It probably doesn’t show up on your calendar, but May is Disability Insurance Awareness Month. And you might agree that such a month is useful, when you consider the following:

Calling the governor's proposal unacceptable and politically dead at the Legislature, House Speaker Andy Tobin unveiled his own new plan Tuesday to expand Medicaid, one that would give Arizona voters the final say.

As thick dark clouds rolled in over Chaparral High School and a light drizzle started to fall, it seemed like Mother Nature stole some of Desert Vista’s thunder.

Saying she's run out of patience, Gov. Jan Brewer will veto any bills sent to her until she sees movement on a new state budget and her pet Medicaid expansion project.

A federal judge on Tuesday slapped down the latest efforts by the state to block the Tohono O'odham from building a casino on the edge of Glendale.

The greens at Starfire Golf Club just got a whole lot greener with the implementation of Waste Management’s total recycling program. Starfire Golf Club is Scottsdale’s first golf public course to implement the program as part of its effort to go green and increase recycling and composting initiatives. Starfire Golf Club launched the program as the city’s first golf course recycling initiative on April 22 in commemoration of Earth Day.

The Norwegian directing team of Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, whose biopic of World War II resistance fighter Max Manus was a huge hit on home turf, have turned to another native hero for "Kon-Tiki." One of the most-vaunted escapades of the 20th century, Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Peru-to-Polynesia expedition by raft gets glossy big-screen treatment in this efficiently told action-adventure. Delivering visual drama and understated character study, sometimes in disappointingly formulaic fashion, the feature has its incisive moments but falls short as both epic and intimate portrait.

If you work for an employer who offers a benefits package that includes life insurance and disability income insurance, consider yourself fortunate. But you can’t necessarily consider yourself fully protected. And if you don’t have appropriate life and disability insurance, your long-term financial goals could be at risk.

In the galaxy of big-screen superheros — a rather glum lot — Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man is the snappy one.

Scrambling to find votes for her Medicaid expansion plan, Gov. Jan Brewer said Thursday she is now willing to approve legislation to stop Planned Parenthood from getting any of the funds.

Newborns in Need will be hosting its annual baby shower on Saturday, May 4 with free knitting, crochet and sewing lessons for anyone who attends.

There are so many reasons for the Legislature to approve Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal to expand Medicaid that it is hard for me to believe that any elected official would put ideology before the good of their constituents and the state of Arizona.

The best-tasting veggie burger I’ve ever met is falafel. A product of the Middle East, falafel are deep-fried fritters made from ground chickpeas or fava beans that are tucked into pita pockets and drizzled with tahini. They are delicious, hearty, inexpensive and relatively healthy.

Despite the bad rap that saturated fats have, there’s a lot of evidence indicating that saturated fat is essentially good for you. The real harmful and unhealthy fats include trans fats, hydrogenated fats and vegetable oils.

1. On Monday, April 15 at 10 p.m. police reported a false reporting to law enforcement. A man near the 13000 block of South Wakial Loop initially reported his wife had been kidnapped, police said. An investigation indicated the wife was having drinks with another male subject, the man knew that and was trying to file a false report, police said.

If you’re just a casual swimmer, you probably don’t have to adjust your diet before jumping in. But that’s not the case with competitive swimmers, who must constantly watch what they eat and drink. You can learn a lot from swimmers’ consumption patterns — particularly if you’re an investor.

Local entrepreneurs are in the final stages of getting their portable medical clinic repurposed from a steel shipping container sent to Kenya.

I would like to respond to a recent guest column, “SRP needs to provide vision and advance energy efficiency,” which appeared in this newspaper (March 29). The author makes inaccurate assertions regarding the ability of customers and stakeholders to provide meaningful input to SRP’s resource plan and more generally questions our commitment to sustainable resources.

Saying there are technical problems with the proposal, Gov. Jan Brewer vetoed legislation Friday which would have allowed individuals to shop around for the best price on health care needs.

Those unwanted text messages for everything from special sales to dating services could soon be a thing of the past.

Lottery confidentiality

You may better know her sister, Dakota, from box-office smashes like “War of the Worlds” and “The Twilight Saga,” but 14-year-old Elle Fanning has already made quite a name for herself among the arthouse set, appearing in such acclaimed works as “Babel,” “Somewhere” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” This month, she takes center stage in a new drama from writer/director Sally Potter entitled “Ginger & Rosa” – a coming-of-age tale set in 1962 London as the threat of the Cuban missile crisis looms overhead.

If your goal is to lose weight, look and feel your best and live a healthy, vibrant life, be aware of the damaging additives and synthetic chemicals in the foods you buy and eat. Seventy-five percent of the average American diet is from processed and packaged foods, which equates to approximately 10 pounds of additives eaten annually.

Spring is in the air. And if you’re like many people, you may be looking forward to doing some spring cleaning around your house and yard. But this year, why not go beyond your physical environment and do some “sprucing up” of your financial situation?

Saying the move would make no sense, Gov. Jan Brewer on Friday refused to insert an anti-abortion provision into her plan to expand the state's Medicaid program.