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USA Today
22-07-2025
- Health
- USA Today
RFK Jr. hiked 'extremely difficult' Phoenix trail in July heat
The high temperature in Phoenix was 107 degrees and the low was 87 degrees that day, according to National Weather Service. PHOENIX - Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hiked one of Arizona's most iconic sites over the weekend, donning a pair of blue jeans to climb the popular Camelback Mountain peak during what is often the state's hottest month of the year. Kennedy made the climb with his son, William "Finn" Kennedy. 'With Finn atop Camelback in Phoenix this morning,' Kennedy said, sharing a photo of the pair at 11:30 a.m. MST on July 19 on X. Camelback Mountain is an iconic Phoenix hiking destination. Both of Camelback's main trails are rated 'extremely difficult,' according to the city of Phoenix. The trails entail steep elevation gains, uneven terrain and 'a path that is unprotected from the elements.' 'Only experienced hikers' should attempt the trail 'during optimal weather conditions,' according to the city. The summit sits 2,704 feet above sea level. With Finn atop Camelback in Phoenix this morning. Kyle Herrig, 47, was headed down Echo Canyon Trail on July 19 when he encountered Kennedy hiking up the trail at around 8 a.m. The health secretary was with his son and two other young men, Herrig told The Republic, a USA TODAY Network partner. Herrig did a double-take when he realized who was walking toward him. He said hello to Kennedy and thanked him for the work he's doing at HHS. Kennedy then offered to snap a few selfies on the trail. The moment was particularly noteworthy for Herrig, who lives in Chandler, Arizona, because he has a passion for health and fitness. He's the owner of Triplex Training in Chandler and Scottsdale. 'I thought that was kind of cool,' Herrig said. 'Meeting probably one of the most influential health people in the country right now.' Kennedy's signature T-shirt and jeans made him 'even more recognizable,' Herrig said. Kennedy has been seen working out in denim countless times. 'I glanced at him, and was like, 'You're going old school today, huh? Rocking the blue jeans,'' Herrig said. 'He said, 'Yeah, that was a bad idea.'' Hiking Camelback Mountain in the summertime is not for the faint of heart. Dozens of people are rescued from Camelback Mountain each year because of its terrain. The Phoenix Fire Department encourages hikers to avoid hiking between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and stay off trails entirely during excessive heat warnings. The National Weather Service did not issue an excessive heat warning on July 19, the day Kennedy hiked Camelback Mountain with his son. The high temperature was 107 degrees and the low was 87 degrees on July 19, according to National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Tom Frieders. Hikers should still be careful in those conditions, he noted. 'There's still a moderate heat risk, which means that it can be impactful, even fatal, if necessary precautions aren't taken,' Friders said. 'Any time temperatures are above 100 degrees, for sure, you need to definitely stay hydrated, and we still try to tell people to do those outdoor activities earlier on in the day when it's not as hot.' Kennedy's Health and Human Services Department oversees key government agencies including the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Indian Health Service and the Food and Drug Administration, among others. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment. Kennedy is a familiar face in Arizona. He made an official visit to the state in April, where he promoted the 'Make America Healthy Again' agenda and railed against ultraprocessed foods at the state Capitol. Last year, Kennedy ended his independent bid for president during an Arizona visit and endorsed President Donald Trump. Kennedy returned to Glendale to campaign for Trump, where made headlines by revealing that he was under investigation 'for collecting a whale specimen 20 years ago.' Stephanie Murray covers national politics and the Trump administration for The Arizona Republic and Reach her via email at and on X, Bluesky, TikTok and Threads @stephanie_murr.
Newsweek
13-07-2025
- Business
- Newsweek
Texas Housing Market To Change in September: What To Know
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Texas lawmakers trying to solve the state's housing affordability crisis passed a bill during the last legislative session that experts say will be a "game-changer" for the development of multifamily homes. Senate Bill 840 or SB 840, which was introduced by Republican state Senator Bryan Hughes and signed into law by Governor Greg Abbott in June, would streamline the process of turning non-residential commercial buildings in the state into mixed-use and multi-family residential ones. Under the new legislation, any land that is already classified as a zone for office, commercial, retail, warehouse or existing mixed uses could be turned into mixed-use residential housing without the need for a zone change. Essentially, the legislation does away with a process that some have complained can be time-consuming and expensive—at least in some cases. The mixed-use housing and office property The Republic is seen undergoing construction downtown on October 9, 2023, in Austin, Texas. The mixed-use housing and office property The Republic is seen undergoing construction downtown on October 9, 2023, in Austin, To Know About The Bill "SB 840 aims to tackle the state's widening housing shortage by allowing underused commercial land and buildings to be repurposed for multifamily development 'by right,'" Fawaz Bham, real estate law expert and partner at Dallas-based law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth, told Newsweek. "More pointedly, it rebalances the power dynamic between developers who are eager to create new mixed-use projects or convert existing commercial properties against the desire of municipalities to closely negotiate, guide, and shape build sites in their cities," he said. The bill applies only to cities with more than 150,000 residents that are in a county with more than 300,000 residents. That means that the legislation will impact less than 20 cities, including the Texas capital, Austin, where proposals to add thousands of units to two sites—almost 900 residential units 200 East Riverside Drive and up to 2,400 in Anderson Square—have already been approved. But SB 840 does more than reforming zoning regulation. It also prohibits certain restrictions on density, building height and parking for multifamily and mixed-use developments. Under the bill, municipalities cannot require more than one parking space per dwelling unit or a multilevel parking structure. They must allow the multifamily density to be the highest allowed in the municipality or 36 units per acre, whichever is greater; and the heights limits must allow the greater of the highest height allowed on the side by the zoning code or 45 feet. "By removing these barriers for the repurposing of these vacant and underutilized properties, the legislature has opened the door to a significant opportunity for developers to meet the ever-growing housing needs in Texas," Clay B. Pulliam, partner at Dallas-based law firm Troutman Pepper Locke, wrote in a recent report assessing the bill. The bill is expected to go into effect on September 1, 2025. Newsweek contacted Hughes for comment by email on July 4 for comment. How The Bill Could Change Texas Real estate experts believe that the bill will spark a "revolution" in the Lone Star State's multifamily market, where it is being hailed as a likely "game-changer." The most significant impact of the new legislation would be to allow developers in the state to utilize vacant or underutilized office buildings—which became a problem for some cities in the state, like Houston, during the pandemic years—retail centers and warehouses for multifamily housing. "There are suburban and infill areas with empty big boxes or underutilized retail and office buildings which have become acquisition targets as developers realize the potential upside of SB 840 and other companion bills that have recently passed," Bham said. Julia Parenteau, Director of Public Policy at Texas Realtors, told Newsweek: "While commercial conversions are a more niche issue, I'd anticipate the allowance of mixed-use and multi-family by right in certain zoning areas will have a positive impact by way of more multi-family housing developments going onto the market in the coming years. "Additionally, zoning by right shaves approximately 18 months off the time frame for development, allowing the conversation to focus on what amenities and designs the municipality wants or needs in the development, not whether the project is feasible." This infusion of new inventory could, in turn, help first-time and lower-income homebuyers in the state, as multi-family homes tend to be more affordable than single-family housing. "SB 840 is part of a broader suite of bills that the legislature passed, all designed to infuse the market with additional supply so that affordability improves for Texans," Emily Brizzolara-Dove, a policy adviser at Texas 2036, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy organization dedicated to improving lives and opportunities for all Texans through 2036, told Newsweek. "Home prices in Texas have gone up 35 percent, 40 percent since the beginning of the pandemic, and that is simply unsustainable," she said. "Housing affordability is really one of our biggest competitive advantages in the state, but that is a very tenuous advantage. Ohio has cheap houses, too. "So, if our housing supply gets to the point where families are really cost burdened by their rent and by their mortgage, we are at risk of losing that competitive advantage." SB 840 helps Texas build more housing where people want to live, Brizzolara-Dove said, by essentially reducing red tape. The big impact of the new legislation, she said, is going to be allowing residential in commercial, retail and warehouse zones—areas that are already developed and which would become more livable, more walkable, and more-resident friendly once more homes are introduced at little to no additional cost, as key infrastructure is already in place. "When you can do something that will make a really significant impact on housing prices for Texas families, and you can do it with no fiscal note, then you're in a good spot," Brizzolara-Dove said. 'The Devil Is In The Details' Bham, however, said that whether the legislation would work to fix the Lone Star State's shortage of affordable homes would still depend on how the market reacts to it. By cutting red tape and slashing costs, SB 840 should be able to attract developers willing to pursue new housing projects, but they will still need to ensure that any project is "still economically fruitful, financially viable, and sustainable in the long-run to secure investors, financing, and—ultimately—paying renters," Bham said. Real estate experts also worry that the bill could also have a negative impact on the Texas housing market. While Pulliam says that the bill does "an admirable job of addressing the bottlenecks and administrative burden of converting properties to residential uses," he warned that the legislation might have some unintended consequences. "Zoning ordinances are often cumbersome and sometimes antiquated, but the framework that these ordinances provide gives some degree of certainty to property owners, residents and the municipalities themselves," he said. "For example, no consideration has been given to the impact on public schools when these additional projects result in an influx of students. Will dispensing with the need for traffic studies or traffic mitigation measures create more congestion? Developers who have invested heavily in entitling their multifamily projects must now compete with developers who can skip that entire process. Will owners of existing multifamily or mixed-use projects be at a disadvantage to those who can now bypass barriers to entry quickly and without cost?" he asked. Weston B. Rockers and Benjamin W. McKay of Polsinelli, on the other hand, are concerned about the potential for a sudden surge in converted multifamily to devalue existing multifamily properties and/or saturate the multifamily housing market in some municipalities. "As multifamily supply increases, developers relying on exclusive and/or isolated multifamily zoning classifications will experience less demand," the two wrote in a June report. At the same time, the single-family market could also suffer, they say, as reclassifying commercial sites to multifamily "has the potential to devalue single-family homes, which were planned or developed in close proximity to commercial developments." Brizzolara-Dove remains optimistic about the impact of the bill, even as she admits that "the devil is in the details when it comes to implementing these bills, and there is no state agency oversight of them." It will be "all down" to the municipalities, she said: "We will be able to see in a year from now how the cities have implemented [the legislation], if they are fully embracing the law and if changes would need to be made—and they likely will."
USA Today
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Shakira concert setlist 2025: Songs she sang at PHX Arena in Phoenix
Shakira brought the U.S. leg of her rescheduled Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour to downtown Phoenix on Sunday, June 22, 2025, for the first installment of a two-night stand at PHX Arena. When she announced the tour, Shakira promised tracks from her new album, 2024's 'Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran,' while also dusting off the highlights of her catalog of hits. And that's exactly what the superstar delivered in Arizona. The setlist featured five songs from that new release and several medleys of her older hits, reaching back to the '90s for 'Estoy Aqui,' "Pies Descalzos, Sueños Blancos' and 'Antología.' Other highlight ranged from 'Hips Don't Lie' and "TGQ" to 'Chantaje," "BZRP Music Sessions #53,' 'Waka Waka (Esto es África)' and 'She Wolf.' Concert review: From 'She Wolf' to 'Hips Don't Lie,' Shakira sizzled on Night 1 in Phoenix Shakira tour setlist 2025: All the songs she did in Phoenix These are the songs that made the setlist when Shakira brought her Las Mujeres Ya No Lloran World Tour to downtown Phoenix for the first show of a two-night stand: Ed has covered pop music for The Republic since 2007, reviewing festivals and concerts, interviewing legends, covering the local scene and more. He did the same in Pittsburgh for more than a decade. Follow him on X and Instagram @edmasley and on Facebook as Ed Masley. Email him at
Straits Times
04-07-2025
- Business
- Straits Times
Singapore software firm Info-Tech Systems debuts 9.2% above IPO price at $0.95
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox This comes two days after its initial public offering (IPO) closed at noon, with its 24.85 million shares on offer around 7.3 times oversubscribed. SINGAPORE - The Republic welcomed its second listing in 2025 and first mainboard listing in close to two years with software services provider Info-Tech Systems' trading debut on Jul 4. This comes two days after its initial public offering (IPO) closed at noon, with its 24.85 million shares on offer around 7.3 times oversubscribed. At 9am, it opened at $0.95, 9.2 per cent above its IPO price of $0.87, with the stock code ITS. As at 9.03am, it climbed as high as $0.98, up by 3.2 per cent, with some 1.8 million shares having changed hands. By 9.30 am, it had eased back down to $0.95, with around 4.1 million shares transacted. Info-Tech Systems' mainboard listing follows that of automaker Vin's Holdings on the Catalist board on Apr 15. It is the first pure-play, software-as-a-service provider for human-resource management systems and accounting software to list on SGX. Mr Babu Dilip, chief executive officer and co-founder of the company, described the IPO as a 'key milestone' for the group as it gears up for its next phase of growth, and looks to capitalise on the rising adoption of cloud-based solutions, particularly among small and medium-sized enterprises. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Seller's stamp duty rates for private homes raised; holding period increased from 3 years to 4 Asia Japan urges evacuation of small island as 1,000 quakes hit region Singapore Multiple charges for man accused of damaging PAP campaign materials on GE2025 Polling Day Singapore Jail for man who recruited 2 Japanese women for prostitution at MBS Asia Indonesian rescuers widen search for missing after ferry sinks World Trump eyes simple tariff rates over complex talks, says letters will start going out on July 4 World Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending Bill wins congressional approval Business More Singapore residents met CPF Required Retirement Sum when they turned 55 in 2024 It intends to use the IPO proceeds to deepen market penetration, enhance brand visibility, expand its suite of solutions and its operations, he said. This includes potentially expanding its geographical presence to new markets and accelerating access to new technology through inorganic acquisitions and partnerships. For the financial year ended December 2024, the company recorded a 17.6 per cent rise in its net profit to $12.3 million. Its top line grew by around 15 per cent year on year to $43.7 million, tracking a rise in revenue of its cloud accounting software. OCBC is the sole issue manager and global coordinator for the placement, as well as the joint bookrunner and underwriter alongside CGS International Securities Singapore.
Yahoo
27-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Did you follow Arizona news this week? Take the azcentral.com news quiz
Did you pay attention to the top headlines in Arizona this week? Now is the time to test your skills with this week's news quiz, covering stories from June 20-26, 2025. Best of luck! If you're interested in more local news, sign up for our East Valley or West Valley newsletters. Sign up for AZ Climate, The Republic's weekly climate and environment newsletter. Sign up for American Border newsletter for the latest immigration news. Quiz isn't loading? Take it here Did you get a perfect score? If so, great job! You're in the know with Arizona news. Didn't get the score you wanted? Sign up for the AZ Briefing to get all the top Arizona headlines in your mailbox every morning. You can also get azcentral's breaking news alerts right on your desktop. This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: News quiz for June 27, 2025 | The Arizona Republic
