Eric Jay Toll

​​​Despite Devastating Service Job Losse​​s, April Employment Shows Bright Spots in the Dark Clouds
It worked.
It may be hard to convince anyone among the more than 222,500 metropolitan area workers losing jobs in April that there is any good news on the job front.
A post-Great Recession economic development policy change by Arizona, Phoenix and Valley cities about recruiting jobs succeeded. The April employment report has some bright spots in the dark clouds.
By Eric Jay Toll for PHXNewsroom...

The group has the Austrian luges on the ground. Several have already plopped down on the sled. Others are still looking askance at the traditional wooden sleds with a little apprehension showing on their faces, including me.
We’re about to start a 7.5km (4.7-mile) sled run that drops nearly 700 meters (2,300 feet) down the face of Le Massif near Petite-Rivière-Saint-François in the Charlevoix region. Located in North America, about two hours east of Ville de Québec (Quebec City), Québec, it’s...

Dr. Kim Manwaring developed a bloodless electric surgical knife that is a game-changer in the operating room.

For an incredibly culturally mixed experience, start a trip in Saguenay-Lac Saint-Jean region of Québec, Canada. In many visits to Montréal and Ville de Québec (Québec City), the urban mixed English-French experience and the historic cities are flavors of Europe in North America.
The region is a recreationalist’s dream. Lac-Saint-Jean is over 1,000km2 (387mi2) and drains into the Saguenay River. The river drops 90m (300ft) as it moves southeast into Baie des Ha! Ha! and becomes the Fjord-du-S...

Looking back on the day
“There are so many weird sights, it really keeps the kids’ interest,” Randall was saying as he sat back in a camp chair at his Texas Spring campsite near Furnace Creek, California, U.S. “The dunes, the zebra mountains, walking on salt, Death Valley National Park has something each one of our kids has liked the best.”
Gwen mopped her brow against the evening warmth and passed some instructions to the kids on their way to wash the dinner dishes at the outdoor sinks a few...

“Think about the thousands and thousands of bioscience startups around the world. Then out of all those companies located in hundreds of different global cities, only 30 have been selected as the best to compete in the Startup Stadium,” said Christine Mackay, director, Phoenix Community and Economic Development. “Of those 30 companies, three are from the city of Phoenix. That is an incredible accomplishment for the three companies and the Phoenix bioscience ecosystem.”
By Eric Jay Toll for PH...

Visitors and photographers at Desert View, the east entrance to Grand Canyon National Park, South Rim. This is where the Colorado River enters the canyon. Credit: Eric Jay Toll
Hikers rest on the overlook at Ooh-Ah Point on the South Kaibab Trail, South Rim, Grand Canyon National Park. Credit: Eric Jay TollOne quarter of all Americans think that the Grand Canyon is near Las Vegas, Nevada, and not in Arizona.
That mistake adds over an hour of driving for a long boring ride before arriving at o...

Dr. Nabil Dib, at Dignity Mercy Gilbert Medical Center in the Phoenix, Arizona, area, has developed a system of using stem cells to regrow heart muscle following a heart attack. In this Q&A, he talks about his procedural discovery.

The air is still while the billowing cumulus clouds contrast white against an azure sky over the Tucson Mountains.
The quiet is broken with the distant sound of children giggling and shouting, horses snorting, and the readying clump of horses into the soft Sonoran Desert sand.
At the far end of the arena, some longhorn cattle are clustered together watched over by a professional wrangler.
The music blares, the announcer roars enthusiastically, and a young rider heads into the arena to cut a c...

From the back seat it appears the road just drops over the side of the cliff. Behind my head rest I hear the giggles, “We’re flying!” Navajo guide Robert Begay turns to the girls, points out the rear window, and laughs with them, “There! That’s where you’re flying, Eagle Mesa.” The two of them turn around craning their necks as I navigate a steep turn and aim downward into Monument Valley. We’re in the first quarter mile of the 17 mile Scenic Drive weaving our way between buttes and mesas.
“W...

Kids just squeal with delight: “It’s like pouring chocolate milk into the river!” It’s Willy Wonka at his best magic.
Chocolate Waterfalls
The “Chocolate Waterfalls,” actually Grand Falls, Arizona, is located in the Leupp Chapter of the Navajo Nation, about 30 miles northeast of Flagstaff. While it is an adventure to get there, it’s well-worth the effort to see a unique, natural phenomena. It’s a 90-minute roundtrip from Interstate 40 at Winona. Grand Falls Arizona is not that far from Grand ...

Welcome to Monument Valley, a Navajo Tribal Park in northeastern Arizona’s red rock country. Monument Valley is the backdrop to hundreds of movies, commercials and photographs. It is considered a holy site by the Navajo, and for international travelers, it is the icon defining the American West. The park is open before dawn, because one of the most amazing natural views on the planet is the sun rising behind the Left and Right Mittens next to Merrick Butte.
Waiting for the Dawn
It’s 20 minute...

“It was the pivotal moment,” said Oliver Graudejus. It was 2007, and he was sitting in a workshop at the University of Michigan. In what seems a lifetime ago, Graudejus watched a demonstration of neuromodulation change a Parkinson’s Disease patient’s life from unlivable to near-normal.
By Eric Jay Toll and Athena Sanchez for PhxNewsroom
It wasn’t that devices at that time were technological “iron lungs,” but some were inconvenient for daily patient life. It’s the belief there was a better way...

It was one of those steal-your-heart sunsets behind the Tucson Mountains as the car turned off the Twin Peaks Road black top and meandered up the dirt road to the welcoming gate and corral at White Stallion Ranch, a dude ranch and guest ranch, north west of Tucson, Arizona.
The sky painted in orange, red, gold and purple was the perfect backdrop arriving for days of back-to-the-West bliss, as has been going on for more than 50 years at the ranch. The entrance is flanked by an array of interna...

“Look, daddy!” and “Dinosaurs!!” are among the squeals of youthful voices seconds from entering the spacious quarry. An allosaurus skull, complete with most of its knife-edge teeth, is on display, along with other examples of amphibian and marine fossils found in the cliff face.
Nothing on a road trip is more alluring to children than dinosaurs.
There’s a vacation for that.
In eastern Utah and western Colorado, there are more dinosaurs – well, fossils – than nearly anywhere else in the world....