AUDIO: Arizona lawmakers vote to ban abortions after 15 weeks gestation

by Adnan Alam
  • Slug: CN2GO
  • Runtime: 4:11
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THIS IS YOUR CRONKITE NEWS 2GO BRIEFING.

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I’M  ALEXANDRA MORA MEDINA (  go to story ) 

HEADLINE: AZ Legislature approves ban on abortions after 15 weeks

SUMMARY:

THE ARIZONA LEGISLATURE VOTED ALONG PARTY LINES TO OUTLAW ABORTION AFTER 15 WEEKS OF PREGNANCY.

THIS MOVE MIRRORS OTHER LAWS, SUCH AS ONE IN MISSISSIPPI BEING CONSIDERED BY THE SUPREME COURT.  ANOTHER SIMILAR BAN PASSED IN FLORIDA EARLIER THIS MONTH.

THE ARIZONA BAN CONTAINS NO EXCEPTIONS FOR MEDICAL EMERGENCY, RAPE OR INCEST.

DEMOCRATS HAVE SAID THAT THE MEASURE IS UNCONSTITUTIONAL AND WOULD DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECT MINORITY AND LOW INCOME WOMEN.  

THE BILL PASSED THE HOUSE THURSDAY AND GOES TO THE GOVERNOR FOR CONSIDERATION. IT DOES NOT OVERRIDE AN EXISTING ARIZONA LAW THAT’S BEEN ON THE BOOKS FOR MORE THAN 100 YEARS WHICH WOULD OUTLAW ABORTION ENTIRELY IF ROE V WADE WAS OVERTURNED.  

HEADLINE: Arizona House attacks trangender youth

SUMMARY: Arizona House votes to ban transgender athletes from playing on sports teams and prohibit gender reassignmnet. 

THE ARIZONA LEGISLATURE PASSED TWO BILLS THURSDAY THAT WOULD BAN TRANGENDER ATHLETES FROM PLAYING ON A GIRLS SPORTS TEAMS. THE OTHER PROHIBITS GENDER REASSIGNMENT SURGERY FOR MINORS. STATE REPRESENTATIVE KELLI BUTLER, A DEMOCRAT, DURING DEBATE ON THE LEGISLATION CITED A STUDY THAT LISTS REASONS OF HIGHER RATES OF SUICIDE AMONG TRANSGENDER YOUTH: MICRO-AGGRESSION, SELF-STIGMA, AND FEELINGS THAT THEY DON’T BELONG.

(1:46) “That’s not the country that I know and that I am proud to be to be part of when we’re when we’re talking about legislating bullying against children who are already struggling” 

ARIZONA JOINS A GROWING LIST OF REPUBLICAN-CONTROLLED STATES THAT ARE RESTRICTING TRAGENDER RIGHTS. GOVERNOR DOUG DUCEY HAS NOT SAID WHETHER HE WILL SIGN EITHER BILL. 

HEADLINE: (Monsoon Story – Evan Lis)

SUMMARY:

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PROLONGED, PERSISTENT DROUGHT CONDITIONS ARE EXPECTED TO BLANKET MUCH OF THE WESTERN U-S THIS SPRING. THAT’S THE LATEST FROM THE NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION CRONKITE NEWS’S EVAN LIS REPORTS THIS NEWS COMES ON THE HEELS OF A DRY WINTER .

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ARIZONA HAD A DRY AND WARM WINTER WHICH DIDN’T BRING MUCH SNOWPACK TO THE MOUNTAINS. NOW NOAA’S SPRING WEATHER OUTLOOK SHOWS THAT ALL OF ARIZONA HAS AT LEAST A FIFTY PERCENT CHANCE OF SEEING DROUGHT CONDITIONS DEVELOP OR WORSEN THROUGH THE  END OF SPRING. A DROUGHT OUTLOOK LIKE THIS ONE IS PRODUCED BY LOOKING AT THE CURRENT STATE OF DRYNESS MIXED WITH WHAT’S ANTICIPATED. PHOENIX NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE OFFICE METEOROLOGIST JORDAN HEIL SAYS FOR US THIS MEANS LITTLE PRECIPITATION AND MORE WARMTH.

<JARED HEIL/METEOROLOGIST, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE>

“For Arizona, and much of the Southwest, it’s kind of a persistence story, and what I mean by that is, more of the same. We’ve had the dry. We’ve had the warm. And overall those trends are favored into the Spring months 

MEANWHILE  MONSOON SEASON AWAITS ARIZONA IN THE NEXT SIX MONTHS OR SO. THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER SHOWS THAT, SOUTH CENTRAL ARIZONA WILL LIKELY SEE NEAR NORMAL OR EVEN ABOVE AVERAGE PRECIPITATION DURING JULY THROUGH SEPTEMBER. 

MOST OF THE COUNTRY COULD SEE A HOT AND DRY SUMMER UNDER LA NINA CONDITIONS, AND IF THAT’S THE CASE IN ARIZONA, SAYS HEIL, THE MONSOON COULD ACTUALLY BE TRIGGERED EARLIER THAN NORMAL.  

<JARED HEIL/METEOROLOGIST, NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE>

“And that would be the hope right because if we could get some of that rain going, we could dent the drought a little bit. But of course you don’t want it to come too fast and furious like we had last summer causing catastrophic flooding conditions in some parts of Arizona.”

EVAN LIS, CRONKITE NEWS. 

HEADLINE: Arizona voting machines never connected to Internet, report reveals 

SUMMARY:

A FINAL ARIZONA ELECTION REPORT FINDS NO EVIDENCE OF BALLOT TABULATION EQUIPMENT BEING CONNECTED TO THE INTERNET. THE REPORT WAS COMPILED BY FORMER CONGRESSMAN AND SPECIAL MASTER, JOHN SHADEGG. THE LATEST REPORT FOUND NO EVIDENCE OF ANY MAJOR PROBLEMS WITH THE 2020 ELECTION IN MARICOPA COUNTY. THE CHAIRMAN OF THE MARICOPA COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS HOPES IT WILL BE THE FINAL STAKE IN THE HEART OF THE SENATE’S AUDIT. 

IN SEPTEMBER THE SENATE HIRED CONTRACTORS TO DO A FULL HAND-COUNT OF BALLOTS AND REVIEW ELECTION EQUIPMENT AFTER BIDEN WON THE COUNTY OVER TRUMP. 

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WE HAD HELP TODAY FROM EVAN LIS AND KIRSTEN DORMAN, AND THANKS TO JUSTIN TORRES 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 ALEXANDRA MORA MEDINA . 

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