Arizona hate crimes bounced back in 2019, experts fear a surge in 2020
WASHINGTON – Hate crimes in Arizona bounced back in 2019 after a sharp drop the year before, and advocates say they fear the numbers are only going to continue to rise when the tumult of 2020 is reported. Despite a steep increase from the 173 hate crimes recorded in Arizona in 2018, the state’s 217 hate…
As pandemic surges, officials call COVID-19 fatigue real and dangerous
WASHINGTON – The numbers can be numbing. And that’s exactly what health officials fear. More than a half-million Arizonans have contracted COVID-19 and more than 8,700 have died from it so far, according to state data. The disease is surging again, with one week this month seeing an average of 7,770 new cases a day, soaring…
One out of every 1,000 Pima County residents has died from COVID-19; Hospitals overwhelmed
Pima County Public Health Director Dr. Theresa Cullen shared troubling details on the accelerated transmission of COVID-19 throughout the county amid a new public health advisory at a virtual press conference Wednesday. Public health officials expect to see more coronavirus cases in December than the eight months between March and October combined. Currently, one out…
Southern AZ COVID-19 AM Roundup for Wednesday, Dec. 30: 5200+ New Cases, 78 Deaths; Hospitals see record number of patients; Pima County under curfew
With more than 5,200 new cases reported today, the number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases topped 512,000 as of Wednesday, Dec. 30, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Pima County, which reported 758 new cases today, has seen 68,437 of the state’s 512,489 confirmed cases. A total of 8,718 Arizonans have died…
Lawsuit: Fertility Doc Fathered His Patient’s Children
Last December, Kristen Finlayson purchased an Ancestry DNA kit in a half-off holiday special. Curious about her familial roots, she spit into a test tube and patiently awaited the results. But what she found out would irrevocably change her sense of self and foster a heinous knowledge of betrayal throughout her family. The online results…
Former Tempe, NFL star Tank Johnson leads fight against private prisons
LOS ANGELES – Being locked up was supposed to be a punishment for Terry “Tank” Johnson. It also turned out to be an awakening. In the early 2000s, the product of Tempe McClintock High and the University of Washington was basking in the spotlight of football success – playing seven NFL seasons with Chicago, Dallas…
Southern AZ COVID-19 AM Roundup for Tuesday, Dec. 29: Total Number of AZ COVID Cases Tops 507K; Pima County Death Toll Tops 1K; Hospitals See Record Number of Patients; Pima County Under Curfew
With more than 2,700 new cases reported today, the number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases topped 507,000 as of Tuesday, Dec. 29, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Pima County, which reported 1,313 new cases today, has seen 67,679 of the state’s 507,222 confirmed cases. A total of 8,640 Arizonans have died…
If ancient drought choked the Southwest for centuries, what does the future hold?
The ancient people of western Utah’s Danger Cave lived well. They ate freshwater fish, ducks and other small game, according to detritus they left behind. They had a lush lakeside view with cattails, bulrushes and water-loving willows adorning the marshlands. But over time, the good life became history. As heat and drought set in, the freshwater…
After years of lowered refugee admissions, Biden plans sharp reversal
WASHINGTON – After years of steadily slashing the number of refugees it will accept, the U.S. can expect to see an increase under the incoming Biden administration. An eight-fold increase and then some. President-elect Joe Biden has said that when he enters office next month, he plans to raise the number of refugees who can…
Researchers at Petrified Forest discover fossil of a reptile with claws and a beak
PHOENIX – A team of researchers at Petrified Forest National Park east of Holbrook have discovered fossilized remains of a new species of prehistoric reptile. The 220-million-year old burrowing reptile is a drepanosaur, an ancient reptile that had a claw on its tail and a birdlike beak. Researchers, who named the species Skybalonyx skapter, announced…
Southern AZ COVID-19 AM Roundup for Monday, Dec. 28: 10,000+ New Cases, 42 New Deaths; Total Number of AZ COVID Cases Tops a Half-Million; Hospitals See Record Number of Patients; Pima County Under Curfew
With more than 10,000 new cases reported today, the number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases topped a half-million as of Monday, Dec. 28, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Pima County, which reported 1,313 new cases today, has seen 67,360 of the state’s 504,423 confirmed cases. A total of 8,469 Arizonans have…
Biden firm on uranium-mining ban around ‘jewel’ of the Grand Canyon
WASHINGTON – For four years, the Trump administration took steps to boost uranium mining for what it called national security reasons, a move environmentalists saw as an attempt to open the door to mining near the Grand Canyon. President-elect Joe Biden may be ready to shut that door for good. “I can’t believe I have…
Movie Roundup: Wonder Woman, Hanks, Mulligan and Plaza Make for One of the Year’s Biggest Movie Weeks
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Subsurface lakes raise new questions about life on Mars
Arizona in Focus is a podcast from Cronkite News, the news division of Arizona PBS. This season we are focusing on science and technology stories that explore everything from driverless cars to innovating a vaccine during the pandemic. PHOENIX – Planetary scientists have confirmed the existence of a large saltwater lake under the icy surface…
Southern AZ COVID-19 AM Roundup for Thursday, Dec. 24: 7,000+ New Cases, 115 New Deaths; Healthcare Leaders Urge People To Stay Home as Hospitals See Record Number of Patients; Pima County Under Curfew; 6500 Vaccine Shots Delivered Here
With more than 7,000 new cases reported today, the number of Arizona’s confirmed novel coronavirus cases now stands higher than 480,000 as of Thursday, Dec. 24, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. Pima County, which reported 1,313 new cases today, has seen 63,472 of the state’s 480,319 confirmed cases. A total of 8,294…
Cards on the Table: Should you stay in Arizona’s medical marijuana program?
Now that pot is legal in Arizona, questions about the advantages of keeping a medical card have wafted through the air like smoke from a slow-burning joint of purple kush. To answer questions about some advantages medical certification brings to the daily pot consumer, the Arizona Cannabis Chamber of Commerce (AZC3) hosted “Medical Marijuana, What’s…
Editor’s Note: Yes, Arizona There is Santa Clause
We learned from the whos down in Whoville that Christmas doesn’t come in a box, so I’m not going to miss (too much) the big gift exchange that typically happens with my extended family around the tree. But I am going to miss the holiday tradition of carving the roast beast in the company of…
Socially Distant Santa: As COVID persists, so do the holidays
With COVID-19 maintaining its hold as the year draws to a close, it almost seems quaint how some once hoped the pandemic would subside by Easter. But as cases and death counts continued to rise, holiday and festival celebrations further into the year tumbled like dominos: the Tucson Festival of Books, the Fourth Avenue Street…
Danehy: T’was The Column Before Christmas
When I was but a young lad, I idolized Smokey Robinson. I always wanted to be able to sing like him, but then puberty hit and there went the falsetto (such as it ever was in the first place). I loved the way he put words together; Nobel Laureate Bob Dylan called Smokey Robinson “America’s…
Crossing the Line: An excerpt from the late Charles Bowden’s final book, ‘Sonata’
He comes over the wall and lands in my life. He’s got the body of a convict who spent his time in the yard with the iron pile. He’s forty, blond hair, blue eyes and winning smile. Sometimes the trouble comes from the bottle, but more often from the pipe. He keeps writing poems about…
Resolutions: What we’d like to see in 2021
Given how the pandemic has upended our lives, we’ve all done a little soul-searching this year. And many of us are thinking about how to live better lives once this outbreak is behind us. We reached out to people in Pima County to see what changes they’d like to make as we race into 2021.…
