PRESCOTT VALLEY - This past week’s storm triggered the spill of 1.25 million gallons of untreated sewage from the town’s sewer plant Thursday and Friday into the nearby Agua Fria River, Utilities Director Neil Wadsworth said.

A power spike tripped the outside generators at the sewer plant and shut the plant down, Wadsworth said.

The power failure lasted from 7 p.m. Thursday until 7 a.m. Friday, and recurred from 2 to 7 p.m. Friday.

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New security system would sound alarm over library theft

Wednesday, December 02, 2009

PRESCOTT - In just the past year and a half, about 1,500 movie DVDs have disappeared from the shelves of the Prescott Public Library.
Library Director Toni Kaus finds that a “shocking” level of loss for the library, which had a collection of about 8,000 DVD titles. Estimating the value of each DVD at $25, Kaus noted that the recent thefts have cost the library about $37,000.

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By Peter Corbett / AZCentral.com
August 8, 2009

Arizona’s desert dwellers with summer cabins are the lucky ones.

They can escape when dawn breaks with temperatures uncomfortably close to triple digits.

Cabin owners flee to their high-country retreats near Flagstaff, Prescott, Payson and the White Mountains for a weekend or a week.

They drive a few hours to where daytime highs are more than 20 degrees lower than in the Valley and overnight temperatures dip below 50.

“It’s the best of both worlds,” said Tom Taggart of Gilbert and Flagstaff. “Down here we have our pool and palm trees, and up there we have our cabin in the woods.”

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The Daily Courier
August 18, 2009

PRESCOTT - The first event of the Arizona Aircraft Expo will take place at Prescott’s Ernest A. Love Field this week.

From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday and Saturday, models of the newest general-aviation aircraft will be on display at the airport’s fixed base operator, Legend Aviation, 2020 Clubhouse Dr.

Prospective buyers and the general public will be able to see 10 different single-engine aircraft from Cessna, Cirrus, Diamond, Mooney and Piper.

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By Joanna Dodder Nellans / The Daily Courier
July 25, 2009

A 200-acre ranch in the heart of the Agua Fria National Monument was two days away from the auction block this month when the Trust for Public Land completed a deal to step in and save it from potential development.

“It could have been disastrous,” said Christopher Byrne, Arizona project manager for the Trust for Public Land (TPL).

The U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has wanted to acquire the historic Horseshoe Ranch ever since President Bill Clinton created the monument nearly a decade ago.

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By Bruce Colbert / The Daily Courier
July 13, 2009

PRESCOTT - A new countywide program could bring fame and recognition to some scenic and historic roads in Yavapai County.

In April, the Board of Supervisors approved the county Scenic/Historic Route Program, and the advisory committee is reviewing the county’s first road nomination.

“This is essentially a grass-roots program modeled after the state’s scenic and historic roads program,” said Chris Bridges, county transportation planner.

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Phoenix Business Journal

Arizona State University is partnering with Sam’s Club through a $60,000 grant from the retailer to the Sustainable Cities Network.

The network, which includes 25 Arizona cities and towns, three Indian communities, the Maricopa Association of Governments and ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability, seeks to bring the groups together to better incorporate sustainability into local and regional planning.

Sam’s Club, a division of the Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), presented the grant as a contribution from its 13 locations in Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott.

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By John Miller / The Associate Press

MERIDIAN, Idaho (AP) — Developer Frank Varriale hoped his plans to build shops, apartments and a hotel in this sprawling Boise suburb would have become reality by now. Instead, about the only things standing on his land are knee-high wheat and corn.

But the city has taken steps to help revitalize those projects by eliminating what are commonly known as “impact fees” — charged by municipalities nationwide to pay for the additional services that come with increased development, such as schools, sewer lines and roads.

Meridian is among a growing list of hard-hit communities across the country that are lowering or suspending impact fees. Measures have been debated in Washington state, Texas, New Mexico, New Hampshire, California and elsewhere. Florida made it easier for residential developers to challenge fees; Arizona lawmakers froze them for two years.

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By Joanna Dodder Nellans / The Daily Courier
June 28, 2009

To Donald Nelson, a Hopi who grew up in Prescott, Homol’ovi is not just another state park.

“Homol’ovi State Park to me is a very special place, in that it reaffirms the history of our migration as Hopi clans,” Nelson explained of the park, which sits along the Little Colorado River about 60 miles south of the Hopi mesas.

“I would not be sitting here today if it were not for the strength, the courage and the tenacity of my ancestors to live and to survive in such a rugged environment, guided by a very strong faith and guided by the assurance that we would be taken care of if we were to follow certain instructions,” Nelson said.

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by J. Craig Anderson, The Arizona Republic

A U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development official said Tuesday that HUD would move forward with a plan to let first-time homebuyers use the currently available tax credit of up to $8,000 as collateral for “bridge loans” to cover the down payment on Federal Housing Administration-insured mortgages.

HUD spokesman Brian Sullivan said Phoenix-area lenders misinterpreted the department’s withdrawal of an official communication, known as a “Mortgagee Letter,” announcing the program last week.

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