The Buzz

Titan missile silos once surrounded the area, and from churches to plant nurseries, the remnants are everywhere.

To say the recently ended winter was dry would be a bit of an understatement. The Tucson area experienced its second driest winter ever, with about a quarter of an inch of rain. That's roughly a 10th of the area's average. Mountain snowpack around the state isn't proving much better. This week, we look at how this extremely dry winter will affect Arizonans.

Kimberly Yee has less than two years left in her second term as Arizona Treasurer. Her time in the office has seen notable growth in Arizona's economy, a restructuring of state income taxes, and new duties assigned to her office. The Buzz spoke with her about her job, new initiatives, and financial literacy.

People express trepidation and hope about the future of water in northern Cochise County following the establishment of an Active Management Area in the Willcox basin.

A report from The Consumer Federation of America shows insurance rates in Arizona went up by 48% between 2021 and 2024, the third highest rate in the nation. And as wildfires grow in frequency, some homeowners say they are losing their insurance entirely.

A report from The Consumer Federation of America shows insurance rates in Arizona went up by 48% between 2021 and 2024, the third highest rate in the nation. And as wildfires grow in frequency, some homeowners say they are losing their insurance entirely.

This week, we remember the life and legacy of former Southern Arizona Congressman Raúl Grijalva. We hear from people whose lives were touched by him, from his daughter Adelita Grijalva, to friends and constituents.

The annual Tucson event brings around 130,000 people together to celebrate literature. Join us as we chat with the festival organizer, a featured author, and an attendee about one of the largest book festivals in the United States.

Arizona's last two rainy seasons have been subpar and have left much of the wildland around the state in severe danger of wildfire. Climate change is exacerbating the situation. So what are state and federal crews doing to help combat the problem?

This week we interview the Chair of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Ruby Calvert, to explore how proposed cuts to public media funding could hit rural and tribal stations the hardest, threatening vital news and emergency broadcasts.

The Buzz partners with Arizona Luminaria to tell the story of how one man and his family navigate complex mental health and justice systems.

The topic of K-12 education has been a major issue for Arizonans for years. Despite recent increases, the state remains near the bottom for per-pupil funding, and teachers routinely talk about having to have second jobs or side hustles to get by. The state has increased spending on schools since the Red For Ed movement began nearly a decade ago, but test scores have been flat or going down since the COVID-19 pandemic. Add to that concerns about social issues ranging from student pronoun use to school safety. To get an update on many oof these issues, The Buzz spoke with Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Horne.

This week on The Buzz, show number 300! In this special retrospective, we look back on our journey since we hit the airwaves six years ago, reconnecting with both current and past staffers who've helped make The Buzz what it is today.

As Tucson considers taking over electricity service, we ask what difference public ownership makes.

Trump's sweeping immigration overhaul ignites legal battles, international tension, and questions of constitutional limits.

A Republican Arizona lawmaker wants ultra-processed foods out of public school meals, and he has introduced a bill that has bipartisan co-sponsors.

Arizona's 2025 legislative session opens next week. A handful of topics are likely to continue to top discussions around the legislature. Even though legislators are not yet gathering, a number of bills have been introduced, giving some ideas of what the major topics will be for the session.

2024 was a busy year for the office of Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes: continued opioid and other lawsuits aimed at protecting the state's residents, attempting to crack down on school voucher and sober living home scams, legal action against a foreign alfalfa farm and more. Just before the end of the year, we sat down with Mayes in a conference room at the Attorney General's office to discuss several topics.

Each year, the staff of The Buzz talk to more than 100 people for the episodes we bring you. To wrap up 2024, we decided to check in on some of the people we talked with to see how the rest of the year went for them.

We recap the year and take a look ahead with two economists. Will Arizona continue to show below-average inflation?

With the promise of import taxes, will major industries in our area be affected?

This week on The Buzz, a post-election debrief with the Secretary of State, Adrian Fontes. From voter registration to bomb threats, we'll explore the issues of the 2024 election in Arizona.

We deep dive into Arizona's 100-year adequate water supply rule and the balancing act it creates in a state that's short on both groundwater and homes.

We mark 50 years since the cave's discovery and 25 years since it opened to the public with a tour.

The Buzz discusses the big picture of US elections while hearing from foreign journalists about how this election is being viewed worldwide. Plus, take a closer look at why Arizona election results take so long to finalize.

As 2024 campaigns draw to a close, we ask how we can dial back inflammatory rhetoric.

How are all those signs, mailers and commercials getting paid for? We'll start with a breakdown from state and federal finance reports and later see what's going on with the money leftover from Krysten Sinema's last campaign.

This week, we're focusing on a down ballot race that can have serious consequences for Arizonans' bank accounts. Three of the five seats on the Arizona Corporation Commission are up for grabs. The body oversees a variety of duties, but most people know it as the group that sets the rates that utility companies can charge. We look at what the Corporation Commission does, and offer some analysis of the race so far.

We speak with both candidates for Arizona's Congressional District 6—incumbent Juan Ciscomani (R) and challenger Kirsten Engel (D)—after this week's debate.

Arizonans will weigh competing ballot initiatives this year that could have a major impact on how the state handles its primary elections. Will Arizona switch to open primaries or codify its current system in the state constitution?

The 2024 general election is less than six weeks away, and The Buzz is heading into Your Vote 2024 coverage. This week, we go beyond the horse race to talk about efforts to ensure the information being given to the public is accurate.

We're diving back into Arizona's rural water issues. We'll speak with Arizona's Attorney General, Kris Mayes, about a letter she sent to the Arizona Department of Water Resources. And we'll head back to the topic of Fondemonte, a Saudi-owned farm in rural Arizona, as we speak to the reporter who broke that story some years back about his work and the new documentary it led to.

This week on The Buzz, we head back to Chiricahua National Monument as a bill to make it a national park is scheduled for a hearing in the U-S House of Representatives next week. GUESTS: (D) Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, bill sponsor; (R) Representative Juan Ciscomani, bill sponsor. REPEAT.

This week, we're helping voters prepare for this election season. We'll break down how voters can vet news sources and stories, plus we'll talk about what makes a poll worth paying attention to.

Arizona's relationship with the Arabian peninsula goes back well before Saudi-linked company Fondomonte began buying up agricultural land in the La Paz County desert in order to farm alfalfa that is shipped halfway across the world. It pre-dates the Saudi Kingdom, Arizona statehood and even the US Civil War. This week, we listen in to an episode of Tapped, AZPM's podcast about water in the southwest, that takes us through that long history and how Saudi Arabia's unregulated water use in our state is impacting rural Arizonans.

State and federal reports show unemployment has been under 3.5% for the past three months, a feat the state has never before experienced. But, there are positives and negatives for the state when there are so few people in need of work.

From creating 3-d printer filament to construction blocks to build houses, Arizona companies are finding new ways to help residents give plastic another life.

4 days a week in school or 5? We explore why some Arizona schools choose a 4-day school week and how it affects both students and teachers.

From nation building to water infrastructure, The Buzz explores the path towards water equity and one tribe's dream for true sovereignty.

What does President Joe Biden's decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race means for a swing state like Arizona? And will Arizona Senator Mark Kelly be Kamala Harris' vice-presidential pick?

We preview the new season of Tapped, AZPM's podcast about water in the southwest.

People go to notable lengths to get as much as they can out of some of the area's limited resources. In the second installment of our three R's series, Reuse, we'll explore ways that Southern Arizona revives what we already have.

We look back 107 years at one of the biggest labor disputes in American history, the Bisbee Deportation, following it back to its start in another mining community hundreds of miles to the north.

We dive into some areas that saw cuts in the state budget. We talk to people who will see those cuts first-hand about how it will affect their work and those they serve. GUESTS: Kris Mayes, (D) Arizona Attorney General, Chelsea McGuire, Assistant Director of External Affairs at WIFA, Beth Lewis, Director of Save our Schools AZ

Environmentalists have rallied around the cause of reducing our reliance on finite and polluting resources for decades, but efforts to cut back have picked up in recent years. We look at some of those efforts to reduce the use of plastic, water and fossil fuels.