Arizona
Arizona couple touts successful story amid shortage of foster parents
PHOENIX – Arizona has a shortage of licensed foster care parents. There are 14,000 children in the state’s foster care system, and only 3,000 licensed families to support them.
Amid the shortage, however, is one success story from a same-sex couple in Mesa who were once discouraged from fostering.
Banica and Liz Olmeda have fostered over a dozen children, and they are advocating for other families doing the same.
The Olmedas have a picture-perfect family, but they didn’t get there in a traditional way. They attended an informational session to become foster parents, and (as mentioned above), it didn’t go as planned.
“In regards to same-sex couples, on how we would not be able to do it at all or how it would be extremely hard for us to foster or then even adopt, and if anyone was willing to take us under their agency, then they would only acknowledge one of us. They wouldn’t acknowledge both of us as their parents,” Banica recounted.
For Banica, it was discouraging, to say the least.
“I felt defeated,” Banica said. “I wanted to walk out.”
Officials with New Leaf’s foster program stepped in, however, and immediately wanted to work with Banica and Liz.
“They were a loving couple,” said Kristina Gonzalez with New Leaf’s foster care program. “They had a passion and desire to help children to grow their family, to offer a good loving home to children in need of it, and that’s exactly what we’re looking for.”
Bianca and Liz now have fostered over a dozen children, and adopted seven siblings. Banica hopes their story paves the way for other non-traditional families to give children in need a loving home.
“There’s always a way, and there’s agencies who will work with you,” said Banica.
Arizona
Newest Arizona members of Congress sworn in during opening day in DC
Gary Farmer is an actor, musician, and activist whose made a career in indigenous media. His performances in television and film have received rave reviews. The1989 film “Powwow Highway”, in which he stars, was just inducted into the Library of Congress National Film Registry.
Arizona
Yassamin Ansari, Abe Hamadeh set to become Arizona’s newest members of Congress
Arizona District 3 Congresswoman elect Yassamin Ansari talks victory
Congresswoman elect Yassamin Ansari gives victory speech on Nov. 5, 2024, after being elected to represent Arizona’s 3rd district in Congress.
Arizona’s two newest U.S. House members are set to get sworn into their posts as the 119th Congress gets underway.
Republican Abe Hamadeh, a lawyer, and Democrat Yassamin Ansari, a former Phoenix vice mayor, are expected to take their oaths of office on Friday, shortly after the House resumes session.
Hamadeh will replace Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., who is retiring from Congress to serve on the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.
He will represent Arizona’s 8th Congressional District, an overwhelmingly Republican area that covers parts of Maricopa and Yavapai counties, including Glendale, Peoria, Sun City West and New River.
Propelled by an endorsement from President-elect Donald Trump, Hamadeh defeated a crowded field of other Republicans in Arizona’s July 30 primary election and sailed to an easy victory in the Nov. 5 general election.
Hamadeh, a self-described “America First warrior,” largely echoed Trump’s positions on the campaign trail. He will serve on the House Veterans Affairs Committee and the Armed Services Committee.
Ansari will represent Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, a stretch of Maricopa County that includes parts of Phoenix and Glendale. She is replacing Democrat Ruben Gallego, who has swapped his House seat for a U.S. Senate seat. Her House committee assignments have not been announced.
During the primary election, Ansari hewed closer to the political center than her opponent, former state Sen. Raquel Terán of Phoenix. Ansari ran on a progressive platform but staked out more centrist turf on issues like policing and U.S. foreign policy toward Israel.
She beat out Terán by just 39 votes, and, like Hamadeh, won her November election in a landslide.
Ansari plans to join the House’s Progressive Caucus, the Democrats’ most left-leaning faction on Capitol Hill.
Arizona
3 arrested in connection with good Samaritan's killing in Arizona
Three people were arrested this week in connection with the death of a good Samaritan in Arizona last month, officials said.
The Pima County Sheriff’s Department identified two of the three people arrested Monday as Jack Upchurch, 40, and Elmer Smith, 19. The third person is 16 years old. NBC News does not typically identify minors accused of crimes.
The trio were arrested in connection with the death of Paul Clifford, 53, whose body was found near a smoldering car northeast of Tucson last month.
Sabrina Vining, a woman who identified herself as Clifford’s daughter in an online fundraiser, said her father disappeared after he left his house at 11:30 p.m. Dec. 23 to help a “stranger with a stranded vehicle.”
NBC affiliate KVOA of Tucson reported that Clifford’s family reported him missing after, they said, a strange man knocked on Clifford’s door and asked for help with his car.
He was later found dead, the sheriff’s department said. It did not provide a cause or manner of death.
Officials said they received information Monday about a possible location for the three suspects.
Detectives searched the area and obtained a search warrant for a property, which the Pima Regional SWAT team carried out.
The suspects barricaded themselves inside a home and eventually called 911 to negotiate a surrender, the sheriff’s department said. They left the residence and were taken into custody.
The sheriff’s department did not release any information about a motive or how it connected the suspects to Clifford’s killing.
The three suspects were booked into the Pima County Adult Detention Center on felony arrest warrants, officials said.
It was not immediately clear whether they have legal representation. Jail records do not list attorneys for any of the three.
Upchurch was being held on a $1 million bond, Smith on $1.025 million bail and the minor on a half-million-dollar bond, according to jail records.
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