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- Runtime: 5:15.
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THIS IS YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2GO BRIEFING.
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I’M NATALIE SKOWLUND ( go to story )
Abortion Law (Natalie/reader)
A NEAR-TOTAL ABORTION BAN IS BACK ON THE BOOKS IN ARIZONA. ON FRIDAY A PIMA COUNTY JUDGE REINSTATED A 1901 STATE LAW THAT CRIMINALIZES MOST ABORTION-RELATED ACTIVITIES. THE LAW PROVIDES AN EXCEPTION FOR ABORTIONS NECESSARY TO SAVE THE LIFE OF THE MOTHER. THE RULING CAME HOURS BEFORE AN ARIZONA LAW THAT WOULD PERMIT ABORTIONS BEFORE 15 WEEKS OF PREGNANCY WAS EXPECTED TO TAKE EFFECT. THE BAN ALSO COMES IN THE WAKE OF THE SUPREME COURT’S REVERSAL OF THE 1973 ROE V. WADE DECISION LAST JUNE.
Arizona DART
NASA’S FIRST-EVER PLANETARY DEFENSE MISSION HAPPENED YESTERDAY. THE DOUBLE ASTEROID REDIRECTION TEST, OR DART, LAUNCHED LAST NOVEMBER. IT’S BEEN HEADING FOR DIMORPHOS (dih-more-PHOAS) A SMALL MOON THAT ORBITS A BIGGER NEAR-EARTH ASTEROID KNOWN AS DIDYMOS (did-ih-MOS).
DART INTENTIONALLY CRASHED INTO DIMORPHOS TO SLIGHTLY CHANGE ITS MOTION IN SPACE.
RHONDA STROUD DIRECTS THE BUSECK (bew-seck) CENTER FOR METEORITE STUDIES AT ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY. THEY SAY NASA’S TEST WILL PREVENT FUTURE ASTEROID HAZARDS TO EARTH.
“It’s important to be able to run this safe experiment, rather than waiting till we, you know, if there was an asteroid that was coming too close to Earth, we don’t want to have to experiment with it close up where it could rain down pieces of the meteorite on us.”
THE MOONLET ASTEROID ISN’T A THREAT TO EARTH, BUT DART’S MISSION DEMONSTRATES SPACE CRAFTS CAN DEFLECT ASTEROIDS AND THEN BE USED TO CHANGE THE SPEED OR PATH OF THE ASTEROID. DIMORPHOS IS 530 FEET WIDE AND 7 MILLION MILES AWAY FROM EARTH.
Suns Media Day (Damon/Wrap)
HOST INTRO:
THE PHOENIX SUNS ARE REACTING TO LAST WEEK’S NEWS THAT OWNER, ROBERT SARVER, PLANS TO SELL THE SUNS AND THE PHOENIX MERCURY. CRONKITE NEWS’ DAMON FAIRALL HAS MORE.
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SARVER’S DECISION TO SELL COMES AFTER AN N-B-A INVESTIGATION FOUND HIM GUILTY OF USING RACIST LANGUAGE AND CREATING A HOSTILE WORK ENVIRONMENT FOR FEMALE EMPLOYEES.
SUNS ALL STAR DEVIN BOOKER SAYS HE WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR THE OUTCOME OF THE LEAGUE’S INVESTIGATION.
“That’s not the Robert Sarver that I know. That’s not the Robert Sarver that welcomed me to Phoenix with open arms. But at the same time I’m not insensitive to everyone that’s involved in the situation. And I understand everybody’s personal experience with other people are always gonna be different.”
SUNS GENERAL MANAGER JAMES JONES BELIEVES SARVER MADE THE CORRECT DECISION TO SELL THE TEAM.
“I think that’s the best outcome. It brings some closure and comfort. Those behaviors are unacceptable.”
THE SUNS BEGIN REGULAR SEASON PLAY AT HOME ON OCTOBER NINETEENTH, WHEN THEY’LL TAKE ON THE DALLAS MAVERICKS, THE TEAM THAT KNOCKED OFF THE ONE-SEED SUNS IN THE WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALS LAST YEAR.
DAMON FAIRALL, CRONKITE NEWS.
Saguaro Cactus Death (Isabella/Feature)
ANCHOR INTRO
A 200 YEAR OLD SAGUARO THAT WAS A LANDMARK ON THE MOUNTAINS ABOVE TUCSON RECENTLY COLLAPSED. KNOWN AS “STRONG ARM” THIS CACTUS TOWERED 40 FEET IN THE AIR AND HAD 34 ARMS. CRONKITE NEWS ISABELLA FREDRICKSON EXPLAINS A BACTERIA IS TO BLAME AND THIS DISEASE THREATENS SAGUAROS ACROSS THE SOUTHWEST
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LOCALS AND TOURISTS WERE SHOCKED WHEN THE CACTUS NICK-NAMED STRONG ARM DIED AND FELL OVER DURING A STORM.
JASON GRODMAN IS THE MARANA PARKS AND RECREATION NATURAL RESOURCES SUPERVISOR AND HE EXPLAINS WHAT THEY DISCOVERED.
“one of the things we did find out from a saguaro expert is that the saguaro did have an infection and the necrosis really kind of helped the saguaro on his demise”
FIELD SCIENCE GEOLOGIST WILLIAM PEACHEY, IS A CACTUS EXPERT. HE SAW THE TELLTALE SIGNS OF WHAT KILLED THE CACTUS.
“It took me about 15 seconds to figure out why it died. it was infected with erwinia carnegiana, which is the bacteria that ends the lives of saguaros”
PEACHEY SAYS THIS BACTERIA IS INFECTING CACTUSES ALL OVER, AT AN INCREASINGLY ALARMING RATE.
what’s different is they are dying off rather suddenly. normally over decades you might lose one, maybe two or 3 here and there, but we are losing large numbers of them because these events are happening more frequently and they are worse weather events, so it seems like they are dying suddenly at once.
PEACHEY SAYS EXTREME TEMPERATURE CHANGES, AND MORE SEVERE STORMS, ALL DUE TO CLIMATE CHANGE, MAKE SAGUAROS MORE SUSCEPTIBLE TO THIS DEADLY BACTERIA.
DON SWANN IS A BIOLOGIST WITH THE SAGUARO NATIONAL PARK IN TUCSON. HE SAYS THE DEATH OF SAGUAROS HARMS OTHER ORGANISMS THAT DEPEND ON THIS PLANT.
one of the most fascinating things ecologically about saguaros is their role in the ecosystem with other plants and animals.
they are the tallest plants in the desert, where other plants are fairly short, so for birds for example they make great perches
THERE IS HOPE. DEAD SAGUAROS STILL PROVIDE LIFE TO MANY OTHER ORGANISMS IN THE DESERT. STRONG ARM IS PURPOSELY BEING LEFT UNTOUCHED THIS ONCE MIGHTY SAGUARO CAN GIVE LIFE TO OTHER SPECIES.
ISABELLA F. CRONKITE NEWS.
HOST OUTRO:
WILDLIFE BIOLOGISTS SAY ITS DIFFICULT TO KNOW WHEN SAGUAROS HAVE THIS BACTERIA. THERE IS NO CURE ONCE THE CACTUS STARTS TO SHOW SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE.
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WE HAD HELP TODAY FROM ISABELLA FREDRICKSON, DAMON FAIRALL, TORI GANTZ, AND HALEY SMILOW. AND A BIG THANK YOU TO AUTRIYA MANESHNI WHO PRODUCED OUR 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 NATALIE SKOWLUND.
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