Arizona
How air pollution plays a role during Arizona’s deadliest months of the year
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Maricopa County has declared Monday through Wednesday as ‘no burn days.’ County leaders say there are elevated levels of smoke in the air.
The poor air quality was visible in the Valley Monday as the Arizona’s Family news drone captured video of the layers of pollution. It could be seen from Camelback Mountain through downtown Phoenix.
It’s common to see the dirty air this time of year. There are more people visiting Arizona through the holidays, which means more cars and more air pollution.
There are also more people burning inside to heat their homes, which sends smoke into the air. People will also light off fireworks around the holidays, which can add to the already poor air quality.
While the weather is beautiful around the Valley this time of year, it can be the deadliest time in Arizona. According to numbers from the Arizona Department of Health Services, January is the deadliest month of the year.
In 2022, more than 8,300 people died in Arizona, nearly 2,000 more than any other month. December was second-highest, with more than 6,700 people who died.
Air pollution could be a contributing factor to the increased deaths in our state.
Dr. Ashley Lowe with the College of Nursing at the University of Arizona works with many Arizona schools. She says these months are when more kids are going to the nurse with breathing problems and says air pollution is a big reason why.
“We do tend to have an uptick in the number of visits to the health office because kids are having breathing problems,” Lowe said. “All of these things come together to create a perfect storm.”
Dr. Lowe says kids with asthma can especially be impacted from the dirty air. She says she doesn’t want kids to stay away from their practices and other events, but it’s best to limit exposure outdoors on some of the worst air quality days.
If you are struggling to breathe, shutting the windows and doors around your home can help by keeping the polluted air outside of your home.
An indoor air filter can also clean out the bad particles from the air inside your home.
The weather also plays a role in why the bad air can stick around for days or even weeks this time of year. While it’s beautiful outside, the weather is normally calm which means there is no wind or rain to push the dirty air away.
“We live already in a valley kind of in a bowl and everything kind of settles. You get warm afternoons and cold mornings so that inversion sets in and it kind of traps everything,” Arizona’s Family First Alert Meteorologist April Warnecke said. “It would help to get wind or rain but those are the two things we don’t have in the forecast.”
Air quality trackers can show where the worst of the polluted air is.
According to AirNow, Christmas and New Year’s can have the worst air quality of the year. There were readings of “very unhealthy” air quality during the holidays in 2023.
The CDC says chronic respiratory disease is the fifth leading cause of death in Arizona each year.
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PAGE, AZ (AZFamily) — A person accused of making terroristic threats toward a northern Arizona medical facility was arrested Friday morning.
Just after 10:30 p.m., police received a report of a person calling the facility and threatening to kill staff and Native Americans, according to the Page Police Department.
Authorities said staff placed the facility on lockdown until officers identified the suspect and arrested them outside their home.
The suspect was booked on charges of disorderly conduct, threatening and intimidating, and making terroristic threats. Police have not publicly identified the person.
“The Page Police Department is grateful for and supports the medical staff’s decision to put the medical facility into lockdown until the suspect was arrested and the situation was rendered safe,” the department said in a Facebook post.
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In these four-round projections, the Arizona Cardinals don’t get a tackle until the fourth round.
We are just days away from the 2026 NFL draft, and that means some final mock drafts. What direction will the draft take the Arizona Cardinals?
Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy put together a four-round mock draft for the Cardinals. They go defense early but rebuild the offense for 2026 and moving forward, including landing their potential franchise quarterback.
Cardinals 4-round mock draft
Here are the players in the first four rounds Popejoy projects for Arizona.
- Round 1: Ohio State EDGE/LB Arvell Reese
- Round 2: Alabama QB Ty Simpson
- Round 3: Clemson WR Antonio Williams
- Round 4: Florida OT Austin Barber
What we think of the picks
The Cardinals want to trade out of the third pick and draft a tackle, so not getting a tackle until Round 4 seems unlikely, although they did meet with Barber. They do have options at right tackle for 2026 already on the roster.
Reese would be a great pick if they don’t trade back, as they badly need pass-rushing help off the edge.
Drafting Simpson seems inevitable at this point, so it has to be in a mock draft, although the feeling is they will need to go up into Round 1 again to get him.
Williams has speed and is almost six feet tall, but he does have short arms.
Get more Cardinals and NFL coverage from Cards Wire’s Jess Root and others by listening to the latest on the Rise Up, See Red podcast. Subscribe on Spotify, YouTube or Apple podcasts.
Due to significant injuries to the CB position last year which includes a shoulder surgery for Terrion Arnold, the Lions CB position scored a 6/10 need on my Lions Defensive Draft Need Rankings. Thus, an early-round selection of a young, healthy prospect like Keith Abney would not come as a surprise. He enters the draft with very low medical concern level.
Here is the excerpt from my medical report on Keith Abney:
(Ages in parentheses are at start of 2026 season and are factored into the concern level. Injury info and ages based on available public information are unverified and subject to update. Games played data courtesy of sports-reference.com.)
Keith Abney, CB (21) – Arizona State
Projected round 2-3. #43 on Jeff Risdon board Feb 19.
Concern level 0/10
There is an isolated report of a hand injury but no corroborating information. Even if the hand injury is true, that’s of minimal to no long-term concern.
His availability in his final two seasons has been perfect. Overall, Abney appears to be medically clean and is at an excellent age.
He finished college with 6 INT and 21 PBU.
For more Lions coverage, follow us on X, @TheLionsWire, and give our Facebook page a like. Follow Jimmy on X, @JimmyLiaoMD
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