Weekend wrap-up: Here are the biggest Arizona stories from March 29-31
Mar 31, 2019, 5:00 PM
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Sexual harassment at the Grand Canyon, accusations against an Arizona lawmaker and a cruise from hell.
Here are some stories that headlined the news cycle, both locally and nationally, over the weekend.
McSally: Grand Canyon National Park ‘ground zero’ for sexual harassment
U.S. Sen. Martha McSally of Arizona expressed her concern about sexual harassment at Grand Canyon National Park during a Senate hearing Thursday, calling the park “ground zero” for issues in the National Park Service.
Grand Canyon National Park Superintendent Christine Lehnertz, who was hired in 2016 to curb the park’s negative reputation, resigned from her post on March 14 after she was cleared of allegations of fostering a hostile atmosphere around the staff.
McSally’s call for sexual harassment accountability comes less than a month after she revealed that she was raped in the Air Force by a superior officer.
“I’m concerned about the Grand Canyon National Park – the culture, the leadership there,” McSally said.
“What’s going to happen at Grand Canyon National Park to make sure that people are treated with honor, respect and dignity, and to ensure that harassment and bullying are not going to be tolerated?”
David Stringer arrested in 1983 for paying teens for sex, records show
Former Arizona lawmaker David Stringer, who resigned this week amid an ethics investigation, was accused of paying teenage boys for sex acts in 1983, according to documents released to the media Friday by the House Ethics Committee.
According a Baltimore Police Department report obtained by ABC15, Stringer paid boys younger than 15, one of whom had a mental disability, to perform sex acts and allegedly molested the boys more than 10 times.
ABC15 reported that Stringer pleaded to lesser charges and was sentenced to five years of probation and 1,040 hours of community service. The case was ultimately expunged.
Stringer wrote on Facebook on Saturday that he was the subject of “salacious allegations of sexual improprieties that had no basis in fact.”
Arizona couple rescued by helicopter from ‘cruise from hell’ in Norway
One Arizona couple is relieved to be back in the desert after they survived last weekend’s “cruise from hell” in Norway.
“I am home and feeling blessed to be home,” Pamela Meyerhoffer of Litchfield Park told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Mac & Gaydos on Thursday.
What started out as a normal, 12-day Viking Sky cruise carrying 1,373 people quickly turned into panic when the engine failed, causing the ship to be stranded off of Norway’s frigid North Sea coast during a massive “bomb cyclone” storm Saturday.
“Well there was very rough seas, but we didn’t really know it was terribly wrong until the captain sounded the general alarm, and we all had to go to our muster station and put on our life jackets,” Meyerhoffer said.
She and her husband John were evacuated by helicopter the next morning because of her injuries, then taken to hospital in Norway.
Here we go again: Cher adds Phoenix-area show for November
Cher is giving her Valley fans something to be thankful for this fall.
On Friday, the legendary entertainer announced a metro Phoenix show as she extended her Here We Go Again tour.
The flamboyant singer and star of film and television will perform at Gila River Arena in Glendale on Nov. 23, the Saturday preceding Thanksgiving.
Presales begin Tuesday at 10 a.m., and tickets go on sale to the general public April 5 at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster.
Valley’s 10th Trader Joe’s opened Friday in Gilbert
The Valley’s newest Trader Joe’s opened Friday in Gilbert.
The specialty grocer’s first store in the East Valley town is located on Williams Field Road just west of the San Tan Village mall.
It’s the 15th Trader Joe’s in Arizona and 10th in the Phoenix area.
The Southern California-based chain’s stores tend to be smaller than typical grocery locations, with many products that can’t be found elsewhere.