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(Music) 

THIS IS YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2GO BRIEFING.

(Bring up music briefly and duck below and out )

I’M   Thalia Lopez             (  go to story ) 

Valleywise health reaches two year anniversary of first COVID patient  

WEDNESDAY MARKED A TWO YEAR ANNIVERSARY FOR THE VALLEY’S ONLY PUBLIC TEACHING HOSPITAL. VALLEYWISE HEALTH MEDICAL CENTER ADMITTED ITS 1ST COVID 19 PATIENT ON MARCH 23 2020. SINCE THEN, VALLEYWISE HAS CARED FOR ALMOST 16,000 COVID PATIENTS AND HAS ADMINISTERED NEARLY 40,000 COVID VACCINES. 

1. MICHAEL WHITE, THE CHIEF CLINICAL OFFICER FOR VALLEYWISE SAYS THE NUMBER OF COVID-19 PATIENTS IN THE HOSPITAL ARE DECLINING. 

“We’ve seen a dramatic decrease in the number of COVID-19 disease positive patients within the hospital. We’ve been actually able to decommission one of our COVID-19 disease positive units moving into a positive direction.” 

THE ORIGINAL COVID-19 VIRUS HAS DECLINED IN MARICOPA AT THE SAME TIME THE NEW BA.2 VARIANT IS BECOMING MORE COMMONLY FOUND ON POSITIVE COVID-19  TESTS. DR. WHITE STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF GETTING THE COVID VACCINE AS WELL AS  BOOSTER SHOTS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE NOT GOTTEN THEM ALREADY. 

Brittney Griner seen for the first time (CNN) HEADLINE 3 – (give the story a headline) 

(one sentence summary of the story) 

U-S OFFICIALS SAW W-N-B-A STAR BRITTNEY GRINER IN PERSON FOR THE FIRST TIME TUESDAY SINCE HER ARREST IN RUSSIA LAST MONTH.

GRINER WAS ARRESTED AT A MOSCOW AIRPORT AFTER AUTHORITIES REPORTEDLY FOUND NARCOTICS IN HER POSSESSION.

NED PRICE IS A SPOKESMAN FOR THE U-S STATE DEPARTMENT. 

–SOT—

“Within the past couple hours, an official from our embassy has been granted consular access to Brittney Griner. We were able to check on her condition. We will continue to work very closely with her legal team, with her broader network.”

GRINER  FACES UP TO TEN YEARS IN A RUSSIAN PRISON FOR THE ALLEGED OFFENSE.

“Our official found Brittney Griner to be in good condition and we will continue to do everything we can to it that she is treated fairly throughout this ordeal.”

THE U-S AMBASSADOR TO RUSSIA MET WITH RUSSIAN OFFICIALS EARLIER THIS WEEK — DEMANDING ACCESS TO AMERICANS BEING DETAINED BY RUSSIA.

Gas prices are on the rise around Arizona (Mitchell/ wrap [ 1:58 ] ) 

HOST INTRO 

ARIZONA RANKS IN THE TOP TEN NATIONWIDE FOR THE PRICE OF A REGULAR GALLON OF GAS ACCORDING TO TRIPLE-A. SEVERAL RIDESHARING COMPANIES AND PUBLIC TRANSIT ARE HANDLING THE PRICE JUMP IN DIFFERENT WAYS. CRONKITE NEWS’S MITCHELL ZIMMERMANN EXPLAINS.  

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<nat CARS/ runs:03>

HIGH PRICES, AND HIGHER STRESS.

<sot LINDSAY KRAUSE/ DOORDASH DRIVER/ runs :03, hits xx-xx>

“There are times where I’m like ‘I really shouldn’t drive down there.’” 3 sec

LINDSAY KRAUSE SAYS THE SAME THING AS MOST OTHER DRIVERS.

<sot LINDSAY KRAUSE/ DOORDASH DRIVER/ runs :01, hits xx-xx>

‘It’s just really expensive to fill up my tank.” 1 sec

 KRAUSE IS A DRIVER FOR DOORDASH, A POPULAR FOOD DELIVERY PLATFORM.

<sot LINDSAY KRAUSE/ DOORDASH DRIVER/ runs :09, hits xx-xx>

“They’ll offer me orders and they’ll tell me what the price is gonna be and how far I’m gonna have to drive, what restaurant I’m gonna go to and then I can decide whether I’m going to accept it or not.” 9 sec

DOORDASH AND OTHER SIMILAR COMPANIES, LIKE UBER EATS AND LYFT ANNOUNCED THEY’RE GIVING DRIVERS EXTRA FUNDS TO OFFSET THE COST OF GAS. 

UBER AND LYFT ARE ADDING FEES AND GIVING THEM DIRECTLY TO DRIVERS.

DOORDASH ISN’T RAISING ITS PRICES, BUT IT’S GIVING  DRIVERS 10 PERCENT OF THEIR GAS PURCHASES THROUGH THE END OF APRIL, UP FROM THE NORMAL 2 PERCENT.

<sot LINDSAY KRAUSE/ DOORDASH DRIVER/ runs :08, hits xx-xx>

“It, you know, incentivizes people to continue buying from Doordash which is important because the less people that buy, the less orders that I can get.” 8 sec

GAS PRICES HAVE DIPPED SLIGHTLY IN THE LAST WEEK.

STILL, JOHN TREANOR WITH TRIPLE-A SAYS THE WEST IS DEALING WITH SOME OF THE HIGHEST PRICES IN THE COUNTRY.

<sot JOHN TREANOR/ SPOKESPERSON, AAA/ runs :11 hits xx-xx >

“What we can tell you about Arizona is true for a lot of the West, Utah, Nevada. They are the ten states with the largest weekly increases in price.” 11 sec 

AS OF MARCH 22ND A REGULAR GALLON OF GAS IN ARIZONA IS FOUR DOLLARS AND SIXTY CENTS, ACCORDING TO TRIPLE-A. NATIONWIDE, IT’S FOUR DOLLARS AND 24 CENTS.

<nat light rail/ 3 sec>

AND AS THE GAS PRICES INCREASE, SO DO THE NUMBER OF RIDERS ON PUBLIC TRANSIT.

BRITTANY HOFFMAN WITH VALLEY METRO SAYS THEY’VE SEEN A JUMP IN RIDERS.

<sot BRITTANY HOFFMAN/ PUBLIC INFORMATION SPECIALIST, VALLEY METRO/ runs :07 hits xx-xx>

“I can say over the past six months, as we have slowly seeing the gas prices tick up we’ve definitely seen an increase in ridership.” 7 sec

VALLEY METRO HAS NO PLANS TO INCREASE FARES FOR RIDERS.

<sot BRITTANY HOFFMAN/ PUBLIC INFORMATION SPECIALIST, VALLEY METRO/ runs :11 hits xx-xx>

“At this time, valley metro has no plans to raise fares in any capacity due to either ridership, gas prices, that’s not what causes the fluctuation in our fares.” 11 sec

KRAUSE IS WATCHING THE PRICES CLOSELY…AND IS MORE AWARE OF HOW SHE IS GETTING AROUND TOWN.

<sot LINDSAY KRAUSE/ DOORDASH DRIVER/ runs :08, hits xx-xx>

“It’s really important for me, to like, go with other people and carpool, so that, I don’t have to pay for the gas.” 5 sec

HOST OUTRO: 

THAT WAS CRONKITE NEWS’S MITCHELL ZIMMERMANN REPORTING. 

THE AVERAGE FUEL SURCHARGE FOR UBER AND LYFT IS BETWEEN 35 AND 55 CENTS PER RIDE 

O R ORDER. 

Valley rent is on the rise 

RENT PRICES IN THE VALLEY INCREASED BY ABOUT 30-PERCENT IN 20-21 AND ARE STILL SURGING … NOW, TALKS OF POSSIBLE RENT CONTROL THROUGH LEGISLATION COULD BE ON THE HORIZON.

A PROPOSED SENATE BILL WOULD STOP INCREASES ON RENT BY FIVE-PERCENT ON A YEARLY BASIS IF IT’S APPROVED.

THAT BILL HASN’T HAD A HEARING YET IN THE SENATE.

ARIZONA REPUBLICANS FEAR RENT CONTROL LEGISLATION WILL CURB INTEREST IN BUILDING NEW HOUSING.

AND THE STATE ALREADY HAS A LAW IN PLACE THAT PREVENTS CITIES AND TOWNS FROM CONTROLLING RENT PRICES.

Ohio mayor spends 19 million on police camera contract 

THE MAYOR OF OHIO’S CAPITAL, COLUMBUS HAS ANNOUNCED A PLAN TO SPEND NEARLY $19 MILLION ON UPGRADED POLICE BODY-WORN AND IN-CRUISER CAMERAS. COLUMBUS MAYOR ANDREW GINTHER SAYS THE CONTRACT WITH SCOTTSDALE-BASED AXON INCLUDES MORE THAN 2,100 BODY-WORN CAMERAS AND 450 IN-CAR CAMERAS. THE CAMERAS WILL TURN ON AUTOMATICALLY, ALLOW A LOOK-BACK FEATURE OF TWO MINUTES, AND PERMIT A REVIEW OF RECORDINGS UP TO 24 HOURS IN THE PAST. GINTHER SAYS THE CAMERAS WILL PROVIDE AN OBJECTIVE ASSESSMENT OF EVENTS THAT HAPPEN QUICKLY IN CHAOTIC SITUATIONS. THE CAMERAS ARE EXPECTED TO BE IMPLEMENTED BY APRIL OF NEXT YEAR. 

(bring up music under very last track and post up in the clear for a couple of seconds and duck below)

WE HAD HELP TODAY FROM  Mitchell Zimmerman  AND THANKS TO MASON MILLER WHO PRODUCED THE SHOW. 

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YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STORIES YOU HEARD IN TODAY’S NEWS UPDATE, BY GOING TO CRONKITENEWS-DOT-AZPBS-DOT-ORG. 

THAT’S ALL FOR YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2 GO. I’M THALIA LOPEZ                 . 

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