WASHINGTON – State and federal weather officials are predicting a warmer and drier than normal winter for Arizona, which would come on the heels of the driest monsoon ever recorded in the state.

The “nonsoon” summer followed by a La Niña winter could spell trouble for water resources and wildfire conditions in a state already gripped by drought, the officials said.

“Going into a dry winter after this dry summer is going to be making the drought worse, for sure,” said Nancy Selover, a state climatologist at Arizona State University.

Usually occurring once every two to seven years during the winter, the La Niña weather pattern stems from a cold phase of the Pacific Ocean that shifts the jet stream, leading to colder weather in the north and warm and dry weather in the Southwest.

David Miskus, a meteorologist at the Climate Prediction Center at the National Weather Service, said that if the La Niña weather system “does what it normally does – sub-normal precipitation and above-normal temperatures in the wintertime – that’s exactly what Arizona and the Southwest does not need this winter.” The long-term outlook is calling for just that.

WASHINGTON – With Santa Cruz County facing one of the highest rates of COVID-19 cases in the state, Tubac Fire Department Fire Chief Cheryl Horvath knew that a vaccine is what’s needed to bring an end to the pandemic.

But a vaccine requires human volunteers as test subjects.

Horvath had never taken part in a clinical research trial before and was a little concerned about the risk, but she said she wanted to do something that would help her community and also protect her firefighters. So after some research, she signed up.

Rep. Amish Shah, D-Phoenix, knows all about the risks involved in clinical trials from his 19 years working as a doctor. But he also knows the safeguards. And Shah, like Horvath, wanted to help.

“Having a familiarity with it, I felt comfortable volunteering for it,” Shah said. “I understand the risk and benefits of what is involved, and I think it’s a service to humanity.”

They are just two of the tens of thousands of people across the country who have volunteered to be test subjects for pharmaceutical companies racing to come up with a vaccine to fight the coronavirus that had infected 10.7 million and killed 244,269 Americans as of Friday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. Arizona officials reported 269,577 people had tested positive for COVID-19 and 6,257 had died from it as of Friday.

With all the votes counted in Pima County, Democrat Rex Scott has won the District 1 seat on the Pima County Board of Supervisors by a mere 730 votes.

The district, representing Marana, Casa Adobes, Oro Valley, and the Catalina Foothills, has reliably voted for Republicans in recent decades but with an open seat up for grabs, the voters supported the Democratic candidate over GOP nominee Steve Spain, who had the endorsement of retiring incumbent Republican Supervisor Ally Miller.

The Board of Supervisors is responsible for a wide range of public policy in the county. The five-member board represents each district, approves the county budget, sets health regulations such as the current mask mandate to combat the spread of the coronavirus. The board also oversees development issues such as rezoning and permitting and manages the county sewer system along with roads in unincorporated areas, among other responsibilities.

Scott began running for District 1 supervisor in September 2019, three months before current supervisor Ally Miller announced she wouldn’t seek another term.

The new District 1 supervisor has worked in public schools as both a teacher and administrator for 30 years and said he felt “a combination of honored and humbled” when he learned he won the race.

“It’s a tremendous honor to be able to represent people in a place that I know very well, and that has deep meaning for me, but I’m also very humbled because of the challenges that we're going to be taking on, especially dealing with the remainder of the pandemic and the recovery from it.”

Coronavirus recovery is Scott’s top priority when entering the office. As a supervisor, he says he’ll start by addressing “people who have suffered the most,” such as those struggling to make rent as coronavirus’ economic toll continues.

Within the next three weeks, new drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites will be available at three Pima Community College locations, the county health department announced in a press release Friday.

The Pima County Health Department, Pima Community College and Arizona State University have partnered to create three new testing sites in an extension of the current ASU testing site at the Ellie Towne Flowing Wells Community Center.

At the drive-thru sites, COVID-19 testing will be offered through spit samples instead of nasal canal swabs.

Each site will conduct testing from 9 a.m. to noon, and registration is required in advance. Only patients 5 years or older can be tested.

“As cases rise, we are eager to increase available testing for the people of Pima County,” Pima County Public Health Director Theresa Cullen said in the press release. “If you know or suspect you have been exposed to COVID-19, we encourage you to get tested.”

The first testing site will open Monday, Nov. 16, at the Pima Community College West Campus.

Here are the three drive-thru locations that will be offering COVID-19 testing:

WASHINGTON – The hardest part of Suzanne Firstenberg’s day is when she changes the numbers on the board – each number representing an American who has died as a result of COVID-19.

She climbs on a concrete ledge, pulls off a large poster with one number on it and replaces it with a higher number – 241,949 as of Thursday – on a billboard in front of a field of nearly as many little, white flags, each representing a victim of the pandemic.

It’s all part of Firstenberg’s exhibit, “In America: How could this happen…”, an installation that sprawls over the parade grounds at the D.C. Armory. Firstenberg said she was inspired to create the exhibit “to help people understand the number, to make sense of it.”

“So that we would not just release it (the death toll) and say, it is what it is, but rather, we would be inspired to take care of each other,” she said recently.

It comes as the number of new cases is spiking across the country, with more than 100,000 new cases every day for the past nine days, according to Johns Hopkins University’s Coronavirus Resource Center.

The trend is reflected in Arizona, where cases have started to surge again after falling sharply from this summer, when the state was a national hotspot for the spread of the disease.

In a statement today, appointed Sen. Martha McSally conceded the obvious: She's not going to win this year's U.S. Senate race.

McSally congratulated her Democratic opponent Mark Kelly on winning an election that turned out to be one of the most expensive in the nation. According to the Associated Press, Kelly won 51.2% of the vote (1,714,466), beating McSally by more than 75,000 votes.

"With nearly all the votes counted, I called Mark Kelly this morning to congratulate him on winning this race. I also offered support in his transition to ensure Arizonans are best served during this time. I wish him all the best," McSally said.

With her defeat, this is McSally's second senate loss to a Democrat in only two years, after losing in the 2018 election to Kyrsten Sinema. McSally was subsequently appointed to fill out the late Sen. John McCain's senate seat.

This will be the first time Arizona has had two Democrat senators since the 1950s.

LOS ANGELES – California’s record wildfire season has left many cannabis growers concerned about Croptober – the primary harvest season for marijuana sold in California, where it’s legally consumed.

As fires continue burning into the record book, California growers – whose operations are federally illegal and therefore difficult to insure – are demanding protections for their billion-dollar industry.

Cannabis farms, as well as wineries, agricultural farms, have been hard hit by the wide range of California fires, and the toll faced by cannabis farms is among the worst.

Since January, California has had more than 9,177 wildfires burning more than 4.1 million acres, which is more than double the old record in 2018, according to Cal Fire.

High in the hills overlooking the Russian River Valley in Sonoma County, Kila Peterson and her daughter, Keala Peterson, are partners on Sweet Creek Farm, a small family-owned and licensed cannabis farm that also grows avocados and sweet bananas.

The cannabis venture started more than 10 years ago when Kila began growing it to produce CBD for her father, who had cancer. The mother-daughter approach is rooted in sustainability; their techniques include a solar-powered irrigation system fed by rainwater catchment and pollinator-friendly companion flowers, according to the farm’s website.

PHOENIX – After a one-year absence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Native American Basketball Invitational will return in July, showcasing indigenous basketball players from across the U.S., Canada and New Zealand at venues around the Valley.

The championship games will take place at the newly renovated downtown arena of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury.

The decision to cancel the 2020 tournament crushed organizers.

“We cried. We had tears when we had to cancel because we know how important the event is to the kids,” said GinaMarie Scarpa, founder and president of the NABI Foundation, which formed in 2002 to organize the event. “And then, of course, news stories started coming out about the cancellation and how devastating it was to our tribal youth across the country.”

It is another blow to a community that has been disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that Native Americans are 5.3 times more likely than the white community to be hospitalized due to COVID-19.

The NABI is considered the premier basketball tournament for indigenous youth, and was the first to become certified by the NCAA (2007), according to the organization’s website.

While basketball brings the athletes – boys and girls ages 14 to 19 – together for the tournament, the NABI Foundation’s ultimate goal is to teach athletes the importance of education and provide opportunities through scholarships and educational seminars. The program has provided more than $250,000 in scholarships.

During the invitational, NABI hosts a college and career fair. College scouts are on hand, and a training camp is offered. High school teams that participate can bring one freshman player for a free training camp and an educational youth seminar with guest speakers, who are often tournament alumni.

“We expanded our educational seminar to a full-blown educational youth summit,” Scarpa said. “We had 36 presentations in 2019. We had great speakers. So they really come to learn and we use basketball as a tool.”

While there is hope that the pandemic will be under control by July, the NABI is planning ahead in case it is still a threat. A Native American youth summit will be held online and organizers will strictly follow protocols recommended by the CDC and the state of Arizona.

“The NABI Foundation will continue to monitor the situation and amend the program according to imposed safety guidelines closer to the program dates. A full schedule of events will be released mid-June,” said Lynette Lewis, Director of Basketball Operations & Program Development, in the statement released by the NABI when the return of the event was announced.

One of the organization’s board members will play an important role in preparations.

“We have a wonderful kind of diverse board of directors, and one of our board of directors just happens to be one of the owners of a PPE (personal protective equipment) company,” Scarpa said. “So, he’s committed to providing everything we need for all the gyms, all the kids. I really think we will bring it back to normal.”

“I think if we do allow a big sporting event, it might be limited seating … masks are going to be mandatory, there will be sanitizing stations. We are going to do everything possible to keep our kids safe.”

While the tournament didn’t happen last summer, organizers were still at work. One avenue for raising funds at the tournament is the sale of merchandise during the event, and there are now plans to make items available beyond tournament week.

“Usually we’re like, ‘Nope, you have to buy it this week and then it’s done.’” Scarpa said. “And so, we are now in talks with another big sporting company who wants to take the NABI line nationally and online.

“Not only will it be sold at NABI during NABI week, but it will be sold all year round. We’ll have designers (and) have access to the graphic designers in their marketing department – all that fun stuff that goes with it – and also producing our own native theme for the uniforms for the teams.”

The NABI Foundation and tournament were started in 2002 by Mark West, the former Suns center and current team vice-president for player programs; Scarpa, who is the former executive director of the charitable foundation of another former Suns player, A.C. Green; and the late Scott Podleski, the former ticket director of the Arizona Rattlers who passed away from cancer in 2010.

Their enthusiasm for the project has carried on, and drives organizers still.

“I think it’s just the passion, and it’s my staff that shares that passion,” Scarpa said. “They love it. They love working with the kids. They love to see the outcome.”

Now with the NABI tournament set to return in 2021, Scarpa is hoping the event will continue to serve its purpose for years to come, providing educational opportunities for young Native American athletes as well as indigenous hoopers from Canada and beyond.

“It’s really the backbone portion of it, to load them up with opportunities,” Scarpa said. “The goal is (when they) leave NABI and NABI week, they’re really thinking seriously about a higher educational plan for their lives.”

Since opening in a hybrid model on Oct. 12, the Amphitheater Unified School District has reported 32 total COVID-19 cases causing 234 individuals to resultantly quarantine, according to Communications Director Michelle Valenzuela.

Coronavirus cases have reached 14 different school sites, and 11 of those cases are still active. From Nov. 1-9, Amphitheater reported 12 coronavirus cases resulting in 43 students and staff members quarantining.

Here are all the Amphitheater schools that have reported positive coronavirus cases since reopening:

Amphitheater High School

• Two positive student cases reported on Nov. 1; 34 quarantined as a result.

Canyon del Oro High School

• One positive employee case reported on Nov. 7; no individuals quarantined as a result.

• One positive student case reported on Nov. 2; one quarantined as a result.

• One positive student case reported on Oct. 19; 12 quarantined as a result. This case is no longer active.

Ironwood Ridge High School