Arizona

Arizona House committee moves to make Pluto official state planet

Published

2 years ago

January 31, 2024

Arizona House committee moves to make Pluto official state planet

Joe Duhownik

PHOENIX (CN) — For 75 years after its discovery at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, Arizona, Pluto inched around the outskirts of our solar system known to all as the ninth planet from the sun.

But when the International Astronomical Union voted to strictly define what does and doesn’t qualify as a planet, Pluto didn’t quite meet the criteria.

Despite its 2006 downgrade to dwarf planet, the icy world three billion miles away has retained its planetary status in the hearts and minds of many citizens of Arizona — the only U.S. state in which a planet has been discovered.

That’s why state Representative Justin Wilmeth, a Republican from Phoenix, is pushing the Legislature to designate Pluto as the official planet of Arizona.

The bill he wrote to do so, House Bill 2477, just took one small step in its voyage toward law.

“There’s been some controversy recently of it being downgraded,” Wilmeth told the Arizona House Committee on Government Wednesday before the committee voted 8-1 in favor of the bill. “That’s not really the point of this bill. It’s to honor our state heritage, our state history and our strong astronomy background that we have.”

Wilmeth said he was inspired to write the bill after touring the Lowell Observatory in April. Its namesake, Arizona astronomer Percival Lowell, died in 1916 after spending more than a decade hunting for a mythical ninth planet.

Fourteen years after Lowell’s death, a 24-year-old astronomer named Clyde Tombough completed the search when he located the first of many objects in what would later be called the Kuiper Belt, a region of icy objects outside the orbit of Neptune.

The International Astronomical Union defines planets using three criteria:

It is in orbit around the sun
It is round in shape
It has cleared its orbit of other debris

Pluto, which shares space with more than 100,000 other objects in the Kuiper Belt, doesn’t meet the third qualification. But that doesn’t matter to Wilmeth, who passed out “I Heart Pluto” stickers to guests at the hearing.

“In my opinion, a bunch of Europeans got mad that we made this discovery and downgraded it to a dwarf planet,” he joked to the committee.

Wilmeth wants the bill to “foster discussion and debate about a really cool part of Arizona history.”

Representatives from Lowell Observatory told the committee that the designation would also excite young students about historical and scientific discovery.

“Here’s an opportunity for a teacher to lead a discussion with the fact that Pluto is the state planet,” said Diane Phelps, who works at Lowell and wrote a children’s book about Pluto’s discovery. “[Students] will think that is oh so cool!”

Every year, the Lowell Observatory hosts the I Heart Pluto Festival in Flagstaff to celebrate the anniversary of its discovery.

“We have a lot of character in this state,” said Kevin Schindler, the observatory’s historian. “You think of cactus, you think of Arizona. You think of Pluto, you think of Arizona.”

Schindler suggested the legislature next add “cosmos” as the sixth C to the traditional five Cs of Arizona.

Amanda Bosh, a research astronomer at Lowell who began her career studying Pluto’s atmosphere, already considers Pluto to be the state’s unofficial state planet. “So let’s make it official,” she said.

If the bill becomes law, Pluto will join a long list of other “official” symbols of Arizona. Representative Nancy Gutierrez, a Democrat from Tucson, joked that she would like Wilmeth to change the official state drink from lemonade to margarita.

“That would be a friendly amendment to my bill,” Wilmeth replied.

Official state symbols include the bolo tie, the official state tie, and the Colt single action army revolver, the official state firearm.

Representative Steve Montenegro, a Republican from Goodyear, was the only member of the committee to vote against the bill.

“I genuinely do appreciate hearing the testimony from the individuals here,” he said. “I respect the sentiment. I want to learn a little bit more to understand it. I want to reserve that vote as we move forward.”

Montenegro hasn’t yet returned a phone call asking for an explanation of his vote.

Wilmeth joked that Montenegro isn’t invited to the legislative field trip to the Lowell Observatory when its astronomy discovery center opens in November.

“When little kids hear about this, they will fall in love with Pluto and think, ‘If that happened here, we can do anything in this state,’” Wilmeth said. ”And in 400 years, when we have a manned mission to Pluto, there better be an Arizonan on it.”

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Arizona

5 big Powerball lotto prizes won across Arizona days before Christmas

Published

7 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

5 big Powerball lotto prizes won across Arizona days before Christmas

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Five more lucky lotto players are heading into the holidays with a little extra cash in their pockets.

According to state lottery officials, the big winning tickets were sold around Arizona, each worth $50,000.

The tickets were sold at:

Goldfield Chevron
- 3265 S. Goldfield Rd, Apache Junction, AZ
Circle K
- 2088 W. Orange Grove Rd, Tucson, AZ
QuikTrip
- 918 E. Baseline Rd, Tempe, AZ
Desert Springs Travel Center
- 4031 Fleet St., Littlefield, AZ
Terrible’s
- 19985 N. Hwy 93, White Hills, AZ

The winning numbers from Monday’s drawing were 3, 18, 36, 41, 54 and Powerball 7. Nine $1 million tickets were sold nationwide.

The jackpot remains unclaimed and is estimated at $1.7 billion — the fourth largest ever — with the next drawing set for Christmas Eve.

Powerball tickets cost $2 per play, with odds of winning the jackpot sitting at 1 in 292.2 million, according to the lottery.

More information on games and prizes can be found on the Arizona Lottery website.

See a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send it to us here with a brief description.

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Arizona

No. 1 Arizona wraps up Bethune Cookman 107-71

Published

19 hours ago

December 23, 2025

Press Room

No. 1 Arizona wraps up Bethune Cookman 107-71

Arizona wrapped up their pre-Christmas schedule with a nice bow in the form of a 36 point victory over Bethune Cookman. Seven players scored double figures as Brayden Burries lead the game with 20 points. Partway through the first half Mabil Mawut was ejected from the game while on the bench, a rare occurrence under the Tommy Lloyd led team. Arizona will take Christmas off with practice resuming on the 26th and their next game at home on the 29th.

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Arizona

Will Arizona see a white Christmas? What the holiday forecast says

Published

1 day ago

December 22, 2025

Press Room

Will Arizona see a white Christmas? What the holiday forecast says

After a week of persistent warm weather, a storm system is expected to bring rain, not snow, to Arizona for Christmas.
Flagstaff and other high-country areas are also too warm for Christmas snow, with precipitation expected to be mostly rain.
The same weather pattern is bringing heavy rain and potential flooding to Southern California and parts of the Northwest.

Arizonans dreaming of a white Christmas will likely have to settle for rain this year as warm temperatures persist.

A storm system off the West Coast is expected to funnel moisture into the state later this week, giving much of Arizona chances for rain around Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The unsettled pattern could bring measurable rainfall, but temperatures are expected to stay too warm for snow, even in the high country. Arizona won’t get the soaking Southern California is expecting from incoming atmospheric rivers slamming the coast, but that same system will push moisture into the Southwest.

“Unfortunately, no white Christmas. I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news,” said Ted Whittock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Phoenix.

In Phoenix, rain chances as temperatures cool from record highs

In Phoenix and the lower deserts, Christmas week will start off unusually warm before gradually cooling as rain chances increase.

Phoenix could break a daily temperature record for the second day in a row on Monday, Dec. 22. The current record is 79 degrees, with a forecast high of 82. A high of 81 degrees on Sunday, Dec. 21, broke the daily record for the third time this month.

But the weather should shift as a low-pressure system moves in from the Pacific.

“We’ll see a strong low-pressure system move in just off the West Coast and bring plenty of moisture into the region starting tomorrow,” Whittock said. “As a result, we’re going to see periodic rain chances this week.”

Forecasters say there will be two main windows for rain: late Tuesday into early Wednesday and again from Christmas Eve into Christmas Day.

Temperatures will start to trend downward midweek, with highs potentially dropping into the 60s and low 70s by the weekend.

Rainfall totals in the Valley could add up to around a half-inch or more in spots.

In Flagstaff, mostly rain early with uncertain snow chances later

Up north, Flagstaff will also see an unsettled and warmer-than-normal Christmas week. But snow lovers may be disappointed.

“It’s very warm for this time of year compared to what it usually is in December, so we’re expecting this week’s events to mainly be rain instead of snow,” said Jacob Lewandowski, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Flagstaff.

The first chance of rain in the forecast is Tuesday, Dec. 23 in the evening. Snow levels are expected to stay high through midweek, generally between 9,000 and 10,000 feet. That puts Flagstaff below the snow line during the initial rounds of precipitation.

Chances for snow could increase later in the week as cooler air moves in, but confidence drops significantly after Wednesday.

“The chances for snow start increasing by Thursday and Friday, but it’s still a lot of uncertainty with it,” said Lewandowski. “It’s just how warm it is through the week and whether it’s going to be all rain or a little bit of snow mixed in. Most likely not a white Christmas, though. It’s too warm.”

Atmospheric rivers hit the West Coast as much of the U.S. stays warm

The storm system affecting Arizona is part of a broader pattern impacting much of the western United States. Atmospheric rivers, or long plumes of moisture from the Pacific, are expected to bring heavy rain to parts of coastal California this week.

“The atmospheric rivers are going to impact Southern Calfironia, particularly on Wednesday,” Whittock said. “This is an especially impactful system for people that are traveling to and from Southern California, especially coastal areas.”

Forecasts from the National Weather Service in Los Angeles show an extended period of heavy rain expected from Tuesday through Saturday, with 4 to 8 inches of rain likely across coastal and valley areas. Prolonged rainfall could lead to flooding and debris flow concerns, especially in burn scar areas.

Unusual weather isn’t limited to just the West. Much of the United States will have a warmer than normal holiday, with some areas experiencing their warmest Christmases on record.

A northward shift in the jet stream over the middle of the country is allowing warmer air to spread east, causing above-normal temperatures. From the Rockies to parts of the Appalachians, temperatures could reach 15 to 30 degrees above average for Christmas Day.

So whether it’s rainy or warm, much of the country will miss out on a snow globe Christmas this year. In Arizona, that likely means a damp holiday instead of a snowy one.

Hayleigh Evans writes about extreme weather and related topics for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Email her with story tips at hayleigh.evans@arizonarepublic.com.

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