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CN2Go Host: This is Cronkite News 2 Go. I’m your host, Kiersten Edgett.
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CN2Go Host: On today’s show we talk about Biden’s visit to Arizona on Thursday, the recent record breaking heat’s effect on those experiencing homelessness, water levels in the greater Phoenix area, and how NASCAR Accelerator Charities allowed drivers to do laps around their famous race track.
Biden comes to Tempe to praise McCain, bash MAGA and unveil a memorial library
KIERSTEN EDGETT: President Joe Biden arrived in Arizona on Wednesday for multiple events in the greater Phoenix area on Thursday. Events included a private fundraising reception featuring Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego and U.S. Representative Greg Stanton.
At a speech Thursday morning, Biden focused on the threat to democracy, citing extremist ideologies and the MAGA movement.
In addition Thursday morning, Biden announced plans for a new library in honor of the late Arizona senator John McCain. The library will be built in conjunction with the McCain Institute and Arizona State University. It will be funded using money from the $1.9 trillion dollar COVID-19 relief plan passed in the first few months of Biden’s presidency.
This is President Biden’s second visit in two months to Arizona.
For Cronkite News 2 Go, I’m Kiersten Edgett.
This summer’s record-breaking heat has hit the unhoused population hardest
CN2Go Host: If you have nothing else to talk about, there’s always the weather. This year Phoenix broke 2020’s heat record at fifty-five days over 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Here’s Deanna Pistono with the story of how this heat affects the health of those experiencing homelessness.
DEANNA PISTONO: It’s hot in Phoenix. But for those living in a homeless encampment area called the Zone, hot days can lead to injury and even death.
When you drive up to the Zone, the smell – of the people crammed together in ragged tents and shelters, of the trash that accumulates and settles in the street – hits you like a train. And, in the middle of all this, scenes of regular life: a woman brushing her long hair next to her sidewalk shelter, her gray roots standing out from the rest of her orange-pink hair.
<<WILLIAM TAFT COWAN JR: My friend died over here…from heat exhaustion…He couldn’t breathe no more, because it got so hot.>>
DEANNA PISTONO: That’s William Taft (cow-en) Cowan Jr., who lives in the Zone. In addition to losing his friend, Taft Cowan Jr. sustained his own injuries as a result of the heat.
<<WILLIAM TAFT COWAN JR.: The other day I had a seizure from it getting so hot…. I fell down and busted my finger over here. And it burned in my hands when I hit the concrete, burnt my knees too – it’s so hot, it’s like a frying pan.>>
DEANNA PISTONO: Dr. Mark Bueno is with Circle the City, a nonprofit tackling health care for Maricopa county’s homeless population. Bueno has seen firsthand how heat affects his patients.
<<DR. MARK BUENO: We’ve seen symptoms related to heat stroke, severe dehydration, contact burns from the asphalt.>>
DEANNA PISTONO: Perla Puebla, associate medical director at Circle the City, says heat can even affect what the nonprofit can and cannot prescribe.
<<PERLA PUEBLA: If they don’t have the right medications because the medication can’t be outside or they can’t refrigerate it, they can’t get it… When we’re prescribing antibiotics as well, we have to be careful with letting them know that some of the antibiotics cause light skin sensitivities to the sun.>>
DEANNA PISTONO: One major issue with heat, according to Dr. Pope Moseley, is how it changes blood flow around the body.
<<DR. POPE MOSELEY: The main problem with heat is that you have about 5 liters of blood flowing through your body, but you have 20 liters of pipes. So the body constantly makes choices about where that blood is going. Certain organs get priority, so the brain gets priority… As you increase heat, even though the brain gets top priority, as you begin to lose fluid… you’re sending less blood to the brain..>>
DEANNA PISTONO: The lack of sufficient blood flow to the brain can impact vital functions.
<<DR. POPE MOSELEY: “The barrier between the brain and the blood, called the blood brain barrier … is highly selective…It keeps all kinds of stuff out of the brain. That barrier begins to become more leaky, so stuff that wouldn’t cross over does cross over. Not just toxins from the outside, but toxins you produce.>>
DEANNA PISTONO: But it’s not just physical health that’s affected by extreme heat. Dr. Pope Moseley has studied heat-related illness for more than 30 years.
<<DR. POPE MOSELEY: Suicide goes up 1 to 2% for every degree Celsius. Violent crime goes up. Asthma attacks go up. Dementia hospitalizations go up, renal kidney failure goes up. Hospitalization for anxiety, depression goes up..>>
DEANNA PISTONO: People living in this part of the Zone come to Circle the City’s mobile clinic not just for medical care, but for a bottle of water or Gatorade. Douglas Walters, who dropped by the mobile clinic to get a head and chest cold looked at, appreciates the help.
<<DOUGLAS WALTERS: Yeah, they help a lot of people. They’re great and I’m glad they’re here.>>
<<FRANCISCO GARCIA: It’s a lot more common to end up where our patient population ends up than one would think. Some of these folks are, you know, a week or a month out of an eviction… a shorter check that month or an emergency of some kind, financial situation. You know, my car broke down, didn’t go to work and now I’m, you know, unemployed and homeless after I can’t pay my rent.>>
DEANNA PISTONO: That’s Francisco Garcia, a patient navigator at Circle the City. Though Circle the City and other organizations in Phoenix provide help, for some in the Zone, like William Taft Cowan Jr., solutions aren’t coming fast enough.
<<WILLIAM TAFT COWAN JR : They try to appease you. Hey, tomorrow there’s a program. Next week. Next month. Next six months. How much do they appease you each time and moment to make you feel that maybe something’s coming down the pike?… I guess sometimes they just wish that we all just evaporate with the heat, they wouldn’t have to deal with it no more.>>
DEANNA PISTONO: People at Circle the City heal the injuries and tend the illnesses of people in the Zone, but they provide another thing that’s also valuable to their patients – they don’t judge.
For Cronkite News, I’m Deanna Pistono.
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Saving water pays – literally – for some homeowners as Valley cities grapple with water supplies
CN2Go Host: Due to Arizona’s dwindling water supply, cities across the state of Arizona, such as Mesa and Phoenix have had to come up with methods to conserve the water that is available, Kenny Rasmussen has more on the story.
KENNY RASMUSSEN: Arizona has less water than it had anticipated. To this end, cities like Mesa and Phoenix have been working to decrease their collective reliance on water.
Becky Zusy, conservation coordinator of the City of Mesa mentioned the city’s grass removal program, among others, helped decrease the water usage.
<< BECKY ZUSY: “We offer incentives for grass removal. Those are, again, both for residential as well as non-residential customers. And then commercial customers such as HOAs, also have the opportunity to receive incentives. Equipment, some updates, and some upgrades that they might want to make.”>>
KENNY RASMUSSEN: The incentives for residential grass removal were laid out by Zusy as follows.
<<BECKY ZUSY: If you remove between 500 and 999 its $750 incentive. If it’s 1000 square feet or more, it’s $1,000. Then we also add up to $100 for adding two low water use trees.”>>
KENNY RASMUSSEN: Max Wilson, deputy water services director of the city of Phoenix, says informing the residents is his City’s most important task.
<< MAX WILSON: “Frankly, people can save water regardless of what kind of landscape they have. We find that almost everybody we talk to is overwatering even their desert landscapes. Most people have leaks hiding somewhere in their house.”>>
KENNY RASMUSSEN: Wilson mentioned that educating people on desert landscaping was a great way to remove barriers to water preservation. For example, when people know how to create and maintain desert gardens, they rely on landscapers less.
Zusy also noted Mesa’s history of Outreach Education and the city’s status as a founding member of the regional preservation effort, Water, Use It Wisely. Mesa’s website, mesaaz.gov’s water conservation section has materials organized by topic including a calculator that helps to determine recommended water usage by family, activities, and similar mitigating factors.
When asked about his confidence in the future of water conservation, Wilson had a mixed response. He was very positive about the residents, believing them as a whole to understand personal responsibility and cut back on their water use. However, Wilson was less optimistic about the dwindling water supply but held out faith that the communities would still figure out ways to conserve if it came down to it.
<< MAX WILSON: “Ultimately, what we’re going to find out here is what are the types of things that we as a community need to do and prioritize to make sure that those conservation gains that we’re seeing are large enough to make up for the decline in supply that we’re getting upstream.”>>
KENNY RASMUSSEN: Kenny Rasmussen, Cronkite News
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Putting the ‘drive’ in charity drive, as donors get to take a spin on Phoenix Raceway
CN2Go Host: Last saturday, Cronkite Sports Reporter Benjamin Yates was able to travel out to the Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, where the NASCAR Accelerator Charities event was held. 30 dollars allowed drivers to take laps around the track for charity.
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YATES: The Phoenix Raceway was roaring with engines, as NASCAR fans were able to take five laps around the track for charity. For just thirty dollars, you could put your car in the oval and help Phoenix Raceway Track President, Latasha Causey, raise money for Arizona Accelerator Charities.
<< LATASHA CAUSEY: We love doing track laps, because it opens up our raceway to the community. For true diehard race fans. They love the raceway, they love the track and being able to be on it. It provides us the opportunity to give back to the community. All of the funds that we receive today go back to Arizona Accelerator Charities, and Phoenix Raceway Charities, so we’re going to give all that money back into the community.>>
YATES: The fans who drove out to Avondale had a crazy collection of cars on the track.
From Teslas and pickup trucks to Ferraris and Challengers, the raceway was full of stories and people willing to tell them, like NASCAR fan Brandon Caves
<< BRANDON CAVES: We like getting out on the weekends in our little hot rod, and we wanted to come out here, do some laps for charity. And help raise a little bit of money for a great cause, and have some fun while doing it.>>
YATES: Some fans were here for charity, others were here for family fun. Margaret Walker brought her entire family, kids and grandkids, with four cars in their laps around the track. A Fiat, a Mini Cooper, a Ford pick-up truck, and a Tesla.
<< MARGARET WALKER: Oh I love the race track, ever since I was a kid. I been to stock car races and I’ve been out here and hillside a couple of times, it’s been really fun.>>
YATES: The most exciting cars to show up to the raceway were the older, visibly more expensive vehicles. Challengers, Mustangs, and Lamborginis were among the higher-end models of cars seen at the track. Keith Fell brought a Shelby Cobra to take around the track four separate times, marking 20 laps at Phoenix Raceway.
<< KEITH FELL: We don’t get to take it out often, but for this? We had to. I mean look at it, it’s fast just sitting still.”
YATES: Causey said that this event is one of several that are soon to come, as this will be at least the third year of the Track Laps for Charity. And in just two months,the fans will make their way from the track to the bleachers, as the NASCAR Championship race will be here in November.
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YATES: For The Sweet Spot, I’m Benjamin Yates
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CN2Go Host: And this was your CN2Go. This show was produced by Kiersten Edgett. Special thanks to Deanna Pistono, Kenny Rasmussen and Benjamin Yates for their stories in this episode.
I’m your host, Kiersten Edgett. Until next time!
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