• Slug: BC-CNS-Coin Collectors,520.
• 13 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Lydia Curry
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – The 2023 National Money Show, hosted by the American Numismatic Association, brings hundreds of millions of dollars worth of rare coins and paper money to the Valley through Saturday.

Collectors and curators have come together at the Phoenix Convention Center for a weekend of history through currency.

Some of the coins date back all the way to 1796, and others are simply misprinted, with upside-down serial numbers or different amounts printed on each side. Continue reading “Coin collectors unite: National Money Show in Phoenix features rare currency”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Majestic Monarchs,890.
• 7 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Sarah Min Heller
Cronkite News

PHOENIX — Butterflies are back at the Desert Botanical Garden, which has been working for years to help boost the still-endangered monarch butterfly’s population, as well the milkweed plant it depends on for its lifecycle in the Grand Canyon State.

Majestic Mariposas, the garden’s spring butterfly exhibit, welcomes visitors daily Saturday, March 4, through Sunday, May 14, to see and learn about more than 2,000 native butterflies on display, including the iconic but dwindling monarch.

In the butterfly pavilion, guests can view caterpillars and chrysalises in the nursery where butterflies hatch and explore native milkweed that’s essential to the monarch’s survival. Continue reading “Desert Botanical Garden nurtures endangered monarchs and native butterflies at Majestic Mariposas exhibit”

• Slug: BC-CNS-African American Museum,800.
• 12 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Logan Camden
Cronkite News

TUCSON – A question posed by a 7-year-old doing a book report during Black History Month two years ago planted the seed for the creation of the African American Museum of Southern Arizona.

“So, where is the museum I can go to here in Tucson to learn about African American people who lived around here?” Jeremiah Elliott asked his grandmother, Beverely Elliott. She and her husband, Bob, went on to help found the recently opened museum.

After a little more than a year of work, the African American Museum of Southern Arizona officially opened on Jan. 14, 2023, with the intention to “enable the community to join together and respect the past, honor the present, and pay reverence to the future while engaging and sustaining social action,” according to the museum’s website. Continue reading “African American history museum aims to preserve Black history and fight for social change”

• BC-CNS-More Border,910.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Alexis Waiss
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona officials told a House committee Tuesday that local law enforcement and health care workers are ill-equipped to handle the recent surge of immigration at the southern border.

Pinal County Sheriff Mark Lamb and Dr. Robert Trenschel, president and CEO of the Yuma Regional Medical Center, testified as part of a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the “border crisis.” It was the latest in a string of GOP hearings – two of which were held this month in Arizona border communities – attacking the Biden administration for its handling of the border. Continue reading “Pinal, Yuma officials tell House migration surge is overwhelming them”

• BC-CNS-Playground Works,1020.
• 9 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Lauren Kobley
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Playgrounds are an iconic part of childhood that help create lasting memories and build social skills. Research by Kaboom, a national organization that seeks to eliminate “play space inequity,” shows that kids from lower socioeconomic groups and communities of color are more likely to lack a decent place to play.

“Play space iniquity has deep roots in racism, disinvestment, redlining and real estate community exclusion,” said Iyana Moore, associate director of strategic communications at Kaboom, which partners with local schools and businesses to build playgrounds in areas where access to playgrounds has been historically limited. Continue reading “Nonprofit builds new playground for Phoenix school to combat inequities”

• BC-CNS-Crime Victims,620.
• 5 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Abigail Scott
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Crime survivors and their families from across Arizona gathered at the state Capitol Monday asking lawmakers to fund trauma recovery centers that offer therapy and social services.

Arizona members of Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice, who support all victims of violence, marched outside the Capitol building during a “Survivors Speak” event, demanding better support and funding. Survivors shared their stories, and family members honored lost loved ones by holding up pictures and lighting candles. Continue reading “Crime survivors rally at state Capitol to demand better trauma care”

• BC-CNS-Unclaimed Property,400.
• 5 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Izabella Hernandez
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Eduardo Carrasco perused jewelry and coins at the Arizona Department of Revenue unclaimed property auction last month.

Carrasco was looking for jewelry for his wife’s birthday and Valentine’s Day, and searching for collectible coins for himself.

He said he has participated in the auction for five or six years and expected to leave with four or five items, depending on the demand and other bidders.

Carrasco’s favorite part? “Just the excitement of winning a bid,” he said. Continue reading “Staking a claim: Annual unclaimed property auction draws bargain hunters”

• BC-CNS-Corgi Racing,550.
• 4 photos, audio story available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Ayana Hamilton
Cronkite News

ARCADIA, Calif. – On a sunny Sunday, a flurry of furry, stubby legs galloped down the grass at one of the nation’s premier horse racetracks.

But these were not the thoroughbreds for which Santa Anita Park is known. Rather they were a barking pack of cuddly pooches all vying for the chance to be crowned champion of the Corgi Winter Nationals.

About 100 corgis took turns racing for the opportunity to become top dog at this annual competition. Some took racing seriously, scrambling down the course, tongues flying in the wind to the delight of owners gathered at the finish line. Other racers loafed or or used their track time to nip the competition. Continue reading “Top dog? Phoenix pooch paw-ticipates in Corgi Winter Nationals”

• Slug: BC-CNS-CN2Go Weekly Update. Runtime 14:25.
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(Bring up music briefly and duck below and out ) Continue reading “CN2Go Weekly Update: A Phoenix corgi races in Winter Nationals and an Arizona athlete reflects”

• BC-CNS-Death Appeal,940.
• 2 file photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Alexis Waiss
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – A divided Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that an Arizona death row inmate was wrongly denied the right to tell jurors he would never get out on parole if he was sentenced to life instead of death.

It is the third time the high court has told Arizona that capital defendants have that right, first identified in a 1994 ruling known as Simmons. Arizona had long claimed Simmons did not apply in the state, but the Supreme Court rejected that argument, ruling in a 2015 case known as Lynch that it does apply.

Despite that, John Montenegro Cruz was not allowed to tell jurors at his 2005 murder trial that if they did not sentence him to die, he would get life without chance of parole. He appealed his sentence after Lynch was handed down, but the Arizona Supreme Court said Lynch did not apply retroactively and rejected his appeal. Continue reading “Supreme Court chides Arizona – again – for death-penalty sentencing rules”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Fentanyl Deaths,1170.
• 8 photos, graphic, video story available (thumbnail, caption below)

By Conor McGill and James Powel
Cronkite News

PRESCOTT – Ashley Dunn loved to fish.

When she was 16, her father, Mitch Dunn, sneaked her and her family out onto the fifth hole of the south course at Antelope Hills Golf Courses to see if she could catch one of the carp swimming in the lake. She came away with a 3-pound goldfish that had been swimming in reclaimed water, but in photos, you would think she had caught a prize-winning marlin.

When Dunn was 26, she drove from Prescott to Black Canyon City to purchase what she believed to be oxycodone, but in reality, it was a fentanyl tablet.

At 1 a.m. on May 24, 2021, Mitch Dunn took a call from Yavapai Regional Medical Center. It was a call he had feared would come. He knew Ashley used drugs and that there was either a call from a hospital or a jail cell in her future. Continue reading “‘I will never stop’: Legislative fight against fentanyl continues as drug seizures rise”

• Slug: Sports-NASCAR Concussions,1180.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Joe Eigo
Cronkite News

AVONDALE – As Ricky Stenhouse Jr. celebrated Sunday’s Daytona 500 victory, and the track cleanup crew finished between turns one and two, NASCAR breathed a sigh of relief.

The climax of Sunday’s 65th running of the Daytona 500 delivered a familiar conclusion: drivers smashing into the wall, cars spinning and the caution flag coming out. Luckily for NASCAR, every driver walked away unscathed – something NASCAR couldn’t claim by the end of last season. Continue reading “Head over wheels: Inside NASCAR’s solution to concussion issues with enhanced Next Gen car”

• Slug: BC-CNS-CN2Go Weekly Update. Runtime 15:35.
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(Bring up music briefly and duck below and out ) Continue reading “CN2Go Weekly Update: Arizona conservation groups sue over proposed highway”

• BC-CNS-Space Inspiration,800.
• Photo available (thumbnail, caption below)

By Abigail Scott
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Astronaut and artist Sian Proctor is headlining Space2Inspire — a hands-on community event this weekend featuring science demonstrations, panel discussions and a Black-History-Month-inspired art mosaic in Sun Devil Stadium that will be photographed from space.

As mission pilot for SpaceX’s Inspiration4 in 2021, Proctor was the first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft and the first Black commercial astronaut. The Arizona State University artist- and explorer-in-residence and its XRts Immersive Media Fellow will help lead discussions with other astronauts, artists and scientists during Space2Inspire events Friday through Sunday, Feb. 17-19.

The weekend is part of ASU’s Black History Month events, offering immersive activities open to all to celebrate Black history and culture. Continue reading “Astronaut and artist Sian Proctor headlines ASU’s Space2Inspire events this weekend”

• BC-CNS-Arizona Mayorkas,1050.
• 2 file photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Alexis Waiss
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona was already edging away from a legal challenge by states trying to keep the Title 42 border policy in place when the Supreme Court on Thursday took the case off its calendar.

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes, a Democrat, had quietly backed away earlier this year from the lead role taken by her predecessor, Republican Mark Brnovich, declining to argue the case before the court but keeping Arizona as a party to the suit.

Arizona v. Mayorkas was scheduled to be argued before the court March 1, with the Louisiana attorney general taking the lead. But the justices Thursday removed the case from the calendar. Continue reading “States’ challenge to fed border policy pulled from Supreme Court calendar”

• BC-CNS-Burying P-22,620.
• 5 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Karina Romero
Cronkite News

LOS ANGELES – For Angelenos, he was P-22, the Brad Pitt of cougars, LA’s loneliest bachelor.

But for the Gabrielino-Tongva Band of Mission Indians, an Indigenous community of Southern California, P-22 was a “tukuurot,” or mountain lion in their language and a de facto member of the tribe’s extended family.

P-22’s life was celebrated this month at a two-hour ceremony at an outdoor amphitheater near where he once roamed. Thousands came to hear poets, rappers and celebrities like DJ Diplo recount the lion’s story.

The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County received P-22’s body from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife in San Diego. But for Gabrielino-Tongva tribal members, only a proper burial will do. Continue reading “Tribe seeks burial for mountain lion P-22 in LA park”