SCOTTSDALE – Entering the 2024 Arizona Fall League championship game, Washington Nationals No. 13 prospect Robert Hassell III felt several emotions.
He was excited for a chance at redemption: he reached the semifinals in the two previous seasons with two separate teams but lost each time. He felt a sense of fulfillment for giving himself an opportunity at a championship. But the one emotion he didn’t feel was surprise.
Photos, charts available (thumbnails, captions below).
By Carly Stoenner Cronkite Borderlands Project
UVITA, Costa Rica — Yocelin Dayana Garcias Barrio and Gladys Yusberny Seijas Matute stand begging for money in front of a grocery store in this small tourist town on the Pacific coast in southern Costa Rica. They hold pieces of cardboard with messages written in black ink. The 90-degree tropical sun bears down on them, and perspiration mixed with highway exhaust soaks their clothes. They have been on the road for two months since leaving Colombia, which was their first stop after fleeing their home country of Venezuela.
“We are a Venezuelan family. We are migrants. Please help us if you can with work, food or a little money,” reads their makeshift sign. “Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
LOS ANGELES – As COVID-19 is expected to surge this winter, communities across the Southwest face rising hospitalizations and new, resilient variants. Infection rates can be even more severe for marginalized populations in these states.
Limited health-care access and historically low vaccination rates amplify the burden on these communities and underscore long-standing health disparities. Following a summer surge, this new wave serves as a stark reminder of how these inequities continue to put vulnerable groups at greater risk.
TEMPE – The last time Arizona State football finished the season undefeated at home came in 2004. Kenny Dillingham, then a 14-year-old freshman in high school, reflected Monday on what he was likely up to 20 years ago.
“I was either watching games or probably playing Halo 2 with people in high school,” Dillingham said.
PHOENIX – Devoted Phoenix Suns fan Hussein Siro was overcome with emotion when his package – which had traveled over 9,000 miles from Phoenix to Nairobi, Kenya – finally arrived.
Inside the box were a Devin Booker jersey and some Suns graphic tee shirts.
EDS: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. The error occurred in grafs 2 and 18 of the original. The story below has been corrected, but clients who used previous versions are asked to run the correction found here.
Slug: CHIPS Biden TSMC. 645 words.
Photos available (thumbnails, captions below).
By Phineas Hogan Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration has finalized a $6.6 billion award for the Taiwan semiconductor giant that is building massive factories in Phoenix, amid concerns President-elect Donald Trump will derail subsidies aimed at fostering the domestic chip industry.
“This is a gigantic announcement,” Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo told reporters on a call ahead of the announcement early Friday, 10 days after Trump’s election.
PHOENIX – The relationship between the Valley’s two Division I basketball powers is an odd one. On Thursday night at Footprint Center, the Grand Canyon and Arizona State men’s basketball teams faced off in the Hall of Fame Series in a battle for community supremacy.
GCU’s rise from athletic afterthought to March Madness darling suggests an ideal crosstown rival for ASU. However, a history of bad blood between the schools at an administrative level prevented the rivalry from ever truly blossoming on the court.
PHOENIX – Major League Baseball – with its 162-game season, plus spring training, plus postseason for a lucky few – is a uniquely grueling sport physically.
It is also a uniquely mental game. Much of it is played in solitude. Players can do all the preparation and coaching they want, but when they ultimately step up to the plate or take the mound, they do it alone.
When a sport is as all-encompassing as baseball, how do players stay locked in on the game without losing themselves in it?
PHOENIX – It may be early in the season, but GCU women’s basketball has proven that few opponents stand a chance against the Lopes’ 3-pointer specialists.
GCU knows its best shooters, finds them and feeds them from behind the arc. Even when a play breaks down, the Lopes can regroup and get the ball in their hands. In Thursday’s Hall of Fame Series Phoenix showcase against Arizona State, senior guard Alyssa Durazo-Frescas was the top recipient.
After 11 turnovers in the first half of Thursday’s game against ASU (3-1), the Lopes cut it down to four in the second half and used sharp shooting and relentless defense to rally from a halftime deficit for a 70-59 win at Footprint Center.
For the Lopes (2-1), the victory at Footprint Center only gave them a bigger stage to show off what coach Molly Miller calls “GCU basketball.”
PHOENIX – The tables have slightly turned for GCU basketball from a season ago, as the men’s team now struggles with early-season injuries and a lack of chemistry in pursuit of a return to the NCAA Tournament.
Lacking connectivity on the court Thursday against Arizona State (3-1) at the Hall of Fame Series Phoenix, the Lopes (2-1) fell short of closing out a series sweep on the doubleheader showcase, losing 87-76. The GCU women’s team beat ASU earlier in the evening, 70-59.
Reigning Western Athletic Conference Player of the Year Tyon Grant-Foster, who sat out the regular season’s first two games due to health reasons, debuted at Footprint Center with a team-high 19 points, seven rebounds and four steals but turned the ball over five times in a clear display of rust.
“I thought on defense in the first half, it was definitely a little rust from his end,” GCU coach Bryce Drew said postgame. “And I think that carried out through our team. There’s a little getting used to each other type again feeling.”
TUCSON – The smell of doughnuts, the “meep meep” sound effect from the Looney Tunes’ Road Runner and mascot Dusty the Roadrunner hyping up fans – all are staples of the American Hockey League’s Tucson Roadrunners game day experience.
However, while this season’s home opener brought all of the hoopla, it still felt different. Last season ended in heartbreak as the Calgary Wranglers swept the Roadrunners in the opening round of the AHL playoffs. The Roadrunners were on the path to success though, as their regular season record was getting better season after season.
LOS ANGELES – For the first time, Latino and Indigenous populations in California will have their health challenges and needs documented in a way that reflects and serves their communities. Senate Bill 1016, signed into law Sept. 28, aims to disaggregate Latino and Indigenous health data, mandating the state Department of Public Health to specify ethnicity and language.
California’s population is 40% Latino and Indigenous. Both groups have long been overlooked in broad health data categories. By breaking down these marginalized groups’ demographics, including more specific ethnic categories beyond Hispanic and/or Latino, the bill will help address significant health inequities that have remained hidden.
TEMPE – When Former Pittsburgh Steeler Hines Ward was formally announced as Arizona State’s new receivers coach in April, many wondered why he chose to come to the Valley. After all, he was fresh off an inaugural season coaching the XFL’s San Antonio Brahmas that was less than ideal, compiling a 3-7 record and missing the playoffs.
Following the conclusion of the season, the XFL agreed to a league merger with the UFL. The newly formed league requested Ward to take a pay cut if he wished to remain the Brahmas coach. He ultimately declined and resigned from his position on Dec. 28, 2023.
PHOENIX – When Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkić was asked in his postgame press conference if he had a certain swagger heading into a recent win over the Miami Heat, his response was a beautiful twist.
“No, probably the opposite,” Nurkić said. “I was sore, but I feel like the coaches did a great job of putting me in position to have good looks. It’s on me how many I will take. I think they want me to take even more threes and more shots.”
PHOENIX – Phoenix Suns star Kevin Durant grabbed at his left calf as he checked in with 7:39 remaining in a recent neck-and-neck game against the Dallas Mavericks.
AVONDALE – For the final 25 laps Sunday, Joey Logano and Ryan Blaney put on a show.
That they are teammates only added to the excitement for the sellout crowd at Phoenix Raceway before Logano held on and secured the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series championship.
WASHINGTON – Women have led the governments of nearly a third of the countries on Earth as presidents, prime ministers and chancellors. Vice President Kamala Harris’ defeat kept the 235-year-old glass ceiling in the United States unbroken.
“It absolutely will happen,” said Jean Sinzdak, associate director of the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics.
PHOENIX – After 35 grueling races, the NASCAR season comes down to just one race Sunday, as Phoenix Raceway hosts championship weekend for the fifth consecutive year.
Although 36 cars will be on the track Sunday, only four drivers will be eligible to win the championship:
Joey Logano: Logano is a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion from Middletown, Connecticut. Logano won the 2017 and 2022 NASCAR Cup Series titles. He won at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway to advance to the championship four.
Ryan Blaney: Blaney is the defending Cup Series champion. He is the son of NASCAR legend Dave Blaney and hails from Hartford Township, Ohio. Blaney advanced to the championship four following last weekend’s victory at Martinsville Speedway.
Tyler Reddick: Reddick is making his first career championship four driving for 23XI Racing. His car is co-owned by fellow driver Denny Hamlin and NBA legend Michael Jordan. Reddick advanced to the championship four following his victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway. He hails from Corning, California.
William Byron: Byron is making his second consecutive championship four appearance. Last season, Bryon finished third in the championship race. He advanced to the championship four based on points. Byron will look to capture his first career NASCAR Cup Series title Sunday. He comes from Charlotte, North Carolina.
Although only four drivers who are competing can win the championship, that does not mean that only four cars will be found on the track. All 36 drivers will be competing whether they can win the championship or not. The reason this is allowed is so that points standings spots 5-36 can be finalized and each driver and team can get their end-of-season bonus depending on where they finish.
For the four drivers who are championship-eligible, their path to win is very simple. Finish ahead of the other three eligible drivers and you win the title. For example, Blaney could finish in 11th place, but as long as he finishes ahead of Logano, Reddick and Byron, he wins the championship.
The other 32 competitors who are not racing for a title normally let those four pass them to duke it out. Last year, Ross Chastain ended up winning the race but was not eligible for the title, the first time that has happened since the current playoff structure was introduced in 2014.
Another item to consider this weekend is teammates. In NASCAR, each team has a select number of drivers and the drivers within the team consider themselves teammates. This weekend, two of the four drivers eligible to win the championship are teammates as Logano and Blaney both drive for Team Penske.
Having teammates race one another is not a rare occurrence in the championship race. Over the last 10 championship races, seven of those have had teammates fighting one another to win the championship.
While some see racing your teammate for the championship as a negative, Blaney and Logano don’t.
“Being able to lock in early means there’s more resources to where we can try to get the 12 (car) equally as prepared as the 22,” Logano said.
Blaney added that “I don’t think there’s any challenges. I feel like that’s made up from the outside. It has just doubled the effort of giving two opportunities to bring a championship to Team Penske.”
Coming into this weekend, no clear favorite separates himself. As it sits, most betting markets have defending champion Blaney as the favorite at anywhere from +175 to +250.
When asked about the competition this weekend, the drivers were fairly diplomatic.
“I can cheat the questions on this one because I have a teammate and we kind of got the same stuff, so I would say Joey because hopefully it makes my stuff good, too,” Blaney said.
Byron believes it’s “going to come down to execution and being there at the right time. This race is freeing because it is all about the finish.”
Sunday broadcast coverage can be found on NBC and Peacock starting at 1 p.m. MST and radio coverage on Sirius XM channel 90 and mrn.com.
Ryan Blaney talks to the media before attempting to defend his NASCAR Cup Series title. Blaney could become the first Cup champion to win two in a row since Jimmie Johnson in 2010. (Photo by Natalie Lopez/Cronkite News)Although 36 cars will be on the track Sunday at Phoenix Raceway, only four drivers will be eligible to win the championship. (Graphic by Cooper Burns/Cronkite News)
PHOENIX – Just like that, a season filled with ups and downs came to a sudden end for Phoenix Rising FC, first when the team failed to defend its USL title Sunday, followed by Thursday’s announcement that it was parting ways with interim head coach Diego Gomez.
Gomez and the Rising went their separate ways after the club suffered a 2-1 loss to New Mexico United in the first round of the USL playoffs on the road, abruptly ending Phoenix’s bid for a repeat championship..
“Diego stepped into a challenging role this season, and we’re incredibly grateful for his leadership and dedication to Phoenix Rising,” Rising president Bobby Dulle said. “He brought stability to the team during a critical time, and his impact has been significant both on and off the field. After careful consideration, we believe the best path forward is to look externally for a head coach who can lead us into the next phase of success for this club. We have immense respect for Diego and appreciate all he’s done for Phoenix Rising.” Continue reading “Phoenix Rising FC eyes new coach, healthy roster after disappointing end to 2024 season”
PHOENIX – Before leading programs in Orlando and Tempe, Gus Malzahn and Kenny Dillingham worked together as head coach and offensive coordinator at Auburn University. On Saturday, the duo will face off as head coaches in a student-versus-teacher matchup for the first time as Malzahn’s UCF Knights come to the Valley.
Proteges coaching against former bosses can sometimes produce hostile comments before the game and tense battles on the field (see the Nick Saban-Jimbo Fisher feud). While the final form of the on-field matchup remains a mystery, the two coaches clearly have nothing but respect for one another.
