By Brooke Newman | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – The federal government’s COVID-19 moratorium on renter evictions ended Saturday, leaving thousands of Arizona renters vulnerable while state and local officials have distributed just a fraction of the funding aimed at keeping people in their homes. Government agencies in Arizona received almost $495 million […]
Migrant deaths in the desert at record levels as heat wave pounds West
By Alyssa Marksz | – ( Cronkite News ) – WASHINGTON – The number of migrant deaths recorded in the Arizona desert so far this year is on pace to break the record set just last year, as migrants attempt the crossing in the face of a record-breaking heat wave. Humane Borders and the Pima […]
Arizona goes for Electric Cars, Big Time, despite being a Red State: “We get Clear Skies”
By Brooke Newman | – ( Cronkite News ) – WASHINGTON – For a mostly red state, Arizona has a lot of blue-state company when it comes to states ranked by electric vehicle ownership, according to recent government data. Arizona had 28,770 registered electric vehicles as of June, according to the U.S. Department of Energy’s […]
The Navajo and Hopi are Abandoning Coal, but need help with Clean-Up and Transition to Renewables
By Alyssa Marksz | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – Navajo and Hopi witnesses agreed the region needs to move away from its economic dependence on coal, but specific proposals on how to get there remained elusive after a House hearing Tuesday. The tribal representatives joined witnesses from across coal country at a House […]
Why the Current Historic Drought in the Southwest May be the New Normal
By Alyssa Marksz | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – Arizona and other Western states just lived through the driest year in more than a century, with no drought relief in sight in the near future, experts told a House panel Tuesday. The period from last April to this March was the driest in […]
Advocates call on Biden to ‘tear down this wall,’ repair border damage
By Sarah Oven ( Cronkite News ) – WASHINGTON – Advocates called on President Joe Biden to “tear down this wall” Tuesday and fulfill his campaign promise of stopping the border wall construction that he put on hold in January. The meeting of border-state lawmakers, advocates and tribal members came 70 days after Biden, in […]
DHS’s Mayorkas brands “Crisis” language about Border as Trumpian, Says Challenge Doesn’t Require Cruel Family Separation
By Ryan Knappenberger | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the Biden administration’s immigration policies Wednesday, but conceded the department faces “historic and unprecedented challenges” coping with a surge in migrants, particularly unaccompanied minors, in recent months. Mayorkas’ comments came in his first appearance as secretary before a […]
Senate makes history with vote confirming Haaland as first Native American Interior secretary
By Sarah Oven | – (Cronkite News) – (WASHINGTON – The Senate Monday confirmed New Mexico Rep. Deb Haaland as the next Interior secretary, a historic vote that makes her the first Native American to head a Cabinet agency. The confirmation came over the objection of Senate Republicans, particularly those representing Western states dependent on […]
Auditor says Trump admin. knew ‘zero-tolerance’ would separate children from parents at border
By Ryan Knappenberger | – ( Cronkite News) – WASHINGTON – Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions knew the Trump administration’s “zero-tolerance” immigration policy would separate families at the border but moved ahead with it anyway, a Justice Department official told lawmakers this week. Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz told the House Oversight and Reform Committee […]