Valley 101

Latest Episodes:

What was the Arizona Farmworkers Movement? Sep 07, 2020

Show notes

Labor Day is a anational holiday that celebrates the contributors to the work force. During this holiday, our Valley 101 podcast team thought it would be fitting to explore one of the largest and most important labor movements in our state's history, the Farmworkers Movement.

Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta are two of the most well-known organizers in the movement. But Arizona had its own leaders. People such as Gustavo Gutierrez and Francisca Montoya. Their efforts, which diverged at times from union leadership in California, created lasting impacts for farmworkers in Arizona.

The movement is also credited to laying the foundation for activism in the Latino community in Arizona.

Today, we're diving into the movement by answering five questions about the movement. Producers Maritza Dominguez and Taylor Seely will guide you through the history and impacts of the movement.

In this episode, you'll hear:

Marco Rosales, a Ph.D candidate at the University of California-Davis, who has extensively researched the movement.
Francisca Montoya who experienced the farmworkers movement first hand in Arizona.
Cesar Chavez in "Huelga!," a 1966 documentary.

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What are those clam shells along the banks of the canals? Aug 31, 2020

Show notes

Walk along almost any canal in the metro Phoenix area and you're sure to find thousands of shells each smaller than a quarter. What are they and how did they get there?

Those are the questions reporter John D'Anna wonders about every time he walks his dog George along the neighborhood canal path. This week, Valley 101 is answering them.

The shells' official name is Corbicula fluminea, but they're more commonly referred to as Asiatic clams. They were first spotted in the U.S. in 1938, then in Phoenix in 1956.

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What makes the rain in Arizona smell different? Aug 24, 2020

Show notes

It's August, which means your TV news broadcasts are usually filled with stories about monsoon season, including stories about flooding, how to drive safely and how much rain we've received.

This year has been a little different thanks to a hotter and drier summer. But when the rain hits, there's a noticeable scent to it.

That's thanks to a certain desert plant, the creosote bush. In today's episode of Valley 101, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, podcast editor Katie O'Connell explores what element of the creosote bush is responsible for producing this scent. She'll also discover whether or not we're the only place in the world with storms that smell like ours.

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Why is Grand Avenue a diagonal street in a grid system? Aug 17, 2020

Show notes

In a previous episode of Valley 101, producer Taylor Seely broke down the grid system of Phoenix streets. The streets in Phoenix run north and south, and east and west. This created streets that run perpendicular to each other.

However, there are always exceptions to the rule. Grand Avenue is one of those. Today we’re answering two questions submitted by listeners. First, how does a diagonal street like Grand Avenue exists in a grid system? And second, what’s so grand about Grand Avenue?

In today's episode of Valley 101, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we dive into the street's history.

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What's it like to be an Arizona health care worker during the COVID-19 pandemic? Aug 10, 2020

Show notes

Health care workers in Arizona are struggling through the burdens of a public health crisis that has hospitalized thousands of Arizonans and pushed emergency rooms and ICUs near full capacity.

With higher than usual patient-to-nurse ratios, stringent PPE protocols and looming fears over exposing their loved ones to the novel coronavirus, health care workers in Arizona are feeling tired, dejected and desperate for lawmakers and the public to take COVID-19 seriously.

"They've been trying to do two to one ICU patients to a nurse, but that's starting to be hard," Miranda Dunkelbarger, an ICU nurse in Apache Junction, said. Some days she said she's had three patients at a time.

When New York emerged as a national hotspot in March and April and became the subject of eye catching stories about overwhelmed hospitals and mass graves for the dead, health care workers in Arizona watched in both fear and trepidation — How long before it came to Arizona?

By early August, the novel coronavirus infected more than 180,000 Arizonans and killed more than 4,000. In June and July, Arizona was thrust in the national spotlight as a global hotspot, at one point recording a 25% positivity rate of tests conducted, a key COVID-19 metric.

This week's episode of Valley 101, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, follows Dr. Brad Dreifuss and nurse Miranda Dunkelbarger. Dreifuss is an emergency physician based in Tucson and co-founder of HCWHosted, a coalition dedicated to building pandemic preparedness plans for communities.

Producer Taylor Seely dives into what they're experiencing and what they want people to know about their work.

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What's the history of Phoenix Union Station? Will Amtrak return there? Aug 03, 2020

Show notes

Phoenix is the largest metropolitan city in the U.S. without passenger-rail service, but that wasn't always the case.

In 1923, Phoenix Union Station opened. And in 1926, a transcontinental line was completed, meaning someone could take the train anywhere in the country.

In this episode of Valley 101, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we're exploring the history of passenger-rail service in the Valley. We'll look at what caused the decline in ridership, as well as future plans that could revive rail service to the historic building.

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What's it like when you or someone you know gets COVID-19? Jul 27, 2020

Show notes

For several people in the Valley who've contracted COVID-19 or watched someone they love contract it, a switch flipped afterward. They felt compelled to convince others to take the disease seriously.

Jimmy Flores, a 30-year-old man from Tempe, told Arizona Republic reporter Audrey Jensen he thought COVID-19 was a joke. He figured he was too young and healthy to be susceptible to any significant danger.

After a night out at the bars, Flores contracted COVID-19 and was subsequently hospitalized. He tried to persuade friends and family to be more cautious. He posted on Facebook about his experience and tried to steer clear of politics, hoping it might help detractors or skeptics grasp reality.

Others trying to spread awareness, though, are diving head first into politics. Mark Urquiza was a 65-year-old resident living in Phoenix's Maryvale neighborhood. He died on June 30 from COVID-19. His daughter, Kristin Urquiza, blames Gov. Doug Ducey.

She published an evocative obituary for her father in The Republic calling out, "the carelessness of the politicians" for jeopardizing public health and "brown bodies." In an interview, she said Ducey has "blood on his hands."

This week's episode of Valley 101 shares the stories of Flores and the Urquiza family. It examines the confusion some felt about Arizona's reopening and the potential effects of returning to life as usual.

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How spring training created the Cactus League in Arizona Jul 20, 2020

Show notes

As a lifelong Valley resident, I would often drive by the spring training stadiums for the Chicago Cubs or the Los Angeles Angels. I always wondered why we had outside teams playing in the Arizona.

The reason dates back to the 1940s before the state even had its own Major League Baseball team. Arizona's relationship to Americans' favorite pastime started with a coalition of baseball teams that would eventually become known as the Cactus League.

This week on Valley 101, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, I look into the history of that league, while answering my own question, "Why is Arizona home to the Cactus League?"

In this episode, you'll hear:

How the Cactus League got its beginning in Arizona.
How the league planted the seed of integrating the city in the 1940s.
The economic impact spring training has in the Valley.

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I live in Tempe, but I can get a library card in Phoenix. Why is that? Jul 13, 2020

Show notes

This episode goes out to all of the book lovers.

Did you know that if you live in Tempe, you can get a Phoenix Public Library card? One of our podcast listeners knew that, but he wasn't sure why, so podcast editor Katie O'Connell found out.

In this week's episode of Valley 101, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we're exploring peeking behind-the-scenes at our local libraries. This includes looking at how services have been updated during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the popular summer reading program for kids.

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Introducing the latest season of Rediscovering, this time on SB 1070 Jul 06, 2020

Show notes

Arizona is a battleground state in national elections and could sway the outcome of the 2020 presidential race.

But how did we get here? How did the state go from reliably red to purple, with the possibility to shift blue in 2020, in just a decade? To understand, go back to 2010 when Arizona surprised the nation by passing Senate Bill 1070, a sweeping and highly controversial immigration law, otherwise known as the "show me your papers" law.

That's what Valley 101's sister podcast will explore in season two of Rediscovering. The five-part series will examine what led to the bill, what its proponents sought to do, how the community and nation reacted, and how its effects linger still today.

This week on Valley 101, host Kaila White will speak to the hosts of Rediscovering: SB 1070, The Arizona Republic's national political reporters Yvonne Wingett Sanchez and Ronald J. Hansen. They also host our political podcast, The Gaggle. They'll take you behind the scenes for a sneak peak of what to expect in the new series.

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