TEMPE – The Tempe Healing Field paid tribute Wednesday to the 23rd anniversary of 9/11. The annual display of flags and related events memorialize those who lost their lives during the 2001 terrorist attacks. Nearly 3,000 American flags covered the fields of Tempe Beach Park.
By Doyal D’angelo
Cronkite News
MESA – Vowing to prioritize reproductive rights and help fix the “epidemic” of mass shootings in the United States, Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz rode a wave of energy at the Mesa Convention Center Tuesday during a campaign stop that preceded Vice President Kamala Harris’ debate with former President Donald Trump.
“No matter what he says, he will ban abortion,” Walz said. “He may try and change from hour to hour, but guess what, women don’t trust him.”
By Phineas Hogan
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Democrats can’t keep control of the U.S. Senate unless Arizona Congressman Ruben Gallego defeats Republican hopeful Kari Lake.
That’s the assessment of the party’s chief Senate strategist, Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.
“We don’t hold the majority if we lose Arizona,” he told Cronkite News during a roundtable with a small group of regional reporters at the offices of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which he chairs. “It’s essential.”
By Kelechukwu Iruoma
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and 19 other Western governors are prodding Congress to move more urgently to address a wildfire crisis that has grown worse in recent years.
In Arizona last year, 1,837 fires burned 188,483 acres, according to the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. This year’s total is already worse: 1,704 fires on 252,929 acres, officials said, and the wildfire season isn’t over.
Continue reading “Governors prod Congress for more help on growing threat of wildfires in West”
By Aaron Stigile
Cronkite News
PHOENIX – A major update to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services’ (USCIS) T visa application regulations, meant for survivors of human trafficking, went into effect late last month. Those who work in the field of human trafficking say they are already seeing positive effects, yet experts believe that some parts of the rule change complicate the process.
T visas, which may be available for survivors and victims of human trafficking who meet certain conditions, offer a pathway to citizenship. Those eligible must have experienced a “severe form of trafficking in persons” as defined by federal law, which includes sex trafficking and labor trafficking.
After three years with the T visa, survivors and victims are able to establish permanent residency, and the T nonimmigrant status is generally granted for four years.
By Mia Osmonbekov
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – Fear for his undocumented parents haunted Mario Montoya throughout his childhood in Mesa. Sometimes it turned to outright terror, like the time his mom got into a car crash.
“One of my first thoughts was … what if the police asked for her immigration status?” said Montoya, 26, who now studies law in Seattle. “What if I don’t see her again?”
EDS: All elements are available for download here.
By Eliana Alzate
News21
Note: Story has a strong focus on Hispanic communities.
AUSTIN, Texas – Disinformation has surged in the U.S. and beyond and become an especially powerful threat during election years. Experts say immigrant communities and people of color are particular targets, as bad actors exploit political fears and ideologies and find these voters where they congregate – on messaging apps such as WeChat and WhatsApp.
EDS: All elements are available for download here.
By Romie Avivi Stuhl
News21
Note: This story has strong Arizona ties.
WOODRUFF, Wis. – For two and a half hours on a rainy Thursday evening, Kathy Bernier did what she’s spent the past year doing: trying to restore faith in America’s electoral systems – and, along with it, faith in democracy. It was all part of her work as Wisconsin state director of Keep Our Republic, one of several initiatives nationwide working to rebuild public trust in elections. The initiatives range from cross-partisan groups working in the battleground states of Arizona, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin to off-the-record meetings of conservatives in Republican strongholds such as Utah, Indiana and Texas. Don Henninger, the Republican co-lead of another Carter Center network, the Arizona Democracy Resilience Network, puts it this way: “It’s not an aisle anymore. It’s a canyon.”
By Kelechukwu Iruoma
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland declared Wednesday that Arizona’s state fish, the Apache trout, will be removed from the endangered species list – a conservation success story decades in the making.
“After more than 50 years of devoted efforts among federal, state, tribal and nongovernmental organizations, the incredible recovery of the Apache trout reminds us of the transformational power that collaborative conservation efforts – grounded in Indigenous knowledge – can have on fish and wildlife,” Haaland said at an announcement event in Mesa.
By Macy Markham
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – In November, Arizona voters will decide on a state constitutional amendment, Proposition 139, that would guarantee access to abortion up to the point of fetal viability.
That would mark a major shift. The state currently bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy – roughly nine weeks before the point at which a fetus can survive outside the womb.
A group called Arizona Abortion Access collected 577,971 signatures, well over the 383,923 required to get the measure on the ballot. Continue reading “Proposition 139: What the Arizona ballot initiative would mean for abortion access”
By Peggy Dodd, Pierce Gentry, Shelby Rickert and Olivia Talkington
News21
Editor’s Note: This story contains graphic language from threatening voicemails and emails sent to election officials across the U.S.
ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. – Exactly seven days had passed since the 2020 presidential election when Tina Barton sat down at her desk and saw the blinking light on her office phone.
It had already been a week from hell for the city clerk of Rochester Hills. Her office was responsible for administering an election that had grown increasingly contested, especially in her home state of Michigan. At one point, she’d worked for 36 hours straight.
She picked up the phone and hit the flashing button. A voice rang out that she would never forget.
By Lauren Bly
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden will nominate Phoenix lawyer Sharad Desai to the federal bench, the White House said Wednesday, making him the second South Asian federal judge in Arizona – after his older sister.
Biden named Judge Roopali Desai to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which handles cases from nine western states, in 2022.
By Mia Osmonbekov
Cronkite News
WASHINGTON – U.S. Customs and Border Protection has directed agents to stop discarding migrants’ personal belongings, after a scathing report detailing how medicine, clothes, cell phones, cash and identity documents have been taken by authorities at holding facilities and never returned.
The new rules classify legal documents, contact information and religious items as “essential personal property” that cannot be stripped from migrants. Phones, cash, medical documents and items of sentimental value must be stored, with migrants given written instructions on how to retrieve their belongings.
By Kelechukwu Iruoma
Cronkite News
CHICAGO – Arizona delegates left the Democratic National Convention electrified and eager to help Vice President Kamala Harris win the presidency.
“We are returning to Arizona with a lot of energy, excitement and enthusiasm,” said Yolanda Bejarano, chair of the Arizona Democratic Party. “Our country is on the line, our democracy is on the line and our rights are on the line.”
By Phineas Hogan
Cronkite News
CHICAGO – Democrats put a bright spotlight on Phoenix Rep. Ruben Gallego at their national convention, underscoring the importance of his race with Republican Kari Lake for an open U.S. Senate seat.
Both hope to succeed Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent who announced in March that she would not seek reelection. Democrats would struggle to keep their narrow majority if they lose in Arizona.
By Kelechukwu Iruoma
Cronkite News
CHICAGO – Black Democrats account for a relatively small share of the electorate in Arizona, but they’re thrilled at the prospect of electing Kamala Harris as president.
“Her candidacy is a big deal for the African American community in Arizona,” said Nicole Brown, a communications strategist from Tempe and according to state party officials, one of 18 Black delegates from Arizona at the Democratic National Convention this week.
Continue reading “Black Democrats see Kamala Harris driving up turnout in Arizona”
By Phineas Hogan
Cronkite News
CHICAGO – Former President Donald Trump has driven some Republicans out of his party. Democrats have spent the week offering them a new home.
They have toned down progressive language in their platform. At the Democratic National Convention, they have framed Trump as an extremist and deployed disaffected Republicans to encourage others to defect to Vice President Kamala Harris.
“John McCain’s Republican Party is gone,” Mesa Mayor John Giles, who co-chairs the Arizona chapter of Republicans for Harris, said from the convention stage, invoking the late senator known for working across party lines. “Let’s turn the page. Let’s put country first.”
By Mia Osmonbekov
Cronkite News
CHICAGO – When President Joe Biden won the 2020 election, Democrats offered a sharp contrast with incumbent Donald Trump’s strict border policies and harsh anti-immigrant rhetoric.
“Not only do immigrants support us – immigrants are us,” the party’s platform said.
By Mia Osmonbekov
Cronkite News
CHICAGO – Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, fresh from Kamala Harris’ vice presidential short list, kicked off the morning for Wisconsin Democrats on Tuesday with a plea to avoid complacency and get voters to the polls.
“We cannot allow Donald Trump to get within a mile of the White House again,” the former astronaut told the breakfast crowd on Day 2 of the Democratic National Convention. “This is not rocket science. It isn’t. If it was, I could help you with that.”
By Mia Osmonbekov
Cronkite News
CHICAGO – Democrats in Arizona view the fight over reproductive rights as a key to victory in November. The strategy is front and center at the Democratic National Convention too.
One hard-to-miss symbol is the 20-foot inflatable IUD outside the United Center, where thousands of delegates are gathering this week to rally behind Vice President Kamala Harris.
“This issue is going to help us from the top of the ticket to the bottom of the ticket,” said state Sen. Eva Burch, D-Mesa, one of the state party’s delegates in Chicago. “I’m talking not only about the presidential race and our local legislative races, but also when it comes to judges and to other local elections, to city councils.”
