Norris Vaughan looked at peace sitting at his desk in the football office after a recent spring football practice.

As anyone who has ever taken a standardized test knows, the last step in preparing for the test is to sharpen your No. 2 pencil. That may not be enough, however, for those thinking about taking college entrance exams. Planning and preparation for the ACT/SAT should begin now for rising seniors. Here are some topics to consider as you establish your test-taking strategies.

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.

George Strait is amid a two-year tour before retiring from the road, but new album “Love Is Everything” proves he still has plenty of great new country music in him.

The Arizona Educational Foundation (AEF) announced that 28 Arizona public schools earned the A+ School of Excellence award for the 2012-2013 academic year including one in Ahwatukee Foothills, Kyrene de los Cerritos Elementary School in the Kyrene Elementary District. Darcy DiCosmo is principal.

Along with Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Iron Man 3” is one of the rare superhero threequels that doesn’t disappoint. While Jon Favreau remains an executive producer and co-star, he passes on the directorial duties to Shane Black of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” Black maintains all the action, humor, and character development that made Faverau’s first two films so enjoyable, while also incorporating his own unique signature. His film continues to raise the stakes and pushes its characters to their critical limits. In addition, “Iron Man 3” makes some hilarious commentary on the media’s role in terrorism with several inspired twist. The result is the darkest of the “Iron Man” trilogy and, ironically, the funniest.

The Medicaid restoration plan put forth by Gov. Brewer is a prudent economic option that helps our state stay competitive while serving those who are most vulnerable.

The Thunder had one last rally in a standard-setting season, but it wasn’t enough.

Principal Shelley Conner said she’ll miss camaraderie the most at St. John Bosco in Ahwatukee.

15629 S. Desert Foothills Pkwy.

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

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.

Just after the school bell rang last Friday morning, Kyrene de la Sierra Elementary Principal Dave Maloney headed straight for his school’s media center to do live morning announcements.

Take note. This is an excellent question, and it may be the relief you and your family have been looking for.

Sonoran Science Academy

Congratulations to the winter guard teams from Corona del Sol High School and Desert Vista High School for taking first and second place in the Arizona State Winter Guard Championship on April 6. These two teams have been competing all season and have forged what can best be described as a “friendly rivalry.” On the floor, they gave their best and used the competition to push each other to higher performance levels. When each competition was over, they could often be seen hanging out together and forming friendships. The season is over with a terrific showing on behalf of Tempe Union High School District. This level of achievement is only possible with a strong commitment to excellence and willingness to put in many hours of hard work week after week.

An Andean bear cub recently had its first check-up with Phoenix Zoo vets. After patiently waiting for more than three months, they found out the cut is a boy. Rio, the mother bear, is doing an excellent job raising her young cub. Recently, for the first time in the presence of zookeepers, Rio let go of the cub, stepped away and allowed the cub to be briefly on its own. Keepers were able to capture video of the cub taking some of his first steps, which you can watch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkwv-n9KspU.

It’s no wonder that Carter Gladstone has shown a tremendous ability to be patient at the plate.

It's a boy!! Our Andean bear cub recently had its first check-up with Phoenix Zoo vets. After patiently waiting for more than three months, we received the exciting news that we have a bouncing baby boy! Rio, our mother bear, is doing an excellent job raising her young cub. Recently, for the first time in the presence of our zookeepers Rio let go of the cub, stepped away and allowed the cub to be briefly on its own! Our keepers were able to capture video of the cub taking some of his first steps.Rio quickly returned to the cub after taking some food from her keepers but this marks a huge moment in the cub's development. At this time we still believe we are a few months away from the cub going out on exhibit as our keeper staff continues to take their cues from Rio allowing her to let us know when she feels comfortable and ready to leave her den.Be sure to subscribe to us for future bear updates!http://www.phoenixzoo.org -- Visit us!http://www.facebook.com/PhoenixZoo - Like us!http://www.twitter.com/PhoenixZoo - Follow us!http://www.instagram.com/PhoenixZoo - See fun Zoo photos!

"42” is far from the first movie to explore racial tensions in sports. We’ve seen this subject depicted in other good films like “Remember the Titans” and “Glory Road.” There are plenty of recognizable figures on display here, such as the underdog nobody believed in, the one man willing to take a chance on that underdog, and the ignorant antagonists that wish to see that underdog fail. Familiarity aside, though, “42” executes just about everything wonderfully. This is a good-hearted picture, carried by sincere performances and passionate direction. Not only is it an inspiring story about overcoming prejudice, but an all around rousing baseball movie too.

California has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the nation. In addition to the over 9,000 federal gun laws, California has also enacted many laws at the state level, including ban on high-capacity magazines, ban on “assault weapons,” waiting period on gun purchases, an approved handgun list — handguns must be certified by the state before they can cross the state line, private party sales require transfer via a licensed dealer, identification of “gun free zones” and many others.

Summit School of Ahwatukee middle school teachers, Andrea Yocum, Christy Menard and Amy Lecky, are recipients of this year’s Xavier College Preparatory Golden Gator Award for Excellence in Teaching. Xavier High School recognizes junior high teachers who have been inspirational to Xavier freshmen students. This is the third Golden Gator for Lecky, who teaches middle school language arts and literature, and the second for both science teacher Andrea Yocum, and math teacher Christy Menard. In previous years Summit teacher Melissa France has also received this award.

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.

Armando Adrian-López doesn’t farm anymore, but he still looks to the natural world for inspiration and materials, using corn husks, dried flowers and found objects to create fantastical winged and horned creatures.