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Video: Camera zooms out and pans, showing the size of the crowd.

Southern Arizona veterans suffering from combat-related injuries have a new resource. Soldier’s Best Friend provides service dogs for U.S. military combat veterans living with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) or combat related Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Peoria, Ariz.-based non-profit began in 2011 after a veterinarian noticed some of his clients’ dogs were instrumental in helping them cope with their own issues such as depression or uneasiness in public. The program partners with local rescue shelters to obtain the dogs and it is from assisting the veteran and saving the dog that the organization gets its motto “Touching 2 lives at...

If your kid is attending Prescott College in Arizona this fall, you may want to double-check the detailed charges on your bill. The private school is now charging every student a “non-mandatory” per-semester fee of $30 — or $60 for the year — to fund a college scholarship for an illegal immigrant. Yes, you read that right. The fee, announced in April, appears on the bill for students in the upcoming school term, who already pay $28,000+ in tuition to attend Prescott. (Room, board, and incidentals are extra, of course.) Students can opt out of this fee — but they...

Can you name any historical figures who helped Planned Parenthood kick off its first fundraising campaign back in 1947? If you first guessed some progressive liberal icon, you’d be wrong. The die-hard public pro-life bona fides of George W. Bush and his brother and current GOP presidential candidate Jeb Bush are undeniable. Jeb has repeatedly said that he would defund Planned Parenthood if he’s elected, and it’s been a promise he’s been making long before the Center for Medical Progress launched their viral undercover video campaign attacking the non-profit, claiming the organization was “selling baby parts.” But a little known...

PRESCOTT - The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations team, along with the YCSO, arrested 14 people allegedly in the US illegally during the week of July 28, according to Yavapai County Sheriff Scott Mascher. ICE took them to the Camp Verde jail for processing and holding before being transferred to a federal facility, Mascher said, adding that the arrests took place at several locations in the county. The Camp Verde jail is one of only two designated county facilities in Arizona for holding ICE prisoners, Mascher said. It's part of the 287(g) program, which allows...

There is a fundraising drive today to collect for the families of the Granite Mountain Hotshots. I am proud to say that our Kern County Firefighters have collected over $27,000 so far today in a Fill the Boot! drive for the families. If anyone else wants to donate Granite 19 is selling memorial t-shirts on this website to help out the families. Thanks everyone!

Vice President Joe Biden delivers remarks at a memorial service for 19 "Hot Shot" firefighters killed battling the Yarnell Hill wildfire in Prescott, Arizona. The memorial takes place at the Tim's Toyota Center Arena in Prescott Valley. This is so much more than just a memorial service - it's honoring 19 young men who lived their dream of serving their fellow citizens. They are mostly in their 20's with about a dozen fatherless children under the age of six. Several wives are expecting children within the next several months. The 6,000 seats inside the arena are filled with family, invited...

Heroes in life. Legends in our hearts. Their families loved them, and now we honor them. Join us in remembering the 19 fallen firefighters - the Granite Mountain Hotshots - in a special memorial service from Prescott Valley, AZ. LIVE FEED below. The service begins at 10:45 PST. Hotshots survivor, Brendan McDonough is slated to read the Hotshot's prayer to an estimated 30,000 inside and outside during the service at Tim's Toyota Center. Vice President Joe Biden is scheduled to attend, as well as Arizona governor Brewer, and former AZ Governor and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. LIVE VIDEO LINK

Arizona Republic - allows title and link only. Full title of accompanying article: Yarnell Hill Fire: 'It's something you never want to see again' http://www.azcentral.com/news/arizona/articles/20130706yarnell-hill-fire-remembrance.html

It has been a rough week. Most of us in the Prescott area have been walking around as though we entered a bad dream, not quite believing what transpired on that hill in Yarnell. We may have tried to pick ourselves up, go to the rodeo, watch the parade and then the tragic reality jolts us back to a state of sorrow. We are trying to absorb the whole thing, accept the facts, but in churches around town yesterday, many of us sat waiting for comfort, and maybe even answers from someone with divine knowledge. "God, why did this happen?"...

As the procession escorting the fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots home came past the courthouse plaza in Prescott late Sunday afternoon, more than a thousand people stopped talking. Some put their hands over their hearts, while others clapped. Children waved flags, and many cried. "We want these young families to know how much we appreciate the sacrifice their loved ones made to protect us," Barb Corkle said. "We want to show them that we love them, that we will help them by making donations, and whatever else we can do." The 19 elite firefighters died while attacking the Yarnell Hill Fire...

PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP) — The notoriously rambunctious annual rodeo contest in Prescott added a solemn new ritual this week: a cowboy leading a riderless horse around the outdoor arena, a fire helmet sitting on its saddle, fire boots resting in the stirrups. Spectators in this Old West town of 40,000 placed straw hats over hearts and cried quietly during the tribute to the 19 firefighters who were killed Sunday, then went on to drink, laugh and cheer as heartily as the miners and ranchers who patronized the arena in the 1800s. Emotional whiplash has become a matter of course here...

Fundraising Update Thus far, the 3 official fundraising efforts to help the families of the fallen have raised about $700,000. • The 100 Club has raised approximately $500,000. • The Wildland Firefighters Foundation (52 Club) has raised approximately $120,000. • The United Phoenix Fire Fighters and Prescott Firefighters Charities have raised approximately $80,000. In the Prescott/Yarnell area, two local fundraising events have been scheduled for this week. • 4th of July Fireworks at Pioneer Park from 12 noon to 10 pm. • Whiskey Row Street Dance on Saturday, July 6th 5-11pm Other fundraising events will be announced in the days...

Above: Juliann Ashcraft, wife of Granite Mountain Hotshot Andrew Ashcraft, is consoled by her father-in-law Tom Ashcraft while looking at a memorial outside of Prescott Fire Department Station No. 7 where the Granite Mountain Hotshots are based, Monday morning in Prescott.  (Matt Hinshaw/The Daily Courier).-- Nineteen members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots, based in Prescott, Ariz., were killed Sunday evening when a windblown wildfire overcame them north of Phoenix. It was the deadliest single day for U.S. firefighters since Sept. 11. Fourteen of the victims were in their 20s. Family members of the 19 fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots gathered at the hotshots'...

PRESCOTT - Family members of the 19 fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots gathered at the hotshots' station along 6th Street in Prescott late Monday morning to console each other and gather the belongings of their loved ones. Juliann Ashcraft, wife of fallen Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighter Andrew Ashcraft, was among them. She walked out of the fire station holding her husband's hotshot sweater. She stopped to talk briefly with people gathered in front of the fire station at a makeshift memorial. About the same time, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett was talking about how his family members saw Juliann Sunday...

Above: The Granite Mountain Hot Shots of Prescott, Arizona. 19 of 20 crew members perished in the Yarnell Hill fire today.- Gusty, hot winds blew an Arizona blaze out of control Sunday in a forest northwest of Phoenix, overtaking and killing 19 members of an elite fire crew in the deadliest wildfire involving firefighters in the U.S. for at least 80 years - and the worst since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001/ Members of the Granite Mountain Hotshots were forced to deploy their fire shelters - tent-like structures meant to shield firefighters from flames and...

Prescott Fire Department confirmed 19 firefighters have died while battling the Yarnell Hill fire on Sunday night. They're part of the Prescott Granite Mountain Hot Shots. The wildfire was likely caused by a lightning strike Saturday night. The Yarnell Hill fire, about 35 miles southwest of Prescott, has burned about 1,300 acres and forced the evacuation of 50 homes. The fire started Friday and has not yet burned down any structures, but Sunday night firefighters pushed the blaze back away from communities, hoping to keep the blaze from overtaking any homes. A growing fire in Yarnell forced about 600 residents...

PRESCOTT, Ariz. - A big fire occurred at Whiskey Row in Prescott on Tuesday. Three businesses were destroyed -- including the Bird Cage Saloon, leaving more than 30 people without jobs.

A Prescott radio host embroiled in a controversy over a school mural is off the air, while the mural won't be subject to a whitewash order. Steve Blair, who also holds a seat on the Prescott City Council, was let go from his talk radio show after drawing fire for his opposition to an environmental mural painted on an elementary school. The "Go to Green" mural, based on the faces of children who attend the school, drew local criticism for featuring minority children. The school district has reversed its request to lighten the faces of the students in the mural,...

Mural Ignites Debate on Race, Censorship in Arizona (June 5) -- An Arizona school mural designed to promote environmentally friendly transportation has ignited a debate about race and censorship of the arts. Officials at Miller Valley Elementary School in Prescott, Ariz., asked the painters of the mural to lighten the skin of children depicted after a city councilman denounced its prominent portrayal of ethnic minorities. Following protests, the principal apologized today for making the request. "Miller Valley made a mistake when we asked them to lighten the mural. We made a mistake," said Principal Jeff Lane. The mural shows children...