• Slug: BC-CNS-Police LGBTQ,1040.
• Photo available available (thumbnail, caption below)

By Hannah Kathleen Roesch
News21

Greg Miraglia couldn’t tell anyone he was gay when he started work as a police cadet in Walnut Creek, California. He knew he’d be fired.

Now, as founder of Out to Protect, the 35-year veteran of law enforcement works to repair the still fraught relationship between LGBTQ people and police departments. His California nonprofit, launched in 2016, supports LGBTQ officers and trains departments on better ways to treat people who are LGBTQ.

“My thinking at the time was that the best way that we’re going to change hearts and minds in the profession is to have more ‘out’ people,” Miraglia said. Continue reading “Representation on police force builds trust with LGBTQ people”

• Slug: BC-CNS-High School EV,890.
• 5 photos, audio story available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Autriya Maneshni
Cronkite News

GLENDALE – Most high school students begin their day behind a desk, pencils in hand. Students in Cactus High School’s automotive classes begin their day under a car, tools in hand. Some work on gas-powered cars, but others are learning to build something brand new for the school’s curriculum: an electric vehicle.

“Right now, we’ve got all the suspension done,” said Felix Ramirez, automotive instructor for 105 students at Cactus High. “We’ve got the motor in, we have the wiring harnesses for the electric motor and we’re working now on the battery compartment side of it.” Continue reading “Cactus High students build a road-worthy electric vehicle”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Biden Bowers,800.
• 2 photos, graphic available (embed code, thumbnail, caption below)

By Alexis Waiss
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Former Arizona House Speaker Rusty Bowers was honored with 11 others by President Joe Biden on Friday for their “contributions to democracy” during and after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Bowers, a Republican, received the Presidential Citizens Medal on the second anniversary of the insurrection along with police who defended the Capitol, election workers, and state and local officials who faced threats from election deniers.

Bowers was thrust into the spotlight with his June testimony to the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack. He described his steadfast refusal to tamper with Arizona’s 2020 election results, which went for Biden, despite pressure by then-President Donald Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani and others. Continue reading “Biden honors Bowers, others, on second anniversary of Jan. 6 insurrection”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Arizona Holocaust Education,960.
• 4 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Shane Brennan
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Teaching about the Holocaust isn’t easy, but educators and experts say it’s worth the effort.

Under a bill signed by Gov. Doug Ducey in 2021, schools must teach the events of the Holocaust and other genocides twice from grade 7 to grade 12.

The Holocaust was the systematic genocide of an estimated 6 million Jews and members of other groups in Nazi-controlled Europe before and during World War II.. Sheryl Bronkesh, president of the Phoenix Holocaust Association, said the teaching of the Holocaust is critical for young students to develop empathy in the early stages of their education. Continue reading “Empathy and humanity are at the center of Holocaust education in Arizona”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Water Future,900.
• File photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Ryan Knappenberger
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Experts say few Arizona residents will notice any immediate change to the availability of water in their daily lives after Jan. 1, when steep cuts will be imposed on the amount of water the state can draw from the Colorado River.

But that does not mean they can relax. State and federal water officials expect more cuts will be required in 2023, as they struggle to keep drought-ravaged Lake Powell and Lake Mead from falling to critically low levels.

And it’s anybody’s guess as to when and how those additional cuts will take effect, they say. Continue reading “Water reductions for the new year may be just the beginning, experts say”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Vaccination Rates,630
• Photo, graphic available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Cole Januszewski
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Vaccination rates among schoolchildren in Arizona have steadily declined since 2012, but the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the drop across the state.

The trend is unlikely to reverse any time soon, which could result in serious health consequences for Arizonans in the future, experts fear.

Since 2020, routine preventative health care visits and vaccinations for kids have fallen 30% to 50% in Arizona, said Dr. Sean Elliott, who specializes in pediatric infectious diseases and is an emeritus professor of pediatrics at the University of Arizona College of Medicine. The drop occurred because doctor’s offices were shut down by pandemic precautions. Continue reading “Arizona’s falling vaccination rates could lead to serious health issues in the future”

• Slug: Sports-Arizona Gallaudet,650.
• 7 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Haley Smilow
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Most athletes face challenges in their careers, but being able to freely communicate with teammates and coaches is not usually on that list.

“I was the only deaf person there,” said Sonya Szywala, signing about her experience as a student at Arcadia High School in Phoenix. “I used interpreters. I didn’t have any friends in Arizona.”

That changed for Szywala, a multisport athlete through high school, when she joined the swim team at Gallaudet University, a school for the deaf and hard of hearing in Washington, D.C. She’s one of a handful of Arizona athletes at Gallaudet who face the challenges that every athlete faces, minus the problem of communicating. Continue reading “For Arizona athletes, competing at Gallaudet means one less challenge”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Farmers Fuel,800.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Zoë Blume
Gaylord News

As if this year hasn’t been rough enough on the agriculture community, farmers can now add “global diesel shortage” to their hardship bingo card for 2022.

Just weeks after Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed an executive order to continue drought relief efforts for farmers in that state, reports of what some are calling a devastating diesel shortage and the higher prices that come with it are rolling in to accompany farmers into the already harsh winter season.

“I’m harvesting soybeans that aren’t even worth harvesting right now,” Oklahoma farmer Tim Heinrich said last month. Continue reading “Already struggling, farmers face another challenge with diesel shortage”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Vox Voters,800.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Emilee Miranda and Ryan Knappenberger
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona voters this fall made it slightly tougher on themselves when it comes to passing laws at the ballot box, but they also sent a strong message to state legislators – keep your hands off voter initiatives.

That mixed message was the upshot of a package of unrelated ballot measures that critics said aimed to rein in voters’ power after a string of victories by progressive groups at the ballot box in recent years. Continue reading “Voters limited their own power to legislate, told state lawmakers to butt out”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Fire Fight,710.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Haley Smilow
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Voters said no to a plan that would have added one-tenth of a penny to the state sales tax to benefit rural fire districts, but firefighters warn that the need – and the threat to public safety – have not gone away.

“The funding crisis for Arizona fire districts and the Arizona fire paramedic service as a whole is going to continue,” said Bryan Jeffries, the president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona, one of the main supporters of Proposition 310.

The proposition would have increased the state sales tax from 5.6% to 5.7% for the next 20 years to support fire districts. It was rejected by a 52-48% margin, with 1.23 million Arizonans voting against it and 1.14 million supporting. Continue reading “Fire districts face uncertain funding future after ballot measure’s failure”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Executions Rebound,1170.
• 5 file photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Tori Gantz
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – After an eight-year hiatus, Arizona executed three death row inmates in 2022, the most death sentences carried out in the state in a decade.

And Attorney General Mark Brnovich has set the wheels in motion for a fourth execution, which could come after he leaves office next month.

Brnovich on Wednesday asked the Arizona Supreme Court to issue a death warrant for Aaron Brian Gunches, a convicted murderer who has waived all his appeals and who petitioned the court last month for a death warrant “so that justice may be lawfully served and give closure to the victim’s family.” Continue reading “Arizona resumed executions in 2022, outgoing Brnovich seeks one more”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Tribal Summit,710.
• 3 photos available (thumbnail, caption below)

By Zoë Blume
Gaylord News

WASHINGTON – For the first time in six years, leaders of federally recognized tribes from across the country gathered in Washington this week to meet with Biden administration officials in a gathering one Oklahoma leader called “extremely powerful.”

“When you’re sitting in that room, with representation of 574 tribal nations across the country. It’s … extremely powerful,” said Joseph Byrd, chairman of the Quapaw Tribe in northeastern Oklahoma.

“I would go ahead and say it’s a synergy, not an energy but a synergy in the room, of this commitment by the Biden-Harris administration. It can’t really be depicted through video,” Byrd said. Continue reading “Tribal leaders welcome return of White House summit, administration pledges”

EDS: CORRECTS misquote of Richard Andrade in the 21st graf from previous version. The story below has been corrected, but clients who used previous versions are asked to run the correction found here. UPDATES with new sixth graf to reflect Senate action, Biden signing. No other changes.

• Slug: BC-CNS-Railroaded Unions,850.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below)

By Tori Gantz
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Most members of Arizona’s congressional delegation joined the rest of the House Wednesday to give overwhelming bipartisan approval to a bill that would head off a national rail strike by imposing contract terms on rail workers’ unions.

But the delegation – and the House – split on party lines on a second proposal that would mandate paid sick leave for railroad workers, a key demand of unions that was largely rejected by management in the latest tentative contract.

That contract was rejected in November by four of the 12 affected unions, setting the stage for a possible strike as early as next week that lawmakers and the Biden administration said would be crippling to the nation’s economy. Continue reading “Arizona lawmakers vote to impose contract on rail workers, fend off strike”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Migration Discretion,850.
• 3 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Tristan Richards
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday grappled with how strictly the federal government must enforce immigration policy, and whether states should have a say in how that policy is enforced.

The hearing came in Texas’ challenge to a Biden administration policy that directs Homeland Security to focus its deportation efforts on immigrants who pose a threat to public safety, not on those who “have been contributing members of our communities across the country for years.” Continue reading “Supreme Court wrestles over state challenges to federal immigration policy”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Hobbs Transition,840.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Ryan Knappenberger
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Ignoring challenges and election critics, Gov.-elect Katie Hobbs pressed on toward a transition Wednesday as aides laid out the incoming administration’s priorities and promised she will be “a governor for all Arizonans.”

That message was seconded by Gov. Doug Ducey, who met with Hobbs and congratulated her in a tweet on “her victory in a hard-fought race.”

“All of us have waited patiently for the democratic process to play out,” Ducey wrote Wednesday. “The people of Arizona have spoken, their votes have been counted and we respect their decision.” Continue reading “Hobbs presses steadily toward transition, even as challenges swirl”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Oak Fight,1060.
• 3 phot0s, video story available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Tori Gantz
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Kiana Beazley, a Bear Clan member of the White Mountain Apache tribe, remembers the four days of ritual that celebrated her transition from girlhood to womanhood, surrounded by family and the presence of her ancestors on Indigenous land.

Land where an apartment complex now stands.

That loss is what led Beazley to join a group of Arizona high school students and alumni in Washington this week to lobby for a bill that would block development of a copper mine proposed for Oak Flat, land that is sacred to the San Carlos Apache. Continue reading “Arizona students come to lobby as courts, Congress, fight over Oak Flat”