• Slug: BC-CNS-Fraud Fallout,910 words.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Erin Murphy
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – A state hotline has helped thousands of victims in the two months since state officials uncovered a string of fraudulent Medicaid-funded addiction care facilities in Arizona, but the exact scale of the problem is still unknown.

Navajo officials estimate that as many as 8,000 tribal members may have been affected by the scam, and the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System said it has provided aid to more than 3,000 – including 22 fraud victims that it has returned to other states.

Confirmation of those out-of-state cases followed a July letter from Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., citing reports of tribal members in Montana who were lured to Arizona with the promise of treatment. Continue reading “Thousands helped, thousands more may still be in need after Medicaid scams”

• Slug: BC-CNS-House Dads,760 words.
• Photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Jasmine Kabiri
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Rep. Ruben Gallego was not the first member of Congress to take paternity leave, a benefit that is becoming increasingly common in workplaces around the country.

But that doesn’t mean it was considered routine when the Phoenix Democrat announced in early July that he planned to put aside his job as congressman temporarily to “do the job of dad first.”

“It’s very uncommon for members to take family leave. Members think they’ll be politically penalized for being parents,” said Brad Fitch, president and CEO of the Congressional Management Foundation. Continue reading “House dads: Gallego’s paternity leave shows slowly growing acceptance”

EDS: This is a partner story from KUNC. If you choose to use it, please fill out this form to help their tracking.

• Slug: BC-CNS-Imperial Water,2810 words.
• 6 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Alex Hager
KUNC

Under the broiling hot sun of California’s Imperial Valley, a canal cuts the land in two. On one side, gravelly beige sand is dotted with scrub and shimmering waves of heat blur the mountains in the distance. On the other, sprawling fields of crops blanket the valley floor in a mat of bright green squares.

Here, plentiful sun and high temperatures create a near year-round growing season. Farms sit atop the silty soils of an ancient river delta. And for at least the last hundred years, a steady supply of fresh water from the Colorado River has turned the valley from a baking desert into an agricultural oasis.

“It really is an emerald gem that we have,” said John Hawk, whose family has been growing crops in the Imperial Valley since the early 1900s. “With the water, we can do miracles.” Continue reading “Getting Colorado River water from California farms will take more than just money – just ask the farmers”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Beating Death,1160 words.
• Photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Jasmine Kabiri
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – For Barry Jones, the compensation for spending 28 years on Arizona’s death row before his release in June could come out to about $10 a day.

If he’s lucky. Private donors have to cough up that much first.

A GoFundMe campaign set up by Andrew Sowards, a retired criminal investigator who was part of Jones’ defense team had raised $44,635 as of Wednesday with a goal of $106,360 – or $10 for each of the 10,636 days Jones spent “wrongfully incarcerated” in Arizona state prisons. Continue reading “$10 a day for 10,636 days: Backers raise funds for man freed from death row”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Clean Jobs,610 words.
• Photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Erin Murphy
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona added almost 13,000 clean-energy jobs in the past year, good enough for seventh-most among states and evidence that the state is becoming a “powerhouse” for clean energy and electric vehicle production, a new report says.

The report from Climate Power said those were part of the more than 170,000 jobs nationwide that it claims have been created in the past year as a result of private investments spurred by the August 2022 passage of the Inflation Reduction Act. That act allocates $369 billion for the Clean Energy Plan over the next decade. Continue reading “Report: State added 13,000 clean-energy jobs in past year, 7th best in U.S.”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Young Voters,790 words.
• File photo, graphic available (embed code, thumbnail, caption below).

By Lauren Irwin
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona’s young voters, ages 18 to 29, may have been the state’s most engaged youth electorate group ever, driven in 2022 by concerns about cost of living and reproductive rights.

That was the finding of a study by the McCain Institute, which found that Generation Z and younger millennial voters surpassed expectations and previous voting records in the state’s midterm elections last year. The level of involvement held true for young voters regardless of party, the report’s authors said at a panel discussion Wednesday. Continue reading “Survey: Young Arizona voters more engaged, informed than earlier generations”

• Slug: BC-CNS-House Races,840 words.
• File photo, graphic available (embed code, thumbnail, caption below).

By Lauren Irwin
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona is expected to be a battleground for presidential and Senate races in 2024, but it’s looking as if the state could also have some high-profile House races.

With a year until the primary, candidates for just three seats have already raised more than $7.6 million, according to Federal Election Commission reports, as an open seat and a number of targeted House races are drawing numerous hopefuls.

In all, incumbents and challengers for the state’s nine House seats reported raising more than $9.3 million as of June 30, according to FEC reports. Continue reading “Open, targeted House seats drive fundraising as numerous hopefuls line up”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Senate Funding,840 words.
• 4 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Lauren Irwin
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., is putting her money where her mouth isn’t – in a race for reelection that she has not yet said whether she will enter.

Sinema reported raising more than $1.6 million in the last quarter, leaving her with just under $10.8 million in cash on hand, according to her most recent filing with the Federal Election Commission.

That’s half as fast as the fundraising by Rep. Ruben Gallego, D-Phoenix, who reported bringing in $3.1 million in the last quarter, for a total of $6.8 million for the year. While he is raising more, he is also spending more: Gallego had $3.8 million on hand as of June 30. Continue reading “Gallego raises more, spends more for potential Senate run against Sinema”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Chaco Mining,630 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Liam Coates
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – A new 20-year moratorium on drilling and mining within 10 miles of the Chaco Canyon tramples on tribal sovereignty and denies Navajo badly needed royalty payments, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren told lawmakers Thursday.

“The Navajo Nation government is in the best position to know what is best for the Navajo people,” Nygren said. “We have proven over hundreds of years that our nation and the Navajo people are good stewards of land and cultural resources, including Chaco Canyon.”

But Mario Atencio, vice president of the Navajo’s Torreon/Star Lake Chapter, said the 10-mile buffer around the Chaco Culture National Historical Park is needed to ensure that oil and gas infrastructure can no longer “pollute” his people and their lands. Continue reading “Navajo witnesses clash over government’s Chaco Canyon mining ban”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Homeless Health1040 words.
• 5 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Kylie Werner
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Earlier this year, the Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner released a grim statistic: 732 people died while homeless in 2022, a 42% increase from 2021.

Valley health care providers who serve the homeless population agree that summer months are especially dangerous for those without shelter. But they add that chronic medical conditions and drug use contribute to the alarming increase in deaths among those experiencing homelessness. Continue reading “Health care providers offer free help with chronic illnesses, not just urgent care, to people experiencing homelessness”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Migrant Families,760 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Shelly Garzon
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – A new immigration policy that makes it easier for people from four Central and South American countries to join family in the U.S. will help, but is still “far from” the migration solution needed, advocates said.

The Department of Homeland Security on Monday started the new family reunification policy for residents of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. Under the program, residents from those countries can seek to join relatives in the U.S. and remain here for three years while their visa application is processed.

The program is based on similar programs for Cubans and Haitians and is intended to relieve stress at the border by giving migrants an alternative to showing up at a border crossing or trying to cross the border illegally. Continue reading “Advocates: Family reunification policy helps some migrants, but not enough”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Attorneys Abortion,730 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Lauren Irwin
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – County attorneys are considering next steps, including the possibility of a lawsuit against Gov. Katie Hobbs, after she rejected their request to rescind an executive order that puts the decision to prosecute abortion cases in the hands of the attorney general’s office.

Eleven of the state’s 15 county attorneys joined Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell in a letter last week that told Hobbs her June 22 executive order is a “sweeping attempt” to upend the duties and discretion that individual county attorneys have in criminal prosecutions. Continue reading “County attorneys may challenge Hobbs order over abortion prosecutions”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Harris Arizona,1110 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Kylie Werner
Cronkite News

LAVEEN – Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday visited the Gila River Indian Community as part of the Biden-Harris administration’s ongoing commitment to Native American communities and to tout its Investing in America agenda.

Harris touched on a variety of topics, including support for climate-resilient infrastructure, voting rights, child welfare, loans for Native entrepreneurs and mental health resources. She delivered her remarks at Gila Crossing Community School, which is operated by the Gila River Indian Community and is funded through a Bureau of Indian Affairs 105(I) lease program. Continue reading “Kamala Harris discusses commitment to Native communities during Arizona visit”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Digital Dollars,700 words.
• Photo, graphic available (embed code, thumbnail, caption below).

By Sydney Carruth
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona will get just under $1 billion in federal funding for high-speed internet access improvement, part of more than $42.45 billion released Monday by the Commerce Department.

Arizona’s $993.1 million share of the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment – or BEAD – program will be managed by the Arizona Commerce Authority, which has been planning since December how it will allocate what Gov. Katie Hobbs called the “historic broadband investment.” Continue reading “Arizona gets $1 billion for broadband, part of $43 billion federal program”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Tribal Art,450 words.
• Photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Blake Mullen
Gaylord News

WASHINGTON – Native American artists say they continue to struggle with the theft of their work, and tribal leaders are urging Congress to strengthen the Indian Arts and Crafts Act.

IACA was passed in 1990 to prohibit any advertisement and all sales of counterfeit Indian arts and crafts. Choctaw Nation artist D.G. Smalling says the act must adapt to the new ways of buying and selling art through online sales.

“We have just a very different kind of engagement with intellectual property now,” Smalling said. “This is why my principal attorney is an expert in intellectual property. It is to defend what I create and to defend what is mine.” Continue reading “Tribal artists, leaders want update to law to protect Native arts, crafts”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Indigenous Adoption,890 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Sydney Carruth and Jasmine Kabiri
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a federal law that requires tribal families get priority in the adoption or foster placement of an Indigenous child, a law aimed at stopping what one justice called the “nightmare” of family separation.

Advocates have called the Indian Child Welfare Act the gold standard of child welfare laws, but it was challenged by three families and the state of Texas, which claimed the law steps on state’s rights and unlawfully uses race to keep non-Native families from adopting Native children.

But the justices, in a 7-2 ruling, upheld the 1978 law in what advocates called a “win for tribal sovereignty.” Continue reading “Justices uphold law giving Native families priority to adopt Native youth”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Land Conservation,860 words.
• 4 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Liam Coates
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – A Bureau of Land Management rule that would, for the first time, count conservation as a legitimate use for public lands, along with mining, logging and other uses, is an “offensive” overreach of federal authority, Republicans said Thursday.

The comments came at a House Natural Resources Committee hearing on a bill that would force the BLM to rescind its proposed Conservation and Landscape Health rule, unveiled by the agency in April and now set to take effect in July.

“For decades and decades and decades the good people of Utah have managed these lands in a responsible way,” said Rep. John Curtis, R-Utah, who said he was “having a hard time literally having my head not explode” at the rule. Continue reading “Lawmakers spar over BLM plan to weigh conservation in land-use decisions”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Congress Plays,740 words.
• 12 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Lillie Boudreaux
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – It wasn’t pretty, but that’s not the point.

When Democrats and Republicans squared off Wednesday for the annual Congressional Baseball Game, they didn’t do it to show off their athletic prowess. They did it to raise money for charity, to represent schools and teams back home and to engage in some playful ribbing.

But mostly they did it because the century-old game gives partisan lawmakers a chance to relax and relate to each other in a friendlier atmosphere, if only for a night. Continue reading “Putting the rough in the diamond: Lawmakers meet for annual baseball game”