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HOST INTRO: This is… THE SWEET SPOT, a show about the week’s biggest sports stories in Arizona. I’m Sam Eddy….
[music up and fade out] Continue reading “The Sweet Spot: Twins talk for Gaspars; a Phoenix Muni milestone; a scare for Borup; and Cherlowsky’s bright future”
By Jake Seymour
Cronkite News
TEMPE – As voters filed their registration forms for May’s vote on the building of the Arizona Coyotes Tempe entertainment district, questions still loom over the project’s potential benefits and costs to the city.
On Monday, two studies were released, one conducted by the Grand Canyon Institute (GCI) and another from Arizona State University’s Seidman Research Institute at W.P. Carey School of Business, that provide different outlooks based on their findings. Continue reading “As questions surround Tempe entertainment district, studies predict impact ahead of May vote”
“I was wrongfully convicted of a crime of first-degree murder,” he said, “which I did not commit.”
Rushdan is now a free man thanks to the Arizona Justice Project, which works to exonerate people who have been wrongfully convicted.
He has become an advocate for criminal justice reform and serves as social justice programs manager for Arizona Faith Network, where he helps others who have been wrongfully accused through several social and criminal programs. Continue reading “‘I was wrongfully convicted’: Exonerated Arizonan fights to change criminal justice”
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(Music) This is CN2Go.
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I’m Roxanne De La Rosa…. coming up… how a Texas ruling on an abortion medication affects Arizonans and a Senate bill could change the way police body camera footage is accessed. Continue reading “CN2Go Weekly Update: Abortion medication, body camera footage, both available, both under threat”
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This is… The Sweet Spot, a show about the week’s biggest sports stories in Arizona… I’m Jake Brown.
[music up and fade out] Continue reading “The Sweet Spot: Trouble in (Turf) Paradise; all eyes on Durant; talking her way into the boys’ club”
EDS: This is a partner story from KUNC. If you choose to use it, please fill out this form to help their tracking.
By Luke Runyon
KUNC
Cuts to water use along the Colorado River could be spread evenly across some Southwestern states, or follow the more than century-old priority system that currently governs water management.
Those are two alternatives in a draft plan released Tuesday by the Bureau of Reclamation, as federal officials consider ways to keep hydropower generation going at the nation’s largest reservoirs, which are being threatened by a historic drought.
The release of the federal plan comes as the seven states that rely on the river for drinking and irrigation water supply – Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, New Mexico, Nevada and California – have been unable to come to a basin-wide consensus on how to share water cutbacks. Continue reading “As states continue to bicker, feds say Colorado River cuts are coming”
By Lux Butler
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Text messages updating rural residents about COVID-19 are now being expanded to other health issues to text people who have less access to health care, including people of color, migrants and those who are immunocompromised.
The platform was built to provide up-to-date information to rural health care providers on COVID-19 protocols during the early days of the pandemic. The Center for Rural Health at the University of Arizona sent texts to over 3,000 subscribers during the pandemic, according to Maiya Block Ngaybe, who coordinates outreach for the program. But as the number of cases caused by the coronavirus continues to drop, the need has evolved. Continue reading “Text ‘join’ to get COVID-19, health updates in rural Arizona”
By Jeremy Yurow
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Arizona cities, environmental advocates and businesses are teaming up to combat extreme heat by launching a variety of tree-planting initiatives.
With names like “Trees are Cool” and a “Cool Corridor” program, Mesa and Phoenix are trying to motivate residents to join the effort by providing free trees and resources to help with planting.
The effort can’t come soon enough. Data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests that Arizona’s climate conditions are becoming more extreme, and fatalities from extreme heat have spiked in recent years. Continue reading “As heat-related deaths soar in Arizona, cities, businesses and environmental activists launch tree-planting initiatives”
EDS: This is a partner story from KUNC. If you choose to use it, please fill out this form to help their tracking.
By Alex Hager
KUNC
The Gila River Indian Community could get up to $233 million in federal funding for water conservation, one of the first to get the money under a program aimed at encouraging water cutbacks in Arizona, California and Nevada.
The tribe will get $50 million from the Inflation Reduction Act this year in exchange for agreeing to leave 125,000 acre feet of water in Lake Mead that it would otherwise be entitled to. There is an option for the tribe to do so again in 2024 and 2025, receiving $50 million for each year it conserves that much water in the lake, which is at dangerously low levels. Continue reading “Arizona tribe to get millions in federal payouts for water conservation”
EDS: Clients who used the Cronkite News story slugged BC-CNS-Medicaid Purge that moved Wednesday, April 5, under a WASHINGTON dateline are are asked to run the following correction. The errors occurred in the eighth, 11th and 12th grafs of the original. A corrected version of the story has been posted here.
WASHINGTON – An April 5 story about state efforts to verify the eligibility of people on Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System rolls mischaracterized parts of the verification process. AHCCCS, the state’s Medicaid program, expects that it can determine eligibility of about three-quarters of current enrollees simply by checking already-available federal data, and it is working with the Department of Economic Security to streamline the process for food stamp recipients.
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HOST: This is CN2Go.
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HOST: I’m Amber Victoria Singer. Continue reading “CN2Go Weekly Update: Law students and Trump; a firefighter museum; and a drummer scales his mountain”
By Alexis Waiss
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Aaron Gunches was supposed to die Thursday night. But instead the convicted murderer will spend at least two more months on Arizona’s death row while courts decide if the state can be forced to carry out an execution it says it is not ready for.
Gov. Katie Hobbs has said she intends to carry out Gunches’ death warrant, but not until the state has the proper procedures in place. But Gunches’ victims argued in Maricopa Superior Court Thursday that the delay is denying them their rights.
“The victims will never have their right, in these types of cases, to prompt and final conclusions” under Hobbs’ reasoning, said Ryan Green, one of the attorneys for the victims, in an hour-long hearing before Superior Court Judge Frank Moskowitz. Continue reading “Question for victims, court, is not if Aaron Gunches will die, but when”
By James Powel
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – The Arizona Coyotes’ development arm threatened Wednesday to sue Phoenix for interfering with plans for the team’s new home in a proposed Tempe Entertainment District, saying a Phoenix lawsuit “intentionally harmed” the developer.
Bluebird Development LLC’s “notice of claim” gave the city 60 days to drop a lawsuit that seeks to block the entertainment district – or “to settle this matter for $2.3 billion,” the damages Bluebird said it will suffer from the city’s suit. Continue reading “Coyotes’ developer threatens to sue Phoenix for ‘interference’ in Tempe entertainment district”
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This is… THE SWEET SPOT, a show about the week’s biggest sports stories in Arizona.
I’m Harris Hicks.
[music up and fade out] Continue reading “The Sweet Spot: Basketball’s House of Hurley; does MLB mean Major League blackout?”
EDS: An earlier version of this story mischaracterized parts of the eligibility verification process. AHCCCS says it can determine eligibility of about three-quarters of current enrollees simply by checking already-available federal data, and it is working with the Department of Economic Security to streamline the process for food stamp recipients. The errors occurred in the eighth, 11th and 12th grafs. The story below has been corrected, but clients who used earlier version are asked to run the correction found here.
By Alexis Waiss
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Arizona started purging people from the pandemic-inflated Medicaid rolls this month, a process that could end up pushing more than 600,000 people off the plan, health officials and advocates said.
The Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System said it is doing all it can to make sure people who are removed from the rolls get coverage elsewhere, such as in the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Advocates welcomed that effort, but said the disenrollment process still creates uncertainty for recipients and will lead to bigger burdens down the road for providers. Continue reading “State begins to shed thousands from Medicaid, push them to other care”
By Lauren Kobley
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Every April, the Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits and Arizona Grantmakers Forum host a 24-hour donation frenzy called Arizona Gives Day. The goal is to raise awareness about Arizona nonprofits while promoting and inspiring people to give.
The fundraising event benefits almost 1,000 nonprofits statewide. This year’s goal is to surpass $4 million, and organizers say it’s especially important because many nonprofit organizations are facing serious financial strain due to rising inflation and costs. Continue reading “Arizona Gives Day collects donations to benefit over 1,000 nonprofits”
By Kylie Werner
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes joined 21 other state attorneys general Friday in supporting a Food and Drug Administration proposal that would make it easier for LGBTQ individuals to donate blood and plasma.
Gay and bisexual men are currently barred from donating blood or plasma for three months after their most recent sexual contact with a man. Continue reading “Kris Mayes, other AGs support FDA proposal to make donating blood easier for LGBTQ population”
By Autriya Maneshni
Cronkite News
BUCKEYE – Verrado High School is one of the first schools in the Agua Fria Union High School District to install weapons detectors on campus. The detectors are calibrated to detect heavy metals such as firearms. Verrado is one of five schools within the district receiving the high-tech detectors.
“There are still lots of things that go into school safety, and this is just one of the pieces,” said Nate Showman, principal at Verrado High School. “But I think just a visual is a good sense of assurance for students and staff knowing that safety is taken seriously in this district.” Continue reading “Buckeye high school installs weapons detectors in student-safety push”
By Drake Presto
Cronkite News
TEMPE – Jeia Gilliam, 27, started dancing in 2008 after being inspired by movies and TV shows like “Step Up 2: The Streets” and “America’s Best Dance Crew.” Looking back at the beginning of her dance career, Gilliam said she wasn’t very good but always thought that she was.
“I think the reason I thought like that is because dancing always felt good,” Gilliam said.
Gilliam moved from Virginia to Arizona a year ago. On March 18, she was one of about 80 dancers who auditioned in the Red Bull “Dance Your Style” competition held in the Galvin Plaza at Arizona State University’s Tempe campus. Continue reading “Dancers battle it out in Tempe for a chance to compete on the global stage”
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THIS IS YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2GO BRIEFING…
(Bring up music briefly and duck below and out)
I’M KENNY RASMUSSEN… Continue reading “CN2Go Weekly Update: Hope for housing, liver health education and a spa that started it all”
