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CN2Go Host: This is Cronkite News 2 Go. I’m your host, Deanna Pistono.
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CN2Go Host: On today’s show we talk about the recent attack on ASU professor David Boyles, the Diamondbacks loss and how prescribed burns in Williams, Arizona help protect the landscape from potential wildfires.
CNGO Host: A recent attack on a queer professor happened in the Tempe Campus and was widely perceived as a hate crime, ASU Police say the investigation is ongoing. The University’s response thus far has caused a general feeling of unease for the LGBTQ+ community at ASU. Kenny Rasmussen has more on the story.
Campus police investigating attack on professor, but LGBTQ+ groups calling for more
KENNETH RASMUSSEN: On October 11th, National Coming Out Day, Professor David Boyles was attacked by two members of the far-right political org, Turning Point USA in a supposed ambush interview that turned violent. According to a video posted online, Turning Point member Kalen D’Almeida confronted Boyles with homophobic accusations…
<<KALEN D’ALMEIDA: “David you can’t run! It’s best if you just talk to me about why you want to push sodomy onto young people.”>>
KENNETH RASMUSSEN: Boyles ended up holding his hand out to block the other member’s camera, before being shoved into the ground by D’Almeida. The action was condemned by ASU president Michael Crow, who viewed it and other efforts of the organization to demonize professors, such as their online database, the Professor Watchlist, as anti-democratic and responsible for violence on campus.
This attack remains a subject of discussion on campus, especially in LGBTQ+ organizations where there is a general consensus that the university has yet to do enough in response, in spite of Crow’s statement. Anthony Scarmack, Vice President of Confetti, the Downtown Campus’s LGBTQ+ student group, believes looking into a ban of the two members who instigated the attack, if not TPUSA as a whole, might be necessary, believing the organization presents a credible threat against the safety of ASU professors.
<<ANTHONY SCARMACK: “Just take a hard look at the company and see if they should be allowed on Campus because this happened to one of their staff members, so they should always take priority.”>>
KENNETH RASMUSSEN: Brenna Garcia, facilitator of advocacy for Rainbow Coalition, the Umbrella Organization under which various LGBTQ+ student orgs operate, insists that banning TPUSA would make the students feel safer. Garcia says queer students have told them they feel unsafe at ASU due to there being little in the way of punishment for TPUSA besides a reprimand. There is a belief that this attack will open the precedent for queer students to be attacked without consequence.
<<BRENNA GARCIA: “If an attack like this can happen to faculty, it can happen to students.”>>
KENNETH RASMUSSEN: This belief is held in part due to the inferred protections of faculty.
<<BRENNA GARCIA: “They also argued that professors have more legal protection because they are at least in an employee/employer relationship and can pursue workplace safety, harassment claims with legal standing beyond ASU. Since basically all students here are legal adults, child protection, things like that, doesn’t apply to us, so if ASU does nothing we’re basically unprotected.”>>
KENNETH RASMUSSEN: While ASU has defended Turning Point’s right to host events on campus in the name of free speech, students wonder if a physical attack on a professor can even be considered speech at all. Kenny Rasmussen … Cronkite News…
Fighting fire with fire: Forest Service uses prescribed burns to head off bigger wildfires
CN2GO HOST: Roughly twenty five hundred wildfires break out every year across Arizona according to the Department of Forestry and Fire Management. With this audio essay Kiersten Edgett takes us to Williams, Arizona to see how the U.S. Forest Service is fighting fire with fire.
<<ambi – trees and birds UNDER>>
EDGETT: I’m at the Kaibab National Forest, just south of the Grand Canyon.
<<ambi – trees and birds UNDER>>
EDGETT: Trees rustling, birds chirping in the distance, maybe the occasional deer running far off. It’s 6:45 in the morning and the air is unusually cold for someone from Central Arizona. As I’m holding my boom pole and audio recorder, I’m regretting not stopping somewhere to buy mittens. Kaibab forest is usually still and quiet but today is different – it’s a prescribed burn day.
<<ambi – fire crackling>>
EDGETT: Prescribed burns are contained fires ordered by the U.S. Forest Service. It’s almost like getting a flu shot. It doesn’t fully protect against getting sick, but… helps your body to fight off the flu better. The idea is simple: trees exposed to controlled fires build up a better protection against UNCONTROLLED fires. These fires also burn off any smaller branches on trees or dead leaves on the ground that could fuel potential wildfires.
<<ambi – fire crackling>>
EDGETT: I’ve heard about controlled burns before, but haven’t witnessed first hand, since there aren’t exactly a lot of forests to burn near my apartment in downtown Tempe.
<<debrief audio>>
EDGETT: Pre burn planning starts early in the morning with a debrief to go over things like the location of the burn, what the weather is like in the area and if there’s a possibility that a burn could be canceled.
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EDGETT: It starts with firefighters using drip torches to burn small patches on the outer edges of the area, creating what’s known as a Black Line. The drip torches used to burn the perimeter look like small gasoline cans with a wick at the tip of the nozzle, and contain a mixture of gasoline and diesel. By burning these outer edges, the fire that starts at the center has a lower chance of spreading since there’s no more foliage to use as fuel.
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EDGETT: This is Bob Blasi, he is a Public Information Officer with the U.S. Forest Service, and our guide for the day.A helicopter flies over the center of the area and, using a machine known as a PSD, drops what’s called fireballs to ignite the ground within the burning edges.
<< ambi – helicopter flying over head >>
EDGETT: As all of this is happening, water trucks are patrolling the dirt roads lining the land to target what’s called “spot fires” that could potentially spill over. I’m with the team from the U.S. Forest Service, we stand directly in front of the fires. All of us are wearing fire protective gear which are red hard hats and bright yellow coats.
<<Bob 00:00: There’s more to it than just a bunch of cavemen dragging drip torches around.>>
EDGETT: Blasi’s job isn’t JUST to respond to media inquiries. He also talks with people that might be affected by the fire – those that live or work there.
<<Bob 00:00: A lot of the public will see it and go, ‘Oh, you know, we’re frightened, are you putting that out? Do you guys have that fire out yet?’ Actually, no, we lit it and it’s like, it’s okay. It’s just a fire.>>
EDGETT: Planning begins months in advance to notify local residents and authorities about the burn. While we are driving along the dirt road, I see an extremely brief flash of movement a few cars ahead of us before we stop for a few minutes. Blasi gets out of his truck, saying a “very upset cowboy” was rounding up his cattle, and wasn’t sure who’s fault it was that he was unaware of the day’s plans.
<<Bob Blasi 00:00: Nothing bad is happening, and if you think cattle are stupid enough to stand and get burned then _____. …>>
EDGETT: When prescribed burns happen, residents in the area are USUALLY notified to clear out any livestock. But, for wildlife, it’s different. Lindsay Nava, Crew Member on Fuels Crew 71, says a lot of the animals use burns for hunting.
<<Lindsay Nava 00:00: I’ve been on these prescribed burns, seeing coyotes and foxes running into the burning woods, because they know they can get the little like mice and critters that are running out.>>
EDGETT: Eddie Alford, a retired Senior Lecturer at ASU and former officer with the U.S. Forest Service, said that they try to …
<<Eddie Alford 00:00: … design the fire so that it won’t be so large that it would impact wildlife so bad that they didn’t have a place to go to. And then, when they have, you know, areas like Mexican spotted owls and that sort of thing, they probably avoid that.>>
EDGETT: Vegetation in the forest varies and so does the response to controlled burns. This difference in reactions to fire is known as a fire regime.
<<Eddie Alford 00:00: Each of those vegetation types have a different fire behavior that they evolved with. Ponderosa Pine has a natural fire regime of about seven to 12 years. After the 1900s, we started changing that by suppressing fires and grazing a lot of the grasses that carried fire and ponderosa pine and grasslands and so, so a lot of the fuels built up to where it changed to the fire regime. And so now, when they burn, they burn, not characteristic, not natural. What they would like to do is use fire to restore those natural functions again. >>
EDGETT: Before leaving, I stood in an open field near the fire. A large mass of gray smoke clouded the sky. Zach Boness, Burn Boss with The Forest Service, says that northern Arizona is a fire-dependent ecosystem.
<<Zach Boness: Fire is part of how these trees remain healthy, how the forest remains healthy. And so, reintroducing fire when it otherwise wouldn’t be possible or in windows where we can control fire behavior allows us to reduce those forest fuels and keep the forests healthier to reduce the catastrophic wildfires.>>
<<ambi – fire crackling, truck driving in distance>>
EDGETT: In Williams, Arizona. For Cronkite News to Go, I’m Kiersten Edgett.
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It was fun while it lasted; Diamondbacks lose in 5 after improbable World Series run
CN2GO HOST: We had hoped that the Diamondbacks would still be continuing their World Series run, but that didn’t happen. Their season ended Wednesday night when they lost Game 5 of the World Series- so with that in mind, Austin Hepola (Heh-pole-la) takes a brief look back at how their season went.
[nat: Game ending pitch to end World Series]
HEPOLA: The Arizona Diamondbacks’ improbable postseason run came to a sudden end as they were defeated by the Texas Rangers 5-0 in Game 5 of the World Series. It was a roller coaster of a year for the organization, as they vastly exceed expectations that most people set for the team at the start of the season. While the World Series loss will sting for awhile, DBacks manager Torey Lovullo still offered his congratulations to the Rangers, and let his own players know that they should still be proud of what they accomplished.
<<Tory Lovullo, Diamondbacks Manager: They were the best team, they beat us fair and square. I just got done telling the guys that I’m so proud of what they’ve done, and we have to step back for a minute and tell ourselves that we’ve done a lot of really amazing things this year.>>
HEPOLA: An emotional, Lovullo says that he will let the Fall Classic loss run its course. He wants the team to remember how this loss feels, and to not compartmentalize it.
<<Tory Lovullo, Diamondbacks Manager: I want to run away and hide for a few days. I want to go camping and just sit in a tent and suck my thumb, you know? And eat ice cream. Is that the weirdest answer you guys have ever had right there?>>
HEPOLA: Despite the crushing defeat, the 2023 season was nothing short of spectacular for the DBacks. They finished with a record of 84-78, led by 4 All-Stars- Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Zac Gallen, and Geraldo Perdomo. The team would go on to sweep the Brewers in the Wildcard round, sweep the Dodgers in the NLDS and then defeat the Phillies in Game 7 of the NLCS. To say this was a magical run would be selling it short, especially considering that the DBacks were not even favored in any of these games. The Diamondbacks are understandably going to take some time to recover from their World Series loss. Once they’re able to turn the page, look out for them heading to the 2024 season. For Cronkite Sports, in Phoenix, I’m Austin Hepola.
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CN2GO HOST: And this was your CN2Go. Special thanks to Kenny Rasmussen, Austin Hepola and Kiersten Edgett for their stories in this episode. This show was hosted and produced by me, Deanna Pistono. Until next time!
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