FOX 9’s Adam Klepp Reflects on a Busy 2022 in the Southwest Desert
Yuma, Arizona (KECY, KYMA) – From borders to agriculture to elections.
The past 365 days have brought challenges and changes to the southwestern desert.
2022 started with the first Omicron incident in Yuma.
After a while, COVID strike team including military medical workers dispatched to YRMC Because there were over 100 patients in the covid unit.
The border was a constant story all year round.
January is DHS Director Alejandro Mayorcas visits Yuma.
However, his visit met with backlash from local agents, The leaked audio made it clear.
In the spring, Yuma’s agriculture continued to supply the United States with produce.
as a local A Taylor Farm factory that operates after the end of the harvest season.
after one of their facilities in Northern California suffered a severe fire.
Agricultural leaders have also tested methods of growing produce to obtain the maximum amount of food using as little water as possible as the Southwest continues to experience drought conditions.
In June, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal abortion protection.
Yumans is Call for women’s right to choose.
Over the summer, Yuma’s county registrar tried again, just one month before the primary.
However, the August election went well as Yuman and Arizonans put Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake running for governor.
Yuma also re-elected Mayor Doug Nichols to a third term.
Later that month, Arizona’s current governor, Doug Ducey, began building a wall of shipping containers in a gap in Yuma’s border wall.
After that, I went to see them in person in September.
in October, Isaac Lucero took a plea deal in Lewis’ murder trial Delgadillo, shot dead at Econo Lodge in 2020.
Lucero pleaded guilty to second-degree murder after a jury failed to reach a verdict in August.
The Yuma County community also mourned the loss of local talent in 2022.
Ricardo Madrid, Ruben Hernandez, Andrés Sandoval and Leo Neblina were members of the Selena tribute group Los Chicos del 512 and the Mexican rock band Mana tribute group.
They died in a car accident en route to a concert in Kansas.
And beautician Juman Nick Chavez passed away after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
He ran the Nick Chavez Salon in Beverly Hills and cut hair for clients like Maria Shriver and George Lopez.
In preparation for Election Day in November, all major candidates in statewide campaigns visited Yuma.
The majority of Yuma voters chose Blake Masters for Senator and Kari Lake for Governor, while Democrat Mark. Kerry won re-election as a U.S. Senator, and Katie Hobbs won the gubernatorial race by just 17,000 votes.
As the federal government says, it will have its own barriers in 2023.
