Local Headlines

By Daniel Kraker

Flagstaff, AZ – Earlier this week the Navajo Nation received 74 million dollars in federal stimulus funds to build three jails on the reservation. The largest grant the government awarded was for a new jail in Tuba City.

The Department of Justice handed out 225 million dollars in stimulus funds for tribal jails this week; more than a third of that went to the Navajo Nation for jails in Tuba City, Kayenta, and Ramah, New Mexico.

By Daniel Kraker

Flagstaff, AZ – Critics of a plan to make artificial snow with reclaimed wastewater at the Arizona Snowbowl ski resort are suing the U.S. Forest Service.

By Katelyn Seabury

Williams, AZ – The Grand Canyon railway retired the steam engines last year because of costs and environmental concerns. Tomorrow, one of the historic trains will run again powered not by diesel but vegetable oil, recycled from restaurants at the canyon and in Williams.

Aron Sheehan owns A Greener Day in Cornville.

By Theresa Bierer

Flagstaff, AZ – Host Intro:

It's estimated that head injuries to bicycle riders not wearing helmets costs 81 million dollars a year. That figure motivated the Flagstaff City Council to pass a bike helmet ordinance at its meeting Tuesday night. But it was a close vote, as Arizona Public Radio's Theresa Bierer reports.

Host Outro:

Flagstaff, AZ – First State Bank of Flagstaff re-opened yesterday as Sunwest Bank, after First State was closed Friday by the F-D-I-C. California-based Sunwest assumed First State's 95 million dollars in deposits and all of its loans.

Glenn Gray, President of Sunwest Bank says First State made a combination of bad decisions that led to its closure.

Flagstaff, AZ – Fire officials say residents who were evacuated from their homes in the Whispering Pines subdivision north of Payson can return to their homes this afternoon, Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 5 pm. Their homes were thereatened by a wildfire that is still burning over 700 acres in the Tonto National Forest. Residents in the Beaver Valley subdivision were allowed to return to their homes last night.

Flagstaff, AZ – Senator McCain cancelled a speech in Flagstaff this Friday, and instead will travel to Boston to attend funeral services of the late Senator Edward Kennedy. McCain issued a statement, saying, "I will miss him very much. My friend Ted Kennedy was famous before he was accomplished. But by the end of his life, he had become irreplaceable in the institution he loved, and in the affections of its members."

Flagstaff, AZ – A Navajo soldier has been killed in action in Afghanistan. 21-year old Army Specialist Troy Orion Tom, of Beclabito, NM, was killed on Tuesday when his squad went to help another squad under heavy attack. Tom was the son of David Tom, a council delegate to the Navajo Nation. He was the ninth Navajo soldier killed in action in Afghanistan.

By Gillian Ferris-Kohl

By Laurel Morales

Flagstaff, AZ – SCA Tissue is laying off 17 people at its Flagstaff paper mill. The company blames recent economic trends. The mill will be shutting down one of its two paper-making machines and going to half capacity Friday. And as Arizona Public Radio's Laurel Morales reports the shutdown may have broader impacts on the city.