• Slug: CN2GO
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(Music) 

THIS IS YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2GO BRIEFING.

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I’M JOHN BROWN 

JUDGE BROWN CONFIRMATION HEARINGS – (give the story a headline) 

THE SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE STARTED THE CONFIRMATION HEARING PROCESS OF JUDGE KETANJI (KA TAN JI) BROWN JACKSON, MONDAY, WHO WOULD BE THE FIRST BLACK WOMAN NOMINATED TO THE U-S SUPREME COURT. JACKSON SITS ON THE DC APPELLATE COURT. SENATORS MADE THEIR OPENING STATEMENTS MONDAY …. AMONG THEM SENATOR MAZIE HIRONO OF HAWAII …

SOT SEN. MAZIE HIRONO

“Let me be clear. Your nomination is about not about filling a quota. It is about time. It’s about time that we have a highly qualified, highly accomplished black woman on the Supreme court.”

BACK IN 1981, THE SENATE CONFIRMED ARIZONA NATIVE SANDRA DAY O’CONNOR AS  THE FIRST FEMALE JUSTICE ON THE SUPREME COURT. DEMOCRATS HOPE TO CONFIRM JACKSON BY EARLY APRIL.

ADEL RESIGNS – (give the story a headline) 

(one sentence summary of the story) 

MARICOPA COUNTY ATTORNEY ALLISTER ADEL ANNOUNCED MONDAY SHE IS RESIGNING, EFFECTIVE THIS FRIDAY. ADEL OFFERED NO IMMEDIATE REASON FOR HER RESIGNATION. IN A STATEMENT, SHE SAID SHE’S PROUD OF MANY ACCOMPLISHMENTS OF DURING HER TIME OFFICE INCLUDING SEEKING JUSTICE IN A FAIR MANNER. 

THE STATE BAR OF ARIZONA AND THE MARICOPA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS ARE INVESTIGATING ADEL.  THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC REPORTS THAT FOR SHE’S BEEN UNDER SCRUTINY FOR HER SOBRIETY AND ABSENCES FROM THE OFFICE. 

TUCSON GENTRIFICATION

HOST INTRO: 

INCREASES IN RENT IN TUCSON NEIGHBORHOODS HAVE LEFT MANY RESIDENTS DISPLACED AND WITHOUT AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN THE COMMUNITIES THEY CALL HOME. CRONKITE NEWS MCKENZIE ALLEN-CHARMELY REPORTS ON WHAT’S BEING DONE TO ADDRESS THIS. 

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IN SOUTH TUCSON, ROXANNE VALENZUELA REMEMBERS THE DIVERSE AND UNITED COMMUNITY SHE WAS RAISED IN. 

<sot Roxanne Valenzuela/ Catholic Worker /runs 0:14 hits 0:11-0:25 > 

“We started noticing that the makeup of the neighborhood  started changing and it was becoming less affordable to find a house, rent a house, stay in the only community we knew to be our home”

VALENZUELA AND HER FAMILY HAVE LIVED IN THE AREA SINCE ‘89. BUT SHE SAYS TRYING TO FIND AFFORDABLE HOUSING IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD HAS PROVED A CHALLENGE DUE TO GENTRIFICATION. 

<sot Roxanne Valenzuela/ Catholic Worker /runs 0:14 hits 0:34-0:48 > 

“We also started noticing that the city was not investing in our community in us but instead giving like developers incentives to build all these corporate businesses and ignoring us.”

DEVELOPERS IN TUCSON WHO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE GOVERNMENT PROPERTY LEASE EXCISE TAX, OR GPLET, ARE FREE FROM PAYING PROPERTY SALES TAXES FOR UP TO EIGHT YEARS IN HOPES OF REVITALIZING THE CITY. HOWEVER TO COMMUNITY MEMBERS, THE TAX INCENTIVES SPARK FEAR OF RESIDENTS BEING DISPLACED FORCEFULLY IN THE PROCESS. 

<sot Raul Ramirez/ Menlo Park Neighborhood AssociationVice President/runs 0:07 hits 1:07-1:14 >

“That sales tax if it was being collected it could be used for schools, it could be used for highways it could be used for a lot of different things.”

THAT’S RAUL RAMIREZ. HE’S PRESIDENT OF THE MENLO PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION. HE SAYS VISUALIZING GENTRIFICATION IN TUCSON BARRIOS IS EASY. WELL MAINTAINED HOUSING, PAVEMENTS AND INCREASED MORTGAGE COST   CONTRAST BROKEN HOMES AND TRASHED ROADS THAT ARE NOW ONLY REMNANTS OF COMMUNITIES THAT ONCE STOOD STRONG. FRANCISCO ROBLES HAS LIVED IN SOUTH PARK FOR DECADES. 

<sot Francisco Robles/ Community Member /runs 0:13 hits 1:26-1:39 > {SPANISH w/ translation}

“Our grandparents were here, our parents and now we are here. And our kids. They are used to it. So if they take us out of here, where will we go?”

RECENT ZILLOW DATA SHOWS THAT THREE DIFFERENT ZIP CODES IN TUCSON HAVE HAD SOME OF THE FASTEST GROWING RENT PRICES IN ARIZONA. NEIGHBORHOODS ON THE EAST SIDE OF TUCSON HAVE HAD AN AVERAGE INCREASE OF 32% IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS. DAVID BACHMAN-WILLIAMS IS PRESIDENT OF THE ARMORY PARK NEIGHBORHOOD ASSOCIATION WHICH IS ONE OF THESE AREAS THAT’S SEEN A RUN UP IN PRICES.   

<sot David Bachman-Williams/ Armory Park Neighborhood Association President/runs 0:11 hits 1:57-2:08 >

“If you’re poor and live in this neighborhood you eventually give up and sell your house or quit renting because the rent becomes too expensive  and allows the whole neighborhood to become gentrified.”

WHEN IT COMES TO SOLUTIONS, ALL THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS LIKE ROXANNE VALENZUELA, WANT IS TO BE HEARD.

<sot Roxanne Valenzuela/ Catholic Worker /runs 0:17 hits 2:13-2:30> 

“Developers should start thinking outside the box and maybe looking at bottom up approach instead of what its always been it just trickles down from the top. We just get the crumbs.”

TUCSON CURRENTLY HAS 24 GOVERNMENT PROPERTY LEASE EXCISE TAX AGREEMENTS IN PLACE. THOSE AGREEMENTS ARE  ESTIMATED TO BRING OVER 155 MILLION IN REVENUE THAT WILL  CONTRIBUTE TO THE OVERALL ECONOMIC GROWTH OF TUCSON.

IN TUCSON, MCKENZIE ALLEN-CHARMLEY, CRONKITE NEWS. 

MARCH MADNESS UPDATE

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA WILDCATS HAVE ADVANCED TO THE SWEET SIXTEEN OF THE N-C-DOUBLE-A MEN’S BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT. THEY DEFEATED WRIGHT STATE IN THE FIRST ROUND AND TEXAS CHRISTIAN IN A SECOND ROUND OVERTIME THRILLER. HERE’S COACH TOMMY LLOYD’S REACTION TO THE WIN.

“I don’t know if I deserve this, but those players deserve it, and I’m so thankful that they get to experience this. Going to a Sweet Sixteen is special.”

THE WILDCATS WILL FACE THE FIVE SEED HOUSTON COUGARS THIS THURSDAY.

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WE HAD HELP TODAY FROM MCKENZIE ALLEN-CHARMLEY, AND THANKS TO MASON MILLER WHO PRODUCED THE SHOW. 

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YOU CAN LEARN MORE ABOUT THE STORIES YOU HEARD IN TODAY’S NEWS UPDATE, BY GOING TO CRONKITENEWS-DOT-AZPBS-DOT-ORG. 

THAT’S ALL FOR YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2 GO. I’M JOHN BROWN. 

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