Weekend wrap-up: Biggest Arizona-related stories from this past weekend

PHOENIX — Between National Mac and Cheese Day on Saturday and National Ice Cream Day on Sunday, it’s safe to say that this past weekend was dominated by food.

Aside from indulging in some of the yummiest foods available, there was a lot of news that occurred this past weekend.

From monsoon storms to family reunification updates, here are some of the biggest stories that happened this past weekend, both in Arizona and nationwide.

Flooding cancels hundreds of trips to coveted waterfalls by Grand Canyon

Hundreds of tourists who booked coveted overnight trips on tribal land deep in a gorge off the Grand Canyon will have to reschedule after heavy flooding forced evacuations and shut down the area for at least a week.

Abbie Fink, a spokeswoman for the Havasupai Tribe, said 300 people had reservations for either the campground or the lodge in the next several days.

Crews were assessing the damage Friday to determine when it’s safe for visitors to return.

“Every day it’s closed, it’s another set of people impacted by it,” she said.

Mac is back: Best Phoenix-area spots for National Mac and Cheese Day

We sure hope you weren’t planning on sticking to a diet this week, because Saturday was National Mac and Cheese Day.

Just one day after we were given a day to celebrate everything that is the french fry, the powers at be want us to go out and enjoy some of the finest mac and cheese Phoenix has to offer.

We’re sure you have a favorite spot for some cheesy goodness, but in case you want to try something new (or impress all your friends with your mac genius), we popped over to Foursquare to find the website’s best Valley spots for mac and cheese.

Arizona ranks among strictest states on speeding, reckless driving

A warning for all of you speedsters out there: A new study found Arizona to be among the strictest states in regards to speeding and reckless driving.

The study by WalletHub found Arizona to be tied with New Mexico for the third toughest state in the country when it comes to enforcing laws against speeding.

Based on the findings, Arizona scored 17 points overall, just one behind Colorado and three behind Delaware, who was found to have the strictest laws in the country.

The Grand Canyon State also tied Illinois for fifth in the country in regards to the highest maximum fine for a second conviction of reckless driving.

Monsoon storms bring dust, rain to Phoenix area Saturday

After experiencing a number of storms over the week, Phoenix-area residents were in store for another on Saturday.

The National Weather Service issued a dust storm warning for both Maricopa and Pinal counties until 6:43 p.m with visibility falling near or below one mile in spots.

Phoenix, Scottsdale, Carefree and Deer Valley Airport were said to be areas that could see rainfall, with a flash flood warning issued for Maricopa County. It began at 3 p.m. and was expected to end at 6 p.m.

Grab a scoop at these Phoenix-area spots for National Ice Cream Day

There are few ways to beat the brutal Arizona summer heat than a nice, cold scoop ice cream — or several scoops.

Thankfully, you don’t need an excuse to have a couple extra servings on Sunday, which is National Ice Cream Day.

So without further ado, here are some of the best ice cream spots in the Phoenix area where you can celebrate National Ice Cream Day.

Arizona groups aim to register 200,000 voters by midterm elections

A coalition of groups in Arizona is attempting to register 200,000 people — mainly people of color, women and youths — ahead of the midterm elections in November.

The One Arizona Coalition is made up of more than a dozen local groups and is heading this voter registration campaign.

Edder Diaz Martinez with Progress Now Arizona, which is one of the groups in the coalition, said they will be going door-to-door in order to register people to vote.

“We are trying to register 200,000 voters by the midterm election,” he told KTAR News 92.3 FM.

US judge criticizes plan to reunify families split at border

A federal judge, responding to a plan to reunify children separated at the border, said he was having second thoughts about his belief that the Trump administration was acting in good faith to comply with his orders.

The Justice Department on Friday filed a plan to reunify more than 2,500 children age 5 and older by a court-imposed deadline of July 26 using “truncated” procedures to verify parentage and perform background checks, which exclude DNA testing and other steps it took to reunify children under 5.

The administration said the abbreviated vetting puts children at significant safety risk but is needed to meet the deadline.

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Griselda Zetino and The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

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