Category: State News

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona’s health department has named a physician to address ways to lessen the effects of extreme heat in the arid Southwestern state as the first statewide heat officer in the nation. Dr. Eugene Livar was appointed to the role under Gov. Katie Hobbs’ extreme heat preparedness plan, the Arizona Department of Health Services said Wednesday. Livar has been with the state health department since 2012, most recently working as assistant director for public health preparedness. In that role, he contributed to the state’s heat plan. Underscoring the dangers of increasingly hot weather, the toll of heat-associated deaths in…

PHOENIX (AP) — A judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Arizona’s schools chief that challenged programs that some school districts use to teach non-English speaking students. Republican Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne argued dual language programs – in which students spend half the day learning English and the other half focusing on another language — violate a 2000 voter-approved law that requires those students to be taught only in English, KJZZ radio reported. In a ruling Tuesday, Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Katherine Cooper concluded Horne lacked the statutory authority and legal standing to file the lawsuit and that…

(AP) — The seven U.S. states that draw water from the Colorado River basin are suggesting new ways to determine how the increasingly scarce resource is divvied up when the river can’t provide what it historically promised. The Upper Basin and the Lower Basin states, as neighbors, don’t agree on the approach. Under a proposal released Wednesday by Arizona, California and Nevada, the water level at Lake Mead — one of the two largest of the Colorado River reservoirs — no longer would determine the extent of water cuts like it currently does. The three Lower Basin states also want what they say…

Arizona hunters still have an opportunity to receive a hunt permit-tag for select 2024 elk hunts.  The Arizona Game and Fish Department has posted a list of leftover hunt permit-tags, as well as a printable paper application, on its website. Leftover hunt permit-tags include: 70 — limited opportunity (general) antlerless elk.   3 — archery-only antlerless elk.   3 — archery-only bull elk. The department will begin accepting paper applications for leftover hunt permit-tags on a first-come, first-served basis — by mail only — beginning Monday, March 18. All completed paper applications must be addressed to: Arizona Game and Fish Department, Attn.: Draw/First Come, 5000 W. Carefree Highway,…

PHOENIX — The wild population of Mexican wolves saw another year of growth in 2023, according to the results of the annual survey. The 2023 population census revealed a minimum of 257 Mexican wolves distributed across Arizona and New Mexico. This increase marks the eighth consecutive year of population growth, the longest continuous streak since recovery efforts began. The 2023 population minimum count represents a six percent increase from the minimum of 242 wolves counted in 2022. Survey results show the population is distributed with a minimum of 144 wolves in New Mexico and 113 in Arizona. “In the aggregate, the…

The Biden-Harris administration has announced a significant milestone in its efforts to protect the stability and sustainability of the Colorado River System and strengthen water security in the West.  With historic water conservation enabled by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda, the Administration has staved off the immediate possibility of the Colorado River System’s reservoirs from falling to critically low elevations that would threaten water deliveries and power production. Due to record conservation investments as well as improved hydrology, Lake Mead levels today, at elevation 1075 feet, are the highest since May 2021, when they were at 1073 feet. The Department of…