• Slug: BC-CNS-Awaiting Abortion,840
• 2 file photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Haley Smilow
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, it left Arizona officials, advocates and physicians with 120 years of conflicting abortion laws to untangle.

Two months later, things are still tangled.

“We have struggled to understand what is permissible by law,” said Dr. Jill Gibson, medical director for Planned Parenthood Arizona. “It’s antithetical to my ethical and moral obligations as a physician, which are to the patient.” Continue reading “Two months after Roe reversal, abortion picture in Arizona no clearer”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Life Drops,690
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By Ryan Knappenberger
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona life expectancy fell by 2.5 years in 2020, posting one of the steepest drops in a nation that saw the sharpest declines in lifespans since World War II, according to a new report.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report Tuesday said life expectancy in Arizona fell from 78.8 years in 2019 to 76.3 in 2020. U.S. life expectancy in the same period fell by 1.8 years, from 78.8 years to 77, putting Arizona lifespans below the national average for the first time since 2006. Continue reading “Arizona life expectancy fell an ‘extraordinary’ 2.5 years in 2020”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Biden Time,730
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By Tristan Richards
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden’s name is being invoked a lot this year on the Arizona campaign trail – by Republicans.

GOP campaign sites routinely blame the country’s woes on Biden “and his leftist allies,” with GOP Senate nominee Blake Masters’ website tagging Biden no fewer than 15 times – three times more than he name-checks former President Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, the president is all but invisible on Democratic campaign websites. The latest example came Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” when Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly would not directly say if he wanted Biden’s help on the campaign trail. Continue reading “Joe who must not be named: Democrats steer clear of Biden in campaigns”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Mueller Killer,800
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By Ryan Knappenberger
Cronkite News

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A second ISIS militant was sentenced to life in prison Friday for the kidnapping and killing of Prescott native Kayla Mueller, a relief to her parents who pledged to continue fighting for her memory.

“Now we can set this behind us,” Carl Mueller said outside the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, where El Shafee Elsheikh was sentenced for crimes the judge called “horrific, barbaric, brutal, callous and, of course, criminal.” Continue reading “Final ISIS kidnapper sentenced to life for role in Kayla Mueller’s death”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Tribal Schools,980
• 4 file photos, map available (embed code, thumbnails, captions below)

By Morgan Fischer
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Pope Francis apologized. Interior Secretary Deb Haaland called it a “heartbreaking” part of U.S. history. Congress is considering legislation to atone for the government’s actions.

Few dispute that Indian boarding schools led to more than a century of abuse, systematically seizing Indigenous land, separating children from their families, destroying communities and working to erase tribal languages, religions, cultures and economies. Poor conditions and harsh treatment at the schools are blamed for the deaths of untold numbers of Indigenous children who were supposed to be in the government’s care.

While the abuses were in the past, the schools are not, entirely. Arizona, home to 47 federal Indian boarding schools at one point, still has eight such schools today. Continue reading “Tribal boarding schools much improved, but legacy of old schools remains”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Earmark Expansion,1280
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By Neetish Basnet
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Add another item to the long list of things that Republican and Democratic members of Arizona’s congressional delegation disagree on: earmarks.

For a second straight year, Republicans refrained from requesting any funding for local projects, while Democrats this year raised their requests by more than $194.5 million, a 43% increase over last year, when earmarks were restored after a decade-long hiatus. Continue reading “Can’t hurt to ask: Arizona lawmakers raise earmark requests by $194 million”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Trusting Trump,840
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By Neetish Basnet
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Scottsdale resident William Acorn had made occasional donations to conservative candidates in the past, but never considered himself an “avid political person.”

That changed in 2020, after a flurry of emails from then-President Donald Trump’s campaign begging supporters to “step up and give us the resources” to challenge Democrats’ plans “to count ILLEGAL ballots.” Acorn became one of tens of thousands of Arizonans who responded with almost 35,000 individual donations to Trump’s “Election Defense Fund.”

The only problem is, no such fund existed. Continue reading “Arizona donors double down after Jan. 6 panel questions Trump election fund”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Border DC,950
• 4 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Tracy Abiaka
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Washington, D.C., officials are asking federal and regional governments to help area nonprofits stretched thin by busloads of migrants who are being sent to the city by the governors of Arizona and Texas.

To which Gov. Doug Ducey said, “Welcome to our world.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began busing migrants to the East Coast in April to bring attention to surging migration and to protest Biden administration plans to end Title 42, a Trump-era policy that let asylum seekers be turned away because of the pandemic. Ducey followed suit in May. Continue reading “D.C. services stressed by migrants bused in from Arizona, Texas borders”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Robo Rebound,740
• File photo, video story, robocall and robotext graphics available (embed codes, thumbnails, captions below)

By Daisy Gonzalez-Perez
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Federal regulations aimed at blocking robocalls appear to have had some effect over the past year, but robotexts have skyrocketed in their place, according to a recent report from the Arizona Public Interest Research Group.

The PIRG report said the number of phone companies that have installed spam-blocking technology since it was required last year by the Federal Communications Commission has quadrupled, and the number of spam robocalls appears to have fallen by 47% in that period. Continue reading “Rise of the robotexts: As new rules curbed spam calls, texts took off”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Border Record,690
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By Daisy Gonzalez-Perez
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – More than 1.74 million migrants had been stopped at the southwest border through June, breaking the record set through all of the last fiscal year with three months still to go in this fiscal year.

The latest numbers from Customs and Border Protection show that while apprehensions fell sharply from May to June, they were still above 200,000 for a fourth straight month. That pushed encounters in the first nine months of fiscal 2022 past the previous record of 1.73 million apprehensions through all of fiscal 2021. Continue reading “June border encounters top 200,000, set record of 1.74 million for year”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Arizona Insurrection,810
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By Tracy Abiaka
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Peoria, expressed concerns on the eve of Jan. 6 that Trump supporters would “go nuts” if Congress did not overturn the 2020 election results and asked House leaders for a safety plan for lawmakers.

“We also have, quite honestly, Trump supporters who actually believe that we are going to overturn the election,” Lesko said in a recording played Tuesday at a hearing of the Jan. 6 committee. “And when that doesn’t happen – most likely will not happen – they are going to go nuts.” Continue reading “Arizona lawmakers Lesko, Biggs, Gosar cited in Jan. 6 hearing testimony”

• Slug: BC-CNS-MPP ASAP,900
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below)

By Morgan Fischer
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Advocates waiting for the Biden administration to end the “remain in Mexico” immigration policy could be waiting weeks, or more, despite the Supreme Court ruling last month that the administration has the authority to do so.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said last week that his agency has to wait for the high court’s 5-4 ruling to be “actually communicated to the lower court” before the administration can end the program, a process he said could take “several weeks.” Continue reading “Despite Supreme Court OK to end it, ‘remain in Mexico’ remains for now”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Prison Paper,760
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By Neetish Basnet
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court Friday upheld the Arizona prison system’s ban on sexually explicit material for inmates, rejecting claims by a censored prison magazine publisher that the policy violates the First Amendment.

The ruling by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with the publisher that one part of the prison system’s Order 914 – banning material that “may,” “could” or “appears to be intended” to cause sexual excitement – was too broad and needed to be dropped. Continue reading “Court upholds Arizona prisons’ ban on explicit materials for inmates”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Freedom Medal,830
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Morgan Fischer
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – It was an offhand remark by President Joe Biden during Thursday’s Presidential Medal of Freedom ceremony at the White House, but Khizr Khan took it to heart: The Gold Star dad plans to display his medal next to those earned in combat by his late son.

It was just one moment from a sometimes somber, sometimes jovial event when Biden honored 17 Americans, including the late Sen. John McCain and former Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, whom he called “the soul of our nation” from the worlds of art, athletics and public service. Continue reading “Medal of Freedom winners McCain, Giffords, others are ‘soul of our nation’”

• Slug: BC-CNS-308 Debate,640
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By Daisy Gonzalez-Perez
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – A broad-based group of political, business and immigration leaders rallied Wednesday to drum up support for Proposition 308, the ballot initiative that would guarantee in-state tuition for any Arizona high school graduate, regardless of citizenship status.

With an estimated 2,000 undocumented students graduating from Arizona high schools every year, backers of the “Yes on 308” campaign said it’s just “smart policy” to remove obstacles to their education. Continue reading “Business, political, migrant advocates kick off campaign for Prop 308”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Tapachula Sex Work,980
• 3 photos, video clip available (thumbnails, captions below)

By Emilee Miranda
Cronkite News

TAPACHULA, Mexico – For migrants in this overwhelmed city, many women from very different parts of the globe turn to sex work for the same reason: survival.

Behind Benito Juarez Park, in Tapachula’s center, women sit in pairs or stand by themselves outside the bars and restaurants. Their heavy eyeshadow and bright lips are juxtaposed with their casual blouses and sandals. They blend in among the chaos of the square but stand out to the men looking for their services.

Nearly half the migrants who crossed Mexico’s southern border in 2021 were women, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. When women, especially single mothers, arrive in Tapachula, they lack job opportunities and proper work permits, according to Cristian Gomez Fuentes, coordinator for Brigada Callejera de Apoyo a la Mujer Elisa Martinez center in Tapachula. Continue reading “Sex work equals survival for some migrant women in Tapachula, Mexico”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Costly Cookout,810
• 2 photos, graphic available (embed code, thumbnails, captions below)

By Daisy Gonzalez-Perez
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – The real fireworks for this Fourth of July weekend may not be bursting in air – they may be in the supermarket aisles.

The American Farm Bureau’s annual market basket survey of holiday food prices found that the cost of a cookout for 10 this year will be $69.68, a skyrocketing 17% higher than the same meal last year, which cost $59.50. Continue reading “Burgers and bucks: Typical July 4th cookout will cost 17% more this year”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Giffords McCain,910
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By Morgan Fischer
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona icons Gabrielle Giffords and the late John McCain were among the 17 recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom announced Friday by the Biden administration.

Also in the group is Khizr Khan, a Gold Star father who rose to prominence defending McCain against attacks by then-candidate Donald Trump. Khan said Friday that he was having a hard time explaining the “gratitude and honor that I feel that I’ll be in the same ceremony” as McCain.

“It’s an amazing sentiment at this point that I’m still trying to get a hold of,” Khan said Friday. Continue reading “McCain, Giffords to be honored next week with Presidential Medal of Freedom”