PHOENIX — The Arizona House Government Committee passed all six child welfare bills on its agenda Thursday, including legislation aimed at improving conditions for children in group homes licensed by the Department of Child Safety.

House Bill 2611 would require drug testing and additional training for group home employees, improve security monitoring to address concerns about children going missing, and guarantee more rights for kids in care.

“It gives us protection. It gives us a way to hold adults accountable,” one foster teen testified at the hearing.

Several young people who have involved in the foster care system spoke in favor of the legislation.

“This bill will make sure our rights are real, like the right to have a copy of our rights, the right to join activities when we want,” another teen said.

A separate bill aims to increase kinship placements, so more foster children can move in with a relative or another significant adult in their lives.

Richilyn Fox, the former foster mother of murdered teen Zariah Dodd, testified in favor of the legislation.

“No child like Zariah should have been raised by the state system for 15 long years. Children deserve family and permanent group homes are not a family setting,” Fox said.

Other proposals relate to independent oversight for the Department of Child Safety, DCS’s response to credible abuse and neglect reports, and DCS’s legal representation.

At one point, committee members engaged in a heated exchange about the approach to reform work.

“These bills are not designed to work in conjunction with the current system because the current system is absolutely broken,” said State Rep. John Gillette, R-District 30.

Addressing the committee chairman, State Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D-District 21, said, “You come to us and say you want your ideas, but our ideas we’re not introduced in the beginning.”
The chairman, Walt Blackman, R-District 7, urged legislators to focus on the goal.

“We can save some lives, even if it’s just one, but we can’t do it if we are butting heads up here,” said Blackman.

DCS Director Kathryn Ptak attended part of the meeting but did not comment on any of the bills. She is expected to testify at another hearing scheduled for March 4.

This story was reported on-air by ABC15 Senior Investigator Melissa Blasius and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.

February might not be synonymous with sunshine and baseball anywhere quite like it is in Arizona. One of my favorite things about the metro-Phoenix area is that you can enjoy baseball from February to November if you count spring training to Fall League (which I do).

Spring training is here! Pitchers and catchers have already reported and actual baseball games officially start on Friday, Feb. 20. The Cactus League spreads from Glendale to Mesa in Arizona, making it the home for 15 MLB teams in February and March. This year that will include at least one Team USA appearance, as the boys will face the Colorado Rockies at Talking Stick in Scottsdale in preparation for the 2026 World Baseball Classic.

Here is how to get tickets for any of the 15 MLB teams playing the Cactus League for spring training:

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PROVO — Down a pair of starters in Arizona’s Koa Peat and BYU’s Richie Saunders, it was the Wildcats’ bench who came up big Wednesday night.

The Cougars? Not so much.

Anthony Dell’Orso scored a season-high 22 points, and Ivan Kharchenkov added 18 points and seven rebounds as No. 4 Arizona snapped a two-game losing skid with a 75-68 win over BYU at the McKay Center in Tucson, Arizona.

Jaden Bradley added 12 points and 10 assists for the Wildcats (24-2, 11-2 Big 12), who got 11 points from Brayden Burries and outscored the Cougars’ bench 26-6.

AJ Dybantsa poured in a game-high 35 points, seven rebounds and two assists to lead BYU (19-7, 7-6 Big 12); and Robert Wright III scored 13 with four rebounds and three assists.

Kennard Davis Jr. had 10 points, two rebounds and two assists, while Keba Keita pulled down nine boards for the Cougars.

Dybantsa set the BYU freshman scoring record, moving ahead of Danny Ainge’s 632 points while averaging 21.2 points in 1977-78.

But when it came to finding answers from an increasingly shortened rotation, BYU coach Kevin Young was at a loss.

In short, absent Richie Saunders after the senior suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the first minute of last Saturday’s overtime win over Colorado, the Cougars need to answer the bell.

Dell’Orso rang it for them.

Dell’Orso scored 15 points off the bench including a pair of 3-pointers in the first half to help the Wildcats lead by as much as 39-33 just before the break.

Dybantsa totaled 16 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Wright scored 11 to help the Cougars pull within four.

But Dell’Orso capped his 5-of-9 shooting first half with his third 3-pointer at the buzzer to help the Wildcats to a 42-35 halftime lead.

“Richie brings a lot of scoring, a lot of aggressiveness,” Dybantsa said after the game. “So I just tried to mimic what he gave us and try to do what he does.”

BYU made just 3-of-10 from the field to open the second half, and Arizona shot up to 57% to take a 13-point lead on Kharchenkov’s jumper eight minutes in.

Dybantsa had 19 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer to trim the deficit to seven, 73-66, with two minutes remaining. Davis capped a 7-0 run in just over 90 seconds to pull the Cougars within 73-68 in the final minute.

But Dell’Orso punctuated Arizona’s win with an open dunk off a turnover to give the home team a win in the series for the first time in five tries.

“We’ve just got competitive guys. I think we have a lot of belief in ourselves, no matter what situation we find ourselves in,” Young said. “And that was the case tonight against a really good basketball team.

“You have to give them a lot of credit, because they had a lot of guys who stepped up.”