Weekend wrap-up: Here are the biggest Arizona stories from Oct. 18-20
Oct 20, 2019, 6:03 PM | Updated: Oct 21, 2019, 8:46 am
(Danny Shapiro/KTAR News)
(Danny Shapiro/KTAR News)
Gunshots fired near a high school football game in Laveen, a proposed dark sky center in a Phoenix suburb and commotion on a Loop 202 on-ramp.
Here are some stories that headlined the news cycle, both locally and nationally, over the weekend.
Gunshots fired near high school football game in Laveen
Gunshots were fired near a high school football game in Laveen Friday night.
Around 8 p.m., KTAR News’ Danny Shapiro reported gunshots being fired with two minutes to go in the first half at Betty H. Fairfax High School as they hosted South Mountain.
Players and coaches could be seen kneeling and laying down on the field while fans in the stands started to run.
There were approximately ten shots fired from outside of the stadium. No one was injured from the gunshots and they did not happen on school grounds, per Phoenix Police.
Phoenix suburb to build $18M Dark Sky Discovery Center
The future of the night got a little bit brighter in suburban Phoenix, where a community showed off plans for a proposed dark sky center.
Fundraising will be getting underway for Fountain Hills’ 15,000-square-foot International Dark Sky Discovery Center, an organizer told a group this week at a public meeting.
“We’re pretty excited about it, as you can well imagine,” Joe Bill, co-chair of the town’s Dark Sky Association, said Wednesday evening.
Documents on the center’s website showed the center would have four main elements: an observatory with a research-grade telescope; a planetarium, a theater; and an interactive exhibit hall.
Wrong-way drivers exit Loop 202 using on-ramp as off-ramp
The westbound Loop 202 saw unusual activity Saturday morning as lines of cars were caught driving the wrong way on the McClintock Drive on-ramp to avoid traffic closures on the 202.
The Arizona Department of Transportation Twitter account posted several photos of the incident with cars facing different directions on what should have been a one-way road.
Officers were able to clear the area to properly direct traffic on the ramp.
Fired Arizona Senate staffer awarded $353K in damages, her job back
A fired Arizona Senate policy adviser won $353,000 in her wrongful termination lawsuit.
And by the end of the month, Talonya Adams will get her old job back assisting the Democrats — whose leadership fired her in 2015.
Adams represented herself in a federal lawsuit in which she alleged she was discriminated against based on her race and gender.
“Lawyers are not interested in systematic discrimination that happens behind closed doors in some of the most invisible ways,” she told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Friday.
Phoenix Zoo unveils renovated elephant habitat, new amphitheater
The Phoenix Zoo celebrated the completion of two major projects this weekend.
The zoo unveiled its renovated elephant enclosure and new amphitheater this weekend.
In honor of the reveal, the zoo hosted zookeeper talks, wildlife shows and tours on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Guests also had the opportunity to get up-close with some animals.
The Giants of the Asian Realm is home to the zoo’s three female Asian elephants: Reba, Sheena and Indu.
