Phoenix is great because of our strong communities where neighbors work together and take pride in the place they call home.

The 2013 legislative session began with a unanimous vote in the House and the Senate to appropriate emergency funding for additional Child Protective Services staff. With that vote, lawmakers affirmed child safety as a top priority.

The Food and Drug Administration will now allow women age 15 and older to buy the emergency contraceptive Plan B over the counter. Unfortunately, there is no “Plan B” for dogs and cats who find themselves in trouble — and that’s why it’s vital to have them spayed or neutered as soon as possible.

The Phoenix Fire Department is giving the community a chance to get to know local firefighters by hosting an open house at four fire stations this Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, including Ahwatukee Foothills Fire Station No. 43, 4110 E. Chandler Blvd.

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:

Travelers accustomed to chain eateries like Chili’s and Paradise Bakery now have a chance to experience local offerings such as Cowboy Ciao, La Grande Orange and Barrio Cafe at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

It was a small turnout with a lot of passion at the Protecting Arizona’s Resources and Children (PARC) meeting on Saturday, May 11.

Attorney General Tom Horne paid a $300 fine Wednesday -- $582 with surcharges -- to settle a criminal misdemeanor charge he left the scene of an accident without leaving a note.

Now that the Draft Environmental Impact Study (DEIS) for the proposed South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway expansion has been released, local environmentalists are planning to use the 90-day comment period to tear it apart.

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.

I have been an Ahwatukee resident for the last three years, and previously for 13 years. Recently I had a severe case of a stomach virus that sent me to the Ahwatukee Dignity Health Urgent Care.

You’re probably accustomed to measuring the progress of your investments, and the overall condition of the investment world, by checking on indexes such as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500. And since these types of benchmarks focus almost exclusively on American companies, you might get the idea that the best investments are located right here in the United States. But that impression would be false — because there is, literally, a world of investment opportunities beyond the U.S. borders.

As many students are training for football, baseball, hockey, soccer, and other sports, this is also the time of year for sports-related injuries. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), sports-related dental injuries send approximately 600,000 youths to the emergency room each year involving children as young as 5 years old. Prevention is a large aspect of oral health. Oral health prevention includes the prevention of injury to the mouth, teeth, neck, and jaws. In an attempt to promote awareness of facial injury prevention, five organizations have sponsored April as being the National Facial Protection Month: American Dental Association (ADA), American Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the Academy for Sports Dentistry. Contact sports such as football, hockey, and basketball are common sources of oral injury; however, other sports such as gymnastics and volleyball pose a threat as well. Common head and neck injuries can include concussions, fractured teeth, oral lacerations, jaw joint sprains, and neck injuries.

In the wake of last week’s tragedy in Boston, what are the images that stayed with you? The pillowing smoke? Blood on the streets? Shell-shocked victims in wheelchairs? Our hearts have been broken again. And since the footage is shown over and over, we’re traumatized each time, just like when the twin towers burned on 9/11.

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

Monday was the deadline for another column, and so right now I should be polishing up 500 words or so about why women do more housekeeping than men and bundling it off to the Ahwatukee Foothills News.

Gov. Jan Brewer said Tuesday that enhanced security is being put in place for this weekend's Pat Tillman run in the wake of the bombings in Boston.

Local running coach Susan Loken said there were several Ahwatukee Foothills residents competing in the Boston Marathon on Monday.

Plot-twisting puzzlers are a bubble market in the movies these days, with an arms race of "Inception"-like reality reversals that flip like a coin until dizzy audiences lose all interest in how it lands.

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.

The Arizona Department of Transportation cautions drivers to be prepared for blowing dust today.

When it comes to health care, the saying “you get what you pay for” doesn’t always apply. Sometimes, particularly in the realm of end-of-life care, “less is more.”

As CEO of St. Luke’s Medical Center, I applaud Gov. Jan Brewer for her plan to restore Medicaid to its previous funding levels. Restoring Medicaid funding is smart, cost-effective, and will have a lasting impact on Arizona’s economy for years to come.

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.

State lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to legislation designed to let Arizonans shop around for the least expensive CAT scan, hip replacement or even routine physical.