Uncategorized

Grand Canyon

Vast, magnificent and unarguably beautiful, the Grand Canyon is easily Arizona’s most distinguishable landmark – and a natural wonder that you simply have to see to believe. Stretching 277 miles from end to end, steep, rocky walls descend more than a mile to the canyon’s floor, where the wild Colorado River traces a swift course southwest.

You can reach Grand Canyon National Park from main entrances on the South Rim – including the South Rim’s eastern entrance – and the North Rim. The Canyon’s western edge, home to beautiful Havasupai Falls and the town of Supai, is also accessible via roads on the Hualapai Indian Reservation.

Due to its proximity to Flagstaff and Williams, the South Rim is the Grand Canyon’s most popular destination. Home to park headquarters, Grand Canyon Village, features the park’s largest collection of services, including hotels and lodges, restaurants, a general store, laundry and shower facilities, a bank with an ATM and an automotive service station. The Grand Canyon Railway – a historic rail line out of Williams – also brings visitors directly to Grand Canyon Village. Additional services are also located in nearby Tusayan, six miles south of the Grand Canyon National Park entrance.

Grand Canyon Village has a number of parking areas surrounding its various viewpoints, but summer days and weekends are crowded. Skip the parking-space race and take the park’s free shuttle busses instead, which operate in multiple loops.

Obama, Arizona governor to discuss immigration issues

President Barack Obama is scheduled to meet Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer this week.

A White House official said Tuesday that the meeting between the president and the Republican governor is scheduled for Thursday. The official requested anonymity to discuss the president’s schedule ahead of its public release.

Brewer said last week that she wants to meet with Obama to discuss border security and immigration when she visits Washington. At the time the White House said Obama’s schedule wouldn’t allow for a meeting, but that the president wanted to talk with Brewer in the future.

Obama announced last week that he would deploy 1,200 troops and request $500 million to help secure the southern border, but Brewer said more troops are needed.

“I think it’s important that the leader of the United States and the governor of the State of Arizona sit down face to face and have a conversation about what exactly is going on in Arizona,” Brewer said.

Obama has criticized a tough new Arizona law, signed by Brewer in April, which cracks down on illegal immigration. It makes crossing the border illegally a state crime and requires police to verify people’s immigration status if the officer has “reasonable suspicion” the person is in the United States illegally.

Arizona’s law has prompted fierce debate across the nation. Opponents say the law encourages racial profiling and discrimination against Hispanics. It has sparked massive protests as well as economic boycotts of the state from communities as large at Los Angeles.

Christina Aguilera’s Phoenix show delayed until next year

Christina Aguilera’s summer tour, which was scheduled to bring the singer to US Airways Center for an Aug. 14 concert, has been rescheduled to 2011. The reason given was prior commitments she’d made involving the filming of her big-screen debut, “Burlesque,” and what the press release is calling the “promotion of her new album, ‘Bionic.’”

The press release goes on to say she felt she needed more time to rehearse the show and with less than a month between the album release and tour date, that wasn’t happening.

New dates will be announced some time later this year. Refunds are available at point of purchase.

Seattle votes for boycott of Arizona over immigration law

The Seattle City Council passed a vote on Monday to boycott Arizona as much as possible because of a controversial immigration law there.

Arizona legislators voted in April to give law enforcement authorities power to detain anyone suspected of being a illegal immigrant and makes the failure to carry immigration documents a crime.

Seattle is the latest in the list of cities which are boycotting the state because of the law. New York City, Los Angeles, Oakland, California, West Hollywood, California, and San Diego have passed similar resolutions condemning the law and promising to do less business with Arizona. San Francisco; St. Paul, Minn.; and Denver’s school systems have banned employee travel to Arizona using public funds.

“Seattle … today, with this vote, joins with a host of other cities that are trying to get the federal government’s attention,” said Councilwoman Sally Clark, the resolution’s sponsor.

“This law is a direct attack on all Latino day laborers,” said Mario Garcia, a day laborer who has been in the country for about five years.

“We are just hardworking people who want to be legal in this country because it is our dream,” said Maria Arana, another supporter of the Seattle council’s resolution.

The City Council got a standing ovation when it voted, 7-0, with two members absent, to pass the resolution. But it won’t have much practical effect. The resolution was written to protect the only substantial contract Seattle has with an Arizona company. That’s a $106,000-a-month contract with American Traffic Solutions, which operates the city’s 29 red-light cameras.

Home resales for April rose in Valley

The housing resale market in metropolitan Phoenix continued to improve in April but foreclosures remained a concern.

There were 6,765 resales of detached single-family homes in the month, up nearly 2 percent from 6,640 in April 2009, according to the monthly Realty Studies report from Arizona State University.

The gain was a fraction of the gain reported during a blockbuster March when there was a 9.3 percent jump in resales from the prior year.

The median price for single-family home resales in April was $144,000, up 15.2 percent from $125,000 a year ago

The year-over-year gain trumped the 10.9 percent gain in March.

Although down from March, foreclosures remain a major trouble spot.

There were 3,490 single-family home foreclosures in April, compared with 4,370 in March and 2,460 in April 2009.

“One month doesn’t make a trend,” Butler said of the drop in foreclosures. “We’ve got to see how this is going to play out. Hopefully we’ll see things clearly later this summer or early in the fall.”