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CN2Go Host: This is Cronkite News 2 Go. I’m your host, Deanna Pistono.
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HOST: On today’s show, we talk about weapons detectors in public schools and how land development in the Valley may displace local rattlesnakes.
Mesa schools consider installing metal detectors after string of recent incidents
HOST: A new generation of security devices is to be considered at Mesa’s public schools. Reporter Kenny Rasmussen has more on the story.
RASMUSSEN: The board of Mesa Public Schools is slated to vote on the decision to introduce Opengate weapons detectors into their schools, in the wake of a number of recent weapon smuggling incidents. Mesa Public Schools’ Director Allen Moore explains how these devices can be set to focus on detecting weapons.
<< Allen Moore: “Basically they only pick up high-density metals as you would see in the barrel of a gun or the blade of a large knife.” >>
RASMUSSEN: Moore believes the technology to be more convenient for this purpose than similarly used security systems such as those at the TSA, which detect a variety of metal objects such as belts and cell phones. In a video of the system in place at Agua Fria District, students only need to remove their laptops before being checked, allowing for a relatively quick flow of entry into the school. Moore claims the technology is already in use elsewhere such as sporting events and theme park entrances. If the vote passes, a test run is said to take place at Skyline High School, a relatively smaller school in Mesa. If this test run succeeds, the technology will be implemented in schools across the city. The board seems receptive to the systems, and so are students in places where they are already in use. Moore mentioned a visit to one such place, Canyon View High School in West Phoenix.
<< Moore: “We talked to several students who were coming through, and every single one of them said they feel safer with this.” >>
RASMUSSEN: The vote to decide on these detectors is set to take place on the 28th of November. Kenny Rasmussen, Cronkite News.
What happens when rattlesnakes – and other animals – are in the path of potential roads?
HOST: Arizona is home to more than a dozen rattlesnake species, the highest number in the U.S. But, as the Valley continues to build transportation infrastructure, some of these species could be displaced. Kiersten Edgett has more on how the scaly serpents could be affected by infrastructure expansion.
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EDGETT: As more continue to move to the Grand Canyon State, infrastructure continues to expand outwards. And with more people come more cars, and a need for freeway expansion with projects like the I-11 corridor. The project spans from Wickenburg to Nogales, and could potentially connect to the I-11 in Nevada. However, a portion of this freeway project cuts through desert land, which experts say could cause issues for wildlife in the area, such as rattlesnakes. Adam Stein is an assistant teaching professor at Arizona State University and teaches a class on ecosystem management. Stein has discussed the I-11 freeway in his class and starts off the discussion with the frustrations he feels towards commuting in Phoenix.
<< Adam Stein: I have to replace my windshield probably twice a year with rocks from these large machines coming through and spitting it up, and I think everybody feels that type of frustration, and a solution to that may be to divert some of this traffic that’s flowing through Phoenix down to Tucson, down to areas further south, outside of these areas and open up that congestion to make it safer for commuters like me.>>
EDGETT: Stein says it sounds like a great deal on the surface, but actually disrupts biodiverse desert landscapes, some of the last deserts in the United States.
<< Stein: We can think about the most immediate issue with roads, in the sense that they are blocking movements from animals from one side of the highway to the other, where there might be resources or potential interactions; and for especially slow-moving organisms, that is going to be a big trap. Arteries and roadways inadvertently attract certain reptiles for thermal-regulation purposes and then puts them at further risk of being run over or hit. >>
EDGETT: And a lower rattlesnake population could cause issues, says Bryan Hughes, owner of Rattlesnake Solutions.
<< Bryan Hughes: If we didn’t have rattlesnakes here, people would probably miss them. Now because they miss snakes, but rodent problems would increase, diseases would become more prevalent in ways that we probably don’t understand.>>
EDGETT: Hughes says wildlife displacement is something that happens over and over again in Arizona.
<< Hughes: Every time a ground breaks in one of these communities, we see the same mistakes that are made with development that does not help prevent wildlife conflict, not just with rattlesnakes but coyotes and javelina… There’s some hope that maybe we can get out and ahead of it, maybe we can get a word into community developers and managers. But there’s no guarantee that’ll happen. So it just looks like we’ve done this before, it’s Groundhog Day.>>
EDGETT: It is currently unknown when the I-11 freeway in Arizona will break ground, or what a final timeline could look like.
EDGETT: In Phoenix. For Cronkite News to Go, I’m Kiersten Edgett.
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CN2Go Host: And this was your CN2Go. This show was produced by Deanna Pistono. Special thanks to Kenny Rasmussen and Kiersten Edgett for their stories in this episode. I’m your host, Deanna Pistono. Until next time!