• Slug: Phoenix Heat Recap. 700 words.
• Photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Jalen Woody
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Summer is the most brutal time in Phoenix, especially for those surviving without basic needs like water and cool places to rest. This year, the city offered 24-hour heat relief spaces that skyrocketed in demand. City officials say 92% of visitors were experiencing homelessness, and the centers are a means to help them get off the streets and into safer places.

The Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) implemented the centers to provide people experiencing homelessness with much needed necessities to survive the temperatures.

Continue reading “Phoenix says visits to heat relief centers skyrocketed during record-breaking summer, and 92% were from people experiencing homelessness”

• Slug: Toss the Tusk. 1,040 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Aryton Temcio
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Since 1989, the international commercial trade of ivory has been banned in an effort to rebuild the dwindling population of elephants and other species poached for their ivory. Although these animals are found primarily in Africa and Asia, many agencies think the ramifications of ivory poaching are felt around the world.

The United States only adopted a near-total ban in 2016. Despite the bans on commercial trading, ivory is still legal to possess in the U.S., and many people still do.

Continue reading “‘Toss the Tusk’ educates Phoenix Zoo guests on illegal ivory trading, allows ivory surrender”

• Slug: Guerrilla Gardening. 1,350 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Brandelyn Clark
Cronkite News

LOS ANGELES – Amid the barren patches of dirt scattered throughout Los Angeles’ bustling streets, a movement for social change is taking root. Community gardens and local plants flourish in underused land, bringing much-needed green to the city’s concrete jungle.

Starting as a necessity for people who didn’t own land seeking to provide food for their communities, guerrilla gardening has evolved into a powerful tool for social rebellion and environmental activism.

Continue reading “Flourishing Los Angeles: Activists reclaim urban spaces through guerrilla gardening”

• Slug: PFAS Water Contamination. About 1,000 words.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Amelia Monroe
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – An estimated 97% of Americans have detectable levels of invasive “forever chemicals” in their bloodstreams – many are unaware that they’re drinking them.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances – or PFAS – are man-made synthetic chemicals manufactured and commercialized since the 1940s. This class of chemicals includes roughly 14,000 variations, widely used in consumer and industrial products – nonstick cookware, waterproof clothing, cosmetics and firefighter foam – due to their grease-, oil- and water-resistant properties.

Continue reading “Arizona is launching PFAS mitigation efforts ahead of the EPA deadline. But critics say it isn’t enough”

EDS: An earlier version of this story miscast what $14.9 billion in tax revenue through 2045 would fund. The error occurred in the fifth graf the original. The story below has been corrected, but clients who used previous versions are asked to run the correction found here.

• Slug: Prop. 479. 800 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Hayden Larkin
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – With Proposition 479, a continuation of a half-cent sales tax in Maricopa County for transportation funding, on the ballot in November, Valley Metro and other groups are advocating for the continuation, while opponents say the tax on consumer goods is unneeded for a service few people use.

Public transit has provided Maricopa County residents with access to ease of travel. Light rail expansions, short-term rental bikes and scooters and public buses have all become viable options for city-dwelling Arizonans. With these options becoming more available, voters and groups are butting heads over the taxation and costs of expanding these transit systems. Some places in Maricopa County also may not have the means to afford certain forms of public transit to be able to expand into their cities.

Continue reading “Prop. 479 seeks to continue half-cent sales tax that helps fund Maricopa County public transit, roads”

• Slug: Health Care Election. 1,160 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Madeline Nguyen
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Maria Losoya isn’t a doctor. She can’t treat patients, and she can’t do surgeries. But in southern Arizona’s border communities, she performs a special kind of life-saving health care. She’s an expert at navigating the health insurance marketplace – in English and Spanish.

It’s a strength that has made Losoya a trusted face in her home of Santa Cruz County, where nearly one in three residents were uninsured in 2022 – the highest rate in the state, according to the National Institutes of Health. Day and night, community members call Losoya from hospital rooms to see how they can afford the treatment they need, from emergency care to chemotherapy.

Continue reading “Future of ACA, health insurance coverage at stake in presidential election”

• Slug: Mental Health Maternal Mortality. 920 words.  
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).
• Story voiceover available.

By Nicollette Valenzuela
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – “Can we skip straight to the empowerment session?” shouts someone from a crowd at a small, dimly lit shop with a fluorescent pink glow. The “empowerment session” gathers more than 30 participants every Tuesday night at The Daily Mix Nutrition store in Avondale.

After a battle with postpartum depression, Yormheri Munguia, the store’s owner, and Jennie Parra, a women’s transformation coach, recently started the Women’s Empowerment workout.

Continue reading “How mental health affects maternal mortality in Arizona”

• Slug: Lethal Restraint-Repeat Offenders. 1,485 words.
• Photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By James Brown, Jr., Nathan Collins and Taylor Stevens
Howard Center for Investigative Journalism

Sometimes second chances can prove deadly.

A police officer in Minnesota was suspended for threatening to shoot a passenger in the head after an unauthorized high-speed chase. In Paterson, New Jersey, an officer threw a handcuffed woman to the ground and strangled her. And in Little Rock, Arkansas, a patrol officer was allowed to rack up 36 sustained misconduct allegations and at least 65 days of suspension.

Each officer went on to be involved in a deadly encounter with the public. Not in shootings, but in cases where the force – whether physical restraints, blows or weapons such as a Taser – is often referred to as “less lethal.”
Continue reading “These police officers had red flags in their past, then used force in a case that ended in death”

• Slug: Heat-Relief Centers. 880 words.
• Photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Jalen Woody
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – In the middle of the desert, in Maricopa County, summer is the most brutal time. This year, temperatures reached 100 degrees or over for 142 days, according to the National Weather Service.

To combat heat struggles, the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) implemented a heat-relief network of centers to provide everyone with the care needed to brave some of the hottest temperatures in the United States.

Continue reading “Maricopa County combats heat with its heat-relief network; Phoenix reports serving 35,000”

EDS: An earlier version of this story included several errors, which occurred in grafs 10, 11, 30 and 31 of the original and in a photo caption. The story and caption below have been corrected, but clients who used previous versions are asked to run the correction found here.

• Slug: Carbon Capture. 900 words.
• Photos available (thumbnails, captions available below).

By Kelechukwu Iruoma
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – As climate change continues to wreak havoc, companies in Arizona are developing technologies intended to pull greenhouse gas from the air.

Arizona’s unusually intense summer heat – with triple-digit temperatures continuing into October – plus frequent wildfires and decreased flow in the Colorado River are all linked to greenhouse gas buildup, scientists say.

Continue reading “Arizona companies building tech to reduce carbon emissions”