Mexican border town uses ‘sanitizing tunnels’ to disinfect US visitors from Covid-19

Authorities in Nogales, Sonora, are hoping to reduce chances of bringing the virus over from Arizona, one of the states most affected

Fears of foreigners bringing infectious disease into the country. Enhanced border checkpoints. And the use of disinfectant spray to sanitize human beings.

These aren’t notes from one of Donald Trump’s freewheeling press conferences. The United States’ troubled response to the coronavirus pandemic is such that the Mexican border city of Nogales, Sonora, has set up “sanitizing tunnels” to disinfect people leaving the US through Nogales, Arizona.

Continue reading...

US supreme court blocks lawsuit by family of Mexican boy slain at border

Ruling marks the second involving cross-border incidents preventing cases by foreign nationals in US federal courts

The US supreme court has thrown out a lower court’s ruling that had let the family of a slain 16-year-old Mexican boy pursue a civil rights lawsuit against a US border patrol agent who shot the teenager from across the border in Arizona.

The justices took the action in light of their ruling last Tuesday in a similar case in which they decided on a 5-4 vote to bar a lawsuit against another border patrol agent for fatally shooting a 15-year-old Mexican boy from across the border in Texas.

Continue reading...

Trump tweets praise for under-fire Mexican restaurant – but gets city wrong

  • Sammy’s owner pictured at rally in ‘Latinos Love Trump’ hat
  • President promises visit when in Phoenix but grill near Tucson

The owners of a Tucson-area Mexican restaurant are fending off social media attacks after appearing in the VIP area at a Trump rally in Phoenix last month.

The Arizona Daily Star reported that a Facebook group posted a screenshot image from the rally that showed Sammy’s Mexican Grill co-owner Betty Rivas standing behind Trump, wearing a red cowboy hat emblazoned with “Latinos Love Trump”.

Continue reading...

Two people struck by gunfire during US New Year’s Eve celebrations

  • Three-year-old wounded by backyard gunfire in Phoenix
  • 61-year-old woman killed by stray bullet in Houston

A three-year-old boy was shot and wounded in Phoenix and a 61-year-old woman was shot and killed in Houston as people celebrated the New Year, authorities said.

Related: Headless torso found in cave identified as murderer who escaped jail in 1916

Continue reading...

Nuclear missile bunker: yours for less than $400k

Decommissioned nuclear silo accessed 40ft staircase leading underground was once home to US’s largest intercontinental ballistic missile ever deployed

One local newspaper described the sales listing, with calculated understatement, as a “mid-century fixer-upper”: an underground bunker built to withstand a nuclear attack, and to house the fire power to retaliate.

The decommissioned nuclear silo in southern Arizona was once home to the Titan II, the largest intercontinental ballistic missile deployed by the US Air Force.

Continue reading...

Jury deadlocks over activist who gave migrants food and shelter

Scott Daniel Warren faced up to 20 years in prison in a case aid groups said would have wide implications on their work

A US jury could not reach a verdict Tuesday against a border activist who, defense attorneys say, was simply being kind by providing two migrants with water, food and lodging when he was arrested in early 2018.

Scott Daniel Warren, a 36-year-old college geography instructor, was charged with conspiracy to transport and harbor migrants in a trial that humanitarian aid groups said would have wide implications on their work. He faced up to 20 years in prison.

Continue reading...

Sir Philip Green charged in US over claims he touched pilates instructor

Arizona authorities accuse Arcadia mogul of repeatedly touching instructor inappropriately – claims Green denies

Sir Philip Green has been charged with four counts of misdemeanour assault in the US after a pilates instructor alleged he repeatedly touched her inappropriately, Arizona authorities have said.

Lauren Deakin, a deputy county attorney in Pima county, said Green had been formally charged with four counts of “knowingly touching another person with the intent to injure, insult or provoke”.

Continue reading...

US deports husband of soldier killed in Afghanistan – then lets him back in

José González Carranza was arrested by Ice officers and deported to Mexico, but brought back after an Arizona paper reported on it

US immigration officials deported the husband of a soldier killed in Afghanistan – then reversed course and let him back into the country.

José González Carranza, 30, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officers last week at his home in Arizona and quickly deported to Mexico, he and his attorney told the Arizona Republic.

Continue reading...

Jaguar attacks woman who climbed Arizona zoo barrier to take a selfie

Woman in her 30s returned to the zoo to apologise after she was treated in hospital for her injuries

A jaguar has clawed an Arizona woman who climbed over a barrier to take a picture at the Wildlife World Zoo near Phoenix, officials said.

Mobile phone video of the incident showed at least one gash on the woman’s left forearm as she writhed on the ground in pain after the attack on Saturday.

Continue reading...

‘I was raped by a superior officer’: Senator Martha McSally on serving in air force – video

Martha McSally, the Arizona Republican senator, revealed during a Senate hearing on Wednesday that she had been raped by a superior officer while serving in the air force. McSally, the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, said she did not report the assault because she did not trust the system and was ashamed and confused

Continue reading...

Senator Martha McSally says she was raped while serving in air force

Arizona Republican, the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, spoke about her experience during a Senate hearing Wednesday

Senator Martha McSally, the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat, has said she was raped in the air force by a superior officer.

The Arizona Republican, a 26-year military veteran, made the disclosure at a Senate hearing on Wednesday on the armed services’ efforts to prevent sexual assaults and improve the response when they occur.

Continue reading...

Grand Canyon tourists possibly exposed to radiation at museum, whistleblower says

Park safety director alleges buckets of uranium sat near exhibit for almost 20 years, but interior department says there’s no risk

For almost 20 years, workers and visiting school children at a Grand Canyon museum may have been unknowingly exposed to radiation from three buckets of uranium sitting next to a taxidermy exhibit, according to allegations from a National Park Service safety director.

The whistleblower says officials learned about the buckets last year and tried to hide the revelation, according to the Arizona Republic newspaper. Earlier this month, Elston “Swede” Stephenson emailed all park staff and brought the matter to the attention of the head of the interior department, which oversees the park service, and the agency’s internal watchdog.

Continue reading...

What is life really like in border country, where Trump wants his wall?

The Guardian travelled to five border locations to discover how Trump’s rhetoric jars with the reality on the ground

Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful wall” has become the trademark of his presidency. It is the promise that more than any other has energized his base, and riled his opponents, and his dogged attachment to it has now brought a large part of the US government to a historic 25 days of partial shutdown.

Continue reading...

Police investigate after reports Phoenix woman in coma for decade gives birth

  • Staff initially unsure why patient was moaning, reports say
  • Victim advocates want DNA testing to determine father of boy

A woman said to have been in a vegetative state for at least a decade at a private healthcare facility in Phoenix reportedly gave birth, triggering a police investigation and reviews by state agencies in a situation that the state governor’s office called “deeply troubling”.

Azfamily.com, a news website for television stations KPHO and KTVK, first reported late on Thursday that according to sources not identified, a woman gave birth on 29 December, while living at a Hacienda HealthCare facility, where the staff was unaware that she was pregnant.

Continue reading...

Arizona’s New Sen. McSally Faces Uncertain Political Future

To the surprise of no one, Republican Rep. Martha McSally was appointed to the U.S. Senate Tuesday and will serve two more years of the term of the late Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz. "I'm going to commit to holding myself to the standard of service that Sen. McCain exemplified -- putting country before self, and always striving to do the right thing for Arizonans," McSally told reporters in Phoenix, shortly after Republican Gov. Doug Ducey announced her appointment.

McSally, Sinema face each other in Arizona Senate debate Source: AP

Two congresswomen will face off in the sole Arizona Senate debate Monday evening, capping a contest that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate. Martha McSally is a former fighter pilot who represented a Tucson district that voted for Hillary Clinton and was a Trump critic during 2016.

Correction: Border-Abandoned Migrant Families story

In a story Oct. 12 about immigrants in Arizona, The Associated Press reported erroneously the name of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Smugglers in recent weeks have been abandoning large groups of mostly Guatemalan adult and child migrants near Arizona's boundary with Mexico, alarming Border Patrol officials who say the trend puts hundreds of children and adults at risk PHOENIX - Smugglers in recent weeks have been abandoning large groups of Guatemalan and other Central American migrants in Arizona's harsh cactus-studded Sonoran Desert near the border with Mexico, alarming Border Patrol officials who say the trend is putting hundreds of children at risk.

Too Little, Too Late for Many Gubernatorial Candidates on Education Funding

After slashing their states' education funding for years, some incumbent governors up for re-election in 2018 are trying to convince voters that they've seen the error of their ways by claiming that they will prioritize education going forward. But voters should be cautious about believing such promises.

Look at All These Big-Name Politicians Coming to Arizona

At least four former presidential candidates, a former Arizona governor, and the 43rd President of the United States are among the big-name politicians coming to the state this month to stump for candidates in high-profile races. Republican Congresswoman Martha McSally, running in a competitive Senate race against Democratic Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema, nabbed the biggest prize.