The Arizona Republic was among the 15 local newsrooms awarded multiyear funding by the Arizona Local News Foundation through its Arizona Community Collaborative program to expand journalism about education solutions in the state.

The initiative, designed to create measurable change in access to information and improve Arizona’s education system, has raised $2 million and continues fundraising to expand to more newsrooms.

“This is one of the most ambitious efforts in Arizona’s history to empower local media and tackle one of our state’s most pressing challenges,” said Chris Kline, president and CEO of the Arizona Media Association and the Arizona Local News Foundation. “With immediate effect, this collaborative will dramatically expand community conversation and launch new discussions about how to improve Arizona education for students of all ages. We are setting out to prove that collaboration at scale can create a better future for all Arizonans.”  

This award will support the expansion of The Republic’s education coverage, currently handled by two reporters. Madeleine Parrish covers the nearly 60 school districts across Maricopa County, focusing on emerging education policy trends and districts’ innovative programs. Helen Rummel focuses on higher education, reporting on the state’s three public universities and the community college system in Maricopa County.

The new position will prioritize stories about communities that face challenges accessing critical information due to income and language barriers, ensuring more inclusive and equitable coverage. It will also enhance our reporting on dual-language programs and equity-focused education issues.

After a competitive application process with submissions from 40 Arizona newsrooms, the selected grantees represent a mix of news outlets across a wide geographic area. The funding will enable these outlets to hire reporters focusing exclusively on education solutions reporting. They will cover urban and rural communities on digital, print, radio and TV platforms.

Flagstaff:

Lake Havasu:

Metro Phoenix:

• Independent News Media
• KAET-TV
• KPNX-TV 
• KTAR-FM

Pinal County:

• Casa Grande Valley Newspapers

Prescott:  

Southern Arizona:

Statewide:

• The Arizona Republic
• Arizona Center for Investigative Reporting
• Univision Arizona

Tucson:

Yuma:

• Colorado River Public Media

This is the second Arizona Community Collaborative sponsored by the Arizona Local News Foundation and its sister organization, the Arizona Media Association, the nonprofit corporation that acts as the official trade association for Arizona’s local radio, TV, print and digital media industry.

The first partnership focused on Arizona’s 2024 elections, broadcasting 29 debates for races that included Arizona’s U.S. Senate seat, U.S. congressional districts, Arizona Corporation Commission seats, select county-level races and multiple ballot propositions in partnership with the Arizona Citizens Clean Elections Commission and dozens of local media brands. The Republic was instrumental in establishing the association and continues to be an active collaborator.

Silvia Solis is the director of partnerships and community relations at The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. She can be reached at silvia.solisgarza@gannett.com or 602-239-4413.

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Two years ago, Arizona state leaders were actively exploring the idea of a binational desalination plant that would bring water from the Sea of Cortez to the state. The plan, spearheaded by former Governor Doug Ducey, aimed to address the state’s growing water shortage. However, after facing backlash from water authorities and a lack of transparency, the project ultimately fell through. Later, Governor Katie Hobbs redirected funds away from long-term water supply projects, further pushing desalination off the table for the time being.

Despite these setbacks, one local researcher has continued to push the boundaries of desalination technology and is hopeful that his breakthroughs could provide a solution to the ongoing water crisis in Arizona. Professor Mark Witten, a researcher at the University of Arizona, has spent the past 17 years finding ways to efficiently remove salt from seawater.

In 2023, he shared his efforts with the public, explaining how his low-energy desalination technology could significantly reduce the cost and energy consumption typically associated with removing salt from seawater.

“We’ve gotten to the point where we can take out 99% of the salt from simulated ocean water,” said Witten, reflecting on his progress.

His recent work has culminated in a groundbreaking discovery that allows for the removal of 335 parts per million (ppm) of concentrated salt, which is the same salinity level found in Earth’s oceans.

He was initially working with a silicon disc, and decided to try isolating salt by using a reactive metal. He experimented with tungsten, copper, iron, and magnesium. Witten described finding success with a small magnesium disc, so he purchased a larger disc.

Witten recalled, “When I first did the first experiment. I just bought a brand new salinity meter from Amazon, and it registered 333 parts per million after I did the desalination. Remember, I started out at 35,000 parts per million. So I thought something was wrong with my new salinity meter. So I went into my kitchen, filled a glass of water, and measured the salinity. It was 425 parts per million and I almost fainted because I thought I had hit the jackpot.”

Witten is confident that his technology can make a real difference. “Our technology, we believe, can produce an acre-foot of water for less than $400,” he said. An acre-foot is equivalent to one acre of land covered by a foot of water, a standard unit of measurement for water volume.

Beyond providing freshwater, Witten hopes his technology will provide more resources. He highlights that the salt could contain lithium, an essential component for electric vehicle batteries, which could help further support the green energy industry.

“We plan to collect the salt and mine lithium from it,” Witten explained. “The electric vehicle industry cannot grow without more lithium, and this could help address that challenge as well.”

As Arizona faces the very real threat of water scarcity, Witten’s innovative desalination technology offers a potential solution to one of the state’s most pressing issues. He believes that large-scale desalination could help protect Arizona’s future by ensuring a more stable and sustainable water supply.

“The future growth of this state, and the other states in the Colorado River Compact, is in danger because we don’t have enough water,” said Witten.

As the state continues to grapple with its water challenges, Witten sees a future where the ocean could provide an answer to Arizona’s water shortage. Witten’s next steps involve getting an industrial prototype of his desalination technology off the ground.

TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Thick snow is piling up in the Northeast while Southern Arizona is dry even for a desert. KGUN9 was at University of Arizona talking to a National Weather Service meteorologist about the dangers a continued dry winter could bring.

We have not needed an umbrella for a very long time except maybe for shade. Even by Arizona standards it has been an unusually hot dry winter.

It doesn’t take long for snow to go from white, fluffy and beautiful to a wet, messy, sometimes dangerous nuisance.

But here in Arizona, people are crying for at least a little bit of some sort of moisture.

Over at Harlow Gardens, Melaney Quinnrose is looking for plants with a better chance of surviving a drought.

“Yeah, it’s definitely been drier. We got a lot more rain last winter. I still had green stuff in my backyard last winter, and I don’t now.”

Cyndi Anderson is adjusting to keeping plants in Arizona after living in Washington state.

“I couldn’t believe in December just how quickly things can die, if you’re not on it.”

“So we’re running drier than normal right now, especially compared to last winter.”

At the National Weather Service Tucson office meteorologist Dalton Van Stratten says they’ve recorded no rain at all at the airport since November 3rd.

You can blame the drought on a climate effect way out in the Pacific Ocean. A surge of cold water called La Nina usually brings dry winters to the Southwest.

But our winter rains are important to build water reserves.

Van Stratten says, “If we don’t receive enough winter to restore the water in the aquifers, then we can have increased drought conditions so the soils will dry, the vegetation will dry, which will cause an increased concern for our fire weather season, which typically is in the mid to late spring time.”

But he says except for an occasional rain that breaks the pattern expect this year’s winter to stay dry.