KNAU and Arizona News

By Laurel Morales

Flagstaff, AZ – Grad student Valerie Kurth pulls a handful of dried grass out of a paper bag and puts it on a scale. She's studying the amount of carbon in the environment.

She usually talks over her progress with her advisor. But he's left NAU for a job in California. The forestry department decided not to fill his position to save money. So Kurth and five other students are left without an advisor.

By Theresa Bierer

Flagstaff, AZ – TB) On this cold December afternoon at Sinagua High school Students are walking home .others are climbing on school buses or walking toward their cars. ..and while the parking lot is full of activity enrollment is down . Superintendent Kevin Brown says by closing one of Flagstaff's high schools, overhead could be reduced and more programs could be offered at the 2 remaining schools.

By Mark Herz

Flagstaff, AZ – Learn more about college towns.

By Mark Herz

Flagstaff, AZ – The Center for Biological Diversity and two other conservation groups filed a petition yesterday with the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service asking the agency to revise its now 26-year-old plan for the recovery of the Mexican Gray Wolf.

By Laurel Morales

Flagstaff, AZ – A Flagstaff butcher has donated thousands of pounds of elk, deer and buffalo meat to the Northern Arizona Food Bank. This Thanksgiving he'll give six deer and an elk to the hungry. That's about 14 hundred meals. Arizona Public Radio's Laurel Morales says Dennis Champagne is not what you'd expect.

Dennis Champagne is a paradox. He's a butcher and a hunter and a sentimental animal lover.

CHAMPAGNE: I have three cats, three dogs, bird, couple fish, I love em.

By Laurel Morales

Flagstaff, AZ – Demand at food banks is up dramatically across the country. In northern Arizona the emergency food need has more than tripled since the beginning of the year. Local food banks say people who once donated food are now in line to receive food boxes. And as Arizona Public Radio's Laurel Morales reports there are first timers at the soup kitchen as well.

AMBY: People in line at the food center.

By Gillian Ferris Kohl

Flagstaff, AZ – When you mix together rising rates in unemployment and foreclosure, you get a recipe for homelessness. As the economic crisis worsens in Arizona, emergency shelters across the state are overflowing. And officials say they're desperate for help. Arizona Public Radio's Gillian Ferris Kohl reports.

By Mark Herz

Flagstaff, AZ – It's been nothing but bad economic news across the country and in Northern Arizona over the past few months.

Retailers have shut down, and cities and counties have announced huge deficits. But there is a bit of hope on Flagstaff's economic horizon.

Last Tuesday, a "business incubator" opened on scenic McMillan Mesa.

By Gillian Ferris Kohl

By Theresa Bierer

Flagstaff, AZ – INTRO) A new facility is open for business in Flagstaff. The Northern Arizona Center for Emerging Technologies held a grand opening today (yesterday) to highlight the partnerships which made the incubator possible. Arizona Public Radio's Theresa Bierer has more.