Live From the Southwest: Regional Roundup with Irene and Casey

Sedona, Arizona.

My dear friend and colleague Irene Noguchi just moved to Las Vegas to take a job as a producer for KNPR, the area's local NPR affiliate. When she needed an Arizona expert for her Regional Roundup of Southwestern news, she called another dear friend and colleague, Arizona Republic political reporter Casey Newton. The segment aired yesterday on KNPR, and is a great listen, particularly if you're interested in the inexorable decline of the nation's economy. Note for the technically un-savvy: Because of the way the file downloaded onto my Mac, I was at first confused by the Tiffany intro and thought that iTunes was punking me. Be patient. Once I figured it out, I listened to the program and came away with the following:

a) Arizona right now is the governmental equivalent of the guy at the payday loan store trying to get someone to help him out "just til Friday."

b) Whatever happened to Tiffany?

c) The entire American Southwest is about six months away from turning into a real-live enactment of Cormac McCarthy's "The Road."

d) Need to start working the metaphor "When you sneeze in Vegas, we get a cold in Reno" into my conversations.

e) I really, really hope that KNPR considers adding call-ins to future Regional Roundup segments, so that interested persons could call and say, for example, "Casey Newton, I'ma let you finish, but Chip Scutari was one of the best Arizona state reporters of ALL TIME."

Very exciting to hear in one clip two of my favorite people demonstrate their excellence at their jobs. Great work Irene and Casey!

The Purple Mango Post

Photographs, dispatches and writing by freelance journalist Corinne Purtill

Live From the Southwest: Regional Roundup with Irene and Casey

Corinne Purtill