WAKE UP TO CHATEL 2 NEWS TODAY, WEEKDAY MORNINGS AT 6-30. TONIGHT'S NEWS IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY INFINCOM, GUARENTEEING SERVICE RESPONSE TIME ANYWHERE THROUGHOUT NORTHERN ARIZONA. THIS IS CHATEL 2 NEWS AT 6. Good evening and thanks for joining us. A couple of major issues on tourism facing the Flagstaff City Council in the next few weeks. One big issue, how much the city is going to spend to promote tourism. Flagstaff has spent about $7 million promoting itself since 1988 when the 2% hospitality tax went into effect. Questions have been raised lately as to whether the city is getting its money's worth. At least one city council person is convinced the expense is necessary. Rick Lopez points to the proposed 650 acre tourist development at Grand Canyon and says Flagstaff needs to be competitive. We have got to be competitive. We've got to find a way of not only competing but of being able to face that kind of competition head on and we've got to do it and the only way we can do it is through successful marketing and through the successful efforts of a CVB office. And Forest Village, that's the proposed development Lopez is talking about, is a proposed self-contained tourist village with more than 4,000 lodging units. While they're considering the budget for the Flagstaff Convention and Visitors Bureau, council members also are looking at a new head for that agency. 130 people have applied for the job since it became vacant. The field has been narrowed to three finalists. They are Ralph McCollum, Tourism Director for Mammoth Lakes, Marilee Fowler, Tourism Director. This morning the County Board of Supervisors approved a state grant which would educate young people and store owners on the illegality of selling cigarettes to minors. Assistant City Manager Steve Perou described the purpose of the program. Education as well as working with merchants and to some extent visiting merchants to advise them regarding the laws that restrict the sale of tobacco products to minors and other types of educational things that might be included. Education is the main purpose of the grant, but Steve Perou says there will also be spot checks by law enforcement officials to see if stores are selling cigarettes to minors. Cook and Eno County Sheriff's officials are investigating a death at Grand Canyon. The body of a Pennsylvania man was found 500 feet below Hopi Point yesterday. A search was launched after the man's car was found abandoned in an overlooked parking lot. Authorities suspect the death may have been a suicide. Another Democrat has thrown a hat in the ring for Senator Dennis DeConcini's Senate seat. Cindy Resnick of Tucson is the sixth Democrat to get into the race. Currently the Senate Minority Leader for Arizona in the Senate, the State Senate. Resnick says she will run a grassroots campaign relying heavily on small donors and volunteers. Well it's been a year of change at Northern Arizona University. Many of the school's top administrative officials have left or are planning on leaving. One such person is the university's Vice President of Academic Affairs. How many students do you have there? A little over 3,000. Patsy Reed is headed to the University of North Carolina at Asheville. She'll be the university's first woman chancellor. Well it's a logical time for me to seek a position, a leadership position. I've been at NAU for 15 years. They've been 15 good years. Reed came to NAU in 1979. At that time I was the chair of a department. The school, if I'm not mistaken, was around 11,000 students, close to 19,000 now. Physical facilities were not nearly as well developed. Reed has served in a variety of roles during her 15 years at NAU. Most recently she led the school as interim president. As an administrator I tried a few things that didn't work and I think all administrators do. But I don't have many negative memories at all of NAU. They're predominantly very positive. And Reed has had a positive influence on many of the school's faculty members and students. Those students recently honored her with a Golden Axe Award, something she refers to as one of the many highlights of her time in NAU. Reed will assume her UNCA post on June 15th. Up next in tonight's environmental report we'll take a tour of a straw house in Flagstaff. No big bad wolf could blow down. And a little later on we'll take you to Whitesill School where a children's book illustrator shows off his talents firsthand. And speaking of showing off, it looks like the weather's gonna show off the first couple of days this week. I'll have the details in a few minutes. Too much trash talking in the NBA leads to fines and suspensions in sports. Among the highest awards for quality in the world is the Deming Award. Very few manufacturers have ever won one. Rico has two of them. In fact, Rico copiers and fax machines have won every major award for copier and fax quality. So we don't just have a reputation for excellence. We have proof. The name to know, Rico. And in Fincom. Your hometown better Buick dealer of Arizona presents the 14-995 century. Big car ride featuring airbag, antilock brakes, power windows and locks, cruise and more. 14-995. Century. At this price, it gets my stamp of approval. Come into your hometown better Buick dealer of Arizona for value and safety you can count on. This is a reminder to check your Arizona Powerball tickets. Now, even though you may not have won that jackpot, over 100,000 of you have won a prize. Some of you even won $100,000 for matching five white balls. So it's important to remember where you put that ticket. Oh, and if for some reason you forgot to buy a ticket, consider this another reminder. Drawings are every Wednesday and Saturday. Boy, this game's really paying off. Arizona Powerball. Why not play today? Hi, I'm Kate Epstein. I'm Cal Kearns. You can make up with us each weekday morning on Channel 2 News Today. For the latest local news, sports, weather and more, 6.30 a.m. on Channel 2. Well, if your travel plans include going through Denver, don't expect to use the new airport there anytime soon. Today, the mayor of that city announced Denver International Airport's grand opening will be delayed yet again. The $200 million computerized baggage system failed again on Thursday, and some of the nation's largest airlines say they won't use the airport until it's fixed. Denver Mayor Bob Wellington Webb says it would be irresponsible to open the airport before it's ready. With the baggage system not operating, to fully provide what is expected of the traveling public that comes through Denver, that is a risk that I'm not willing to take. It will cost Denver $1 million for every day the airport is not open. From building an airport to building a home, it involves a lot of decisions from financing to location to building materials. In tonight's environmental report, Carrie Lorette Noonan shows us how some owners are turning away from bricks and wood to straw. Straw bale houses are more than a whim or a farm kids game. You can incorporate straw bale construction into a wide variety of floor plans, and you have a lot of options when it comes to building. In this house, the straw acts as the walls and insulation, the straw with the plaster and stucco covering, and these posts here hold up the roof and the second floor. Chuck McDougall is looking at options to build a home of his own, and he's seriously research building with straw bales. One feature that people like with straw homes is the deep window wells that you get because the bales are 24 inches wide. The straw bales are used for the exterior walls of the house and can be stacked from foundation to roof, but the bales aren't just stacked. Of course the straw is pinned together and bolted together with threaded rod and rebar. As you can see in this workshop video, the bales are spiked and threaded firmly in place and can last as long as a wood house. Once the bales are stacked and pinned together, they cover it with this wire. It's expanded metal lath and or stucco wire or chicken wire, and once this is stapled on or wired on, there's different methods to attach it. We cover it with stucco or plaster. Building straw homes can save you on insulation and energy. Straw bales have an insulation factor of R40 to 50, and once the frame is up, you can raise the walls with friends, but a foundation and finish work will still cost you. It depends on how you go about it. It can be significantly cheaper or about the same as traditional style, depending on your labor, your methods, so forth. And no big bad wolf will blow this down. Carrie Lorette Noonan, Channel 2 News. A demo straw bale house built at Earth Day celebrations in Wheeler Park drew such interest. A group is forming to explore alternative construction ideas. For more information, you can contact Charlie Scully at Green Bear Earthwares, the number is 773-1479. That's kind of interesting. I never saw that before. Never been in that kind of house. The weather around northern Arizona is warming up, and Tom Knight will be right along with a forecast. First, a look at today's closing figures from Wall Street. The Dow Jones Industrial is picking up slightly more than 19 points to close at 37.01.02. This isn't your normal automobile commercial. Would you like to have lower payments, a lower interest rate, or save hundreds or thousands of dollars and drive home a new Subaru? I bet you would. We have a very new special program that can do just that. This is no lease or gimmick. If you have a two-year-old or financed vehicle, are tired of high interest rates, or zero down ads there really aren't, come see us today at Flagstaff Nissan Subaru. We're going to change how you buy your new vehicles forever. The huge remodeling project at Gandler's Furniture is underway. They're putting up new walls, repainting, putting in a new Lazy Boy gallery. Only one problem. Gandler's can't re-carpet over furniture. The work crews need more room, so Gandler's put the hammer down on prices store-wide. Buy massive construction reductions on furniture, recliners, mattresses, and more. Plus, buy with no money down, no interest, and no payments for six long months. So if you don't mind a little noise and dust, head for the remodeling sale today at Gandler's Furniture. You're watching Channel 2 News, Northern Arizona's local news source. See how easy shopping can be at Flagstaff Mall. At Dillard Sears, J.C. Penney and over 60 specialty stores this Mother's Day. See how easy shopping can be at Flagstaff Mall. It is starting to warm up around Northern Arizona again. Very nice day today. That's right. We're in that transition period, so it's not going to stay that way throughout the entire week. Don't be fooled. I'll be fooled. Can we put away the snow shovels? Oh, I'm real hesitant to say that because we can get snow in the lake. We can get snow in June, so it doesn't look like we'll need them any time soon, though. How's that? Well, that's good. Okay. Do we need to put the... Put you on the spot, I know. No fair. Anyway, I'll tell you all about what we are going to be expecting for the rest of this week after we take a look at our weather shot for this evening. This is courtesy of... I don't have the name here. I'm sorry. Katie Sullivan in Flagstaff. She sent us a second aerial shot of Oak Creek Canyon. So thanks a lot for sending that to us, Katie. We really appreciate it. Right now, the skies are partly cloudy. The temperature is 60 degrees. Winds are calm. Barometric pressure is 30.09 and steady, and the relative humidity, 26%. Our high for today, 65 degrees. We're at an overnight low of 28, which is two above and two below our normals for this time of year, and there are your records for this date as well. And we didn't receive any precipitation in the last 24 hours. However, for a change, we are above where we should be for this time of year. All right. Excuse me. Let's take a look at the surface map for this evening. Now, there is high pressure out in the eastern part of the country. The problem is, is that because of those clear skies, they may have some frost and freeze warnings around the Great Lakes tomorrow morning. And some low pressure down by the Gulf of Mexico, expect some thunder showers and maybe even a few tornadoes to be spawned from that. Back in our section of the country, we are going to come under the influence of high pressure one and two. So even with the passing front, expect the skies to stay mostly clear for the next couple of days. We'll take another look at it on the satellite shot for this afternoon. Now, take a look at this. Clear skies pretty much over southern California and the Grand Canyon State and over in New Mexico. The nearest low is out here on the front range, which is going to be giving of the Rocky Mountains, which will be giving them a few scattered showers. That's about as bad as it gets. We are going to have to worry about this low pressure cell eventually. But eventually in this case doesn't mean until Thursday or Friday. Forecast map for tomorrow, they'll still have widely scattered or widely scattered thunderstorms and rain for much of the southeastern part of the country, pretty much everywhere else. Will be clear and again, a little pocket of some scattered showers around the front range of the Rockies and we don't have anything to worry about for the next couple of days. Forecast looks like we're going to be having some beautiful skies for until the midweek at least. Most of the country tomorrow is going to be in the 60s with pockets of 50s here and there, except way down south. 70s, 80s and some 90s, particularly over in the desert southwest. We're going to go from the 50s to the 90s. Take a closer look at it on the forecast overnight lows for the state. Expect the skies to stay mostly clear this evening. Now there will be a chance of maybe some winds throughout the evening, but that'll be about as bad as it's going to get. 20s through the 50s, look at that range for the northern plateau. That's because of the individual areas are going to have different densities of air. So there's a possibility everywhere from the 20s to the 50s, thank you Renee. And 30s and 40s in the central regions expect 60s and maybe even a few high 50s for the overnight lows in the desert. Highs for tomorrow, skies will be mostly sunny up in the northern regions and the central areas. The north plateau can expect almost completely sunny skies with no clouds to speak of for the next couple of days. 60s and 70s up north, 60s, 70s and maybe some 80s for the central regions and 90s in the desert. Let's go from region to region for your northland forecast. The northeast plateau a little warmer and mostly sunny. Holbrook will see 75 degrees. You can expect mid to high 70s pretty much everywhere. Northwest plateau mostly clear, slightly higher temperatures. Grand Canyon 64 and some 70s will show up tomorrow as well. The northwest deserts continued sunny and almost hot. You're not going to break 100 but it's going to get awfully close there. We'll see some mid 90s for highs tomorrow. In the central basins mostly clear and a little warmer with Sedona seeing 81 degrees, 70s and 80s for the highs everywhere else. And this evening along the rim fair but cold and Flagstaff's overnight low 30 degrees. An extended forecast for Flagstaff clearing out a little warmer for the next couple of days. Increasing winds by the time we get to Thursday, but let's not worry about that right now. We should expect highs to be in the mid to upper 60s for Tuesday and Wednesday. Then on Thursday as that next system moves in, temperatures will start to drop and they're going to drop fast. Increasing winds on Thursday down to 60 and then much cooler on Friday down to 52. So we're going to drop in big chunks of 9 and 8 degrees over the, you know, when we get to the end of the week. Is this one of those weekend things again? Yeah, it looks like it and I'm going to get in trouble and you guys know why considering what this weekend is for here at General Hospital. So I'll work on that and see what I can do to make it a little better. Alright, thanks Tom. Coming up, Phil Bueller will look at a part of the NBA called Trash Talking and up to nothing in their series, the Suns look to finish off the Warriors. I'm Keith Jackson with Aspen Hill Hospital. Did you know that mental illness is more easily treated than heart or lung disease? But unlike other diseases, mental illness and its victims can end up shrouded in silence and depression. It really is okay to talk about mental illness and seek help because silence is no treatment. For more information, contact your local mental health organization or call Aspen Hill Hospital at 1-800-345-2228. Don't be afraid to break the silence. Howdy Flagstaff, I'm Annie from Diamond Dodge Chrysler Plymouth on Switzer Canyon. Diamond wants to be your car dealer and we know what you want. Selection at Diamond, we're committed to giving Northern Arizona the finest selection of minivans, new Ram trucks and affordable cab forward neons. Quality service, we're hiring the most able technicians available and giving them constant training in product and smiling. Lolo Prices at Diamond, every new vehicle is sold on our one, two, three pricing policies. Stay tuned for details. Remember, Diamond is your best friend. Their young children, they come from good homes and they all share a common bond. Their fathers want to become women. On the next Maury Povitz Show, we're trying to help kids deal with their father's new identity. Because people that they're laughing at is my parents. How does a child cope when his dad wants to be something else? Hear their stories and find out if they can remain a family on the next Maury Povitz Show. The Maury Povitz Show, tomorrow at four on Channel 2. Phil's here now with sports. You went down to the game yesterday. Pretty fun? Yeah, a lot of fun for everybody. I think everybody left satisfied. Certainly anytime the Suns win, it's a good day for fans in Arizona. Phoenix Suns certainly like their first round playoff situation much more than last season when they trailed two games to none. The Suns have their brooms poised for a sweep of Golden State following yesterday's game two victory. 1-17, 1-11 was the final margin. The Suns shooting a dismal 37% in the first half. But they only trailed by three points in the second half. The shot started to fall and the defensive intensity picked up. The Suns went on runs of 13-3 and 10-2. While Kevin Johnson scored a career playoff high of 38 points, he got some help from Charles Barkley with 20 and Dan Marley with 17. The Suns can close out the series Wednesday night in Oakland. Yeah, we want to do it right away. We know it's going to be tough. We don't want them to get any wind whatsoever if we want to go in there and finish the job. But we know it's going to be a very difficult thing to do. So all we have to do is go in there and play hard and play our type of basketball game. And if we win, great. If we don't, we've got to get to the next one. We're very narrow-minded right now. Our objective is to close it out in three. We wanted to be 2-0 going up into Golden State with a chance to close it out. Game three Wednesday night in Oakland. Game four if necessary. Of course, that is only if the Warriors win on Friday. And then should the Warriors win both games in Oakland, game five would be Sunday, back at the America West Arena in Phoenix. A weekend of fighting in the NBA playoffs has cost four players suspensions and fines. Miamis Keith Askins and Grant Long in Atlanta as Doug Edwards and San Antonio's Dennis Robbin all received at least one game's suspensions. Much of it stems from escalated trash talking, something there's been a lot of between the Suns and the Warriors. Trash talking is as much a part of the NBA as the three-point shot, and no team is better at it than the youthful Golden State Warriors. It's unfortunate they talk as much as they do, but they're young. They don't know any better. And it's a product of being young, you know. And they have a young team. They're very good, and they know they're very good. And it's just something that's a part of being young. While many players think it's just part of the competitive fire and adrenaline from the game, the league doesn't want it to get out of hand. No trash frowning. You know, I guess you can't frown up or you can't, you know, change your looks, you know, for some reason. Well, you know, he thought that, you know, something was going on and nothing was going on there. He just dunked the ball. You know, it's an intimidation factor when you do look at him. But I don't know, I didn't know there was a point if you look at him too hard, they'll stare down. You know, our trash talking has never been to a point where we're coming to blows or we're pushing each other or getting physical like they were in Atlanta. I think that that wasn't really trash talking situation. That was somebody filing somebody too hard and to the extreme. Saturday night's brawl in Atlanta is exactly what too much talking can lead to. Three players were ejected while on the same day Dennis Rodman's mouth got him an early ejection against Utah. When guys are just, you know, talking trash to keep getting the game intense and holding on their home court and their pride, it's different. And I think those trash talkers should be allowed. The refs are a little on edge and they don't want things to get out of control. So you know, there's always be talking, but not much more than there has been before. Now Charles Barkley has said part of the reason for trash talking is a lack of respect from the younger players. Charles can't even get the respect of his own teammates, including Oliver Miller. I think obviously our defensive intensity, oh, oh, you can't do it all these people here, man, we on TV. Hey, hey. You're going to move your mic. Oh, early championship baby. Don't mess with me. It's all fun and games. Somebody got not put out. All right, college basketball's big dog has decided to go off the front porch and run with the really big hounds of the NBA. Purdue's Glenn Robinson announced he will forgo his final year of eligibility to enter the upcoming NBA draft. Robinson was college basketball's player of the year. He led the nation in scoring with 30 points a game and also led the big 10 in rebounding with 10 a game. The announcement came at his high school in Gary, Indiana. He's expected to be the top pick in the draft. The reason why I'm leaving Purdue is because I'm in a unique situation. A lot of people don't get a chance to, I mean, don't have this opportunity to go into the draft and possibly be a lottery pick or maybe even a number one draft choice. All right, I don't even think maybe number one draft choice for Glenn Robinson. Definitely number one. The draft just got bolstered and all these NBA executives just went whew. Thank you. Thanks, Phil. Straight ahead, we'll take you out to Whitesill School where the kids are learning that illustrating children's books isn't child's play. And we'll also treat you to the sounds of the Coconino County Community Orchestra. Nobody else has my head. Nobody else has my heart. Nobody else has my mother. Nobody else has my morning. Nobody else has my thighs. Johnson & Johnson Health Management has created a unique personalized weight loss program. It's based on your life. It's available now at Nutrisystem. Nobody else is me. I'd like to introduce you to our new program. Join us for 30 days at $29 plus the cost of meals. Hi, I'm Terry Markson from Terrells. In 1894, Percival Lowell chose Mars Hill just above Flagstaff as a site for this beautiful observatory. Now, almost 100 years later, you can still take part in the wonder of discovery if you visit Lowell Observatory. It's another hometown Flagstaff tradition that Terrell is proud to be part of. Come visit us at Terrell Chevrolet Buick Mazda Geo. You'll discover a down-to-earth Flagstaff dealer with honest value and real hometown pride. I'm Sandy Newton from NBC Prime Time tonight. First at 8, 7 Central, catch an all-new Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. I'm gonna go sleep with Mom and Dad. Careful Uncle Phil doesn't roll over on you again. And Blossom is back on Mondays with an all-new episode. Come on, it'll be great. Oh! Oh! I'll tell you what's horrifying, that pointy bra Janet Leigh is wearing. Followed by a Monday night world premiere inspired by a true story, Dee Wallis Stone stars with Wonder Years Danica McKellar in Moment of Truth, Cradle of Conspiracy. I'm gonna take care of everything, okay? My parents are gonna hate me, I just know it. I said I'd take care of everything. A young man is seducing teenage girls then selling their babies, but one mother will fight for her grandchild and for justice. You mean our grandchild's going to be sold to the highest bidder? Not if we can get to your daughter in time, but we have to move fast. Tonight, don't miss an all-new Fresh Prince and Blossom, then Moment of Truth, Cradle of Conspiracy, all on NBC Prime Time tonight. Tonight's news is brought to you by Infincom, guaranteeing service response time anywhere throughout Northern Arizona. We're looking at the Coconino County Community College Orchestra as they prepare for their final concert of the season. The orchestra is playing tomorrow night at Sonoma High School's auditorium. The group will perform works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, as well as an original composition from orchestra member Paul Romo. Concert gets underway at 730 and, price is right, it's free. Illustrating children's books may sound like a fun job, but it's not quite as easy as it might seem. Today, students at Whitesill Elementary School got a firsthand look at the process, compliments of one very talented man. More now from Kate Epstein. One fine day, the desert was full of springtime magic. And so begins The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit. The latest book illustrated by Jim Harris and a book these Whitesill Elementary students got a sneak preview of. Harris has been drawing since he was just a kid. Now he's passing on his passion to another generation. I like to teach the kids how to draw. I want to show them exactly what it's like to be an illustrator and show them how much fun I have doing the books that they read. Books like Mother Goose and the Mountain Lion and the Three Little Javelinas, which incidentally Whitesill students performed on stage not too long ago. I like the characters that I like when the coyote comes out and he looks like a puffy cloud. Thanks to Harris, students now know what goes into making their favorite pictures look the way they do. You splatter it. And that makes it look like ground a little bit. Harris managed to keep his audience interested with seemingly little effort. And by the time his presentation and his latest creation were complete, it was clear the students were impressed. You have to take a lot of practice to be an artist. And that, you know, you have to take your time to draw stuff unless you can do it really well. But Harris reminds people painting and drawing aren't just for professionals. He says art and creativity are vital for everyone. The people that are creative learn to be creative solving any kind of problem. Not just art, but any kind of problem. And that's how you succeed in life. Kate Epstein, Channel 2 News. Harris' latest book, The Tortoise and the Jackrabbit, will hit bookstores next fall. And I've read the three Little Hevelinas. Great book, great pictures. Great pictures? Great pictures. That does it for the Channel 2 News at 6 o'clock. We'll see you back here at 10. Thanks very much for watching. This has been a presentation of Channel 2 News, Northern Arizona's local news source. Hey, cheers, this film be...