• Slug: BC-CNS-Die-Ins, 615
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By FORTESA LATIFI
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – About 100 student activists demanding more effective gun laws staged “die-ins” across the Capitol on Friday afternoon, sprawling on floors outside the governor’s office and in the lobbies of the House and Senate.

Activists promised to stay through the night, if necessary, until Gov. Doug Ducey met with them. The governor, whose attention Friday was on averting a statewide teachers’ walkout by urging lawmakers to give educators a raise, so far has declined to do so.

The National Rifle Association has endorsed a bill incorporating Ducey’s so-called school safety plan, according to azcentral.com, but gun-reform activists have said it doesn’t go far enough.

Continue reading “Arizona students stage ‘die-in’ outside governor’s office to demand action on gun violence”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Phoenix Recycling, 270
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By NICOLE RANDOCK
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – City officials say they’ve made great strides in persuading residents to divert recyclable waste from landfills, but one big problem continues to plague them: plastic bags.

Plastic bags routinely jam the machines at the recycling plant. Officials estimate they lose about $1 million a year in lost time because of improper recycling, mostly because of flimsy, plastic bags.

“(People) tend to think that because it’s plastic, it is recyclable,” said Chad Hardy, the solid waste superintendent for Phoenix. “And they don’t understand the way the machinery works – its belts, its conveyors, its drums, its beaters – and when those things are moving, the plastic bags get stuck in there. And there’s no weight to them, so they aren’t able to move through the system.”

Continue reading “Phoenix recycling officials: Plastic bags contribute to lost time worth about $1 million”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Ducey Budget,380
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By LERMAN MONTOYA
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s office released his proposed fiscal 2019 budget on Friday with hopes the state will return to pre-recession spending. His focus: K-12 education.

State officials highlighted that the record $10.1 billion budget would allocate 80 percent of new spending to K-12 education.

“My budget will include a full commitment to accelerate the state’s K-12 investment and restore long-standing cuts from the recession,” Ducey said at his State of the State Address earlier this month.

In fiscal 2016, the state’s school districts spent about $3,300 less per pupil than the 2014 national average, the most recent national data available, according to a report by the Arizona Auditor General.

Continue reading “Ducey unveils optimistic fiscal 2019 budget with emphasis on school spending”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Phoenix Wages,500
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By KARA CARLSON
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Wages in the Phoenix metro area increased more than anywhere else in the United States in the past year, according to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

From July 2016 to this July, hourly wages grew 7.6 percent, according to a release from the city of Phoenix using the latest labor numbers. The average hourly wage in Phoenix grew nearly $2 in the past year, from $24.87 to $26.75.

Phoenix area workers earned slightly more than the national average wage of $26.36. However, the Phoenix metro area’s population makes it the 12th-largest market, and the area falls below the average hourly wage of its Top 15 market peers, which is $28.94. Phoenix ranked 23rd overall in wages.

Continue reading “Phoenix-area workers had highest wage increases in U.S.”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Trauma Center, 450
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By MADDY RYAN
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s new emergency department greets visitors with a plethora of brightly colored art installations – from plastic flowers that seem to blossom out of the ceiling to framed Warhol-esque animal caricatures that line the hallways.

But it’s not necessarily the child-friendly feel of the $65.5 million structure that has its employees so excited, it’s the ability to serve more patients – and serve them more quickly.

The hospital will open its new 42,000-square foot emergency department and trauma center later this month.

The original emergency department was designed to treat 35,000 children annually, but more than 83,000 patients came through its doors last year alone. The new department can accommodate 100,000 patients each year, according to the hospital.

Continue reading “Phoenix Children’s Hospital prepares to open new emergency department to handle patient growth”

• Slug: BC-CNS-DACABiz, 590
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By KARA CARLSON
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – One local business leader said that if authorities remove all of the state’s DACA recipients from the economy, it would be the equivalent of removing the population of Kingman in northwest Arizona.

“These are people who are spending money, working and creating a positive economic impact,” said James Garcia, a spokesman for the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.

Local business leaders continued to speak out after President Donald Trump on Tuesday announced his intention to repeal DACA, putting the future of nearly 800,000 DACA recipients in question. The program, established by former President Barack Obama, protects immigrants brought into the U.S. as children, from deportation.

In Arizona, this means uncertainty for 28,000 DACA recipients.

Continue reading “AZ business leaders express concerns about DACA repeal, say it could have millions in economic impact”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Hyperloop Competition, 530 words
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By SAMANTHA POULS
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Dozens of students from several Arizona universities spent the weekend in Hawthorne, California, competing at the SpaceX headquarters to build a high-speed transportation pod.

As they headed back to Phoenix on Monday, they were exhausted – and a little bit disappointed that they didn’t get to do a test run on the track. But they also were proud: The team placed among the Top 8.

And the team, called AZLoop, already was planning for next year’s competition.

“More than a competition, we’ve established the Hyperloop team on ASU,” team member Karthik Subramanian Sankaran said. “So win or lose, we’re going to continue. We have started and established a benchmark that other ASU teams can work with.”

Continue reading “Arizona ‘Hyperloop’ team doesn’t win international competition, but they vow to continue”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Dairy Industry,900
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By CHARLIE CLARK
Cronkite News

MESA – Jim Boyle’s family history is intertwined with Arizona dairy. His grandfather had 50 cows. His dad had 500. And now the Boyle family has 6,000 at three dairies.

Boyle said the family business grew organically along with Phoenix’s population, and they now have two dairies in Mesa and one in Casa Grande. His business mirrors the growth of others in Arizona.

“Everyone has expanded to keep up with demand,” he said. “And Arizona – outside of the summer months – is really good environment for dairy cows.”

Arizona may be more known for its cattle, citrus and vegetables, but dairies and dairy farmers produce the state’s No. 1 commodity with nearly 200,000 cows producing more than $750 million worth of milk, according to the Arizona Department of Agriculture’s fiscal 2016 report.

The dairy industry has recently made headlines because of a nationwide class-action lawsuit and settlement.

Arizona residents who bought dairy products any time since 2003 have until the end of the day Tuesday to file a claim for a cash settlement.

Continue reading “Recent class-action lawsuit sheds light on AZ dairy industry”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Vacation Days,690
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By CHARLIE CLARK
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Visiting from Denmark, Gitee Sorensen and Gitte Ottosen came to Phoenix for an international craft and hobby trade show, but the pair extended their trip a few extra days to have a mini vacation.

They made the most of their time, hitting hotspots such as Tombstone, Tucson, Apache Trail and Camelback Mountain.

They said they enjoyed Arizona with its unique landscape full of saguaro cacti, sprawling desert and imposing mountains. And although it wasn’t a long stay, they savored giving themselves a little time to breathe.

Unlike Sorensen and Ottosen, most Americans don’t give themselves that extra time to take a break.

Last year, 55 percent of American workers didn’t use all their vacation time. They left 658 million vacation days on the table, resulting in $61.4 billion in forfeited benefits, according to research by Project Time Off, a U.S. Travel Association initiative.

This culture of work martyrdom has prompted a nationwide effort on Jan. 31, called National Plan For Vacation Day.

Organizers want Americans to declare their vacation days for the rest of the year.

Continue reading “Arizona tourism officials want to capitalize on unused vacation time”

Continue reading “Do you suspect someone is struggling with addiction? Here are some tips”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Opioids Alternatives,2350
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• EDS: PLEASE RUN THE HOOKED PROMO PHOTO (below) OR THIS BOX WITH THIS STORY IF YOU PLAN TO PUBLISH PRIOR TO JAN. 10:  Watch “Hooked Rx: From Prescription to Addiction,” a 30-minute commercial-free investigative report airing at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 on 30 broadcast TV stations in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma and 97 of the state’s radio stations. For the full report, go to hookedrx.com.

PHOENIX – Eric Johnson has had pain throughout his life.

At 8, doctors diagnosed him with mononucleosis – also known as the kissing disease. That likely led to fibromyalgia, a common chronic pain disorder affecting muscles and soft tissues, as an adult, he said.

In 2011, he had such extreme breathing difficulties that he went to the emergency room in Tucson, where doctors discovered he had myasthenia gravis, a disease that weakens the muscles.

Johnson, 65, also underwent open chest surgery for a cancerous thymus gland.

At one point, the Phoenix resident was “in such extreme pain, I wanted to kill myself.”

The pain felt like being beaten with sticks all over the body, “not so much as it’s happening, but when it’s over, the ache, that pain’s everywhere,” he said.

Johnson has taken pain relievers, such as Lyrica and tramadol, as well as opioids, such as morphine and oxycodone. But he prefers medical marijuana, which he says has helped reduce the amount of prescription pills he has to take.

Continue reading “Experts recommend alternatives to opioids for managing chronic pain”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Opioids State Overview,1750
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• EDS: PLEASE RUN THE HOOKED PROMO PHOTO (below) OR THIS BOX WITH THIS STORY IF YOU PLAN TO PUBLISH PRIOR TO JAN. 10:  Watch “Hooked Rx: From Prescription to Addiction,” a 30-minute commercial-free investigative report airing at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 on 30 broadcast TV stations in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma and 97 of the state’s radio stations. For the full report, go to hookedrx.com.

By MICHELLE CHANCE
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey’s office calls it an “all-hands-on-deck strategy.”

His office has touted its work in creating executive orders, signing new laws and launching partnerships to try to attack the state’s problem with prescription pain medication abuse.

You might say the efforts, combined with those by both the private and public sectors, have led to some success over the years: Arizona now ranks 15th in the nation for all overdose deaths. That’s a drop from sixth in 2010, said a spokesman for the Arizona Department of Health Services. (Opioids – primarily prescription pain relievers and heroin – are the main driver of overdose deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.)

But that improvement in rank is slightly misleading. Sheila Sjolander, the assistant director of health prevention services at the health department, said the ranking doesn’t necessarily mean overdose deaths are decreasing.

“It’s more of a matter of, we are holding our own compared to other states whose rates have significantly worsened compared to ours,” Sjolander said.

So local and state officials continue to fight.

Continue reading “Expert: Arizona ‘proactive’ in fighting opioid abuse, but has more work to do”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Opioids Disposal,1750
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• EDS: PLEASE RUN THE HOOKED PROMO PHOTO (below) OR THIS BOX WITH THIS STORY IF YOU PLAN TO PUBLISH PRIOR TO JAN. 10:  Watch “Hooked Rx: From Prescription to Addiction,” a 30-minute commercial-free investigative report airing at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 on 30 broadcast TV stations in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma and 97 of the state’s radio stations. For the full report, go to hookedrx.com.

By JOSHUA BOWLING
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Doctors dole out millions of prescriptions for powerful painkillers – from oxycodone to fentanyl – every year in Arizona. Thousands of pounds go unused.

State and local officials have worked to convince both consumers and those in the medical field to turn in these leftover narcotics to a designated source so they can dispose of them the safest way: incineration.

Turning them in also helps keep these drugs out of the wrong hands. Arizona faces a growing opioid epidemic: In 2015, more than 400 people died in the state from an overdose of prescription pain relievers, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.

On the consumer side, state and local officials have held numerous “take-back” events, set up drop-off locations at police stations and pharmacies across the state, and issued guidelines to the public on how to safely dispose of their medications. Residents turned in more than 12,000 pounds of drugs at a Drug Enforcement Administration take-back event in April.

“It’s working,” said Dr. Keith Boesen, director of the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center. “Arizona, I think, is fairly aggressive and unique in really wanting to address this problem.”

Continue reading “Arizona officials focus on safely disposing of Rx drugs”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Opioids Doctor Training,2,400
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• EDS: PLEASE RUN THE HOOKED PROMO PHOTO (below) OR THIS BOX WITH THIS STORY IF YOU PLAN TO PUBLISH PRIOR TO JAN. 10:  Watch “Hooked Rx: From Prescription to Addiction,” a 30-minute commercial-free investigative report airing at 6:30 p.m. on Jan. 10 on 30 broadcast TV stations in Phoenix, Tucson and Yuma and 97 of the state’s radio stations. For the full report, go to hookedrx.com.

Eds: A previous version of this story misstated information about Arizona medical schools that offer doctor of medicine degrees. Both the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson and the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix offer degrees. The story below has been corrected, but clients who used earlier versions of this story are asked to run the correction that can be found here.

By ALLY CARR
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – When Dr. Patricia Lebensohn prescribed a narcotic to a man with chronic pain years ago, she thought she had done everything right. The Tucson doctor had him sign a pain management contract to make sure he would not take any other drugs or get more pain medications from other doctors.

“I prescribed the usual,” she said. “I wasn’t excessive.”

But her patient took a bunch of his pain medication and mixed it with alcohol, she said. He overdosed and died.

That incident left an impression on Lebensohn, who wants to change the way doctors treat chronic pain in Arizona. Doctors often rely on dangerous and highly addictive narcotics to treat patients with pain, which has helped feed a nationwide epidemic that has exploded because of cultural shifts, consumer demands and poor doctor training.

She’s in charge of adding new guidelines on how to properly prescribe opioids and address chronic pain in the curriculum at the University of Arizona’s medical school in Tucson.

Many experts say doctor training is key to dealing with the national opioid epidemic.

About 72 percent of the doctors surveyed in one recent study indicated their knowledge of opioid dependence was low, and many rated their training as “unsatisfactory,” according to a 2016 study published in the Drug and Alcohol Dependence journal.