>> Ted: Next on Arizona horizon, the impact of a Supreme Court justice suggesting that the high court should revisit a ruling that guarantees same-sex marriage.

That and more on Arizona horizon.

Good evening and welcome to "Arizona horizon."

The supplement commerce department reported that gross domestic product fell for the second straight quarter.

The GDP fell .2% and equates to .9 rate and it raises concerns the U.S. is entering a recession or that a recession has begun and response from treasury secretary Janet Yellen -- >> In the context of today's report, it's important to look beyond the headline number to understand what's happening.

The contraction in GDP was driven primarily by the change in private inventories.

A volatile component of GDP would subtract over 2 percentage points over quarterly growth.

Today's report shows continued expansion in consumer spending overall and in services in particular in addition to notable strengths.

>> Ted: She went on.

>> Our economy remains resilient and our rate is 3.6% and household finances are strong and industry continues to grow.

>> Ted: Still, the latest report follows a previous decline which meets what is an outdated recession and most economists warn the economy is clearly decelerating.

The U.S. senate announced a surprise agreement on a $369 billion climate and health and tax package that senate Democrats describe as the most ambition action to address climate change.

The measure uses billions of dollars to grow wind, geo thermal and they acted along predictable lanes.

>> I know it sometimes can seem like nothing is done in Washington, but the work of the government can be slow and frustrating and sometimes even eveninfuriating.

And people who refuse to give up pays off.

History is made, lives are changed.

With this legislation, we're facing up to our biggest problems and taking a giant step forward as a nation.

>> This is the non-ence Democrats are focusing on, not helping you put gas in your car or afford your groceries.

They want to use the middle-class economic crisis they themselves created to raise your taxes and ram through their green new deal nonsense.

>> Senate Democrats hope to pass a bill as early as next week.

Of note, it includes provisions that could help Medicare bush beneficiaries including a provision allowing the Federal Government to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies.

And Russia today say they're is no agreement on a prisoner swap and any deal needs to be negotiated quietly and without fan fare and announcing Washington announced a deal to bring Brittney Griner and Paul wheelen home serving a 25 years prison sentence in the U.S. >>> The U.S. house this week vote to codify same-sex marriage and this is after clarence Thomas says it should be revisited.

For more on this, we spoke to Stephanie Linquest and Sandra day "Connor school of law.

What was done here and why?

>> Thanks for having me, Ted.

This was an act essentially to protect rights in the event the U.S. Supreme Court overruled additional precedents.

In 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down laws that ban same-sex marriage.

And so the concern is that given some of the rhetoric and the Dobb's decision and especially in the concurrence by justice Thomas, that the Supreme Court may go a step further and overrule the precedence that protects same-sex marriage.

So what Congress is doing essentially protecting that or codifying that right in a sense in federal law.

And it has two pieces.

The legislation with sex for marriage act.

The first is to repeople the defensive marriage act which was passed in 1996 and actually prohibited same-sex marriage from being recognized under federal law, interestingly.

So that law is repealed.

It also requires a state who may act if the Supreme Court overrules and they may act to ban same-sex marriage.

It requires those state to recognize same-sex marriages lawful in other states.

So it does not force states to recognize same-sex marriage, but it requires them to recognize that marriage as legal if it was performed in a difficult state unanimous allows it.

>> So a multipronged approach.

If the Supreme Court does this, the 1996 defensive marriage act, that springs back to life.

>> Correct.

And not only does it spring back to life, but all of the state laws in about 35 states that still have laws on tour books laws on their books that have same-sex marriage.

The state laws would do the same.

And we've seen that in the context of the square overrules of Roe v. Wade.

There were statutes on the books and they came back to life in one way in another once Roe v. Wade was overturned.

>> Ted: Concurring opinion with justice Thomas saying we do need to revisit the 2015 ruling on same-sex marriage and what was his reasoning there?

>> Many of the cases that are discussed this Dobbs and the right to same-sex marriage, the Supreme Court arrested those rights in the word "liberty" and the 14th amendment and what justice Thomas is essentially saying is that finding these substantive rights, un-enumerated rights, that is judicial activism, finding rights that are not specified there and he would prefer that the court draw back and read the 14th amendment more narrowly.

>> Ted: How far would justice Thomas think that a court could think.

How much resident could precedent could be overturned with that?

>> The right to marriage, the right to pro create, the right to contraception, the right to privacy, the right to same-sex marriage.

The due process clause has carried a lot of weight.

Justice Thomas' perspective, if the Supreme Court ultimately adopts that perspective, we might see some of these precedents topple.

And then the rights will depend on state laws with Roe v. Wade.

Now, it's important to point out, Ted, that justice Alito, he distinguished those other press precedents that abortion is special and can be distinguished from other cases that protect things like marriage, same-sex marriage or procreation or the right to contraception.

>> Ted: But can you make that delineation, that line there?

It's hard for me to figure out why he's saying that exists.

>> It's difficult to say because he looks back at the history of the tradition in the United States and said that, look, the only way to recognize un-enumerated rights is if these rights can be found in the long-standing tradition and norms of the United States as embodied in state law.

So looking back all the way, almost, well, before the beginning of the republic, to see if history and society protected abortion rights in the past and found they had not.

But that's true true for things like same-sex marriage.

What justice Thomas would say, if his position was adopted by the courts, look, same-sex marriage is not a right that had a long-term standing pra decisiontraditionin the United States.

Therefore, we will not find liberty in the 14th amendment protects it.

>> Ted: Are there other laws, other rights, if you will, that are up for grabs with this court and how it sees things?

>> Well, certainly there are.

I mean, the Supreme Court ban couples from using contraception and a law in Connecticut that banned contraception in Connecticut.

So that's the kind of thing that is up for grabs.

At this point has society moved well passed contraception is banned?

Probably.

But there is reason to be concerned that given what Thomas said in his concurrence, that we may see further eroding of press precedent at the U.S. Supreme Court.

>> Ted: Thank you so much.

>> Thank you, Ted.

>> Ted: And up next on Arizona horizon, concerns over the impact of rising urban temperatures on Saguaros.

the is a war roadwayIn higher pollution, it could beputting Saguaros at risk.

The director of research at the botanical garden, good to have you and we're talking about increasing urban heat on Saguaros and what are you seeing out there?

>> If you look back, especially 2020, how many days it was above 110° during the summer and what we actually -- the desert botanical garden, a lot of reports of Saguaros arms falling.

That was an indication of what heat stress, the impact heat stress is having on Saguaros and what's happening under the warm conditions.

The plants start to lose structural integrity.

So here is an example.

One of the outside layers is called the hydro-dermis and hydro-water is dermis is skin.

When the plant has a lot of water and not so hot, those cells will stay rigid and that allows the plant to stay upright.

When it gets warm, the cells start to dry out and they lose that trajidity.

And you'll see a case where you'll see the arms laying on the ground and that happened a lot in 2020.

Here is the thing, it continues to happen now.

The impacts are falled monsoon of 2020 continues to impact the plants.

>> Ted: So many of the desert plants, it takes a long time, but it's there and it's almost, like, you know, it's a dead cab cab cactus.

>> There will be intense drought or heat wave and you don't see the full effects until several years later where we start to see sort of these mass mortality surges occur.

Unfortunately, we may still be seeing that impact from two years ago that it will propagate in our urban Saguaro population.

>> Ted: You're doing a database thing at the botanical gardens and talk to bus that.

>> us about that.

>> A plant succulent specialist and citizens around the metro area can actually upload information.

It could be photos, notes about Saguaros in the yards or the neighborhoods.

Over type, this time, there is a database to understand how these Saguaros are changing in the health and the what they look and it's something to provide us with some needed information on what and when these Saguaros are actually impacted by changing weather conditions.

>> Ted: Watching flowering and those sorts of things?

>> A lot of the information is at the timing of flowering or how many are produced, where on the plant.

>> Ted: The warning signs of poor health and, obviously, things are going on within the skin and we don't see that and what can we see, especially early?

>> Yeah, so usually, you start to see either some yellowing around the base or up near the apex.

So the top of the plant is where the action is happening and where they produce flowers most of the time and you can start to see that apex, as we call it, starts to not look right.

Sometimes it becomes yellow or it becomes very disformed in some cases.

And those are some of the initial signs to look for that, hey, there may be something wrong.

>> Ted: Natural habitat, and it seems I remember hearing that salt river, it's really low, elevation is as low as you can get in this part of the world and that's too low, really, for a lot of desert plans including the Saguaro.

Is that true?

>> Yes.

You think about the Saguaro, they like to grow in the upland areas and you go to the cave creek area, you see a healthy population.

Then, again, it's cooler there, especially at night.

They get more rain than in the metro area.

And so, right around the region, you'll see healthy patches of Saguaro, but right in the city, you know, right on the edge of the natural habitat.

>> Ted: So many Saguaro in the city and have been transplanted and how to stressful is transplanting a big old cactus like that.

that?

>> I'm not sure, but it's hit or miss.

Sometimes they'll make many years before you recognize, oh, my transplanted Saguaro that I made a lot of money for didn't work and so, it's a lot of stress on the plan and if it's done correctly, it's done well.

One of the challenges is getting the entire root system.

Saguaros, unlike most cactus plants are fairly deeply rooted.

And so trying to capture that entire, at least enough of the root system is difficult.

But if it's done correctly, Saguaros are resilient and sometimes it will work.

>> Ted: How can people get involved in the database?

So you can go to DBG.org/Saguaro-census and that will take you right to the information that you need to be able to participate in this database.

Again, we would welcome anybody who has any Saguaros in their yard, in their neighborhoods, because we need to develop this long-term data set to understand what the future of Saguaros are in the phoenix area.

>> Ted: Good to have you here.

>> Thanks, Ted.

>> Ted: A new thriller titled "kismet" in the rocks of Sedona and many health and wellness few rightswellnessgurus and things take an ominous turn and hear to talk to us is Amina Ahktar and thank you for joining us and congratulations on the book.

>> Thank you for having me.

>> Ted: It must be so exciting to have that thing in your hand.

>> It is!

I mean, it's like I worked on this for two years in my bedroom by maze.

myself and it's so exciting.

>> Ted: It's a great read and set in Sedona and what sparked you to set a thriller in such a beautiful country?

>> I think thrillers can be set in every location.

You come up with a locate and you can come up with a thriller.

I moved here in 2016 to be with my father.

>> Ted: Thrillers are gritty and in urban areas and rain-soaked streets.

>> You can murder someone anywhere and that's why thrillers work.

[ Laughter ] >> Ted: Was it always going to be a whodunit?

>> Yes, but it took awhile to figure out how I wanted to the story to go.

What helped me is the wildlife aspect.

If you live in this area, the animals are just such a permanent part of life.

There are two coyotes who live outside my house and they're awesome, but you have to get used to that.

What if we wrote from the animal's point of view and made it their own character so that it could embody what is so beautiful about severe toe Sedona and it took two years.

>> Ted: And the Ravens play a big part in a book in a variety of ways.

>> They do.

I always say I was walking down our driveway trying to figure out how to incorporate them into my book.

The Ravens are huge, bigger than my tiny little city dog that I have.

And they dropped a feather right down at my feet and I was, like, I might be living here too long, but I think that's a sign and let's put that in the back.

>> Ted: It was a sign in the book.

But, again, often when I talk to novelists, you can only go too far in a who whodunit and how did you experience it?

I can't plot it out beginning to end and a lot of it, the characters have to unfold and I have to hear them in my ear, but as long I know what the ending is, I can sort of herd them over into that direction.

You know, it's like herding catted,cats, to be honest and let's see if it gets me to the ending.

>> Ted: Did you envision the ending as it was?

>> Yes, and no.

[ Laughter ] >> Definitely with the Sedona characters, yes.

When it came to the main character's background, I think that shocked me and I feel like all of my aunts are going to read that and be like, what did you do?

[ Laughter ] >> So sorry, aunts, I love you guys.

So it just unfolded and in makes sense.

Let's do it.

>> Ted: The major characters, except for a sheriff, they're all women.

>> Wellness in general is geared towards women and one of the main reasons why is a lot of women, maze myself included, female like we've been left behind with medical care and people turn to wellness as a way of taking control.

Whether it works or not is up for debate.

I wanted to really focus on this woman ha is like a who is like a would-be cult leader and how she would be behave.

She's from New York and wants to be a guru like >> This would be perfect for a film or Netflix and have they fullcome calling?

>> I can't answer that.

>> Ted: If you write again, will write in Sedona?

>> My next book is in New York because I needed the sense of danger of a lot of people or if you're working around and I needed the subway as opposed to being here where you can walk for miles and not seeing anybody and I feel you need a specific book to write about the desert.

>> Ted: Can you write about New York while you're in cottonwood?

>> I've been here 20 years.

[ Laughter ] >> Ted: Best of luck in the future to you.

And that is it for now.

I'm Ted Simons and thank you for joining us and you have a great evening!