Valley 101

Movies used to be the dominating driving force in pop culture.  Hollywood was the center of entertainment. Actors, producers, directors: dreams being made. The Silver Screen was a fantasy come true for many. But over the past decade, things have changed. That domination lessened as new players entered the game. Streaming apps gained more and more popularity, becoming the go-to spot to see a film. Numbers have jumped this year, but are still lagging behind pre-COVID levels. The impact has the entire industry thinking about its future and how to move forward. For this week of Valley 101, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we spoke with Arizona State University film and media professor Kevin Sandler to talk about the movie theatre industry, the current problems and we look ahead to the future.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Arizona has sharks. No, really. Around 300 million years ago, portions of the 48th state were covered in shallow seas. And prowling these primordial waters were some wild and bizarre sharks. A few might even rival the mighty megalodon. In this episode of Valley 101, we unearth which sharks called Arizona home, whether or not megalodon swam here, and what modern-day sharks you can see in the Valley. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Think you know Arizona? You might want to think again. The 48th state is filled with weird, unusual, and just downright quirky facts that even long-time residents might not know. We found three Arizona-only oddities that just might surprise you. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Summers in Arizona mean heat, triple-digit temperatures, and desperately trying to stay cool. But summers in Arizona also mean monsoons - big, bright thunderstorms returning rain to the desert.  During the summer monsoon season, Phoenix receives one-third of its annual rainfall, a necessary relief to help combat the drought that 83% of the state is experiencing, according to the National Weather Service.  While monsoons bring reprieve from the extreme heat and aid in the drought, they are sometimes responsible for power outages and extreme flooding.   Flooding in urban areas, such as Phoenix, often causes minor headaches such as traffic congestion on surface streets and highways. However, in parts of the state outside the Valley, floods can be dangerous, and occasionally deadly.  In this week's episode of Valley 101, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we share the good and the bad of monsoon season in Arizona. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This past Saturday, temperatures rose to 118 degrees, breaking a 25 year old record. Excessive heat warnings are planned throughout the week.  It’s that time of year when all your out of state friends ask, “Why do you live there again?” The answer is winters, but this week, they might have a point. It hasn’t been this hot for this long in almost 50 years. Arizona has now had 18 days in a row of temperatures over 110.  Tomorrow will break the record from 1974. And while we don’t deal with tornadoes, hurricanes or blizzards, our extreme heat does impact the flights in and out of Sky Harbor International Airport. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's no secret that the Arizona Diamondbacks have struggled a lot. But, right now, they are in first place in the National League West behind budding star outfielder Corbin Carroll. Valley 101 talks baseball. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Anyone who knows pizza or even knows Arizona cuisine knows Chris Bianco. Bianco skyrocketed to fame when his pizza became world-renowned, making Phoenix an unexpected go-to destination for foodies worldwide. Back in 2003, he was the first pizza maker ever to win the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest. Bianco is often referred to as the father of the modern pizza movement. Twenty years later, he’s still winning awards. As recently as last year, Bianco collected a James Beard Award for Best Restaurateur. But what makes his pizzas so good?  For this week's episode of Valley 101, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we traveled the state visiting the farmers who work with Chris Bianco and discovered just how rich Arizona’s agricultural industry is.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Doctors’ offices and medical spas in Arizona are getting flooded with requests for prescriptions for new drugs. They originally were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat Type 2 diabetes, but their success in helping people lose weight is what's making them a near-household name. As patients are reporting promising results, word is getting around. It’s almost impossible to avoid hearing about Ozempic, Wegovy and their active ingredient, semaglutide, in the news or on social media. But are these new so-called miracle drugs too good to be true? Who are they really for, and how can people get them? This week on The Lab at azcentral, in conjunction with Valley 101, we look into how the drugs work and the reality of how they make people feel. We spoke with doctors, patients and others to find out why the drugs are different from other weight-loss interventions and why the medications have become divisive, both culturally and socioeconomically. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.

Spicy: it's the flavor you see everywhere. Just take a look at your local convenience store. Spicy chips, spicy chicken sandwiches, spicy noodles. There's even a movie now about Flamin' Hot Cheetos. It's also culture-defining. What would Mexican, Thai or Indian food be without chili kicking up the heat? But before that spicy seasoning can be sprinkled onto your favorite foods, it starts in the ground as a chili pepper seed. One of the people producing those seeds is Ed Curry, who operates the Curry Seed and Chile Co. in Pearce, Arizona. Curry has been working on the genetics of peppers for almost his whole life. In the farming industry, most of the peppers grown commercially in the United States can be traced back to his farm. But how did chili peppers get to Arizona in the first place? And why are Arizona's chilis making such a huge impact nationwide? In this episode of Valley 101, in conjunction with The Lab, we find out these answers and more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The saguaro cactus is perhaps the most iconic symbol of our state. You can find it everywhere from coffee cups to murals to tattoos. People love saguaros but we know surprisingly little about them. The Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix and other researchers are trying to fix that. The first step is to count as many of the saguaros growing in the Valley as possible. "Naively, we call this the Saguaro Census because we thought we were going to be capable of counting every single saguaro in the city. We clearly overestimated our capabilities because the Phoenix Valley is huge," Tania Hernandez says. She works as a research scientist at the Desert Botanical Gardens. For help with this task, the Gardens are turning to the public for help. In this episode of Valley 101, in conjunction with The Lab, we're exploring two questions: why does the saguaro cactus only grow in the Sonoran Desert? And how many are there? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our DNA can help tell a story about our past, present, and future through genetic testing, and that testing is becoming much more common. Solio Felix came into the emergency room last June with what he thought was heat stroke or a heart attack. This is when a nurse told him that he'd be a perfect candidate for a genetic testing study. He and his wife have no family history of cardiovascular disease, but this doesn't mean that they aren't at risk or that they didn't pass something along to their teenage daughter. Through genetic testing done in Arizona, they were able to find out their risk level and prepare for the future. But what is genetic testing, and how is it improving doctors' advice and treatment plans? This episode marks the start of the second season of our podcast The Lab at azcentral, being hosted on Valley 101, where we dive into science stories that affect everyday life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Valley 101 surveyed the best places in Phoenix to keep cool this summer. From Lake Pleasant to the Salt River, Sunsplash to Hurricane Harbor, hosts Kaely Monahan and Amanda Luberto hash out their top picks for spots to beat the heat. Plus they explore pools of the past and the new water attractions coming to Phoenix. We're getting wet and wild in this episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the winter of 2022 and early spring of 2023, Arizona got a lot of rain. We had the rainiest January and March in years. In addition, 2022-23 brought record snowfall for Flagstaff. As the days heat up and that snow melts, the runoff is making its way into the state's reservoirs. Did all of this rain and snow make a difference, or was it just a drop in the bucket for the state’s 29-year-long drought? In this week's episode of Valley 101, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we talk with weather experts about the state’s rainfall, where that precipitation goes and how it will affect the state's future. Follow Valley 101 and all azcentral podcasts on Twitter and on Instagram. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We love bringing you stories about metro Phoenix and the cities around us. Whether you’re a native or a transplant, answering your questions helps us discover more about what makes Arizona the way it is. One question we get a lot is “Why are the streets downtown named after Presidents?” So as we prepare a special summer series for you, we’re bringing back an episode from the archive to answer this question. In today’s episode of Valley 101, a podcast from The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we find out how this came to be and what it would take to continue it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A lot of things are unique about Arizona. One of them is our architecture, from the beautiful buildings to the overpasses on the highway that include decorations you just don't see in other states. People from all over the world come here to be inspired by Arizona and incorporate it into their designs. And about an hour north of Phoenix is another remarkable feat of architecture. It's off the beaten path, and the signs are easy to miss. And the buildings were designed with the environment in mind, so they blend in perfectly. This is the artist collective known as Arcosanti. It was the brainchild of Italian-born architect Paolo Soleri in 1970. Today, the Valley 101 podcast will give you an audio tour. Along the way, we'll answer three key questions: What is Arcosanti? How did it get started? What are the residents up to today? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's next for Fiesta Mall? What about Metrocenter? Which brick-and-mortar shopping hubs are still hopping? In this episode, The Republic's real estate development and growth reporter Corina Vanek, reveals what's next for Valley shoppers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today is the second episode on our two-part series looking at Black representation on the Phoenix City Council. Morrison F. Warren was the first Black man to ever sit on the Phoenix City Council. But he wasn't a politician. Rather Warren spent his life building bridges through education and advocating for equality. He grew up at a time when Phoenix was segregated. It was something that struck him deeply. He graduated valedictorian of his high school and attended Phoenix College before serving in the Army during World War II. He survived and came back to Phoenix to earn his bachelor's degree from Arizona State University, then called Arizona State College. He was a star player on the football team there and even had a short stint in the NFL. Later, Warren moved on to get his master's and PhD, all in education from ASU. In this episode, we hear from his son, Kevin Warren, and from Morrison Warren himself from an archived interview. The audio of Morrison Warren is provided by the Arizona Historical Society. You

When you think of Arizona, the images and people that come to mind are very stereotypical. Wide desert vistas and mountains, cactus and clear skies, cowboys and Native Tribes, Latinos and snowbirds…who have lived here for generations.  What you probably don’t think of is the rich history of African Americans who also settled this state. At present, the Black population makes up 5.4% of Arizona’s census. That might not seem like much, but African Americas are the third largest demographic in our state. When looking at Phoenix alone, the percentage jumps up to 7.4% of the population identifying as Black or African American. The number is growing. The Arizona Republic has found that 800,000 African Americans have moved to the Valley since 2010. And that expansion hasn’t stopped, even with the pandemic. In this two-part series, we are taking a closer look at African American representation on the Phoenix City Council. We’re starting with two winners that have made history. Then, next week in episode two, we’ll go

The phrase goes "April showers bring May flowers," but seasons in the desert don't always conform. The rainiest March in three years, with a total of 1.47 inches across Phoenix, has left the mountainsides around the Phoenix area abloom. From Mexican gold poppies and fiddlenecks, to purple scorpionweed and globe mallows, the desert landscape is more colorful than usual. In this week's episode of Valley 101, a podcast by The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com, we hear from reporters and editors from our newsroom on their favorite places to see wildflowers. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The lore of Arizona includes everything from Native stories to supernatural occurrences to tales of desperados. There's one style of story that gets told more than any other − that of hidden troves of gold. And nowhere does the lure of a forgotten mine echo more than in the Superstition Mountains. Jacob Waltz, commonly called "the Dutchman," came to America from Germany. Along the way, he developed an interest in prospecting in the western United States. It's here in Arizona where it's said he struck gold. Literally. Stories vary on how he found it, but Waltz supposedly discovered a mother lode of gold ore in the Superstition wilderness. Though he died more than a century ago, no one has found the Lost Dutchman Mine. Valley 101 explores the history and current state of the search for mine that has been the subject of numerous myths and legends. This topic came to us from one of our listeners, who asked a simple yet poignant question: Is there a Lost Dutchman Gold Mine? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit