Seven Ahwatukee eighth-graders received $100 Barnes and Noble gift certificates for outstanding community service. The Ahwatukee Kiwanis Club makes these awards each year. This year’s recipients are: from Centennial, Shauntel Thomas and Gabriel Barragan; from Akimel A-al, Alyia Poplawski and Erisa Freund; and Altadeña, Kristin de Jesus, Colt Sample and Thomas Luke Heywood.

Dear Mikey: I just turned 25 years old and I got myself in a situation where I had to file bankruptcy a week before my birthday. This is not at all where I expected myself to be when I turned 25. I thought I would have my career launched already (just got laid off), have my bachelor’s degree by now (still have 21 more credits to go), be married by now (girlfriend and I just broke up a month ago), having kids (not even close), and a house (can barely afford the rent in my apartment).

The Phoenix City Council has approved a sweeping ethics reform package for elected officials that Mayor Greg Stanton says gives the city some of the toughest ethics rules in the nation.

Humorist Dave Barry has said, “the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. The wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.”

As the saying goes, “Good things come to people who wait.” For some time I have been suggesting to anyone who is in the market for a new computer to wait a while for Windows 8 to be improved, and that time may be around the corner. This is welcome news to those of you who have had the misfortune of either purchasing a Windows 8 computer or have received a gift with the ill-fated operating system installed on a new computer.

Father’s Day gifts have morphed over the years. It used to be a tie, a golf hat or a jazz CD. But dads are more tech-savvy these days.

Editor’s Note: Phoenix police remind all residents to leave nothing in your car when it is parked outside. If something must be left in the car make sure it is in the trunk or out of sight. Never leave your car doors unlocked even while leaving the car momentarily. Police have seen a string of these quick crimes of opportunity and say they are preventable.

Levi Salem passed away on Tuesday, June 4 at the age of 93. He is survived by his daughter, Robin Stinnett, two grandchildren, Scott Salem and Kelly Stinnett, and one great granddaughter, Sophia Grace Salem.

The Thunder Basketball Academy, featuring Desert Vista boy basketball coach Dave Williams, will host three sessions for third through eighth grade at Desert Vista, 16440 S. 32nd St.

ICAN, a Chandler-based youth program, is introducing a new initiative to ensure that kids returning to school do so with shoes that are not worn and torn. Throughout the month of June, ICAN will be seeking donations for its Kicks for Kids shoe drive, including shoes and socks.

Most of the ads for “After Earth” have neglected to mention that M. Night Shyamalan co-wrote and directed the film. Movie studios finally seem to be realizing that having Shyamalan’s name plastered above the title will no longer sell tickets. If anything, it will have audiences fleeing from the theater in revulsion. Whenever it looks like Shyamalan can’t embarrass himself any further, he always comes out with a new film that’s even more atrocious than the last. At least with his previous debacle, “The Last Airbender,” Shyamalan hit ground zero. There’s no way he could possibly make a film even more poorly written, effortlessly acted, and bleakly directed, right?


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.


In three weeks Ahwatukee Kiwanis was able to pull the community together and provide Christmas gifts to 47 boys in six group foster homes across the Valley in 2012. 

Festival of Lights (FOL) committee members are inviting the adults of Ahwatukee Foothills to come party this weekend at the 18th Annual Festival of Lights Wine and Beer Tasting.
Hundreds of people attend the event each year. This year’s festivities will take place from 7 to 10 p.m. tomorrow, June 1, at the Foothills Golf Club, 2201 E. Clubhouse Drive. The Festival of Lights Charity Golf Tournament will be earlier in the day on Saturday at the Foothills Golf Club. The shotgun scramble tees off at 7:30 a.m. The cost is $100 for individuals with discounts for a foursome. That price includes a round of golf, a cart, a buffet lunch, range balls, a goody bag and entrance into multiple drawings. Golfers can register at Safeway or through the Festival of Lights website, www.folaz.org.
Money raised from both events will benefit the community’s Festival of Lights, Ahwatukee Kiwanis and the YMCA’s Outreach Program for Ahwatukee Seniors (YOPAS).
Tickets for the wine tasting can be purchased for $40 in advance at www.folaz.org, or for $50 at the door on Saturday night. There are also additional discounts for large groups who purchase tickets in advance.
Guests will have a chance to sample more than 50 varieties of wine and beer along with food from local restaurants. Dr. Ron and the Painkillers will provide live music throughout the night.
The silent auction this year is excellent, said Linda Jochim, a FOL committee member. There will be more than 120 items up for auction including several different spa packages, vacation getaways, tickets to sporting events and even a three-day Harley rental. Of course, the silent auction will also include gift cards to local restaurants and lots of sports memorabilia. Jochim said donors to the silent auction have been more than generous this year and it should make for some great bargains for those who bid.
Every year from Thanksgiving to New Years night thousands of strands of lights span Chandler Boulevard. The tradition has continued through the support of the Ahwatukee Foothills community. Each year the kick-off party is filled with events and activities for kids and families to enjoy while the wine and beer tasting in the summer is a celebration for the adults.
To sign up, or to find out more information, visit www.folaz.org.


Most of the ads for “After Earth” have neglected to mention that M. Night Shyamalan co-wrote and directed the film. Movie studios finally seem to be realizing that having Shyamalan’s name plastered above the title will no longer sell tickets.

The search for a family-pleasing staycation just got a little easier, thanks to one of Chandler’s lushest resorts.

When it comes to money, women have their own style. The wealth-building strategies that resonate with women and lead them along the path to greater financial freedom are not the same as those for men. We assimilate money information differently — not only because of cultural attitudes and beliefs about women and money, but because of how our brains take in, process, and use information. How much of your brain power is being applied to decreasing your financial vulnerability and increasing your financial know-how and well-being?

Taylor Guthrie, a student from Chandler, was recently honored as one of the brightest young students in the nation at a statewide awards ceremony for academically advanced children sponsored by The Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth (CTY).

Another Mother’s Day has come and gone and the Internet is littered with women griping about how disappointed they are with their families’ celebration of their Amazing Motherhood. The eternal conflict still rages: Is the holiday a Hallmark Holiday, and thus a despised marketing ploy or the deserved reward after devoting some or all of one’s life to her children?

After years in the doldrums, the housing market appears back on track. Home sales and prices are up, and mortgage rates remain near historic lows, reinvigorating the appeal of homeownership.

Are you interested in cutting costs and saving money?

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

Instead of asking for gifts, St. John Bosco sixth-graders Lauren A. and Shea S. combined their recent 12th birthday parties into a fundraiser for a family in need. The Perres are local residents facing heart wrenching medical issues and staggering medical costs. Within two months of one another, Mrs. Perre was diagnosed with a form of Lou Gehrig’s disease and her 16-year-old son was diagnosed with cancer. Lauren and Shea invited the entire sixth-grade population of St. John Bosco, as well as many other friends, to party at Desert Foothills Park on April 26. In lieu of birthday gifts, Shea, Lauren and their friends dug into their piggy banks and donated money to help the Perres. In the end, Lauren, She and their friends collected approximately $1,700. The Perres were overwhelmed at the compassion and generosity of both the girls and the community.