Latest news with #KPHO
The Independent
16-04-2025
- The Independent
2-year-old boy guided to safety by rancher's dog after wandering 7 miles alone in Arizona wilderness
A ranch dog in Arizona is being hailed as a hero after it led a lost toddler out of the desert wilderness and back to safety. Officials in Kingman reported that a two-year-old child slipped away from his home on Monday night and wandered into the rugged wilds of the Arizona countryside. The child's disappearance kicked off a 16-hour search that ended on Tuesday morning after the boy was found by an unlikely rescuer. Scotty Dunton, of Dunton Ranch, said he had heard about the missing child, identified as Boden Allen, in the local news, and was shocked when he saw a toddler matching the missing child's description wandering onto his property alongside his dog, Buford. "I'd heard about the missing child before I was going to town, and when I was driving out the driveway I noticed my dog was sitting down by the entrance," the rancher told KPHO. "I look up, and there's a little kid standing there with my dog." The boy wandered seven miles from his home in Seligman, crossed rough canyon lands, and endured a cold night in the desert before proceeding to Dunton's Ranch. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office even noted that a pair of mountain lions had been spotted on their thermal imaging cameras while deputies were searching for the boy. Dunton said his ranch and Boden's home are separated by "three big mountain ranges" and "big valleys," and believes it's likely the boy followed a dirt path under nearby power lines to make it to his ranch. Even following the path, Dunton said he still "can't believe the kid made it that far," according to CBS News. After bringing Boden in, Dunton asked the boy if he had walked all night. The boy reportedly said he slept under a tree during the night. The rancher then asked if his dog, an Anatolian Pyrenees named Buford, found him. The boy reportedly said yes. Dunton said Buford is a "guardian" by his nature and spends his evening patrolling the ranch. 'He goes out at night and just kind of patrols. He goes half a mile, a mile from the house and just makes big loops, keeps coyotes out," the rancher told 12 News. He told KPHO that he wasn't surprised Buford took a special interest in Boden. "It's what he does. He loves kids, so I can imagine he wouldn't leave him when he found him," Dunton said. "It was a relief that he was alive. I was ecstatic that he was OK and that my dog found him." Dunton provided Boden with water and shelter and notified law enforcement that the boy had been found. The toddler was eventually reunited with the family, but not before Dunton offered him some kudos for making it through his harrowing journey. 'I told him, 'Buddy, you're the toughest little two-year-old I've ever seen.' He's like, 'Yep,'" Dunton told 12 News. The rancher told the broadcaster he planned to reward Buford for a job well done. "Oh, he's getting steak dinner tonight, my wife already said," Dunton said. "He did a great job."
Yahoo
16-04-2025
- Yahoo
2-year-old boy guided to safety by rancher's dog after wandering 7 miles alone in Arizona wilderness
A ranch dog in Arizona is being hailed as a hero after it led a lost toddler out of the desert wilderness and back to safety. Officials in Kingman reported that a two-year-old child slipped away from his home on Monday night and wandered into the rugged wilds of the Arizona countryside. The child's disappearance kicked off a 16-hour search that ended on Tuesday morning after the boy was found by an unlikely rescuer. Scotty Dunton, of Dunton Ranch, said he had heard about the missing child, identified as Boden Allen, in the local news, and was shocked when he saw a toddler matching the missing child's description wandering onto his property alongside his dog, Buford. "I'd heard about the missing child before I was going to town, and when I was driving out the driveway I noticed my dog was sitting down by the entrance," the rancher told KPHO. "I look up, and there's a little kid standing there with my dog." The boy wandered seven miles from his home in Seligman, crossed rough canyon lands, and endured a cold night in the desert before proceeding to Dunton's Ranch. The Yavapai County Sheriff's Office even noted that a pair of mountain lions had been spotted on their thermal imaging cameras while deputies were searching for the boy. Dunton said his ranch and Boden's home are separated by "three big mountain ranges" and "big valleys," and believes it's likely the boy followed a dirt path under nearby power lines to make it to his ranch. Even following the path, Dunton said he still "can't believe the kid made it that far," according to CBS News. After bringing Boden in, Dunton asked the boy if he had walked all night. The boy reportedly said he slept under a tree during the night. The rancher then asked if his dog, an Anatolian Pyrenees named Buford, found him. The boy reportedly said yes. Dunton said Buford is a "guardian" by his nature and spends his evening patrolling the ranch. 'He goes out at night and just kind of patrols. He goes half a mile, a mile from the house and just makes big loops, keeps coyotes out," the rancher told 12 News. He told KPHO that he wasn't surprised Buford took a special interest in Boden. "It's what he does. He loves kids, so I can imagine he wouldn't leave him when he found him," Dunton said. "It was a relief that he was alive. I was ecstatic that he was OK and that my dog found him." Dunton provided Boden with water and shelter and notified law enforcement that the boy had been found. The toddler was eventually reunited with the family, but not before Dunton offered him some kudos for making it through his harrowing journey. 'I told him, 'Buddy, you're the toughest little two-year-old I've ever seen.' He's like, 'Yep,'" Dunton told 12 News. The rancher told the broadcaster he planned to reward Buford for a job well done. "Oh, he's getting steak dinner tonight, my wife already said," Dunton said. "He did a great job."
Axios
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Phoenix to consider ceremonial street renaming for Wallace and Ladmo
Wallace and Ladmo still have a special place in many of our hearts, and the Phoenix City Council is poised to honor them with a ceremonial street sign. State of play: The council is scheduled to vote at Wednesday's meeting on a proposal to install a ceremonial street sign at the intersection of McKinley Street and 1st Avenue, dubbing it "Wallace and Ladmo Way." The intersection near the former KPHO studio where "The Wallace and Ladmo Show" started. A mural of Wallace, Ladmo and their arrogant nemesis Gerald adorns the building, which is now First Studio. Flashback: The show — originally titled "It's Wallace?" — first aired in 1954. Cameraperson Ladimir Kwiatkowski joined Bill "Wallace" Thompson shortly after, and Pat McMahon joined the show in 1960, playing a host of characters, perhaps most notably Gerald. One of the show's most memorable features was when Ladmo Bags, paper sacks of candy and other treats, were doled out to children. My thought bubble: I was 9 years old when "The Wallace and Ladmo Show" went off the air and was probably from the last generation of Arizonans to grow up watching it. I'm happy to see its memory live on.
Yahoo
20-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arizona lawmakers ready ‘bounty' bill that would pay police agencies $2,500 for every migrant deported
An Arizona lawmaker has proposed a bill that would give state and local police agencies a $2,500 'bounty' for each deportation of an unauthorized migrant they help secure. The proposal, Senate Bill 1111, would tax international remittance payments made from inside the state and use this money to fund the bounty program. 'What we don't want are criminal illegal aliens on our streets. So in line with the wildly popular mass deportation that President Trump is currently engaging in, we are going to ensure that our law enforcement is doing its job to support that effort and make sure our streets are safe,' the bill's Republican sponsor, Senator Jake Hoffman, told KPHO. Migrant advocates have warned that the proposal could cause even lawful migrants to fear engaging with police, and Arizona's Democratic governor Katie Hobbs has said she will not sign the bill. "There's no way in Hell the Governor signs a tax hike into law, especially one that puts a bounty on the heads of innocent people who have worked hard, paid taxes and lived in their communities for decades," a spokesperson for Hobbs told Arizona Republic. "Arizonans want border security, they don't want to turn hard working law enforcement officers into bounty hunters." Arizona, a border state with purple politics, has long grappled with whether and to what extent local law enforcement should assist in immigration enforcement, an area of longstanding federal power. In November, Arizona voters approved Proposition 314, which would make it a state crime in addition to a federal civil violation to cross the border without authorization, as well as empowering state judges to order deportations. The measure is on hold pending an appeals court ruling. Some Arizona sheriffs have previously expressed concerns over becoming a part of the federal immigration enforcement apparatus, arguing it would tax limited resources and fall outside their powers. 'There's just nowhere in my duties or responsibilities as the sheriff here that I should be involved or engaged' in such deportations operations, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos recently told KTAR. 'That's not what we're here to do.' 'We're not doing their job.' State lawmakers have proposed a variety of new bills on immigration since Trump took office, including one that would require all state and local police agencies to sign cooperation agreements with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and another that would bar such cooperation. Four Arizona law enforcement agencies — Yavapai, Pinal and La Paz counties, and the city of Mesa — already have cooperation agreements, known 287(g) deals. Backers argue they help federal officials enforcement immigration violations more effectively by having local police help identify and detain offenders, while critics argue they encourage unlawful detention and often take place in departments with documented histories of racial profiling. These efforts to assist Trump are nothing new. Prior to Trump taking office again, Arizona's then-Governor Doug Ducey tried to build a state border wall with shipping containers, though a federal lawsuit then forced him to take those down in 2022. As The Independent has reported, the state remains the site of numerous environmentally devastating, largely ineffective federal border wall construction projects that took place throughout the Biden and Trump administrations. Arizona also has a long history of controversial immigration enforcement by local police. The sheriff's office in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, has been under a federally appointed monitor since 2013, stemming from a finding in a class action lawsuit that the department engaged in racial profiling against Latinos as part of then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio's police-driven immigration crackdown. Over a decade later, federal monitors say the department still is falling short on eliminating bias from its traffic stops and clearing a backlog of internal investigations. The Trump administration will need the cooperation of local police to fulfill its promises of a nationwide deportation operation removing millions of people from the country, and the president has long sought to valorize aggressive local law enforcement involvement in immigration. Trump's first pardon, in 2017, was of Arpaio, who was serving a 6-month sentence for disobeying a federal court order to stop racial profiling. The new administration has said it will attempt to block federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration operations. Trump border czar Tom Homan has also threatened local leaders with prosecution if they are deemed to have impeded immigration operations.
The Independent
20-02-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Arizona lawmakers ready ‘bounty' bill that would pay police agencies $2,500 for every migrant deported
An Arizona lawmaker has proposed a bill that would give state and local police agencies a $2,500 'bounty' for each deportation of an unauthorized migrant they help secure. The proposal, Senate Bill 1111, would tax international remittance payments made from inside the state and use this money to fund the bounty program. 'What we don't want are criminal illegal aliens on our streets. So in line with the wildly popular mass deportation that President Trump is currently engaging in, we are going to ensure that our law enforcement is doing its job to support that effort and make sure our streets are safe,' the bill's Republican sponsor, Senator Jake Hoffman, told KPHO. Migrant advocates have warned that the proposal could cause even lawful migrants to fear engaging with police, and Arizona's Democratic governor Katie Hobbs has said she will not sign the bill. "There's no way in Hell the Governor signs a tax hike into law, especially one that puts a bounty on the heads of innocent people who have worked hard, paid taxes and lived in their communities for decades," a spokesperson for Hobbs told Arizona Republic. "Arizonans want border security, they don't want to turn hard working law enforcement officers into bounty hunters." Arizona, a border state with purple politics, has long grappled with whether and to what extent local law enforcement should assist in immigration enforcement, an area of longstanding federal power. In November, Arizona voters approved Proposition 314, which would make it a state crime in addition to a federal civil violation to cross the border without authorization, as well as empowering state judges to order deportations. The measure is on hold pending an appeals court ruling. Some Arizona sheriffs have previously expressed concerns over becoming a part of the federal immigration enforcement apparatus, arguing it would tax limited resources and fall outside their powers. 'There's just nowhere in my duties or responsibilities as the sheriff here that I should be involved or engaged' in such deportations operations, Pima County Sheriff Chris Nanos recently told KTAR. 'That's not what we're here to do.' 'We're not doing their job.' State lawmakers have proposed a variety of new bills on immigration since Trump took office, including one that would require all state and local police agencies to sign cooperation agreements with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, and another that would bar such cooperation. Four Arizona law enforcement agencies — Yavapai, Pinal and La Paz counties, and the city of Mesa — already have cooperation agreements, known 287(g) deals. Backers argue they help federal officials enforcement immigration violations more effectively by having local police help identify and detain offenders, while critics argue they encourage unlawful detention and often take place in departments with documented histories of racial profiling. These efforts to assist Trump are nothing new. Prior to Trump taking office again, Arizona's then-Governor Doug Ducey tried to build a state border wall with shipping containers, though a federal lawsuit then forced him to take those down in 2022. As The Independent has reported, the state remains the site of numerous environmentally devastating, largely ineffective federal border wall construction projects that took place throughout the Biden and Trump administrations. Arizona also has a long history of controversial immigration enforcement by local police. The sheriff's office in Maricopa County, home to Phoenix, has been under a federally appointed monitor since 2013, stemming from a finding in a class action lawsuit that the department engaged in racial profiling against Latinos as part of then-Sheriff Joe Arpaio's police-driven immigration crackdown. Over a decade later, federal monitors say the department still is falling short on eliminating bias from its traffic stops and clearing a backlog of internal investigations. The Trump administration will need the cooperation of local police to fulfill its promises of a nationwide deportation operation removing millions of people from the country, and the president has long sought to valorize aggressive local law enforcement involvement in immigration. Trump's first pardon, in 2017, was of Arpaio, who was serving a 6-month sentence for disobeying a federal court order to stop racial profiling. The new administration has said it will attempt to block federal funding to so-called sanctuary cities, jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration operations. Trump border czar Tom Homan has also threatened local leaders with prosecution if they are deemed to have impeded immigration operations.
