of Appeals judges and three Supreme Court justices on the Nov. 3 ballot. Continue reading “Judicial Performance Review is a tool for Arizona voters, but it’s not often used”