Ryan Heinsius
Executive ProducerRyan joined KNAU's newsroom in 2013. He covers a broad range of stories from local, state and tribal politics to education, economy, energy and public lands issues, and frequently interviews internationally known and regional musicians. Ryan is an Edward R. Murrow Award winner and a frequent contributor to NPR.
Before making the leap to public radio, Ryan spent more than a decade in print media as the editor of an alternative weekly paper. He earned his bachelor’s degree from Northern Arizona University in political science and journalism and has also returned to teach at his alma mater.
Ryan is a Flagstaff-based musician and has performed and recorded with many bands in the Southwest. He spends as much time as possible with his wife, daughter and dog hiking and cycling the amazing terrain of northern Arizona and the West.
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President Joe Biden plans to designate the nation’s newest national monument in southern Nevada. The 450,000-acre expanse is sacred to at least a dozen tribes. -
Several tribes and environmental groups have filed legal motions in lawsuits challenging the restoration of national monuments in southern Utah. The groups aim to defend President Joe Biden’s protections of Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante.
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The Havasupai Tribe will receive more than 7 million dollars in federal funding to boost high-speed Internet access. Like many rural Indigenous communities, the remote reservation in the Grand Canyon has long struggled with connectivity.
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Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez appears to have lost his bid for reelection. Unofficial results from Tuesday’s vote show political newcomer Buu Nygren will take over as the tribe’s top elected official.
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The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving a long-running water dispute between the Navajo Nation and the federal government. The tribe says officials have failed to protect their water rights.
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Crews have finished construction on a series of detention basins in Flagstaff designed to lessen post-wildfire flooding. It follows this summer’s Pipeline Fire that scorched several watersheds on the San Francisco Peaks.
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Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman says the state’s schools are facing a potential funding cut of almost $1.4 billion. Arizona’s four-decade-old education spending cap would prevent schools from spending money already allocated by the state Legislature.
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Coconino County officials have approved $11.5 million for small-scale flood mitigation near Flagstaff. It follows a summer of devastating flooding caused by major wildfires on the San Francisco Peaks.
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Arizona Senator Mark Kelly is urging the U.S. Department of the Interior to force an agreement between western states to forestall a major water crisis on the Colorado River.
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Tribal members and environmental advocates will hold an annual protest Saturday at the site of the only operational uranium mill in the U.S. They’re concerned about its potential impacts to public health and the environment.
