story archive
Stories by Kristen Hwang
Posted May 12, 2015, 3:15 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
It's slow going as the Arizona State Museum sifts through decades of its collections to figure out which items are sacred and which human remains should be returned to tribes. But it's important, officials say. “These were people," said one worker at the museum.... Read more»
Posted May 12, 2015, 1:59 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
Tribes had hoped the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act would bring the return of sacred items and human remains from museums. But 25 years later, more than 70 percent of tribal remains haven't been turned over. Critics say the law is falling short. ... Read more»
Posted Apr 22, 2015, 4:48 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
Changes to health care law in the past year gave millions of Americans access to mental health and substance abuse treatment, but did nothing to address a 'critical' shortage of professionals who can provide that care.... Read more»
Posted Apr 14, 2015, 12:12 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
Border agencies know all about miles of fence and officers on the ground, but such "brute force" numbers do little to show the actual success or failure of border security policy, experts said. Without that data, border spending decisions are little more than "a shot in the dark." ... Read more»
Posted Apr 13, 2015, 4:34 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
A plan to end an age-old land dispute between the Navajo and Hopi was supposed to take five years and $41 million, but 30 years and $564 million later families are still waiting to be moved. No one seems happy with the relocation effort. But few want to see it go away – yet. ... Read more»
Posted Apr 8, 2015, 4:15 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
The two Arizona counties joined dozens of local governments on a court brief urging immediate implementation of the president's orders on immigration - orders Arizona is suing to block. One county official said suing to back immigration reform was the "right thing to do."... Read more»
Posted Mar 30, 2015, 7:04 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
A federal appeals court upheld the conviction Monday of a Tucson contractor who set off a homemade chlorine bomb at a former customer’s home in 2009, creating a noxious cloud that forced a neighborhood evacuation.... Read more»
Posted Mar 27, 2015, 7:41 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
House members repeatedly patted themselves on the back Thursday for passing a permanent fix to a broken Medicare funding formula, after years of “kicking the can down the road.”
... Read more»
Posted Mar 25, 2015, 11:55 am
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
When the federal government opened foster care assistance to Native American tribes in 2008, more than 80 expressed interest in the program. By 2014, however, just 27 tribes had applied and only five had been approved for the federal program, their efforts hobbled by a lack of resources, inflexibility by federal bureaucrats and cultural insensitivity.... Read more»
Posted Mar 25, 2015, 11:41 am
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
Around 885,000 Arizonans owe more than $22.6 billion in federal student loans – numbers that students and experts fear will only get worse under a 13 percent university funding cut in the just-approved state budget.... Read more»
Posted Mar 13, 2015, 1:18 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
The number of state-run mobile apps connecting citizens to government services has increased steadily in recent years, but Arizona still trails many states in its efforts to develop government-on-the-go.... Read more»
Posted Mar 5, 2015, 10:23 am
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to Washington on Wednesday to urge Congress to have “the courage to do what’s right” and pass a bill that would require background checks for all commercial gun sales.... Read more»
Posted Feb 27, 2015, 12:02 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
Arizona technology companies and rural broadband providers expressed concerns about the Internet regulations approved Thursday by the Federal Communications Commission – partly because they don’t have all the details, which makes the ultimate impact unclear.... Read more»
Posted Feb 25, 2015, 10:26 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
A conservation group held a mock “auction” of the Grand Canyon Wednesday to illustrate what they said could happen if Congress strips the president’s authority to identify and protect national monuments.... Read more»
Posted Feb 18, 2015, 12:33 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
Arizona is one of 26 states suing to block President Obama's expanded immigration reforms, and state GOP lawmakers hailed the order delaying those policies two days before they were to take effect. Immigration advocates were unfazed, confident the order will be overturned. ... Read more»
Posted Feb 3, 2015, 8:42 pm
Kristen Hwang
/Cronkite News
The charged hearing on immigration enforcement came as Congress grappled with Department of Homeland Security funding, which ends this month. A House bill to fund the agency without money for the president's immigration actions is stalled in the Senate. ... Read more»