Two old friends paid me a visit last week. The first slipped in without a word, freezing my mind for an instant, like the shock of ice cream gulped down too eagerly on a hot day. As we visited for a while, I noticed the familiar voice is edged with a steely insistence, somehow sharpened rather than blunted by a hunger for news of trouble, and the scent of brewing chaos. By God’s grace and through His perfect timing, there, just in nick of time, was another beloved friend knocking on the door of my heart, gently enfolding me in loving arms. This beloved voice speaks quietly, yet perfectly clearly, sharing a different story, at once both old and fresh. The voice carries words brimming with abundant life, like a lush oasis in an otherwise barren and hostile desert. Such is the power of moments of fear to paralyze our senses, and to leave us feeling isolated and lost. Such is the power of the unparalleled peace found through our faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord, in the comforting words of Scripture.

A class of fifth-grade students Friday opened up ping-pong balls with small science experiments inside after they returned from a trip to the “edge of space” inside the Earth’s atmosphere.

Q: What type of business services or products do you provide?

Trace Adkins works with five different producers on his 11th album, suggesting the country music veteran and reality TV star is searching for an infusion of fresh energy.

There were hurdles, blocks and bars all over the track Saturday at Mesa Community College.

MESA – There were hurdles, blocks and bars all over the track Saturday at Mesa Community College.

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.

If any piece of classic American literature should be depicted on film with wildly decadent and boldly inventive style, it's "The Great Gatsby." After all, who was the character of Jay Gatsby himself if not a spinner of grandiose tales and a peddler of lavish dreams?

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 soft underbelly of a lot of volleyball teams is right in the middle of the net.

High winds and low humidity are creating a danger for the upcoming fire season, the state forester said Thursday, especially for southeast Arizona.

The Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) for the South Mountain Freeway was released on April 26, but as the Arizona Department of Transportation (ADOT) continues to study putting the freeway down Pecos Road a group of Gila River Indian Community Landowners are stuck waiting for answers as their initiative — which could make it possible for the freeway to go on tribal land — is stalled by the Tribal Council.

I did it. Even though it might make me the last person in Ahwatukee over the age of 9 to do so, I have a smartphone. It was not a case of desire; the screen on my “vintage” phone was so scratched I couldn’t see it, and it turned out I could get the smartphone and pay $10 less per month. I suspect the kid that sold it to me was like a seedy, back alley pusher — “come on, its even cheaper” — and that a smartphone is gateway technology.

The latest release from Philadelphia guitarist- songwriter Kurt Vile is a 69-minute double LP of lengthy, languid meditations on the everyday and beyond. The songs unwind slowly, their charms leaving imprints on the way back around.

New York • When he first started working with Imagine Dragons, music producer Alex da Kid was looking for some inspiration for the Broadway musical, “Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark.”

J’ontar Coleman wanted what he felt was rightfully his all along.

Arizona firms are on the verge of getting new secrecy protections for the internal reviews they do of their health and safety practices.

After 24 years in the trenches, I’d like to think that I’ve mastered many of the hurdles of parenting. Four kids have been shepherded through almost all their rites of passage: kindergarten, eighth-grade graduation, and first dates.

Robert Redford does his most compelling work in some time as both actor and director in "The Company You Keep," a tense yet admirably restrained thriller about a fugitive forced out of hiding after 30 years to prove his innocence. Adapted with clarity and intelligence by Lem Dobbs from Neil Gordon's novel, and lent distinguishing heft by its roster of screen veterans, this gripping drama provides an absorbing reflection on the courage and cost of dissent.

Riveting, intelligent and a masterclass in acting, “Beyond the Hills” is likely to be the best film you’ll see this spring or maybe even this year.

State lawmakers edged closer Wednesday to allowing armed staffers in some public schools.

The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest organization on earth at 2,000 years. It changes very slowly. In theology it only changes at the far edges. It is built on a rock (some say built of road).

Paul Lucas is no longer just creating a buzz. He is on his way to establishing a legacy.

One of the most novel events of the spring? Arizona Polo Club’s Picnic and Polo Clinic.

In a week when North Korea posted a homemade video showing the U.S. Capitol building being destroyed by a missile, what more logical response could Hollywood offer than a macho thriller about a Secret Service agent who takes on North Korean terrorists who attack the White House? The first of two similarly themed action dramas set for this year ("White House Down" arrives in June), "Olympus Has Fallen" will put to the test the question of whether American audiences are ready, 12 years after 9-11, to watch, strictly as disposable popcorn entertainment, a film in which the United States and some of its most prominent landmarks are devastated by foreign terrorists.