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Kendal Blust on Muck Rack

Kendal Blust

(She/Her)
  • Assistant Professor of Practice, University of Arizona School of Journalism
As seen in: Here & Now Anytime, NPR, U.S. News and World Report, The Toronto Star, AZCentral | The Arizona Republic, Washington Times, WBUR-FM (Boston, MA), The World (Podcast), Arizona Daily Star, KRCC-FM (Colorado Springs, CO) and
@UAZJSchool Prof and freelance reporter in the AZ-Sonora borderlands. Formerly with the @fronterasdesk in Hermosillo and @nogalesnews. Dms open for news tips!
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Family unites to restore historic ranch

Family unites to restore historic ranch

Nogales International — The historic Rancho Santa Cruz has reopened as a B&B after Susan Berryman and her family came together to restore the once-dilapidated property.
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'Do you shoot rockers?'

'Do you shoot rockers?'

Nogales International — When rocks started falling around then-Border Patrol Agent Shandan Wynecoop the night of Oct. 10, 2012, he was scared, he said, but his response wasn't to pull out his gun and start shooting. Instead, he moved from his location on West International Street in Nogales to the nearby sidewalk to "put distance between myself and the fence."
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City sees tax boost from online purchases

City sees tax boost from online purchases

Nogales International — On Friday afternoon, Mirna Casarez loaded her arms with about a dozen cardboard boxes and metallic pink envelopes full of lipstick, nail polish and other cosmetics she had ordered online. As with most of her internet purchases, Casarez said, she did the shopping from her home in Hermosillo, Sonora, but had her packages shipped to Nogales, Ariz.
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Entrepreneurs push grassroots innovation in Ambos Nogales

Entrepreneurs push grassroots innovation in Ambos Nogales

Nogales International — From yard work to babysitting, grocery shopping to plumbing fixes, Francis Glad's business Mi Friend On Demand connects local people with a need for service with someone who can provide it. Glad, a 40-year-old Nogales resident who started her first business at 18, came up with the idea after she started caring for her grandmother full-time and struggled to get out of the house, even to go grocery shopping.
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Giant puppets frolic at the border fence

Giant puppets frolic at the border fence

Nogales International — Reaching out with large hands made of recycled water bottles, five 15-foot tall puppets met at the U.S.-Mexico border in Ambos Nogales on Saturday, where they waved at each other, leaned their oversized heads against the wide steel bars of the border fence and touched through the gaps in the barrier.
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Moves raise open government concerns

Moves raise open government concerns

Nogales International — A recent series of controversial decisions made by the Nogales City Council with little public discussion has led to questions about transparency and openness in local government.
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Still without work visa, Haitian migrant tries to make best of life in sister city

Still without work visa, Haitian migrant tries to make best of life in sister city

Nogales International — Sitting at a taco shop booth a few blocks from the border fence in Nogales, Sonora last Tuesday, Ruben Jean Baptiste talked about life in the border town where he arrived a year ago on his way to the United States - a plan that changed when he realized he would likely be deported if he presented himself to U.S.
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Samantha Schadler is running her own race

Samantha Schadler is running her own race

Nogales International — Samantha Schadler knows what she wants this year. She wants to be the girls cross country state champion; she wants to finish in the top five at the Nike Cross Regionals (NXR); and she wants to qualify for the Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) and take a spot in the top 10.
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No preschool for most county children

No preschool for most county children

Nogales International — "Kiss your brains," Jeneen Treto told a roomful of squirmy 4-year-olds sitting crosslegged on a multi-colored carpet after they correctly identified shapes and colors on the the white board last Thursday morning. They responded obediently by kissing their fingertips and tapping their heads.
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After 93 years in Nogales, Bracker's to close its doors

After 93 years in Nogales, Bracker's to close its doors

Nogales International — Walking into Bracker's Department Store was like walking into another world for Rosa Amelia Samaniego when she was a little girl growing up in Nogales.
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Apache tribe in Nogales, Sonora seeks recognition, respect

Apache tribe in Nogales, Sonora seeks recognition, respect

Nogales International — Standing among piles of stones scattered across a stretch of land west of Nogales, Sonora on Sunday, five people removed their shoes and formed a circle. With heavy gray storm clouds pushing over purple mountains in the distance, they prepared to hold a prayer honoring Apache warriors believed to have been buried in the area after waging a fierce battle a century ago.
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Mothers in U.S. and Mexico unite across the border

Mothers in U.S. and Mexico unite across the border

Nogales International — About 30 men and women stood with faces pressed between the steel bars of the border fence in Nogales, Ariz. on Monday morning. They held up signs and chanted as they watched a group of women give flowers and cards to mothers at a primary school on the other side of the barrier in Nogales, Sonora.
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Shuttles see slow business, increased competition amid 'Trump terror'

Shuttles see slow business, increased competition amid 'Trump terror'

Nogales International — Gerry Vasquez stood in the shade next to a large yellow sign with red letters advertising Sonora Shuttles waiting for border-crossers who needed a ride to Tucson or Phoenix last Friday afternoon.
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Rustic gardens meet gilded-age glamour at Agua Linda Farm

Rustic gardens meet gilded-age glamour at Agua Linda Farm

Nogales International — Tucked between towering cottonwood trees at the end of a winding dirt road just north of Tubac, the red brick Agua Linda ranch house sits in a verdant oasis. Blooming daffodils and budding irises and hollyhocks dot a shamrock-green lawn tended by Regina Loew, who has been Agua Linda's gardener since she moved to the 63-acre property in the shadow of the Santa Rita Mountains with her husband Arthur Loew, Jr.
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Still in limbo, Haitians give up U.S. dreams

Still in limbo, Haitians give up U.S. dreams

Nogales International — Bourjolly Louissaint played dominoes on the shaded front patio of the Rotary Club in Nogales, Sonora on Monday afternoon, while a handful of men leaned idly against the blue-and-white railing or lounged in orange plastic chairs chatting and scanning their phones.
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Deportation marks 'new reality' under Trump

Deportation marks 'new reality' under Trump

Nogales International — Less than 24 hours after being taken into custody during a routine check-in with immigration officers Wednesday in Phoenix, Guadalupe Garcia de Rayos was deported to Nogales, Sonora around 10 a.m. Thursday. As one of the first people deported under President Donald Trump's new get-tough immigration policy, her case has sparked protests and drawn international media attention.
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Children of waste pickers find a helping hand

Children of waste pickers find a helping hand

Nogales International — Eight children raced around the small playground at Niños Ayudando Niños Agradecidos Children's Ministry on a recent morning, playing tag and soccer and piling onto the yellow and green slides. The brightly painted youth center overlooks rows of small ramshackle homes built with mismatched pieces of wood, metal and cardboard into the hillside above the old dump east of Nogales, Sonora.
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Central American migrants face difficult choices

Central American migrants face difficult choices

Nogales International — Dozens of men and a handful of women sat around four long tables at the Kino Border Initiative's "comedor" in Nogales, Sonora on Friday. They passed red, yellow and blue plastic plates of rice, beans and stew down the rows - breakfast for the migrants who come to the dining hall for food, clothing and other resources.
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Nogales dentists try to compete with low prices in Sonora

Nogales dentists try to compete with low prices in Sonora

Nogales International — Plaza Pesqueira teems with life. Taxi drivers gather to collect customers, shop owners set up their wares on the sidewalk, pharmacies boast cheap prices, and banners for nearly a dozen dental offices vie for attention with large, brightly colored signs on this short city block, all just "a few steps" south of the squeaky port of entry turnstile into Nogales, Sonora, as one dentist advertises.
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UA diving coach gets another crack at Olympics

UA diving coach gets another crack at Olympics

Arizona Daily Star — Omar Ojeda is calm as he watches Rafael Quintero jump off a 10-meter concrete platform, twist one and a half times, extend into a plank and hurtle toward the water. The instant Quintero hits the surface, Ojeda knows it was a great dive - one that could secure the young diver's spot in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
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Deaths per 10,000 border crossers are up 5 times from a decade ago

Deaths per 10,000 border crossers are up 5 times from a decade ago

Arizona Daily Star — They gather around a large red cross overlooking State Route 80 near Bisbee. The half-dozen people are here to honor the memory of Gerzon Estuardo Salucio Samayoa, a 21-year-old Guatemalan man who died nearby while crossing into the United States.
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Frontera Formations

Frontera Formations

Tucson Weekly — Nogales, Sonora, rumbles with noise and motion near the international border. Buses, cars and pedestrians kick up dust on the streets. Shop owners display their goods on bustling sidewalks. Restaurants post the daily specials. Taxis load passengers and zoom off into the city.
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Tiny owl that lives in Arizona and Sonora could get protection from growing threats

Tiny owl that lives in Arizona and Sonora could get protection from growing threats

KJZZ Fronteras Desk — A tiny owl that lives on both sides of the border in the Sonoran Desert could soon receive new federal protections meant to shield it from growing threats — including climate change, habitat loss and invasive species.
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Indigenous Comcaac conservation group works to restore vital mangrove habitat in Sonora

Indigenous Comcaac conservation group works to restore vital mangrove habitat in Sonora

Fronteras — Mangroves are considered one of the planet’s most important ecosystems. But they are disappearing world wide because of threats including climate change, urban development and other human activities. So, an Indigenous conservation group is working to protect some of the northernmost mangroves on the North American continent.
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