ARIZONA

County confirms 645 heat-associated deaths last year

PHOENIX – Public health officials in Arizona’s most populous county on March 13 reported they confirmed a staggering 645 heat-associated deaths last year – more than 50% higher than 2022 and another consecutive annual record in arid metro Phoenix.

The numbers in the preliminary report by the Maricopa County Department of Public Health alarmed officials in America’s hottest big metro, raising concerns about how to better protect vulnerable groups such as homeless people and older adults from the blistering summer heat.

The report said two-thirds of the county’s heat-related deaths in 2023 were people 50 years or older, and 71% were on days the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning.

The heat-associated deaths confirmed in 2023 represented a huge jump from 2022, when there were 425 such deaths. There were 339 heat-associated deaths confirmed in 2021.

No other major metropolitan area in the U.S. has reported such high heat-associated death figures or spends so much time tracking and studying them.

Maricopa County’s public health officials since 2006 have tracked deaths in which environmental heat was the cause or a major contributing factor. The department uses information from preliminary death reports completed by the county’s Office of the Medical Examiner, along with data in death certificates on file with the county’s Office of Vital Registration.

Phoenix set a record in July with a 31-day streak of highs at or above 110 F.

Governor vetoes GOP legislature’s border bill

PHOENIX – An Arizona bill that would have made it a crime for noncitizens to enter the state through Mexico at any location other than a port of entry has been vetoed by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs.

The Republican-controlled Legislature approved the measure late last month along party lines. Arizona has emerged as a popular illegal border crossing point, and the bill would have let local law enforcement arrest non-U.S. citizens who enter Arizona from anywhere but a lawful entrance point. A violation would be a top-tier misdemeanor – or a low-level felony for a second offense.

In a letter to Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen on March 4, Hobbs said the measure raised constitutional concerns and was expected to lead to costly litigation.

Federal law already prohibits the unauthorized entry of migrants into the United States. However, Republicans in Arizona and Texas say that the U.S. government is not doing enough and they need additional state powers.

Another proposal at the Legislature this year would bypass any possible veto by Hobbs by sending the measure straight to voters to decide as a ballot measure.

The proposal would require municipalities and counties that receive state money for welfare programs to use a federal employment verification database to check whether recipients are in the U.S. legally – and if so, the recipients are to be removed from the program.

It also would make it a low-level felony for employers, who are already required by an earlier Arizona law to use the database when hiring new employees, to refuse to carry out their legal duty to use the database when they know an employee is not in the country legally.

SOUTH DAKOTA

Legislator calls for inquiry into Noam’s dental promo

A Democratic legislator on March 13 called for an inquiry into South Dakota Republican Gov. Kristi Noem’s trip to Texas for dental work and a promotional video in which she praises the doctors for giving her “a smile I can be proud of and confident in.”

State Sen. Reynold Nesiba said he initially found the nearly five-minute video to be simply odd. Later he considered other questions and asked the Republican co-chairs of the Legislature’s Government Operations & Audit Committee to put the matter on the panel’s next meeting agenda in July for discussion and questions.

Nesiba said he wonders whether Noem used a state airplane or public funds for the Texas trip and whether the governor paid for the dental procedure or if it was discounted because of her video.

Noem’s office did not respond to questions about the promotional video posted on March 11 to her personal account on X in which she praised the dentists and staff at Smile Texas, a cosmetic dental practice in the Houston area.

In the video, Noem complimented the dentists that recently “gave me a smile I can be proud of and confident in.” Noem, who is seen as a potential vice-presidential pick by former President Donald Trump, identifies herself as the governor of South Dakota and includes clips of her speaking at a Republican Party event with Trump signs in the background.

South Dakota law bans gifts of over $100 from lobbyists to public officials and their immediate family. A violation is a misdemeanor punishable up to a year in jail and/or a $2,000 fine. The state attorney general’s office declined to answer questions about whether the gift ban applies to people who are not registered lobbyists.

Paul Miskimins, a Republican former state legislator who practiced dentistry over 37 years in South Dakota, said he saw nothing wrong with Noem seeking care out of state, noting he had sought dental care from a friend in Canada. Miskimins added that celebrities often give testimonials about dental work, and he didn’t see why a public official couldn’t do the same.

KANSAS

Storm carrying ‘gorilla hail’ pelts corridor

ST. LOUIS – Massive chunks of hail pelted parts of Kansas and Missouri on March 13, bringing traffic to a standstill along Interstate 70, as storms unleashed possible tornadoes and meteorologists urged residents to stay indoors.

There were three unconfirmed reports of tornadoes in Wabaunsee and Shawnee counties with reports of damaged structures, but no reports of injuries or homes damaged, according to meteorologist Matt Wolters with the National Weather Service’s Topeka office.

There were reports of 4-inch hail, nearly softball-size, in the town of Wabaunsee and 3-inch hail in Geary County near Junction City and Fort Riley, Wolters said.

Descriptions of the hail ranged from the size of golf balls and apples, to softballs and baseballs.

Alex Sosnowski, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather, previously said the predicted hail was deemed “gorilla hail” because it had the potential to be so big.

“Gorilla hail” is a term coined by Reed Timmer, a storm chaser who calls himself an extreme meteorologist, Sosnowski said. In this case, the term might fit: Some hail from north-central Kansas into north-central Missouri could be as big as a baseball.

“When you get up to tennis ball, baseball-sized or God forbid softball-sized, that can do a tremendous amount of damage, and if you get hit in the head, that could be fatal,” Sosnowski said.

Traffic came to a standstill for a time on part of Interstate 70 because of the falling hail, the National Weather Service said on X. Images of large hail chunks and at least one cracked windshield were shown on KSHB-TV.

NEW MEXICO

Roswell police have new out-of-this-world patches

Famous for being the spot where a spacecraft purportedly crashed in 1947, Roswell, New Mexico, has become a mecca for people fascinated by extraterrestrial phenomenon. So it’s only fitting that the city’s police force has uniform patches that are out of this world.

Unveiled on March 8, the new patches feature the official city logo of a flying saucer with a classic beam radiating downward to form the letter “R.” The words “Protect and Serve Those That Land Here” form a circle and are separated by two tiny alien faces with large eyes.

Police Chief Lance Bateman said there had been discussions for a while about retiring the previous patch, which had served the department for more than 30 years. When he took office last summer, that was among the feedback he was getting from rank and file, so he pushed forward with the idea.

Employees submitted about a dozen designs, with most including some reference to UFOs and aliens. Top brass whittled that down to four finalists, and employees voted for the winner – designed by Support Services Sgt. Trong Nguyen – in January.

The new patch also incorporates New Mexico’s official state symbol, which is based on the ancient Zia Pueblo symbol of the sun.