KTAR News 92.3 Reporter Stories

ASU is partnering with Games for Change to create credentials for video games based on the learning that occurs during it, adding a way for gamers to work towards a degree.

Schools across the Valley start the 2025-2026 school year this week.

The Dragon Bravo fire has grown to more than 90,000 acres and dropped to just 4% containment. Hot and dry conditions on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon are making the wildfire hard to manage. More than a dozen aircraft and over 1,000 personnel are assigned to the fire that was sparked by lightning on July 4th. 

Governor Katie Hobbs joined Outspoken, responding to State Superintendent Horne's recent claims her office was 'demeaning' state employees working in the ESA office.

The Helios Foundation held a webinar about customization of scholarships, and how this could be the future of accessibility for post-secondary education. 

Containment of the Dragon Bravo Fire, a destructive wildfire burning on the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, has decreased by half over the weekend.

For children with disabilities, equine therapy works to improve social skills that can help in the classroom, using a horses movement to build on skills like emotional regulation and self-confidence.

The U.S. Department of Education is releasing the full $6 billion dollars of withheld federal funding to reciepents after it passed review. 

A new literacy plan works towards the Arizona progress meter's 2030 goal.

A school supply drive this Saturday is giving away free laptops and backpacks to students, with the cost of supplies reaching over $850 per kids this year.

The state ranks 31st on Bankrate's list for best states to retire.

Governor Hobbs announced funding from the state budget will go towards childcare assistance for 900 Arizona kids.

Three weeks after $118 million dollars in federal education funding was withheld from Arizona schools, some of the money is being released. 

Phoenix Vice Mayor Ann O'Brien takes on new role as board chair of WestEd. 

Maricopa Community Colleges is setting records heading into the new school year, with an increase in enrollment for the 11^th consecutive semester.

Honeywell Aerospace's Advanced Air Mobility lab is developing avionics that are used in autonomous drones and air-taxis. The technology is already here, but the ecosystem to support the drones that are going to change the way we transport people and packages is still being built out. 

Camp Zoo teaches kids K-8 about animals, plants, and the environment.

Arizona U.S. Representative Yassamin Ansari is calling more than $100 million dollars in ed withheld education funding for the state “devastating” to students in Arizona.

Around 200 TSMC interns from around the country joined kids from the Boys and Girls Club of the Valley at Biztown to mentor them about future careers and personal finance.

Chandler Unified School District is going back to school this Wednesday, and there are a few changes coming to the classroom. 

Deadly house fires are on the rise in the Valley, and fighting those fires is getting harder as well.

Education Forward Arizona is offering a free FAFSA workshop this Saturday to help students complete the federal aid forms.

The Turquoise Alert, also known as Emily's Law, is now live. It allows DPS to activate the Emergency Alert System if anyone under the age of 65 goes missing and may be in danger. Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs explains it's meant to help find missing Indigenous people, like 14-year-old Emily Pike who ran away from her Mesa group home in January and later wound-up dead. 

KTAR will begin broadcasting these alerts as they come in. 

Flash floods can happen in the Arizona desert, but not like the devastation we saw in South Central Texas. Regents professor of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona Victor Baker explains Texas has a humid climate that produces intense rain, adding a similar flood happened on the Guadalupe River in 1972.