The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona surpassed 24,000 as of Friday, June 5, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. That's a single-day jump of more than 1,500 cases.

Pima County had 2,883 of the state's 24,332 confirmed cases.

The death toll topped 1,000 today, with 1,012 dead across the state, including 202 in Pima County, according to the report.

In Maricopa County, the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases hit 12,091.
                                                                              Because symptoms can take as long as two weeks to appear after exposure to the virus (while some people can remain entirely asymptomatic), health officials continue to urge the public to avoid unnecessary trips and gatherings of more than 10 people, especially if you have underlying health conditions, and have advised people to cover their faces with masks in public.

Following the end of Gov. Doug Ducey's stay-at-home order on March 15, Arizona hospitals are seeing a rise in the number of people hospitalized with COVID symptoms, as well as more people visiting emergency rooms. Today's Arizona Department of Health Services report shows that through yesterday, 1,234 Arizonans were hospitalized, a jump of 155 from the previous day. A total of 718 people arrived at emergency rooms with COVID-like symptoms on June 4, according to the report.
At a press conference yesterday, Ducey said he and Department of Health Services Director Dr. Cara Christ anticipated the current increase in positive COVID-19 cases because testing has “dramatically increased” within the state.

Christ reported 8,227 staff and residents in skilled nursing facilities across Arizona have been tested for the virus. They expect to have tests done at all of these facilities by June 11.

She downplayed the alarm about the recent increase in cases, which some have attributed to the end of the stay-at-home order on May 15, saying “as people come back together, we know there will be transmissions of COVID-19.” While they admitted new cases are to be expected when people begin to interact again, Ducey and Christ said their main focus was to ensure that hospitals had capacity for an increase in cases. They reported that current use of hospital beds, ICU beds, and ventilators are all within capacity at this time.

“The fact that we were going to focus on having more tests means we were going to have more cases,” Ducey said. “We anticipated that. What we wanted to do was to be prepared for this.”

• Ducey has ordered a statewide curfew from 8 p.m. to 5 p.m. through June 8 unless extended. The curfew order came following a weekend of unrest in Tucson and Phoenix. A protest against police violence turned violent in downtown Tucson on Friday night when rioters smashed windows, painted graffiti, and otherwise went wild in downtown Tucson.

The protest was one of many across the country following the killing of George Floyd, who died in police custody after a Minneapolis Police Officer kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes as the black man gasped for air and said he couldn't breathe.

Starting in on the downswing of the week, let's take a look at the stories we covered for you today.

• The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona reached 22,753 as of Wednesday, June 3, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. That's a jump of 530 from yesterday and a total of 2,600 new cases in the last three days.
• More than 1,000 Tucsonans attended a rally held by March For Justice Tucson, a group founded and run by young Black women, on the University of Arizona mall, in front of Old Main, on Wednesday, June 3.
• Tucson Weekly asked the candidates running for Board of Supervisors seats this year if they approved of those decisions and if they would have done anything differently. Here's what the District 4 candidates had to say.
• When Amira Chowdhury joined a protest in Philadelphia against police violence on Monday, she wore a mask to protect herself and others against the coronavirus. But when officers launched tear gas into the crowd, Chowdhury pulled off her mask as she gasped for air. “I couldn’t breathe,” she said. “I felt like I was choking to death.”
• As the summer heat rolls in, people start looking for ways to cool off. Marana residents can add the town’s splash pads to their list of activities starting this Saturday—as long as everything goes to plan.
• Puzzle of the Day: Can You Spot the Pattern?
• With the Republican National Committee actively seeking new homes for its August convention, some in Arizona are angling for the state to get in line with the long list of other potential suitors.
• If there’s a hole in your heart yearning for live music, look no further than The Gaslight Music Hall’s upcoming drive-in concerts—tickets for which are still available now. Even better, the Oro Valley venue has three shows booked next week.

If there’s a hole in your heart yearning for live music, look no further than The Gaslight Music Hall’s upcoming drive-in concerts—tickets for which are still available now. Even better, the Oro Valley venue has three shows booked next week.

Performing Tuesday, June 9 is the George Howard Motown Band. Backroads Country Band takes the stage Wednesday, June 10, and Rock & Roll with Vinyl Tap! closes out the week Thursday, June 11. All shows begin at 7 p.m.

The ongoing drive-in concert series is the Gaslight’s way of keeping their customers entertained (and their employees working) during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to general manager Heather Stricker.

“Tony Terry, owner of The Gaslight Music Hall, loved the idea of outdoor concerts. Once the sun goes down, the weather is beautiful and the parking lot is full of live, awesome music,” Stricker said. “We knew we would have to cancel our Dance Parties for the summer to abide with the social distancing requirements, so we have invited a lot of our dance bands to come perform in this drive-in concert series. We feature different genres of music every week, there is always something for everybody.”

With the Republican National Committee actively seeking new homes for its August convention, some in Arizona are angling for the state to get in line with the long list of other potential suitors.

The RNC may still hold part of the convention in Charlotte – or it may not – as officials there say lingering COVID-19 concerns may limit convention crowd sizes. But it is looking for a new city to host President Donald Trump’s acceptance speech, after Trump took to Twitter recently to criticize possible crowd limits.

Several states have mounted bids to land part or all of the convention, but some Arizona Republicans are asking, why not here?

“How fitting would it be for President Trump to once again become our party’s nominee for president?” asked Arizona Republican Party Chair Kelli Ward in an opinion piece in Tuesday’s Arizona Republic. She said the RNC should “consider this an invitation to hold the nominating convention in the great state of Arizona.”

But the state would have to beat out at least three other states – four, if you count North Carolina, which is still in talks for part of the convention – for the late August event.

The scramble began last week when Trump tweeted that the party would be “forced to find” another city if North Carolina officials could not guarantee that the nominating hall could be fully occupied.

Party officials proposed strict testing and screening of convention-goers, but no limits on numbers, and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper said last week that the state would not “sacrifice the health and safety of North Carolinians,” according to news reports.

As the summer heat rolls in, people start looking for ways to cool off. Marana residents can add the town’s splash pads to their list of activities starting this Saturday—as long as everything goes to plan.

“It will be a little bit of wait and see as to how things work out,” Town Manager Jamsheed Mehta told the town council at its June 2 meeting. “We are dealing with small children here who may or may not understand how to—what the protocols are—and based on the best observations that we can make we will try to adjust things so that we can keep kids safe and everything can run smoothly according to plan.”

Marana operates splash pads at Heritage River Park, 12280 N. Heritage Park Drive, and Crossroads at Silverbell District Park, 7458 N. Silverbell Road. There is also a public pool at Ora Mae Harn District Park, 12350 N. Lon Adams Road.

Halfway through the week. Here are the stories we covered today.

• The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona reached 22,223 as of Wednesday, June 3, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services. That's a jump of 973 from yesterday and a total of 2,100 new cases in the last two days.
• Companies receiving taxpayer dollars as part of President Donald Trump’s signature food aid program hired a longtime lobbyist to push back on criticism that the government is relying on unqualified contractors, such as an event planner.
• Waves of protests, rolling across Arizona in the last several days like a tributary in a national unleashing of fury and grief over the deaths of black people at the hands of police, kept flowing on Tuesday night.
• Honea said he told Ducey that Marana used to have a problem “with that virus thing,” but now Marana is dealing with other issues: Potential protests and people losing their jobs due to financial strain during the stay-home order.
• Arizona tribal leaders told House lawmakers Tuesday that moves to reopen national parks are being made without needed health safety measures to protect tribal members or park visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• President Donald Trump’s pledge to deploy “thousands and thousands of heavily armed soldiers” to put down protests was seen as either a promise or a threat, depending on which Arizona lawmaker was reacting to his comments.
• A message from Pima County Public Library's Kindred Team...

PHOENIX – Arizona tribal leaders told House lawmakers Tuesday that moves to reopen national parks are being made without needed health safety measures to protect tribal members or park visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The comments by Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez and Havasupai Council Member Carletta Tilousi come as the Interior Department is moving to reopen parks. That includes Grand Canyon National Park, which began allowing visitors on a limited basis last month.

But witnesses at the hearing, held by Democrats on the House Natural Resources Committee, said the Interior Department has unnecessarily rushed the reopening.

“We rely heavily on the tourism industry, but now is not the time to be on the Navajo Nation,” Nez said. The Navajo Nation, one of the hardest-hit areas in the country for COVID-19 infections, reported 98 new cases and five additional deaths Monday, bringing their totals to 5,348 cases and 246 deaths.

An Interior Department spokesman said the agency was not invited to testify to the panel, which did not include any GOP committee members. The event was brushed off by the committee’s ranking Republican, Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, as just “another partisan forum.”

“To argue that our national parks and trails opening up is a threat to American lives is tone deaf at best, and disingenuous fear-mongering at worst,” said a statement from Bishop’s office, which added that families enjoying national parks are “not endangering public health.”

During Tuesday’s Town Council meeting, Marana Mayor Ed Honea said he recently spoke on the phone with Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who asked how the town was doing.

Honea said he told Ducey that Marana used to have a problem “with that virus thing,” but now Marana is dealing with other issues: Potential protests and people losing their jobs due to financial strain during the stay-home order.

“The bigger crisis now is riots,” Honea said during the June 2 council meeting. “Not protesting. People have that right and I support that 100 percent, but rioting and tearing up equipment. … We’re really trying to stay on top of that. We don’t want anybody hurt, and we don’t want to disrespect people that want to protest. They have that right. But the governor's order says crowds cannot gather on streets, sidewalks, vacant lots, alleys or parking lots, and it does not apply to business, restaurants, groceries stores or anything else.”

Honea said that visiting your grandma or shopping for groceries does not violate the curfew order, which was essentially a tool for law enforcement to prevent riots.

“The order was more or less to give police an opportunity to disperse crowds if they felt necessary,” Honea said.

Here are the stories we covered today.

• The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Arizona reached 21,250 as of Tuesday, June 2, according to the Arizona Department of Health Services.
• Scientists from the University of Arizona-led OSIRIS-REx space mission have released new findings on the origins of small astronomical bodies based on observation of the asteroid Bennu.
• Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin have become the public faces of the $3 trillion federal coronavirus bailout. Behind the scenes, however, the Treasury’s responsibilities have fallen largely to the 42-year-old deputy secretary, Justin Muzinich.
• We've checked in with more than 100 local restaurants to find out which are now open for dine-in service, which are still only offering take-out, and which are planning on opening in the near future.
• After days of clashes between protesters and police, Arizona spent a relatively quiet night Sunday under a statewide dusk-to-dawn curfew that was ordered Sunday afternoon by Gov. Doug Ducey.
• A cry of “I can’t breathe” in Minneapolis has reverberated thousands of miles away in Arizona, where protesters for several days have marched in sorrow and rage – peacefully for the most part, but sometimes clashing with police and looting and vandalizing several businesses in Phoenix and Scottsdale.
• A candlelight vigil for George Floyd in pictures.
• There are more than 26,000 people currently detained in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities across the United States. Only 2,300 people in that group have been tested for COVID-19, but 1,201 have tested positive.

PHOENIX – A cry of “I can’t breathe” in Minneapolis has reverberated thousands of miles away in Arizona, where protesters for several days have marched in sorrow and rage – peacefully for the most part, but sometimes clashing with police and looting and vandalizing several businesses in Phoenix and Scottsdale.

Arizonans are reacting to and taking action following the May 25 death in Minneapolis of George Floyd, 46, and Dion Johnson, 28, who was killed by an Arizona state trooper the same day. Cronkite News spoke with several people about the protests, including a college activist who stresses the need for real activism outside of Instagram, an interior designer who wants others to realize what is meant by Black Lives Matter, and a business owner who’s worried about looting and vandalism but hopes the protests will bring real change.

Head of black mothers’ group says policing must be transformed
Deborah Colbert has been active in the civil rights movement for 50 years, beginning her lifelong journey of fighting for black people when she was about 12. Although there have been tremendous changes in the movement, Colbert said, the lack of sustained progress deeply troubles her.

“It’s almost like reliving the pain and agony of being an African American in America again,” she said. “The feeling for me is, ‘When? When will we really come together and see that it’s time for us to realize that there’s a humanitarian feature missing here?’”