A look at some of today’s top stories, the weather forecast and a peek back in history.

Sports columnist Kent Somers explains why the Arizona Diamondbacks face a dilemma if Curt Schilling is inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

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Back-to-back storms will bring rain and low temperatures to the Phoenix area and snow to northern Arizona. Here’s more on this weekend’s weather.

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Arizona approaches 700,000 known COVID-19 cases and 12,000 known deaths. Hospitals remained strained as the virus continues to spread.

A power struggle surfaces in the Dysart school district between board members and administrators. They placed the blame on a 12-year-old governance strategy.

From The Arizona Republic’s editorial board: A confusing website, too few vaccination sites and too many hoops for volunteers are big problems that Arizona can’t afford to let fester.

Today, you can expect there to be a slight chance of showers with a high near 68 degrees. Rain at night, with a low near 51 degrees. Get the full forecast here.

Arizona lawmaker proposes ‘homicide by abortion’ bill; doctors and patients could be charged

An Arizona lawmaker known for his hard-line stance on abortion has introduced legislation requiring prosecutors to charge women who opt to end their pregnancies — and the doctors who help them do it — with homicide. 

Rep. Walt Blackman, R-Snowflake, had vowed to run such a bill late last summer, calling abortion clinics “death factories” and saying women who terminated pregnancies needed to “spend some time in our Arizona penal system.”



In a darkened and nearly empty Arizona House of Representatives chamber, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey delivers a remote state of the state address during the opening of the Arizona Legislature at the state Capitol Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, in Phoenix.


© Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press
In a darkened and nearly empty Arizona House of Representatives chamber, Republican Gov. Doug Ducey delivers a remote state of the state address during the opening of the Arizona Legislature at the state Capitol Monday, Jan. 11, 2021, in Phoenix.

At the time, he shrugged off legal protections enshrined in federal law, arguing that Roe v. Wade is only an “opinion” and the U.S. Supreme Court should “honor (Arizona’s) sovereignty.”

Learn more about the bill.

Historic Tempe train depot, former home of Macayo’s Depot Cantina, to get makeover

Developers plan to rehabilitate a nearly century old train depot that once housed a popular Mexican restaurant as part of an office and hotel project planned in downtown Tempe.

The historic building, home to Macayo’s Depot Cantina until 2020, will be restored to its original look when it opened in 1924 and stripped of any additions made after.

A 17-story office tower and 18-story Hilton hotel is planned adjacent to the depot on the 2.5-acre site near Ash Avenue and Third Street.

Read more to find out what developers have planned for this historic Tempe train depot.



a building with a store on the side of a road: Tempe Depot, an office and hotel development in downtown Tempe, is planned near Ash Avenue and Third Street.


© City of Tempe
Tempe Depot, an office and hotel development in downtown Tempe, is planned near Ash Avenue and Third Street.

Free national park days in 2021: Here’s when fees are waived at Arizona parks

Whether you want to note them because you love to take advantage of the savings — or because you want to mark your calendar with which days to avoid the crowds — the National Park Service has designated six free-admission days in 2021.

New on the list this year: Aug. 25 in honor of the 2020 Great American Outdoors Act, which allocated $6.5 billion for maintenance at 419 national parks nationwide.

On these six days, parks that charge entrance fees will wave that cost. The fee waiver applies only to admission fees. Charges are still in place for camping, boat launches, tours and other activities and amenities that have a fee.

Read more to find out which days to reserve for exploring the great outdoors



a view of a canyon: The San Francisco Peaks Scenic Road (U.S. 180) is one of the two primary routes leading from Flagstaff, AZ, to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.


© Courtesy of Mike Koopsen
The San Francisco Peaks Scenic Road (U.S. 180) is one of the two primary routes leading from Flagstaff, AZ, to the South Rim of Grand Canyon National Park.

What to watch

“It was just nice to have that energy back in the building again”: Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun says having fans at home makes a difference.

Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun

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Today in history

  • On this date in 1864, Gov. John Goodwin and his party of newly appointed Territorial officials arrived at Fort Whipple, where they set up the first temporary capital for the Arizona Territory.
  • In 1870, the Weekly Arizonan made the somewhat puzzling statement that “business is, today, at a higher ebb than it ever before reached in Tucson.”
  • In 1903, a head-on collision of the Southern Pacific east and west bound passenger trains at Vail Station killed 22 people and injured 45.
  • In 1901, Britain’s Queen Victoria died at age 81 after a reign of 63 years; she was succeeded by her eldest son, Edward VII.
  • In 1907, the Richard Strauss opera “Salome” made its American debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York; its racy content sparked outrage and forced cancellation of additional performances.
  • In 1944, during World War II, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy.
  • In 1970, the first regularly scheduled commercial flight of the Boeing 747 began in New York and ended in London some 6 1/2 hours later.
  • In 1973, George Foreman upset reigning heavyweight champion Joe Frazier with a second round TKO in their match in Kingston, Jamaica.
  • In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in its Roe v. Wade decision, declared a nationwide constitutional right to abortion. Former President Lyndon B. Johnson died at his Texas ranch at age 64.
  • In 1987, Pennsylvania treasurer R. Budd Dwyer, convicted of defrauding the state, proclaimed his innocence at a news conference before pulling out a gun, placing the barrel in his mouth and shooting himself to death in front of horrified onlookers.
  • In 1995, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy died at the Kennedy compound at Hyannis Port, Mass., at age 104.
  • In 1997, the Senate confirmed Madeleine Albright as the nation’s first female secretary of state.
  • In 1998, Theodore Kaczynski pleaded guilty in Sacramento, California, to being the Unabomber responsible for three deaths and 29 injuries in return for a sentence of life in prison without parole.
  • In 2006, Kobe Bryant scored 81 points, the second-highest in NBA history, in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 122-104 victory over the Toronto Raptors.
  • In 2007, a double car bombing of a predominantly Shiite commercial area in Baghdad killed 88 people. Iran announced it had barred 38 nuclear inspectors on a United Nations list from entering the country in apparent retaliation for U.N. sanctions imposed the previous month.
  • In 2009, President Barack Obama signed an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp within a year. (The facility remained in operation as lawmakers blocked efforts to transfer terror suspects to the United States; President Donald Trump later issued an order to keep the jail open and allow the Pentagon to bring new prisoners there.)

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: AZ Memo: Arizona lawmaker’s bill would jail women for abortions; Historic train depot to get a makeover; Free national park days in 2021

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