Arizona

PHOENIX (AP) — Three American Legion posts stand within miles of each other in central Phoenix, a curious reminder of how segregation once ruled the U.S. Southwest as well as the Deep South.

Soldiers returning after World War I in 1919 chartered one of the first posts of the U.S. veterans organization near downtown. But when black and Mexican American men returned from World War II, they opened their own posts, in their own neighborhoods farther south.

TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) — Police outside Phoenix recently closed part of a street to conduct a lighting test as an investigation continues into the 2018 death of a woman who was struck and killed by an Uber self-driving SUV.

The Maricopa County Attorney’s Office says prosecutors asked for more investigation before making a decision about whether to charge backup driver Rafaela Vasquez who was supposed to take control in an emergency. Another prosecutor’s office decided in March not to charge Uber.

PHOENIX (AP) — Hundreds of people including a presidential candidate spoke out on Twitter this week after a 17-year-old black youth was killed at suburban convenience store, allegedly by a white man charged Tuesday with first-degree murder who has said he felt threatened by the boy’s rap music.

Family members have told local media that Elijah Al-Amin would have turned 18 in two weeks and was looking forward to his last year in high school.

PHOENIX (AP) — A Phoenix police officer yelled obscenities and forced an unarmed black man suspected of shoplifting up against a patrol car. Another aimed his gun at the man’s pregnant fiancee, ordering her out of the car with the couple’s two small children.

Dramatic video of the confrontation stirred outcry last month, and it came from bystanders’ cellphones rather than from officer-worn body cameras.

The police weren’t wearing them.

YUMA, Ariz. (AP) — The acting secretary of Homeland Security said Friday that he expected 25% fewer migrants to cross the border this month, as officials in Yuma unveiled the newest temporary facility meant to detain children and families.

That number of illegal crossings would still be too high, but it was a start, Kevin McAleenan said, crediting Mexico with a concentrated effort to stop Central Americans before they arrived even to Mexico — a push prompted by threats of tariffs from President Donald Trump.

PHOENIX (AP) — The young black man shown in a videotaped encounter that showed Phoenix police pointing guns and yelling obscenities at him and his pregnant fiancee told the City Council on Wednesday that he wants the officers fired.

Dravon Ames, 22, told councilmembers that he and his family “could have lost their lives over something senseless ... over a 4-year-old taking a doll.”

He said it is “sad” the officers are still employed.

Ames added, “I guess our lives are worth less than a 99-cent doll.”

The body of a 6-year-old girl from India was found this week in a remote desert area in Arizona, just over the US-Mexico border, officials said.

PHOENIX (AP) — A $10 million legal claim was filed against the city of Phoenix that says police officers committed civil rights violations by pointing guns and profanely yelling commands at the father and pregnant mother of two young daughters because one of the children, unbeknownst to the parents, had shoplifted a doll at a store.

PHOENIX (AP) — Rising trade tensions between the U.S. and China have sparked worries about the 17 exotic-sounding rare earth minerals needed for high-tech products like robotics, drones and electric cars.

China recently raised tariffs to 25% on rare earth exports to the U.S. and has threatened to halt exports altogether after the Trump administration raised tariffs on Chinese products and blacklisted telecommunications giant Huawei.

PHOENIX (AP) — The federal government has stopped paying for English-language courses and legal services at facilities that hold immigrant children around the country, imposing budget cuts it says are necessary at a time when record numbers of unaccompanied children are arriving at the border.