KJZZ's Sun Up is a weekday morning podcast giving you the Arizona news you need to start your day. It is the biggest stories of the day from KJZZ News.
Transcript
ANNOUNCER: KJZZ's Sun Up is supported by Banner Health, Arizona's largest nonprofit healthcare system. Last year, Banner reinvested more than $1.1 billion in community health and charity care. Banner Health: Nonprofit for Arizona. BannerHealth.com/nonprofitforAZ.
PHIL LATZMAN: This is KJZZ's Sun Up. It is your daily news update from here in Phoenix on our state and region. I'm Phil Latzman, your host for this podcast, a daily digest of Arizona news as reported by our KJZZ news team. Monday, it is June the 15th, halfway through the month. Hope you're doing well, had a nice weekend. Let's see what's happening in the news.
PHIL LATZMAN: Recipients of DACA, the Obama-era program that protects undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children, are facing delays that could cost them their legal status. Angela Gervasi has more.
ANGELA GERVASI: Every two years, DACA recipients have to apply to renew their legal status. But that renewal process is taking longer than usual. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services says it's taking three and a half months on average to process DACA renewal applications. In previous years, renewal applications took as little as two weeks to process, according to federal data. Luis Campos is a Tucson-based immigration attorney. He is encouraging DACA recipients to file for renewal sooner rather than later.
LUIS CAMPOS: Individuals who have DACA need to ensure that when their DACA protections are coming on expiration, that they file for renewal at least 150 days in advance of that day.
ANGELA GERVASI: If a DACA recipient loses their legal status, they can no longer legally work in the United States, and they become far more vulnerable to deportation.
PHIL LATZMAN: That's Angela Gervasi reporting from Tucson.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument has been the target of Utah Republican Senator Mike Lee. He's been looking to undo a Biden-era resource management plan meant to focus on conservation and consultation with tribes. As Gabriel Pietrorazio reports, that effort, though, has failed for now.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Using the Congressional Review Act, lawmakers on Capitol Hill could have killed the plan with a simple majority vote from the Senate floor. But that 60-day window has closed.
ERIK STANSFIELD: Some people think it's a win, and I suppose in some sense it is, but I don't feel excited about it.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Erik Stansfield is a senior anthropologist with the Navajo Nation Heritage and Historic Preservation Department. An executive order could still downsize this national monument, significant to Navajos, Hopis, Zunis, Utes, and Paiutes. They formed an intertribal coalition.
ERIK STANSFIELD: Having to respond to this really strengthened the coalition, and that's going to persist.
GABRIEL PIETRORAZIO: Gabriel Pietrorazio, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: Walmart shoppers in Phoenix could get their purchases delivered by drone starting next year. Ignacio Ventura has details.
IGNACIO VENTURA: Walmart and drone company Wing recently announced Phoenix would be among seven new major metros to get drone delivery service in 2027. It's currently available in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, and Atlanta. Wing drones fly at speeds up to 60 miles per hour and use a tether to lower packages to a customer's yard or driveway. Jessie Pool-Strang is a Wing communications manager.
JESSIE POOL-STRANG: Like, traffic can be brutal, um, you know, the heat can be brutal, and drone delivery is a great option for those that either don't want to or can't leave the home to do those errands that maybe take quite a while, especially when you calculate those drive times back and forth.
IGNACIO VENTURA: Pool-Strang says Wing works with community leaders when the company enters a new market, and that talks of what a rollout would look like are ongoing. Ignacio Ventura, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: With monsoon season starting this week, the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management is asking everyone to be more careful with fire, especially on red flag days. Tiffany Davila is with the department and says almost all the fires in Arizona this year have been human-caused.
TIFFANY DAVILA: We've had 545 fires so far this year, um, and that's across all jurisdictions, so state, federal, and tribal lands. Of those 545 fires, 513 have been determined to be human-caused.
PHIL LATZMAN: And she says with the monsoons, the state could see some lightning-caused wildfires as well.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, many wind energy projects could soon lose federal tax credits. The Mountain West News Bureau's Hanna Merzbach reports pressure to defund wind projects is coming from the Trump administration and the grassroots level.
CROWD: Wind walls got to go!
HANNA MERZBACH: About 150 Wyomingites recently took to the state capitol to fight wind projects in the state. They worry about wind turbines taking out golden eagles and obscuring open vistas on public and private land. But rally organizer Craig Rucker says he has hope. He's the leader of CFACT, a D.C.-based public policy group.
CRAIG RUCKER: I think you'll see a lot of these projects belly up, because unless they can live off government subsidies and tax credits and handouts, they can't compete.
HANNA MERZBACH: With federal tax credits ending, wind and solar developers are racing to break ground on projects before July 4th. This comes after in May, solar provided more of the country's energy than coal for the first time ever. Wind has done the same during windy spring months. For the Mountain West News Bureau, I'm Hanna Merzbach.
PHIL LATZMAN: An archaeological site known as Los Huanacos is being protected as the city of Tempe works to upgrade the nearby Kyrene Water Reclamation Facility. Officials are reaching out to agencies and tribes as the project may affect the site where the ancestral O'odham people once lived. Tempe's historic preservation officer Zachary Lechner says the city's treatment plan for historic properties requires them to do ground disturbance monitoring.
ZACHARY LECHNER: The city of Tempe policy also requires archaeological monitoring, uh, not only within, you know, 200 — not only within an archaeological site, but also within 250 feet of an archaeological site when it's on city land.
PHIL LATZMAN: He says work on archaeological sites must stop within certain distances if cultural resources or ancestral remains are encountered.
PHIL LATZMAN: Northern Arizona University is introducing a new three-year degree to prepare students for a career in advanced manufacturing. Adrian Skabelund has more from Flagstaff.
ADRIAN SKABELUND: The degree will prepare students to build microelectronics and semiconductors. Classes start this fall through the College of Engineering and will also be available virtually at NAU's Phoenix campus and at Tucson's Pima Community College. University officials say it's designed to help meet the growing need for advanced manufacturing workers in Arizona. The state has one of the nation's fastest-growing semiconductor industries. NAU's announcement comes just weeks after a state-led effort encouraging similar community college programs expanded to schools in northern and rural Arizona. That's Adrian Skabelund reporting from Flagstaff.
PHIL LATZMAN: Passengers can now take a bus from Phoenix Sky Harbor directly to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. Connor Greenwall reports.
CONNOR GREENWALL: The new service, which begins at the 44th Street Sky Train Station near Sky Harbor, is currently the only bus that directly connects Phoenix to the Grand Canyon National Park. FlixBus, which is offering the summer service, says it's part of the campaign to celebrate America's 250th anniversary. The bus will take riders all the way from the airport to the town of Tusayan. Symone Hinton is a spokesperson for FlixBus.
SYMONE HINTON: When you get to Tusayan, essentially, passengers take about a four-minute walk over to the purple shuttle line, and they can board the shuttle there and enter the park.
CONNOR GREENWALL: Hinton says fares vary on demand but generally cost around $30 per ticket. Connor Greenwall, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: New updates to Chandler City Code restrict the keeping or feeding of non-domesticated birds, such as pigeons. The city says residents raised concerns about disturbances caused by the animals. Erica Barba is the city's neighborhood preservation senior manager.
ERICA BARBA: If you're feeding, in excess, you are going to have bird droppings, say, on your roof and on your, uh, personal private property.
PHIL LATZMAN: According to the city updates were made to make clarifications to its code about nuisances and infestations. Barba says the newest changes go into effect next month.
PHIL LATZMAN: Well, the State Department of Education lets districts request funds for on-campus police officers, social workers, and counselors. In recent years, districts have been told to prioritize officers in their safety grant applications. But as Bridget Dowd reports, one K-12 district in Tolleson is getting a federal grant to support student mental health.
BRIDGET DOWD: The multi-year $5.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education will allow the Union Elementary School District to have a psychologist at each of its four campuses. Superintendent Kristine Morris says many students present with some adverse childhood experiences, which can manifest as anxiety or behavioral challenges.
KRISTINE MORRIS: By having psychologists at school, we can get permission from parents to observe the children, to conduct what's called a functional behavioral assessment, and determine what's the root cause and come up with plans and strategies to try to prevent behaviors from becoming worse.
BRIDGET DOWD: Morris says the National Association of School Psychologists recommends having one psychologist per 500 students, and this grant will allow the district to align their ratios with that model. Bridget Dowd, KJZZ News, Phoenix.
PHIL LATZMAN: In sports, baseball: Gabriel Moreno's go-ahead solo homer in the eighth inning lifted the Diamondbacks to a 5-3 win over the Reds yesterday to take two of three in Cincinnati. They give manager Torey Lovullo his 700th career win. D-backs, at one game over the .500 mark, return to Phoenix tonight. They begin a three-game series with the LA Angels.
Basketball: Coming off another loss Saturday, the 4-11 Mercury, they're off till Wednesday when they are home for the Las Vegas Aces.
And that'll do it for this edition of KJZZ's Sun Up, Arizona's morning news podcast on this Monday, June 15. I'm Phil Latzman. Thanks so much for being with us, and we'll do it again tomorrow. Talk to you then.
