Weekend Wrap: Here are the biggest Phoenix news stories from Oct. 25-27
Oct 27, 2024, 6:00 PM
Well-known Scottsdale Quarter restaurant Etta reopened with a new look. (Photo by Scottsdale Quarter)
(Photo by Scottsdale Quarter)
PHOENIX — From a Tempe man being arrested for hiding a body in his freezer for more than four years to more daily heat records, here are some of the Valley’s top news stories from Oct. 25-27.
Scottsdale Quarter renovation brings in big-name retailers
The popular shopping and dining destination known as Scottsdale Quarter reopened a few current places while expanding with plenty of brand-name retailers.
The Quarter’s well-known restaurant “Etta” is under new ownership and was remodeled with new televisions and an updated audio system for live DJ entertainment, according to a press release. The restaurant features a wood-fired hearth and offers seasonal dishes.
Beauty retail giant Sephora has reopened its doors while undergoing a renovation.
ASU teams up with city of Phoenix, releases results of latest cool pavement testing
Arizona State University partnered with the city of Phoenix Street Transportation Department to evaluate the new CoolSeal 2.0 pavement coating, a continuation of the city’s Cool Pavement Program.
Last week, they presented the results. ASU researchers discovered that the use of this cool pavement reduced the surface temperature of some roads by as much as up to 12 degrees.
In addition, research suggested cool pavement could reduce road maintenance needs and costs and the impact it has on air temperature thus far appears to be small but beneficial.
Daily heat record broken in metro Phoenix for second day in a row
The historically late fall heatwave in metro Phoenix continued into Saturday, as another daily heat record was broken.
The thermometer at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which the National Weather Service (NWS) uses for the city’s official records, hit 99 degrees at 1:50 p.m., 14 degrees above normal. The previous record of 98 degrees was set in 2001.
By 3:10 p.m., the temperature reached 100 degrees, which made Oct. 26 the second-latest appearance of a triple-digit day (100 degrees on Oct. 27, 2006).
Hobbs, water officials attempting to regulate rural Arizona groundwater pumping
Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Arizona Department of Water Resources have made the first move toward regulating the use of groundwater in the state’s rural southeast that is being rapidly being drawn down through agricultural use.
The state agency said Wednesday it will hold a public hearing Nov. 22 to present data and hear comments about the possibility of designating what is known as an “active management area” for the Willcox Groundwater Basin in Arizona’s Cochise and Graham counties.
In the meantime, the basin is closed to new agriculture use while the department decides whether to create the management area southeast of Tucson that would allow it to set goals for the well-being of the basin and its aquifers.
Tempe man arrested for hiding dead body in freezer for over 4 years
A 51-year-old Tempe man was arrested on Tuesday after authorities found the remains of a dead body in a freezer in the man’s backyard, according to the Tempe Police Department.
Officers apprehended Joseph Hill Jr. after receiving a tip and were initially denied a look into the freezer. Tempe detectives then exercised probable cause for a search warrant and the suspect informed them the body was his father’s, who had died over four years ago.
