Earth Notes

By Gillian Ferris Kohl

Flagstaff, AZ – Neighborhood lemonade stands are a familiar sight in the summer. Arizona Public Radio's Gillian Ferris Kohl visits a group of first-time lemonade vendors whose recipe for success is both gourmet and philanthropic.

By Howard Fischer

Phoenix, AZ – Don Goldwater, Len Munsil and Mike Harris all have
proposals to use state resources to tighten up the
border. These range from putting more of Arizona's own
National Guard troops in Southern Arizona and buying
ground radar to spot border crossers, to allowing -- if
not requiring -- local police to arrest those not here
legally. But Gary Tupper said all that ignores a basic
question.

By Gillian Ferris Kohl

Flagstaff, AZ – Last month, sparks from a blown-out tire ignited a wildfire on the outskirts of Flagstaff. The Woody Fire spread quickly. It forced the evacuation of several neighborhoods on the city's western edge. But, firefighters caught a break when the blaze hit a patch of thinned-out forest. That slowed it down enough for crews to gain control and keep any structures from burning. Arizona Public Radio's Gillian Ferris Kohl reports.

By Sasa Woodruff

Tusyan –
Ambi: walking through forest

David Mills walks through the Kaibab National Forest just south of the Grand Canyon.

Lupines and bunch grasses are sprouting through a fine layer of pine needles.

Mills is a fire manager for the forest service.

He points to a partially blackened ponderosa pine with a clump of green needles sprouting at its crown.

Despite its appearance, he says the tree is in better condition now, than it was.

By Howard Fischer

Phoenix, AZ – In fact, Slade Mead and Jason Williams found a lot of
common ground. For example, both oppose the use of the
AIMS test as a graduation requirement -- something
pushed by incumbent Republican Tom Horne to ensure a
diploma means students have learned what they were
supposed to learn. Mead called the whole thing a
charade.

By Scott Thybony

Flagstaff, AZ – Some of us have to learn hard lessons the hard way. Take the heat. I was warned it gets hot enough in the desert to fry an egg on the sidewalk. I'm not sure about sidewalks, but I did manage to fry one on the hood of a car. During canyon hikes I've seen creeks dry up in the heat of the day, only to run again at night. I've watched ravens pant and lizards sprint across hot sand on their hind legs.

By Laurel Morales

Sedona, AZ – The Burned Area Emergency Response or BAER Team has developed a plan to help alleviate a potential catastrophic landslide.

BAER hydrologist Jack Norman stands near the Encinoso picnic area in Oak Creek Canyon.

He says his team is planting native grass seeds to hold the soil in place.

By Howard Fischer

Phoenix, AZ – Attorney Chuck Blanchard said his client, Arizona
Together, has no problem with voters deciding whether
marriage should be constitutionally defined as being
between one man and one woman. But Blanchard said the
proposal also would bar civil unions as an alternative
to marriage, and would outlaw the benefits that some
cities and at least one county provide to the domestic
partners of their employees.

By Laurel Morales

Flagstaff, AZ – Jim Simmerman will be remembered for many things - his passion, his love of stray dogs, music and beer, his teaching style.
But mostly Simmerman will be remembered for his poetry and the way he delivered it.

He gave this reading about two years ago at the University of Arizona.

SIMMERMAN: Huddled inside the birdhouse of the bottle meet me?

By Daniel Kraker

Flagstaff, AZ – The federal judge overseeing the decade-long Indian trust fund lawsuit was removed from the case today. From KNAU's Indian Country News Bureau, Daniel Kraker reports.