skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Arizona State Parks Chopped by Budget Ax

play audio
Play

Monday, February 23, 2009   

Phoenix, AZ – Arizona's State Parks Board has voted to close three of the agency’s 27 parks indefinitely, after lawmakers slashed funding last month as part of a budget fix. The board is considering closure of eight more parks, possibly by early summer.

The director of the Grand Canyon Chapter of the Sierra Club, Sandy Bahr, notes that it's not the first time state parks funding has been diverted during lean budget years.

"We need to figure out a way to fund these parks consistently. What's basically crisis management is no way to run a park system."

The additional eight parks being considered for closing will remain open at least until the end of June, when even larger state budget cuts are to take effect.

Bahr says she'd like to see a stable funding source for state parks, such as a surcharge on auto license tags.

"Arizona residents get into the parks for free, and the out-of-state folks that come to visit pay a fee."

Bahr suggests an annual resident license fee might be in the range of five dollars per vehicle.

The three parks being closed at once are in dire need of repair work to their facilities, because of years of deferred maintenance. But Bahr says shutting the parks down just makes the situation worse.

"We need people there to keep an eye on them, because there are those that would go in and take things or destroy them; vandalism is an issue. But the main thing about having them closed is that they're not available to the people of Arizona."

The closed parks are Tonto Natural Bridge, Jerome and McFarland.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021