It’s no secret to Realtors that fabulous kitchens sell homes. Improve the room used primarily for food preparation, and the entire house will feel homier to residents, guests and prospective buyers alike.

Keystone Montessori • 1025 E. Liberty Lane

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.

Starting next semester, students who smoke will have to find other places to light up between classes. All Arizona State University campuses and buildings will become tobacco-free beginning Aug. 1.

The Southwest Institute of Montessori Studies is hosting a teacher training program in Ahwatukee, and applications for interested teaching students are being accepted.

As we survey the panoply of absurd ideas our legislators, both state and national, face from special interest groups these days, we have to wonder what has become of that rare commodity: common sense.

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.

Kyrene Akimel A-al Middle School in Ahwatukee attracted local government officials and representatives on Friday morning for its 20th Annual Patriotic Day honoring veterans and service members.

To avoid “brain drain” during summer vacation, local schools in Ahwatukee Foothills are offering up educational programs for kids.

Joining the ranks of other popular summer camps at the Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA, a program set out to train young lifeguards is making a debut at the Y this summer.

An attorney for Gov. Jan Brewer told federal appellate judges Tuesday they should let Arizona enforce its laws against harboring illegal immigrants because there's no evidence anyone is in danger of actually being prosecuted.

Saying it's nobody business, state lawmakers are poised to keep local governments -- and anyone else -- from finding out who owns a gun.

After attending a political meeting the other night, I’m convinced some people have forgotten what our great nation is all about. Have we forgotten “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness?” Once upon a time, those God-given rights were the reality of life for this free nation.

As first reported by the AFN in February, Mountain Pointe will be in the annual Sollenberger Classic.

I, for one, appreciate the guest commentaries that the AFN has published written by Ahwatukee Foothills resident Don Kennedy. He has a love for our country and a good understanding of history and of our Constitution. When we forget history and our Constitution, we lose our liberties. Some people can see it happening before others, and I believe Mr. Kennedy is one of those precious visionary individuals. He loves our country. How can he not speak up?

Jozef Bagby, 14, of Ahwatukee recently received his Eagle Scout Award in a court of honor ceremony on March 16 at Esperanza Lutheran Church. Bagby began his scouting career as a Cub Scout Webelos in 2007. He earned his Arrow of Light before bridging into Boy Scout Troop 124, and eventually transferred to Troop 14 after moving to Ahwatukee.

William Austin Gray has enjoyed participating in scouting since he became a Cub Scout in the second grade. He is an active member of Boy Scout Troop 697 in Tempe.

The Ahwatukee East chapter of MOMS (Moms Offering Moms Support) Club is hosting a Preschool and Summer Camp open house on Wednesday, March 6 from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the Ahwatukee Foothills Family YMCA, 1030 E. Liberty Lane.

The tale of two Americas. We have the America which is comfortable with the collective government control of production through socialism or communism, plus all of the misery which goes with collectivism. On the other hand, we have the America which wants liberty for the individual to control the means of production and all of the benefits which derive from the spirit of the free man.

State lawmakers voted Thursday to put new limits on the packaging of food and drinks containing medical marijuana.

The conception that no one knows or appreciates an artist until he’s gone doesn’t hold water with Peter Max.

A new three-day music fest featuring more than a dozen Southern Gospel artists comes to the Valley. Performers include The Martins (pictured), The Booth Brothers, The Liberty Quartet and The Allen Family.

Packed inside Kyrene de la Sierra’s multipurpose room, hundreds of first- through fifth-grade students raised their right hands and patted themselves on the backs and collectively said to themselves, “Good job.”

Judged by his charge that gun-control legislation is Communist-inspired (“When the Communist Party USA cheers..., AFN, Feb. 8), Don Kennedy doesn’t realize that Sen. Joe McCarthy’s anti-Communist racket was rejected nearly 60 years ago, when the Senate censured that pathological liar and sent him to an alcoholic grave at age 46.

Ignoring a threatened lawsuit, a Senate panel voted Monday to let police destroy marijuana they have seized, even if it was taken wrongly from a medical marijuana patient.