Voters who have seen how medical marijuana works in Arizona may get a chance to extend the ability to use the drug to all other adults.

Not waiting for formal gubernatorial approval, foes of her Medicaid expansion already are moving to undo at the ballot box and in court what they could not block at the Legislature.

I have not voted in some time now, having figured out that it simply does no good. And yes, I sincerely believe the “system” itself is the problem.

Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC) honored their 10th annual Teal & Silver award recipients during a breakfast event at the college’s Williams Campus on May 7 at the Student Pavilion Center. Nine winners were recognized for their efforts and support of CGCC students, employees, programs, services and the college community.

While driving on Ray Road recently I saw a bumper sticker reading: “People who think guns kill people must think that pencils misspell words.”


Leslie Patricelli didn’t keep junk food in the house when her three kids were toddlers, but the goofy, bald baby in her board book “Yummy Yucky” grins from ear to ear over chocolate sauce and cookies.
The prolific picture book writer also included pepperoni pizza as a positive, acknowledging in a recent interview that some of her empty calorie imagery for kids too young to seek out sugary and fatty foods on their own have earned her a kvetch or two from parents.
“If I were to do it again I would probably make a few different choices, but I don’t think I would leave everything out,” said Patricelli, in Hailey, Idaho. “All you have to do is watch a kid eat a piece of cake to know that they’re in heaven.”
Heaven, indeed, especially when it comes to an abundance of frothy pink cupcakes, chocolate chip cookies and candy in books aimed squarely at babies, toddlers and preschoolers who may not be intimate with the meaning of moderation.
But some authors and publishers are focused on creating alternatives to c-is-for-cupcake picture books for parents struggling to promote broccoli. Even Cookie Monster sometimes eats smarter, chowing down on celery and demonstrating smaller portions of his namesake treats in “Ding Dong, Elmo’s Here!” and other books from the folks on “Sesame Street.”
“Food is everywhere kids turn,” said Betsy Loredo, executive editor for Sesame Workshop’s publishing group. “So it’s natural for us to want to think of ways we can integrate that and make choices that are healthier. We try to go for at least equity.”
“Sesame Street,” with an appearance by obesity fighter and first lady Michelle Obama, took on nutrition and exercise as an initiative back in 2004. The effort expanded to other divisions and special projects that included distribution of kits to six million families and child care centers offering ways to eat healthy on a budget and educate parents on the difference between “sometime food” and “anytime food.”
With the childhood obesity rate tripling in the past 30 years to 1 in 3 children in the United States overweight or obese, books with healthy eating pictures and messages may not be everything, but they’re something, advocates said.
Sesame Workshop, for instance, concluded in a 2010 study that when children are shown fruits and vegetables linked with favorite characters from the show they choose those foods at a much higher rate and eat more of them, according to Sesame researcher Jennifer Kotler.
Even broccoli, she laughed.
“Something happens between 3 and 5 where there’s a growing awareness of what healthy means. Where 3-year-olds like the foods they like, 5-year-olds know things they might choose might not always be the healthiest,” Kotler said. 
David Goldbeck in Woodstock, N.Y., isn’t an absolutist, but he does care about what kids see in their books when it comes to food. He wants more of them to eat fruits and vegetables, so he co-wrote an alphabet book that puts broccoli and yams in equally healthy company.
The Michigan Fitness Foundation, which is home to that state’s Governor’s Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports, uses Goldbeck’s “The ABC’s of Fruits and Vegetables and Beyond” in take-home book bags that are part of a health literacy program in more than 400 public elementary schools, said Marci Kelly Scott, the organization’s vice president for health programs.
The book includes an alphabet format with illustrations (E is for eggplant!) but also history, fun facts and recipes for older kids. Scott ordered 500 of the books in 2008 and routinely reorders to keep up her supplies.
In this alphabet world, C is for carrots, D is for date, as in the “desert fruit found in Kuwait,” and O is for organic.


AZPASS (Arizona People Acting for a Safer Society) would like to respond to Bill Richardson (“Limiting magazine capacity: Let’s try it!,” AFN, April 28) who seems to want to only confuse the discussion, and to prevent the rest of us from reaching a reasonable consensus on sensible gun regulation.


Gov. Jan Brewer signed the bill allowing Girl Scouts–Arizona Cactus-Pine Council (GSACPC) to have a special license plate issued by the Arizona Department of Transportation. While it will be several months before there is an actual license plate that can be purchased, this is something that their membership and community of 35,000-plus girls and volunteers have been advocating for quite some time.

The state Court of Appeals on Tuesday rejected a bid by prisoner rights advocates, including a convicted murderer, to void a new fee being charged to visitors.

My son Brett, the comeback athlete

After the high-profile shooting of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in 2010, Scott Rollefstad felt he had to do something to help keep other agents safe.

Residents of Laveen are ready for the South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway to be built.

There is no short answer to the question — one which is asked by almost every gun control advocate in the U.S.

By the time a client parks their car and walks up to the front doors of Harvest of Tempe, the southeast Valley’s only medical marijuana dispensary, he or she, their license plate, and their car have all been caught on camera.

While more than 62 percent of households in the U.S. have a pet, and many of the people living with those animals attend church services regularly, only a small percentage of churches serve animals and their caretakers. It was a startling thought for Ahwatukee Foothills residents Kris and Craig Haley.

Public awareness, using the city of Phoenix as a model, system reform, coordinated services and partnerships are all part of a plan to make domestic violence a focus for the city of Phoenix.

Coming soon to downtown Mesa: big changes to one of the city’s acclaimed all-ages attractions.

On March 1, Congress failed to come to an agreement on a federal spending package, leading to the implementation of sequestration resulting in an $85 billion cut in government spending over the next seven months. Hardest hit are programs that serve our community’s most vulnerable. But, there is hope and that hope lies within us.

Kyrene del Milenio Elementary teacher Greg Broberg has been striking up education conversation lately, and hopes more teachers and parents can get involved.

Arizona grocery magnate, education advocate, philanthropist, and one-time gubernatorial candidate Eddie Basha, Jr., passed away Tuesday afternoon.

Sharon Lagas still remembers the “tragedy” that shook her family more than a decade ago.

Hosted for the second year at the Ahwatukee Recreation Center, the American Legion invites the community to the state finals for an oratorical speech contest on the Constitution tomorrow.

Four Peaks Brewing Company has been an East Valley fixture for 16 years. Its variety of beer retails not only across the state, but nationwide and even in other countries.