• Slug: BC-CNS-CN2Go Weekly Update. Runtime 12:57.
• Downloadable audio here. (Note: Some web browsers may not support media download)

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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. Continue reading “CN2Go Weekly Update: Extreme heat affecting people living in ‘The Zone’”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Shutdown Food,450 words.
• 5 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Angelina Steel
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – If Congress doesn’t come to a spending agreement this weekend, the federal government will shut down on Sunday, Oct. 1.

The shutdown would force millions of federal workers and military service members to go without pay, and many federal services like passport offices and national parks could close.

People who depend on federally funded nutrition programs to pay for groceries were alarmed when U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warned, during a press conference this week, that nearly 7 million Americans, mainly women and children, would suffer from a rapid loss of food benefits in a shutdown. Continue reading “Shutdown would not affect food aid – for now – but pantries brace for surge”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Shutdown Economy,850 words.
• File photo, video story available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Renee Romo
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – If Congress cannot head off a government shutdown before Sunday, it would mean the loss of a paycheck for close to 50,000 federal workers and active-duty military in Arizona – and they’re not the only ones to feel the pinch.

Government contractors would stop getting paid, small businesses could lose sales as nervous consumers cut spending and anyone who needs a government service, from processing a passport application to visiting a national park, would feel the shutdown firsthand. Continue reading “50,000 federal workers, military, in Arizona wait, watch as shutdown looms”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Biden Tempe,720 words.
• 3 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Reagan Priest
Cronkite News

TEMPE – President Joe Biden invoked the spirit of the late Sen. John McCain while denouncing “MAGA extremists” as a threat to democracy, during a speech Thursday at the Tempe Arts Center.

Biden, in town to announce the creation of a library and museum honoring McCain, cited the Arizona Republican’s willingness to cross party lines and work with Democrats – a far cry from former President Donald Trump’s supporters who he said “would fundamentally alter the institutions of American democracy as we know it.” Continue reading “Biden honors McCain, denounces ‘MAGA extremists’ during Tempe event”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Unhoused Heat,1120 words.
• 7 photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Deanna Pistono
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Near the intersection of S. 11th Avenue and W. Jefferson Street in Phoenix, the heat is intense. For those who live along the street in tents and makeshift shelters, this heat can become fatal.

“My friend … in the street over here, from heat exhaustion.… He couldn’t breathe no more, because it got so hot,” said William Taft Cowan Jr., an unhoused resident of The Zone, a homeless encampment in Phoenix.

“Still young, you know?” Continue reading “‘Like a frying pan’: Extreme heat overwhelms Phoenix’s unhoused community”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Water Rights,670 words.
• 2 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Lux Butler
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Crystalyne Curley told a Senate panel Wednesday that the Navajo Nation Council is 100 years old this year – and that the tribe’s fight for water access has been going on for at least that long.

Curley, the speaker of the Navajo Council, made the comments at a Senate Indian Affairs Committee hearing on the government’s trust obligations to ensure water access for tribes. Most of the senators and witnesses at the hearing agreed that there is a legal obligation, but Curley said it goes beyond that.

“I grew up without running water, and so did many of my relatives,” Curley said. “We used to live in a small area and community. So this was at the forefront for most.” Continue reading “Senators urged to step up after Supreme Court ruling on Navajo water rights”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Poor Air Quality. 840 words.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails and captions below).

By Caleb Scott
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – On Aug. 30, the Sierra Club’s Grand Canyon Chapter issued a 2023 environmental report card that cited the American Lung Association’s report ranking Phoenix air the seventh worst city in the country for particle pollution and fifth worst for ozone level. This poor air quality has led to an increase in health concerns, particularly for marginalized communities.

According to the American Lung Association’s 2023 State of the Air report, four counties in Arizona earned an F grade on their air quality: Gila, Maricopa, Pima and Pinal.

Maricopa County currently has just over 2 million people who identify as nonwhite. According to a 2022 report conducted by the Arizona Department of Health Services, 23% of adults identifying as Black/African American have been diagnosed with asthma, contrasted with the 16% of white non-Hispanic adults who have asthma.

Continue reading “Maricopa County air quality raises health concerns with affected minority communities”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Health Changes,670 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Lux Butler
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – The number of Arizonans with health insurance rose in 2022, a post-pandemic bump that experts say has likely turned sharply south in the year since, as COVID-19 benefits have been phased out.

Recent data from the Census Bureau shows that the percentage of Arizonans with health insurance rose from 89.3% in 2021 to 89.7% in 2022. While that is an improvement, the state still lags slightly behind the nation, where coverage rose 0.7% from 91.3% of Americans insured to 92% in that period.

Experts say that rise was likely due to increased availability of Medicaid during the pandemic health emergency. But as the country has moved away from COVID-19 programs and protocols in the past year, one change is that states are no longer prohibited from removing people from their Medicaid rolls. Continue reading “Experts: Slight 2022 Arizona health insurance gains likely to vanish in 2023”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Border Rebound,860 words.
• File photo, video, graphic available (embed code, thumbnail, caption below).

By Adrienne Washington
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Migrant encounters at the southern border surged in August, to almost 233,000 for the month, with the Tucson sector posting the highest numbers in the nation for the second straight month, according to Customs and Border Protection.

CBP data released Friday show that 48,754 migrants were encountered in the Tucson sector, which includes most of the Arizona border, up nearly 10,000 from July and more than 2.5 times the number of migrants encountered in the sector from the previous August.

It was part of an overall surge that saw encounters across the border rise from 144,000 in June to 183,000 in July before rising again in August. More than 2.2 million migrants have been encountered at the southern border so far in fiscal 2023, according to CBP, with one month still to go in the year. Continue reading “Tucson sector led U.S. for second month, as border encounters surge anew”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Caregiver Shortage. 860 words.
• 4 photos available.

By Angelina Steel
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – On August 6, 2001, Susan Allen’s life changed forever. Kathleen Allen, her healthy 22-year-old daughter and college student living at home, suffered a brain aneurysm that left her mentally disabled.

Being recently widowed, Allen was ultimately tasked with something she had never done before: becoming a full-time caregiver to her disabled daughter.

Now, at 43 years old, Kathleen is still being cared for by her mother. However, Susan Allen found a solution that has helped immensely. The Foundation for Senior Living (FSL) ReCreación Center provides full-time care for Kathleen five days a week, as well as a thriving social life, which allows Susan to enjoy life as a retiree.

Continue reading “A national caregiver shortage strains organizations and families across the Valley”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Gosar Milley,720 words.
• 2 file photos available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Adrienne Washington
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Two years after he was formally censured for a video that appeared to espouse violence against lawmakers, Arizona Rep. Paul Gosar has again grabbed headlines by saying the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff would be hanged in a “better society.”

The Bullhead City Republican made the comment Sunday in his weekly newsletter, in which he blamed Gen. Mark Milley for delays in deploying troops to the Capitol on Jan. 6 – citing a hearing last week that made no mention of Milley.

Analysts said that even for a “rhetorical bomb-thrower” like Gosar, the comments were surprising, but that he is unlikely to suffer any political damage from the comments from voters in his conservative district. Continue reading “Gosar back in spotlight with call for general to “be hung” over Jan. 6”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Jewish High Holy Days. 600 words.
• 2 photos available (thumbnails and captions below).
• Video available here.
• Chart available here.

By Jacob Snelgrove
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Yom Kippur, which began Sunday and ended Monday at sunset, is one of the most important holidays in Jewish faith, but Arizonans looking for a synagogue to observe Yom Kippur might have to commute.

The Jewish population in Maricopa County grew by nearly 20% from 2002 to 2019, according to an Arizona State University study done in 2019. But leaders in the Jewish community say the proliferation of synagogues – with most in Scottsdale and north Phoenix – hasn’t kept up with the growth of the Jewish population.

Continue reading “Growing Arizona Jewish population finds community in synagogues, elsewhere for High Holy Days”

• Slug: BC-CNS-UA Title IX Lawsuit. 630 words.
• Photo available.

By Reagan Priest
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that a Title IX lawsuit against the University of Arizona filed by a former student can move forward, reversing a previous ruling by its own three-judge panel that held the school was not liable.

Mackenzie Brown filed a lawsuit against the university in 2017 after she had been assaulted in 2016 by Wildcats football player Orlando Bradford, who later pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and domestic violence and was expelled. She alleged the university knew about two prior assaults committed by Bradford but did not take action to stop him from assaulting other students.

Continue reading “Court of Appeals rules Title IX lawsuit against University of Arizona can move forward”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Free Filtration Boxes. 720 words.
• Photos available (thumbnails and captions below).

By Oakley Seiter
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – Being homeless in the hottest large city in the United States can be fatal. According to Maricopa County’s 2022 Heat Deaths Report, more than half of all heat-related deaths in Maricopa County last year were unhoused people.

That makes cooling centers crucial safe spaces for unhoused people to escape the heat for periods of time.

Continue reading “DIY filtration boxes from ASU help prevent spread of COVID-19 in Phoenix cooling centers”

• Slug: Sports-The Sweet Spot. Runtime 9:59.
• Downloadable audio here. (Note: Some web browsers may not support media download)

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HOST INTRO: This is the Sweet Spot where we take a closer look at the week’s biggest sports stories in Arizona. I’m Brandon Tran, and welcome back to the show, for our third episode of the season!

[Music fade in/under] Continue reading “The Sweet Spot: Cardinals’ rough start, Final Four’s head start, a prep star’s early start”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Defense Torpedo,720 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Alexandria Cullen and Adrienne Washington
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Two Arizona lawmakers were among five GOP House members who broke ranks Thursday and voted to block the Defense authorization bill, the latest twist in a budget fight that could cause a government shutdown in 10 days.

Republican Reps. Andy Biggs of Gibert and Eli Crane of Oro Valley were part of the self-styled “Hold the Line” group that joined with 210 Democrats to block a procedural motion, on a 212-216 vote, that would have allowed the Defense bill to advance.

Democrats oppose the appropriations bill because it includes GOP-backed language to limit funding for things like abortion access and gender-affirming medical treatment for the troops. But for Republican opponents like Crane it’s about leveraging their handful of votes. Continue reading “Biggs, Crane join conservatives who block Defense bill, as shutdown looms”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Short-term Rentals,1090 words.
• File photo available (thumbnail, caption below).

By Alyssa Bickle
Cronkite News

PHOENIX – The Phoenix City Council unanimously passed regulations on short-term rentals Wednesday following a Sept. 6 vote that legalized backyard casitas.

The city code change will regulate short-term rentals through a permitting process that would be required of property owners who want to rent out. The city would have to issue or deny a permit within seven days of application, for all short-term vacation rentals in Phoenix.

Some Phoenix residents expressed opposition to the proliferation of short-term rentals, like Airbnb and Vrbo, in their neighborhoods when casitas were legalized. The casita rules make it difficult for them to be used as short-term rentals. Continue reading “Phoenix OKs short-term rental rule; officials warn it’s not a ‘magic elixir’”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Tribes Water,610 words.
• 2 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Lux Butler
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – The infusion of federal money for infrastructure projects is a welcome first step toward fixing deep problems with water systems on tribal lands, but it’s only a first step, an Arizona official testified Wednesday.

Brian Bennon, director of the tribal water department at the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, said tribes need to make sure they have funding for operation and maintenance of the systems to keep them going, comparing it to taking care of a car.

“There’s many things. I call it preventative maintenance to try to get as much as much life out of the system as possible, and maybe even getting it beyond the original design life,” Bennon said in testimony to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. “That takes money.” Continue reading “Tribal water infrastructure needs more than a one-time fix, senators told”

• Slug: BC-CNS-Border Costs,640 words.
• 2 photos, video story available (thumbnails, captions below).

By Adrienne Washington
Cronkite News

WASHINGTON – Yuma County cannot continue to bear the cost of caring for immigrants that are flooding across the border without help from the federal government, a county official testified Wednesday.

County Supervisor Jonathan Lines told the House Homeland Security Committee that local communities are willing to help migrants but should not have to shoulder the entire cost of health care, food, shelter and more. Continue reading “Yuma official says cost of caring for migrants ‘not sustainable’ for county”