PHOENIX — From Phoenix setting a daily heat record on Saturday to a water law perhaps being the most significant in state history, here are some of the top Arizona news stories from Aug. 1-3.
Phoenix kicks off August by breaking daily heat record
A daily heat record that was set 14 years ago in Phoenix was broken on Saturday.
The thermometer at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which the National Weather Service (NWS) uses for the city’s official records, reached 114 degrees.
The previous record for Aug. 2 was 113 degrees which was set in 2011 and then tied in 2018.
NWS had issued an extreme heat warning for Friday and Saturday earlier in the week.
Security forces at Arizona Air Force base fatally shoot driver who crashed into barrier
Security forces shot and killed a civilian who allegedly tried to enter an Air Force base in Arizona without authorization early Friday, according to military officials.
The incident occurred around 2:30 a.m. at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in Tucson.
The civilian, whose identity was not released, allegedly refused to stop at the base’s main gate on Craycroft Road. Instead, the driver crashed into a deployed vehicle barrier, authorities said.
When the vehicle backed up, members of the 355th Security Forces Squadron fired their weapons to stop the suspect.
1 man dead after rescue of 3 people in White Tank Mountains
A man died after he was rescued from the White Tank Mountains on Thursday, Maricopa County Sheriff Jerry Sheridan told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos.
The aviation unit from the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) rescued two men and a woman after they called authorities due to exhaustion.
They were flown down to waiting paramedics from the Rural Metro and Buckeye Fire Departments and then were taken to the hospital.
One of the men, who was 21 years old, was hospitalized in critical condition.
He later died, according to Sheridan.
Leaders calling Arizona’s new water law one of the most significant in state history
Some state leaders are calling a bill Gov. Katie Hobbs signed into law in late June as one of the most significant pieces of legislation in Arizona’s history.
“The Ag-to-Urban Groundwater Conservation program, codified into law with the signing of Senate Bill 1611, is a win for Arizona families, for farmers and for our aquifers,” Hobbs said during a Tuesday event.
The bill she signed, also known as the “Ag-to-Urban” Bill, will allow farmers to sell their groundwater rights to housing developers.
Teen killed in single-vehicle rollover crash in Ahwatukee
A teenager died after a single-vehicle crash on Friday morning in Ahwatukee, according to the Phoenix Police Department.
The department said officers were called to a rollover crash on Desert Foothills Parkway, near Fifth Avenue and Chandler Boulevard, around 8 a.m.
Officers found one person at the scene of the crash, who has now been identified as 16-year-old Bailey Lohman.
The teenager was taken to a nearby hospital, where he later died, police said.
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