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Nature and Environment

The Central Arizona Project moves water from the Colorado River to southern Arizona. July 2021

Hobbs under pressure to call special session on groundwater

Jun 20, 2024 Arizona lawmakers didn’t pass significant bipartisan policy on groundwater reform this year.
Margarita Salazar, 82, wipes the sweat off with a tissue inside her home amid high heat in Veracruz, Mexico, on June 16, 2024. Human-caused climate change intensified and made far more likely this month's killer heat with triple digit temperatures, a new flash study found Thursday, June 20.

Climate change made killer heat wave in Mexico, Southwest US even warmer and 35 times more likely

Jun 20, 2024 A new study finds that human-caused climate change dialed up the heat and drastically increased the odds of this month's killer heat that has been baking the Southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America.
<a href="https://map22.epa.gov/cimc/superfundZoom&params=0900684&15" target="_blank" style="font-weight:700;margin-right:6px">VIEW THIS MAP FULLSCREEN IN A NEW WINDOW</a>The ten square-mile Tucson International Airport Area Superfund Site is depicted using orange diagonal lines. The site includes Tucson International Airport, Sections of the Tohono O'odham Nation (San Xavier District), Tucson and South Tucson residential areas, and Air Force Plant #44 Raytheon Missile Systems Company (AFP44). The site has contaminated groundwater and soil from former aircraft and electronics manufacturing and aircraft maintenance, fire drill trainings, and the leaking of chemicals from unlined landfills.

EPA Orders Air Force, AZ National Guard to address PFAS contamination at Tucson Superfund Site

Jun 19, 2024 Emergency directive aims to mitigate health threats from toxic chemicals in Tucson’s groundwater, pushing for immediate cleanup action and cost sharing.
City crews are preparing barricades to direct motorists away from flooded roads.

Tucson braces for potential monsoon storms

Jun 19, 2024 City crews are preparing barricades to direct motorists away from flooded roads.
The vaquita is a critically endangered porpoise that lives in the northern part of the Sea of Cortez. It is considered the smallest and most endangered cetacean in the world.

Even fewer critically endangered vaquitas sighted in Mexico this year

Jun 17, 2024 Researchers say only six to eight of the porpoises were sighted.
Strong Arm, a well-known saguaro cactus in the Tortolita Preserve near Marana, was estimated to be 150 to 200 years old and 40 feet tall when it toppled during an August storm. But the actual cause of death was Erwinia cacticida, a bacteria that causes saguaros to rot and ooze a thick, black liquid.

More than 70 million people in the US are under heat alerts

Jun 17, 2024 Officials again are warning residents to take precautions, go indoors and hydrate.
Monsoon clouds hover above a southern Arizona neighborhood.

UA Monsoon Madness returns for 2024

Jun 17, 2024 Hundreds are expected to enter the annual online contest to predict stormy weather.
Saguaro cactus amid mid-afternoon sun.

The Buzz: Coping with Extreme Heat

Jun 14, 2024 As summer temperatures get dangerous, we look at efforts to keep people safe.
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public and Indian Housing Richard Monocchio announces new Housing and Urban Development guidelines on financial assistance for air conditioning costs in Tucson, Ariz., on Thursday, June 13, 2024.

HUD will allow more federal dollars to go toward electric bill assistance

Jun 13, 2024 Government officials visited a public housing complex in Tucson to make the announcement.
Looking east across Roosevelt Lake in Central Arizona.

Conservation groups threaten legal action over Pinto Valley Mine expansion

Jun 13, 2024 Sierra Club and Maricopa Audubon Society claim violations of the Endangered Species Act, citing risks to wildlife and water resources.
A monsoon storm drops localized, heavy rainfall over northwest Tucson, Marana, and Oro Valley. From August 2022.

Conflicting weather patterns bring monsoon uncertainty

Jun 11, 2024 The upcoming transition between an El Niño winter and a La Niña summer is unique.
Pima County Medical Examiner Greg Hess at his office in Tucson, Ariz. Hess and another Arizona-based medical examiner are rethinking how to catalog and count heat-related deaths, a major step toward understanding the growing impacts of heat.

Here's why an Arizona medical examiner is working to track heat-related deaths

Jun 11, 2024 Rethinking how to catalog and count heat-related deaths is a major step toward understanding the growing impacts of climate change.
Water availability is one of the most pressing economic issues in the state of Arizona.

The Buzz: Arizona's Economy and Water

Jun 7, 2024 We speak with economic experts about Arizona's economy, with attention paid to how water plays a role.
Sonoran Desert National Monument.

BLM restricts target shooting at Sonoran Desert National Monument to protect natural and cultural resources

Jun 6, 2024 New regulations limit dispersed recreational shooting to 5,295 acres, safeguarding plant species, archaeology sites and historic trails.
On Friday, May 31, 2024, Senator Mark Kelly gathered with local solar industry leaders at the Solar Gain Inc., facility in Tucson, Ariz., to discuss federal investments into the state for renewable energy. From left to right, Ben Bryce, senior manager of the Environmental Defense Fund Action, Craig Storlie, Tucson solar homeowner, Senator Mark Kelly, Priya Sundareshan, Arizona State Senator, Autumn Johnson, Executive Director of Arizona Solar Energy Industries Association, and Adrian Keller, Arizona program director for Solar United Neighbors of Arizona (SUN).

Arizona advances in renewable energy with federal investments

May 31, 2024 Senator Mark Kelly and other local leaders talk about the state's clean energy growth and jobs.
A male Elegant Trogon, as featured in Richard Cachor Taylor's 2022 book "Birds of Arizona".

Celebrating one of the Sonoran Desert's most popular visitors.

May 29, 2024 Also on Arizona Spotlight: The secrets of the Vegan Night Market; how the Noyce Teaching Scholarship is helping to find and retain good STEM teachers in Arizona; and Julie Sasse says goodbye to the Tucson Museum of Art.

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