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Nature and Environment

Fencing and signs like these near Dragoon, Arizona, aim to keep people away from some of the state’s estimated 100,000 abandoned mines. Minerals from such mines, many abandoned decades before environmental laws imposed clean-up requirements on mine owners, can leach out and pose a threat to nearby waterways. (File photo by Nicole Neri/ Cronkite News)

‘Good Samaritan’ bill aims to allow cleanup of abandoned, leaking mines

Oct 2, 2022 A bill in Congress could help Arizona clean up old mines.
The Central Tucson Groundwater Treatment System, located near Davis Monthan Air Force Base, removes PFAS contaminates from the aquifer below the area.

The Buzz: Dealing with Arizona's PFAS problem

Sep 29, 2022 Why are the chemical class also known as forever chemicals so dangerous, and what's being done to fix the problem?
John de Lancie appeared for the final time (?) as "Q" in Star Trek: Picard, season 2.

True Concord Voices & Orchestra premieres "Helios", and welcomes a friend from the final frontier - actor John de Lancie.

Sep 22, 2022 Also on Arizona Spotlight: Patrick Robles, president of the Associated Students of the University of Arizona Student, urges the City of Tucson to keep public transit free; and The Tucson Orchid Society celebrates 50 years of shared fascination.
The Milky Way seen from Reddington Pass east of Tucson. May 2022

First-ever 'Oracle Dark Sky Cultural Festival' is this week

Sep 22, 2022 Residents embrace the economic boost to the town.
Reductions to Arizona's Colorado River supply, including water delivered by the Central Arizona Project, are issued starting in January 2022. The first-ever cutbacks will mean less available for underground storage.

Tucson gives up some CAP water for cash

Sep 21, 2022 City will still get its daily need, but less surplus.
An ore cart, encrusted in invasive mussel shells, rests on a ledge above a receding Lake Powell.

‘It’s getting close’: As the megadrought grinds on, Arizona working to meet water demands

Sep 18, 2022 Satellite photos show a dramatic change.
A diamondback rattlesnake flicks its tongue.

Rattlesnakes and toads out during monsoon season

Sep 17, 2022 Herpatologists get plenty of rattlesnake calls in August.
Garnett Querta fills his water truck from a fire hydrant on the Hualapai reservation Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in Peach Springs, Ariz. The water pulled from the ground here will be piped dozens of miles across the rugged landscape to serve the roughly 600,000 tourists a year who visit the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai reservation in northwestern Arizona — an operation that's the tribe's main source of revenue.

State of unease: Colorado basin tribes without water rights

Sep 16, 2022 Hualapai tribal land in northwestern Arizona borders 100 miles of the Colorado River, but the tribe can't draw from it.
Treated wastewater, like this sample in Carson, California, could soon become a bigger part of the West's water portfolio. Cities in the drought-stricken Colorado River basin are putting big money behind project

Water managers see promise in recycling sewage

Sep 15, 2022 It could be a solution for the shrinking Colorado River
A vacant lot is used as a place to stack and assemble sandbags for use by residents whose properties are at risk of flooding.

The Buzz: A strong monsoon brings road closures and floods

Sep 9, 2022 Why does some infrastructure get overwhelmed by above-average summer rain?
Desert Morning by Joe Orr displayed at the "Painting In, Painting Out" exhibit. The exhibit will be on display through October 12.

"Painting In, Painting Out": The world as seen by the Sonoran Plein Air Painters.

Sep 7, 2022 Also on Arizona Spotlight: "Hey Y'all", Fortune Feimster is coming to the Fox Tucson Theatre; and a new book for young readers tells the story of a female pioneer in molecular science.
Monsoon rainshower.

Monsoon madness reaches final weeks

Sep 6, 2022 Amateur forecasters are predicting Southwest rainfall totals for the second straight year.

Aerial spraying to combat buffelgrass coming to Saguaro NP Wednesday

Aug 30, 2022 Aerial spray will target areas of high spread, while other treatments continue to be used in less affected areas.
Rush Dougherty looks on as Leaf owner David Gebert checks out his electric car. Both men are members of TEVA, the Tucson Electric Vehicle Association.

Tucson to require EV chargers at many new homes, businesses

Aug 29, 2022 Cost is an issue as inflation continues.
Apache Trout

Arizona state fish might soon shed endangered designation

Aug 29, 2022 The Apache Trout was first listed as endangered in 1973.
This photo provided by Caltrans shows a washed-out section of Interstate 10 near Desert Center, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. Eastbound traffic on Interstate 10 in the Southern California desert was blocked Thursday after flash floods washed out the roadway. The latest round of flooding caused by monsoonal thunderstorms hit Wednesday evening and also impacted other desert highways.

Washout repair completed on I-10

Aug 29, 2022 A section of highway near the Arizona-California border was washed away in a flash flood.

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