Arizona

President Trump's executive order targets NPR and PBS funding, while a new survey shows global concern about climate change. Local updates include rideshare legislation, burn permits, and community news.

Governor Polis signs a bill to protect educators from pressure to remove books from school libraries, while Cortez renews its Urban Forestry program. Other updates include health-related resignations in Arizona, a proposed tobacco tax delay in the Navajo Nation, and wildfire mitigation efforts across the West.

Arizona’s unique water challenges are further complicated by a proposed EPA rule that could strip protections from the state's ephemeral streams, threatening water quality and wildlife habitat.

Democratic attorneys general in 19 states sued the Trump administration over its mass firing of federal workers. NPR's A Martinez talks with one of the plaintiffs, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes.

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled late last month that Canadian-based Resolution Mining Company can build a copper mine on sacred Native American land east of Phoenix. And Utah has opened a new state office dedicated to professional licenses.

A change in policy by the Biden administration to give tribal voices more of a seat at the table has led to a controversy about proposed changes at Arizona Snowbowl in Flagstaff.

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality recently granted an aquifer protection permit for a uranium mine near from a tribal community in the Grand Canyon, but the Havasupai Tribe still has concerns about the quality of its water. And avian influenza is suspected in Montezuma County.

The growing global debate over an energy source with a deadly past is playing out amidst the sweet sage and pine trees of the forest right by the Grand Canyon. Uranium prices are climbing again and Arizona has cleared the way for a once-stagnant mine to resume operations.

Quitobaquito Springs is a natural water source near the US-Mexico border in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. It’s a sacred site and historic homestead to a southern Arizona tribe. It's also now housing some of the state’s most endangered species. But the site is now in peril.

President Biden ended his predecessor’s border wall project almost a year ago. But the trial continues for one indigenous protestor who faces federal charges for blocking construction machinery at a site in Arizona’s Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. From the Froteras Desk in Tucson, KJZZ’s Alisa Reznick reports.