Shelley Smithson

The Arizona Senate has passed a bill that would bar taxpayer money from funding family planning clinics that provide abortions.

Abortion opponents are hailing the decision by the Republican-dominated Senate.

Supporters of the bill say taxpayer money shouldn’t be used to subsidize abortion providers.

Arizona law already prohibits the use of public money for abortions.

Planned Parenthood spokesperson Cynde Cerf says the bill could cut off funding to 4,000 Medicare patients in Arizona.

Northern Arizona’s battered real estate market is seeing some signs of healing. 

Home sales were up in the Flagstaff, Sedona and Prescott areas.

And prices between the first quarter of 2012 and 2011 were also up slightly in all areas except Prescott.

Does that mean prices have hit bottom?

 “Prices have fallen 45 percent (in Sedona) and have only stabilized in the last three months,” says Andrew Brearley of Coldwell Banker in Sedona.

He points to another sign of life for the region – two homes over $2 million sold recently in Sedona.

Standing-room only crowds met Navajo President Ben Shelly this week as he hosted three public hearings on a proposed settlement of tribal claims to the Little Colorado River.

The hearings are a chance for Navajos to express their views on a bill by Arizona Sen. Jon Kyl.

But not everyone felt their voices were heard.

Navajo Police SWAT teams watched from nearby rooftops as residents filed into the Tuba City Chapter House.

More than 200 people packed the meeting hall with another 60 outside protesting.

The City of Flagstaff has decided to renew a contract to sell wastewater to Arizona Snowbowl for snowmaking. The decision was made by city staff, not by City Council.   

The decision comes as a new study questions the economic impact of the ski resort.

The report commissioned by the Hopi Tribe disputes previous economic studies that found a $17 million annual economic impact.

John Duffield, an economics professor at the University of Montana, says previous studies overstated the impact.

Voters in Tusayan will not be able to vote in May on whether to allow hotels, homes and retail space to be built at the gateway to the Grand Canyon.

Coconino County Superior Court Judge Joe Lodge ruled in favor of Stilo Development Group Tuesday.

That means Stilo's plans to build a resort, dude ranch, and an RV campground, as well as homes and hotels, on three parcels in Tusayan, can proceed.

The Tusayan Town Council last fall approved Stilo’s development plan.

A recent study shows that Native Americans who eat canned meat more than twice a week double their risk of developing diabetes.

Canned meat such as Spam is a big seller among rural shoppers, especially Native Americans.

“About 68 percent of American Indians in the study consumed processed meat twice a week,” says Amanda Frett says, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington.

Growing up on the Micmac Reservation, Fretts saw many relatives afflicted by diabetes.

Fifty percent of Native Americans nationwide develop diabetes by age 55.

Joe Meehan and Les Roe rang the Emerson School bell at Flagstaff Pioneer Museum 100 times to mark Arizona's 100th birthday Tuesday.

The museum is hosting a day-long birthday party with a new Centennial exhibit by NAU history students.

Meehan, curator of Arizona Historical Society’s Pioneer Museum, says in 1912, Flagstaff was a booming frontier town with a population around 2,000.

“The lumber yard was up and running. It was growing, the university was here, the observatory was here,” he says.