Earth Notes

By Howard Fischer

By Howard Fischer

Phoenix, AZ – The $500-a-plate luncheon got party faithful a 15-
minute speech by the vice president and a plate of
ricotta and sweet basil ravioli. Party Chairman Matt
Salmon said the money will be used to help register a
large number of new Republicans in time for the general
election. In fact the party is paying an outside
consulting firm a $10 bounty for every new voter signed
up -- at least everyone signed up up who registers as a
Republican.

By Howard Fischer

Phoenix, AZ – The measure would make it illegal to confine a pig
during pregnancy or any calf raised for veal for the
majority of the day in any manner that precludes it
from lying down, fully extending limbs or turning
around freely. Farmers would have until 2013 to comply.
Foes, financed largely by pork producers, have come up
with a very simple radio commercial.

By Howard Fischer

By Howard Fischer

By Laurel Morales

Sedona, AZ – Ellen Simon is the first to admit she's not a politician.

SIMON: It's probably my best credential that I've never been in politics before.

But she says she is very patriotic. Her parents are Holocaust survivors. And every year her family celebrates the day they came to the United States.

SIMON: I'm simply a person who is disturbed about what is going on in this country and an individual who wants to help make a difference. (TRIM)

August 30, 2006 – Congressman Rick Renzi hosted a forum for Arizona educators on NCLB. About 60 people showed up to talk about the federal mandate and how it has helped and hindered education in rural Arizona. English language learners pose a big problem in standardized testing. Other people said there are too many requirements under NCLB which keep educators doing paperwork instead of working on solutions. Renzi says substantial alterations need to be made before he'll approve it in the future.

By Daniel Kraker

Hard Rocks, AZ – HOST INTRO:

This weekend, the return of the Navajo-Churro sheep will be celebrated at a series of events in Flagstaff and Winslow. The breed was brought here by the Spanish in the late 1500s, the first domestic sheep in North America. By the 1930s the Navajo Churro was nearly wiped out. But now, they've made a comeback. In an updated version of a story that ran last summer on KNAU, the Indian Country News Bureau's Daniel Kraker has their remarkable survival story.

By Howard Fischer

By Laurel Morales

Flagstaff, AZ – The T-shirt reads Bush Lied They Died in big letters. On the front and back T-shirt creator Dan Frazier added in very small print a list of about 1,700 U-S soldiers who died in Iraq.