Editorials

It’s a fact of life that airplanes and helicopters are noisy. In Cottonwood, it’s also a fact that residential areas have grown up around the municipal airport in what used to be a more remote part of the city.

It is a question of trust, responsibility, finance and patience.

A bill quietly moving in the state Senate could turn more Arizonans into California drivers.

The grown-ups have shown up, but it’s a bit late in the day and anything but a sure answer to a crisis.

We are seeing yet another fallout of the failures of the community to lessen the spread of COVID-19 as nurses play hard-to-get.

If you’ve been feeling frustrated with politics and government crises – real or imagined – all around and just want your community to function the way it’s supposed to, Yavapai County has a plan.

They are thinking about it.

When the Omicron variant of COVID-19 first started spreading in Arizona, some businesses started going back to their most rigorous pandemic policies out of precaution.

A unique holiday is at hand Monday, for those who get off work or school for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

An idea with support from a cross-section of people is always worth serious consideration.

What do Americans really think about the First Amendment?

A common theme emerges in talks about the present and future in Verde Valley communities. It’s an old theme but a goodie: Affordable housing.

Years from now, it may be instinctive to look back on 2021 with a cringe or, for many, a moan of mourning.

Once feeling ignored, the Verde Valley became the plaything for the Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission up to the 11th hour as it was deciding on the final draft maps for legislative and congressional districts for the next 10 years.

In 2020, there were 1,982 deaths in Arizona attributed to opioid overdose. That was a 45% jump from the year before, indicating the public health emergency declared by Gov. Doug Ducey in 2017 has not ebbed.

You know the polls, every few months, asking people in the street how they feel about their economic stability. Back in February 2020, barely into the battle with COVID-19, nearly half of the people CNBC pollsters spoke to said their No. 1 worry was the rising cost of living.

It’s that time of year when local charities make the big push to get local help to serve their constituents through the doldrums of winter.

The past few years have been so fraught with political division at every level of our lives, it’s no surprise some want to inflate that acrimony. That would be the natural fallout of a proposal by a state representative to make local elections partisan.

The Arizona Supreme Court on Tuesday, Nov. 2, sent state lawmakers a strong message: Don’t pile multiple, unrelated issues into a single piece of legislation.

Times certainly have changed.

Yes, it’s great to see Cottonwood and Sedona step up and jointly hire a housing professional to find the answers, but it’s questionable what either community can realistically do to find a solution.

We saw the very best in community spirit from the folks in Cornville in the midst of what easily could have been a tragedy.

Last week, the Turquoise Circuit Finals Rodeo announced it would move its 2021 event from Prescott Valley’s Findlay Toyota Center to the new equestrian complex in Camp Verde.

Monday we will honor our nation’s ultimate defenders of freedom in Memorial Day services all over the United States.

If you spend any time at all on local social media sites, you likely have heard about a vicious assault that occurred at the Verde Valley Fair.