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.

A survey shows U.S. home prices rose 10.5 percent in March compared with a year ago, the biggest gain since March 2006.

No one can deny the Great Recession left a permanent mark on our nation and its economy. But what effect did it have on the American Dream of home ownership? That’s the question we set out to answer by asking Phoenix-based Benchmark Research Technologies to survey nearly 1,700 Arizona new home shoppers about their attitudes surrounding home ownership in the post-recession era.

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Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation Thursday to allow foster children to be placed in homes with youngsters who are not immunized.

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.

Centennials are normally cause for celebration, a chance to applaud some thing or person standing the test of time. But not so for the income tax. Even the IRS is declining to mention that this year is the 100-year anniversary of the 16th Amendment of the Constitution, which authorized the tax.

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Arizonans who have to seek protection from creditors in bankruptcy court soon will be able to hang on to more of what they own.

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.

The value of home sales in Western states rose over the last year even as the number of transactions slipped, according to an official with the National Association of Realtors.

The real estate market is improving dramatically according to real estate professionals, and those looking to get involved in the market can learn all about their options at the Arizona Homebuyers Expo this Saturday, April 13.

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?

Remember when bathtubs in the master bathroom were considered a luxury, sunken living rooms were hip, and small closets were standard?

This is a hot topic these days, and for good reason. Long-term care is a growing concern for baby boomers and their parents. Long-term care insurance, as a result, is gaining quite a bit of attention.

From a petting zoo in your backyard to a bounce house at your neighborhood park, celebrations of all kinds this time of year are hosted outdoors to take advantage of Arizona’s spring weather.

Still far short of the votes she needs, Gov. Jan Brewer finally gave lawmakers a peek Tuesday at details of her plan to expand the state's Medicaid program in a bid to whip up support.

America has almost 12 million illegal immigrants.

Born on Jan. 21, 1930 in Pemberville, Ohio, and passed away on Feb. 25 in Tempe, Beryl was a resident of Toledo, Ohio, for more than 60 years and a snowbird in Ahwatukee for the past 15 years.

When the federal government is low on cash to pay its bills, Congress can authorize the government to borrow money to meet its expenses. The limits to this borrowing — the debt ceiling — are raised periodically. Currently, members of Congress want to see measures put in place to reduce government spending and our national deficit before they agree to raise the limits again. These issues are still on the table, but a recent vote passed legislation to allow more borrowing until May.

After 24 years of marriage, Joe and Jane often finish each other’s sentences. So imagine how surprised they were when some differing goals emerged during a recent retirement income planning discussion with their financial advisor. As their advisor led the couple through an exercise designed to help them set retirement priorities, they discovered that Joe was eying a particular pocket of savings to enable his early retirement. Jane, on the other hand, viewed that same account as a fund for their children’s college education.

Jeff Bryant and Joe Campbell admit they heard it more than once when they decided to open Desert Eagle Brewery in downtown Mesa last October.

When Bill Keller landed a store manager’s job with Dillard’s department store in the Valley 34 years ago, his wife, Dianne, said she wasn’t excited about moving to Arizona, much less Mesa — from Minneapolis.

Almost everyone would agree: Moving is a hassle. In addition to selling your current home and finding a new one, you may need to deal with a new school for your kids, a new doctor, a new dentist — the list goes on and on.

When Bill Keller landed a manager’s job with Dillard’s department store in the Valley 34 years ago, his wife, Dianne, said she wasn’t excited about moving to Arizona, much less Mesa — from Minneapolis.