• Slug: BC-CNS-Felon Food Stamps. 550 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Amaia Gavica
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON — In a rare instance of bipartisan consensus, Congress is moving toward ending a ban on felons with drug-related convictions receiving food stamps –a 28-year-old policy seen by ex-offenders and their advocates as an obstacle to reentering society.

The reversal is part of a massive farm bill approved by the Republican-controlled House Agriculture Committee on May 24. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, is also expected to end the ban in its version of the bill, which Congress updates every 5 years.

Continue reading “In rare bipartisan agreement, House and Senate push to lift ban on felons with drug-related convictions receiving SNAP benefits”

• Slug: BC-CNS-SCOTUS Death Row, 715 words.
• 1 photo available (thumbnail, captions below).

By Sahara Sajjadi
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday reversed a lower court ruling ordering a new sentencing hearing for an Arizona death row inmate who strangled a 7-year-old and beat her father to death with a bat in 1992.

Lawyers for Danny Lee Jones, convicted in 1993 of the brutal murders in Bullhead City, argued that his death sentence was unfair because his lawyer failed to introduce evidence of his own childhood trauma and brain injuries – mitigating factors that might have led to a lesser sentence.

The state’s highest court had rejected that argument. But a federal appeals court agreed that Jones did not have effective counsel as guaranteed under the Sixth Amendment.

Continue reading “Supreme Court dashes Arizona death row inmate’s hope to avoid death penalty in 1992 double murder”

• Slug: BC-CNS-FAFSA AZ. 1,440 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Grey Gartin and Keetra Bippus
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Defects with the federal application for financial aid have left thousands of Arizona students still unsure if they can afford college – or at least, how much they’ll have to pay – with less than three months to go before classes start.

The uncertainty is far more widespread in Arizona than in most states. As of May 17, only about 28% of graduating high school students in the state had completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – far below the 42% national rate, and well off last year’s pace, according to a tracker from the National College Attainment Network. At this point a year ago, just over half the class of 2023 nationwide had completed the FAFSA form.

Continue reading “Thousands of college-bound Arizona students still in financial aid ‘limbo’ in wake of FAFSA snafus”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Build to Rent. 965 words.
• Photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Vanessa Pimentel
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – High mortgage interest rates are pushing prospective homebuyers to consider build-to-rent communities instead.

Build-to-rent (BTR) communities with single-family home rentals fill the space between traditional rental properties and housing developments. They are constructed with the renter, not the buyer, in mind, and the target market includes young individuals and those who want a more home-like feel as opposed to an apartment lifestyle.

Rising interest rates are making it difficult for individuals to purchase homes. The Maricopa Association of Governments’ June 2023 housing update identified 256,000 households in the Phoenix metropolitan statistical area as “severely cost-burdened,” meaning they spend more than 50% of their income on housing.

Continue reading “Build-to-rent communities surge in Phoenix amid high home interest rates”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Sedona Homeless Parking. 850 words.
• Photos available (thumbnails, captions below).
• Video available.

By Huston Dunston Jr.
Cronkite News

SEDONA – Sedona has been looking for solutions to its homelessness problem and city leaders think the Safe Place to Park Program could be a step in the right direction, but residents against the program have stalled the measure by pushing to take the issue to a public vote in November.

The program is meant for people who work in Sedona but can’t find affordable housing there and are living out of their vehicles. The proposed program would provide legal overnight parking, some amenities and help finding housing. To be eligible for the program, participants would have to prove employment in the city and have a registered and insured vehicle.

Continue reading “Sedona parking lot program to ease homelessness on hold until November election”

EDS: An earlier version of this contained errors in the 3rd and 5th grafs. The story below has been corrected, but clients who used previous versions are asked to run the correction found here.

• Slug: BC-CNS-Live Nation Lawsuit. 620 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Alexander MacDonald
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Arizona concertgoers, long annoyed at the so-called “Ticketmaster tax,” saw a glimmer of relief after the state and the U.S. Department of Justice accused the companies that have access to the nation’s top venues of monopoly practices and pricing.

“I hate them. The fees are absolutely ridiculous,” said Khambrel Speer, a hairstylist from Chandler who goes through Ticketmaster to watch the Rattlers play indoor football at Desert Diamond Arena in Glendale.

Continue reading “Arizona concertgoers hopeful as Justice Department brings antitrust suit against Live Nation”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Leadership PACs. 1,980 words.
• Photo suggestion here.

By Lillie Boudreaux and Mason Ald
Howard Center for Investigative Journalism

A loophole in federal campaign finance law that allows candidates to spend donations for their own personal use has repeatedly brought together Democrats and Republicans at the Federal Election Commission to try to persuade Congress to ban the practice.

But the issue presents a political paradox: The only people who can change the law are the ones who directly benefit from it.

The Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at Arizona State University investigated spending from a specialized type of political action committee known as a leadership PAC. The FEC says leadership PACs are often set up as a way to support like-minded candidates. They are separate from the candidate’s “authorized” campaign committees — the ones campaigns officially designate to receive and spend money. But leadership PACs are not bound by the same personal-use ban that applies to authorized committees, despite the leadership PACs’ close relationships to the candidates and officeholders who sponsor them.

Continue reading “Theme parks, private planes and Paris: The leadership PAC loophole”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Honey Allergies. 840 words.
• Photos available (thumbnails, captions below).
• Video story available.

By Naomi DuBovis
Cronkite News

SCOTTSDALE – Allergy season is here, and some sufferers consume local honey to alleviate their symptoms. But the jury is still out as to whether it’s a good strategy.

When it comes to eating honey for allergies, the evidence that it works is largely anecdotal, but beekeepers and experts agree that local honey is both tastier and healthier than honey at the supermarket.

Arizona Honey Market is a vendor that sells local honey online and at farmers markets. One type of honey it sells is its Allergy Mix, which is made specifically to be a remedy.

Continue reading “Experts, beekeepers weigh in on local honey for seasonal allergies”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Child Literacy. 600 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By John Sanders
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Child literacy is at the forefront for many Arizona educators, as English Language Arts and reading comprehension prepare students for adulthood and future careers.

However, recent research suggests that third grade students struggle with reading comprehension. According to the Center for the Future of Arizona’s education progress meter, which collects and analyzes data from the Arizona Department of Education, just 41% of Arizona third graders scored “proficient” or “highly proficient” across state assessment tests in 2023. That was 5 percentage points lower than pre-COVID-19 numbers and far short of the goal of 72% of third graders getting a passing grade in reading by 2030 that Arizona school districts are aiming for.

Continue reading “Read On Arizona and partners provide youth reading education to support fight pandemic literacy loss”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Indigenous Syphilis,1370 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Cecilia Nowell
Source New Mexico

From her base in Gallup, New Mexico, Melissa Wyaco supervises about two dozen public health nurses who crisscross the sprawling Navajo Nation searching for patients who have tested positive for or been exposed to a disease once nearly eradicated in the U.S.: syphilis.

Infection rates in this region of the Southwest — the 27,000-square-mile reservation encompasses parts of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah — are among the nation’s highest. And Wyaco, who is from Zuni Pueblo (about 40 miles south of Gallup) and is the nurse consultant for the Navajo Area Indian Health Service, says the numbers are far worse than anything she has seen in her 30-year nursing career. Continue reading “Rapid rise in syphilis hits Native Americans in the Southwest hardest”

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-Dam Pipes,1210 words.
• 4 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Alex Hager
KUNC

Conservation groups are calling for changes to the management of Lake Powell, the nation’s second largest reservoir, after the discovery of damaged plumbing within the dam that holds it back.

The damage is to Glen Canyon Dam’s “river outlet works,” a critical set of small tubes near the bottom of the dam that were originally intended to release excess water when the reservoir is nearing full capacity.

The reservoir is currently only 32% full, beleaguered by climate change and steady demand. Water experts think the river outlet works may soon become the only way to pass water from Lake Powell, situated in far northern Arizona, to the Colorado River on the other side. But they worry that damage to those tubes could impede the ability to use them regularly. Continue reading “A plumbing issue at Lake Powell dam could mean big trouble for Western water”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Baby Drivers,510 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Ian McKinney
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – It’s a “scary” trend that border county officials say is getting scarier: Mexican cartels paying teenagers from throughout the country to smuggle illegal migrants across the state as “load car” drivers.

“We’ve had them from every state in the lower 48 down here,” said Robert Watkins, commander of the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office patrol and special operations division. “We have 1,500 smugglers coming into Cochise County a month to transport people.”

Yuma County Sheriff Leon Wilmot says the trend has “been going on since 2020, and it’s just increased as you’ve seen more and more people coming across (the border).” Continue reading “Border sheriffs see more ‘load car’ drivers, teens paid to smuggle migrants”

EDS: An earlier version of this story misspelled Steve Christy’s name in grafs 28, 29 and 31. The story below has been corrected, but clients who used previous versions are asked to run the correction found here.

• Slug: BC-CNS-Shelter Skelter,1820 words.
• 17 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Lillie Boudreaux
Cronkite News

TUCSON – A Customs and Border Protection van pulls to the side door of an industrial building. Two federal agents get out and open the van’s rear doors, revealing metal, barred gates that read “Inmate Transport.”

The first face to emerge from the van’s dark interior is a young girl wearing pink pants and a beaming smile. A man steps out next and carries her, and her juice box, toward the entrance of the shelter where asylum seekers get food, clothes, and a temporary shelter after being processed by CBP and released from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention.

The scene is repeated daily at the Casa Alitas shelter in Tucson where hundreds – sometimes thousands – of asylum seekers, many of them young children, are dropped off with little more than the clothes on their backs. Continue reading “Border shelters stave off ‘homelessness on steroids,’ but funding worries remain”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Autism Disparity Research. 1,060 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions available).

By Mia Milinovich
Cronkite News

FLAGSTAFF – Researchers at Northern Arizona University have launched a project to study persistent disparities in autism services for children from underserved communities.

The project was sparked by a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that showed, for the first time, the percentage of 8-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder was higher among Black, Hispanic and Asian or Pacific Islander children than white children. Before the 2023 Community Report on Autism, white children were identified with autism spectrum disorder at higher rates when compared to other racial or ethnic groups by the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network.
Continue reading “Northern Arizona University research team addresses disparities in access to autism services”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Telling Time. 440 words.
• Photo available.
• Video available.

By Maria Staubs
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – If asked to check the time, one might check their phone or a digital clock – but, what about the old-school analog clock? As the world continues to move further into a digital era, some might ask: Is reading an analog clock even a necessary skill anymore?

Lowell Elementary School Principal Dana Ramos thinks it is. She said reading an analog clock is still a part of the state curriculum for second or third graders, so students should be proficient.

“I think it’s still a skill that students have to have because they still may run into an analog clock somewhere, and it’s important for them to be able to have that skill even if they don’t utilize it every single day,” Ramos said.
Continue reading “‘Time has a beginning, middle and end:’ Expert says telling time provides life skills”

• Slug: BC-CNS-TNR. 650 words.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails, captions below)
• Video available.

By Lauren Bly
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – In the sprawling urban landscape of Phoenix, where the desert sun sets over bustling streets, there are volunteers quietly tending to a population often overlooked: feral cats.

Jennifer Nitrio’s nightly routine involves filling food dishes for these feline friends. It’s a ritual she’s faithfully performed for a quarter-century.

Continue reading “Quiet heroes: Meet the Valley animal lovers tending to feral cat colonies”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Basketball Court Maintenance. 940 words.
• 3 photos available.

By Aden Schulze-Miller
Cronkite News

PEORIA – Three basketball hoops overlook the serene western vistas of Sonoran Mountain Ranch Park in northern Peoria. One faces a playset and has a double rim. The other two stand with rocks and grassy knolls beyond them. The surrounding mountains are tall, but not enough to block the sun from making the concrete simmer in the summer.

With constant play and the outdoor environment, basketball courts need plenty of maintenance. Some courts have cracks in their concrete or asphalt – some so long from the last resurfacing that weeds and dirt fill up portions of the court. Bulges due to the heat make them too bumpy for the ball.

Those are things that come with the weathering outdoor basketball courts face. Arizona’s harsh climate presents challenges that call for experienced services and unique measures to repair and resurface beaten-up outdoor courts.

Continue reading “Cracks in the blacktop: How Peoria maintains basketball courts in spite of Arizona’s environment”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Missing Person Collaboration. 670 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Marnie Jordan
Cronkite News

GLOBE – Founded in 1876, this old mining town is at the foot of the Pinal Mountains in southern Gila County. As visitors walk the streets of historic downtown Globe, they’ll see cafes, shops and old buildings.

Globe had only about 7,200 residents in 2022, according to the Census Bureau. Here, neighbors know neighbors, which is why when Natalie Jo Sebastian disappeared, word got around quickly.

Continue reading “Globe detective, private investigator work to solve missing-person case”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Sober Living Homes. 1,800 words.
• 3 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Sadie Buggle
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Jade Lara was five months pregnant in January 2022 when she arrived at a group home in San Tan Valley with the promise of daily classes and group therapy to help her with sobriety. However, when she arrived, she was met with a lack of assistance and care and provided with only one therapy session a week held at a different center.

Lara noted the men in the co-ed home were given the freedom to “come and go,” often coming back clearly intoxicated. The situation turned dangerous the night she was sent to another center in Maricopa County, where an intoxicated man wouldn’t leave her or the other woman in the house alone.

Continue reading “Indigenous advocates work to combat fake sober living homes in Arizona”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Front-row Seat,730 words.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Reagan Priest
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – They can be seen sitting quietly on the sidelines of legislative committee hearings in their blazers, striped ties and khakis, or bustling around the House or Senate floor delivering papers to lawmakers.

These college students are the Legislature’s pages, quiet but essential workers that one lawmaker compared to “the oil in a machine that keeps things running.”

Pages are college students hired by the Legislature to assist lawmakers and staff in running day-to-day operations. Besides working in committees and on the floor, that can include anything from answering constituent phone calls to setting up hearing rooms and giving information to visitors. Continue reading “‘No dull days’: Pages get front-row seats, help keep the Capitol running”