Category Archives: Arizona

Arizona grandma and one-time stranger celebrate eighth Thanksgiving together

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Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton, who met via an accidental text message, invited a second stranger to join them this year

An Arizona grandmother and the stranger to whom she accidentally texted a Thanksgiving invitation in 2016 celebrated their eighth holiday dinner together this week – and welcomed a new guest to the tradition.

Wanda Dench and Jamal Hinton, whose unexpected Thanksgiving went viral nearly a decade ago, expanded their annual get-together this year by inviting another stranger into her home.

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Man who stormed US Capitol in face paint files paperwork for congressional run

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Jacob Chansley, who became one of the most recognizable symbols of the insurrection, hopes to run in Arizona as a libertarian

The man who donned face paint and a horned headdress to storm the US Capitol at the 6 January insurrection has filed paperwork for a potential congressional run in Arizona as a libertarian.

Jacob Chansley, known as the “QAnon Shaman”, became one of the most recognizable symbols of the insurrection, as media showed him walking the halls of the Capitol and standing at the dais in the US Senate.

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Deadliest year on record as Phoenix heat fatalities rise by 50%

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Hottest US city, buffeted by extreme temperatures, sees 579 heat-related in 2023, with large proportion among unhoused people

Heat deaths surged by 50% in Phoenix in 2023 – the deadliest year on record after extreme temperatures pummeled America’s hottest city, official figures show.

At least 579 people lost their lives to heat this year, with senior citizens accounting for one in three deaths, according to the year’s final heat surveillance report by the medical examiner’s office in Maricopa county, where Phoenix is located. Another 56 suspected heat deaths are still under investigation.

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Hungry javelinas plague prestigious Arizona golf course with oversized divots

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Groundskeepers resort to covering course with chilli oil to discourage the herbivores, which are native to the south-west

With no respect for etiquette on the fairways, let alone a dress code, a group of scruffy porcine invaders has left a trail of devastation across a prestigious Arizona golf course hailed among the country’s finest.

Greenkeepers at the picturesque Seven Canyons Golf Club in Sedona have posted to social media videos of the destruction wrought by the marauding pack of javelinas, also known as collared peccaries, which has dug up large areas of the course.

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Republican says she won’t run for re-election because ‘DC is broken’

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Congresswoman Debbie Lesko, from Arizona, says ‘it is hard to get anything done’

A Republican congresswoman has said she will not run for re-election next year, claiming “DC is broken”.

Debbie Lesko, from Arizona, said in a statement that traveling to Washington each month had also proven difficult.

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‘Extremely rare’ Jurassic-era fossils discovered in Lake Powell

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Tritylodonts, mid-sized mammal-related herbivores, roamed the area’s deserts 200m years ago

Scientists have discovered an “extremely rare” set of fossils at Lake Powell that the National Park Service (NPS) is calling one of the most important vertebrate discoveries in the US this year.

The findings, revealed this week, include skulls and teeth from dozens of mid-sized, mammal-related herbivores called tritylodonts that once roamed the region’s vast desert. The bones lay hidden in the sandstone walls of the reservoir for roughly 180m years before a lucky discovery in March.

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Kari Lake, Trump ally and election denier, announces Senate bid in Arizona

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Republican who lost state governor’s race but never conceded has challenged her defeat in court, so far unsuccessfully

Kari Lake, the Republican candidate who lost the race for Arizona governor but never conceded her loss, announced a run for US Senate in the western state Tuesday.

A former TV news anchor, Lake made her move into politics by making repeated false claims about elections. She aligned closely with former president Donald Trump and has been floated as a potential running mate for Trump, who once praised Lake for her ability to constantly bring up election fraud.

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Biden warns voters a second Trump presidency will threaten democracy

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Faced with stagnant approval ratings, president ups ante in what may become a central theme of his re-election campaign

Joe Biden dramatically raised the ante in the forthcoming US presidential election campaign on Thursday with a stark and impassioned warning that American democracy is imperiled by a vengeful Donald Trump, his likely opponent next year.

Faced by stagnant approval ratings and worries about his advanced age, the US president attempted to stir his dormant supporters and animate the undecided by spelling out the dangers he insisted a second Trump presidency would pose to the US’s status as the world’s leading beacon of democratic government.

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Peruvian man arrested for making more than 150 bomb threats to US schools

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Suspect, arrested in Peru, allegedly threatened schools after failing to ‘sextort’ nude photos from schoolchildren

A Peruvian man was arrested in Peru for sending more than 150 fake bomb threats to US schools, airports and a synagogue.

Eddie Manuel Núñez Santos, 33, was arrested by Peruvian officials on Tuesday in Lima, according to a press release from the justice department.

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Election denier Kari Lake of Arizona to announce run for US Senate seat

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Failed far-right gubernatorial candidate is also a possible pick for Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election

The far-right Trump supporter Kari Lake still refuses to accept her defeat in the 2022 race for Arizona governor but will nonetheless run for US Senate next year.

“We need to get a senator in there who is going to fight back and put America first,” the Republican told the Wall Street Journal.

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Phoenix sets record in hellishly hot summer – but relief is in sight

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The Arizona capital reached 55th day above 110F this year, but forecast says that cooler temps – even rain – are on the horizon

Residents in Phoenix, Arizona, are set to experience some relief from the blistering heatwave following the city’s record of the most days at or above 110F (43.3C) this year despite reaching 112F (44.4C) on Sunday, according to the National Weather Service (NWS).

On Sunday, the NWS announced that temperatures in Arizona’s largest city will finally begin to retreat “closer to the seasonal normal” with highs expected to range between 102F (38.9C) and 104F (40C) between Monday and Friday. Sunday’s temperature broke the daily high record of 111F (43.9C) set in 1990.

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Phoenix breaks heat record as city hits 110F for the 54th consecutive day

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Saturday’s temperature had triggered an excessive heat warning across Arizona as lows were expected to range between 80F and 86F

The temperature in Phoenix, Arizona continues to rise as the city broke its previous record of the most consecutive days at or above 110F (43C).

On Saturday afternoon, the National Weather Service announced that the temperature at Phoenix Sky Harbor international airport reached 110F, making it the 54th day this year with temperatures of at least 110F.

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Deadly humid heatwaves to spread rapidly as climate warms – study

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Small rise in global temperatures would affect hundreds of millions of people and could cause a sharp rise in deaths

Life-threatening periods of high heat and humidity will spread rapidly across the world with only a small increase in global temperatures, a study has found, which could cause a sharp acceleration in the number of deaths resulting from the climate crisis.

The extremes, which can be fatal to healthy people within six hours, could affect hundreds of millions of people unused to such conditions. As a result, heat deaths could rise quickly unless serious efforts to prepare populations were undertaken urgently, the researcher said.

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Arizona woman accused of trying to kill husband by lacing coffee with bleach

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A state grand jury indicted Melody Felicano Johnson in Tucson in July after her husband sent video to police

An Arizona woman tried to kill her husband – a US military member – by poisoning his coffee with bleach daily since March before her arrest, authorities allege.

Melody Felicano Johnson faces charges of attempted first-degree homicide, attempted aggravated assault, and adding poison to food or drink after her husband sent video to police of her apparently pouring bleach into his coffee pot. A state grand jury indicted her in Tucson in July.

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Erratic winds pose fresh threat to firefighters as rain helps with Mojave desert fire

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A brief downpour helped crews on the ground, but experts warn they could face unstable wind conditions that could blow fire back at them

Firefighters have managed to partially contain a giant wildfire in the Mojave desert that scorched tens of thousands of acres of scrub and sent smoke across the Las Vegas Strip.

The York fire was mapped at roughly 125 sq miles (323.7 sq km) on Tuesday, with 23% containment, making it the largest wildfire of the season in California.

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Phoenix’s record streak of temperatures above 110F ends after 31 days

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Reprieve expected to be brief, with the forecast calling for highs again above 110F for several days later in the week

Phoenix’s record stretch of daily highs over 110F (43.3C) ended Monday as cooling monsoon rains slightly tempered the dangerous heatwave that suffocated the American south-west throughout July.

The region, from Texas across New Mexico and Arizona and into California’s desert, has been grappling with historic heat since June. Phoenix and its suburbs sweltered more intensely than most, with several records including the 31 consecutive days of 110F days. The previous record was 18 straight days, set in 1974.

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Mystery surrounds case of US teen who re-emerged after going missing in 2019

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Alicia Navarro, who police said had not been harmed and does not face charges, disappeared days before her 15th birthday

When Alicia Navarro disappeared in 2019 from her home in a Phoenix suburb, days before her 15th birthday, she left a signed note promising she would return.

“I will be back, I swear,” the note read. “I’m sorry.”

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Mother hails ‘miracle’ return of Arizona teen who went missing in 2019

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Alicia Navarro, 18, showed up alone this week in a small town in Montana and identified herself

The mother of an Arizona teenager who has reappeared safe and well after going missing four years ago has hailed her return as a “miracle”.

Alicia Navarro, 18, vanished without a trace in 2019 but showed up alone this week in a small town in Montana about 40 miles from the Canadian border and identified herself, according to police in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb.

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More than 170m Americans under heat alerts as heatwave expands

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Between 250 and 275 million will face heat indexes of 90F as heatwave moves into parts of Great Plains, midwest and north-east

Over 170 million Americans are under heat alerts this week, according to the National Weather Service, as a heat wave that has affected the southern US for weeks has expanded into parts of the Great Plains, midwest and north-east US.

Between 250 and 275 million people in the US will face heat indexes of at least 90F (32C), as the US braces for the hottest weather of the summer averaged across the country.

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Hot streak: US heatwaves lasting longer as record temperatures bake south-west

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Phoenix and Californian town of Needles experiencing 70th day in which temperatures have reached 90F

A brutal heatwave is persisting throughout much of the US, with cities across the south-west reaching all-time records for hottest consecutive days. Intense heatwaves are becoming more frequent as a result of the climate crisis, but alarmingly, these streaks of hot days are also lasting longer.

People living in cities in Arizona, California and Texas are entering their second month of days in which the temperature reaches 90F (32.2C) and above. Cities such as Phoenix, and Needles in California, have had no relief from this extreme heat in the past 70 days, with Phoenix recently experiencing three consecutive weeks of temperatures reaching 110F (43.3C) and above.

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