AP Arizona

PHOENIX (AP) — Kayla McBride scored 18 points, Moriah Jefferson had 12 points and nine assists and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Phoenix Mercury 84-71 on Tuesday night to snap a five-game losing streak. Minnesota, which won in Phoenix for the 10th straight time, went on a 20-8 run, capped by a corner 3-pointer by

By BOB CHRISTIE and JONATHAN J. COOPER Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — The Republican-controlled Arizona Legislature began hearings Tuesday on a long-delayed state budget plan that was immediately panned by some Democrats and public school advocates for failing to use a huge surplus to significantly boost school funding. But the plan remained incomplete, short of

By LISA MASCARO and FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House 1/6 committee heard chilling, tearful testimony Tuesday that Donald Trump’s relentless pressure to overturn the 2020 presidential election provoked widespread threats to the “backbone of our democracy”— election workers and local officials who fended off the defeated president’s demands despite personal risks.

PHOENIX (AP) — Maricopa County prosecutors announced Tuesday they plan to seek the death penalty for a couple if they’re convicted of killing an 11-year-old boy in Scottsdale five months ago. A grand jury indicted 52-year-old Stephanie Marie Davis and her 33-year-old husband, Thomas James Desharnais, in February on 11 felony counts that included first-degree

By ERIC TUCKER Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A phone call between jailed WNBA star Brittney Griner and her wife has been rescheduled after an earlier attempt to connect on the couple’s anniversary failed because of an “unfortunate mistake,” Biden administration officials said Tuesday. State Department spokesman Ned Price said the original call last weekend

ALEXANDRIA, Minn. (AP) — One person is dead and another hospitalized after a tree fell on a camper during severe storms in central Minnesota. Among the storm damage calls the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office received late Monday night was one from from Elmwood Resort on Lake Mary near Alexandria about 11:40 p.m. The caller reported

By AARON BEARD AP Basketball Writer Memphis’ Jalen Duren, Duke’s Mark Williams and Auburn’s Walker Kessler are the headliners among big men in Thursday’s NBA draft. Each is a mobile big man with the ability to finish above the rim, with Duren and Williams as potential lottery picks, along with Kessler as a first-round prospect.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A lightning-caused wildfire that led to last week’s evacuation of the Kitt Peak National Observatory southwest of Tucson was 50% contained Tuesday, up from 40% in previous days. Authorities said nearly 440 firefighters were working the wildfire that now as charred 38.6 square miles (99.9 square kilometers) since it began June

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis may have canceled his planned trip to Congo because of his bad knee, but he had a visit Tuesday from one of Congo’s brightest basketball stars who briefed him on his humanitarian efforts back home. The Phoenix Suns’ Bismack Biyombo had a private audience with Francis at the Vatican

By FARNOUSH AMIRI and LISA MASCARO Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — The House 1/6 committee outlined on Tuesday Donald Trump’s relentless pressure to overturn the 2020 presidential election, aiming to show it led to widespread personal threats on the stewards of American democracy –— election workers and local officials — who fended off the defeated

PHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Suns have hired Morgan Cato as an assistant general manager and vice president of basketball operations, becoming the first woman of color to hold an assistant GM title for an NBA franchise. Cato comes to Phoenix after spending nearly a decade with the NBA league office, where she most recently

By DOUG FEINBERG AP Basketball Writer Las Vegas and Chicago will meet in the second annual Commissioner’s Cup championship game next month. The in-season title game will be played at the home of the team with the better record — which right now is Las Vegas. The Aces failed to clinch the home game, blowing

By BERNIE WILSON AP Sports Writer SAN DIEGO (AP) — Led by Yu Darvish, the San Diego Padres bounced back nicely from losing Manny Machado during a disheartening weekend sweep in Colorado. Darvish flirted with trouble before righting himself and throwing seven strong innings, and Jake Cronenworth and Trent Grisham homered to lead the San

By BOB CHRISTIE Associated Press PHOENIX (AP) — Calls from top advisers to former President Donald Trump to help overturn Trump’s 2020 election loss were an unsupported, unwise and “juvenile” effort that attacked a bedrock principal of American democracy, Arizona’s House speaker said Monday. Republican Speaker Rusty Bowers is among a series of state election

By SAM METZ Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Federal officials and tribal nations have formally reestablished a commission to oversee land management decisions at a national monument in Utah — among the first such joint governance agreements signed by Native Americans and U.S. officials. Leaders from agencies including the Bureau of Land Management

By FARNOUSH AMIRI Associated Press Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger is set to testify Tuesday at the House Jan. 6 committee about the extraordinary pressure he faced from former President Donald Trump to “find 11,780” votes that could flip the state to prevent Joe Biden’s election victory Raffensperger, along with his deputy Gabe Sterling

By ERIC TUCKER and DOUG FEINBERG Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — WNBA star Brittney Griner tried to call her wife nearly a dozen times through the American embassy in Russia on the couple’s fourth anniversary Saturday, but they never connected since the phone line at the embassy was not staffed, Cherelle Griner said Monday. The