Having once again received the trifecta of AAA ratings from the three major bond rating agencies, the Maricopa Community Colleges are readying to sell $151 million in General Obligation Bonds to finance a variety of construction projects throughout Maricopa County.

So President Obama wants to end so-called “tax loopholes” for American oil and gas companies? Sounds like a good idea, until you learn that what the President is really asking. The “Close the Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act” essentially asks American taxpayers and businesses to shoulder the economic brunt of the administration’s ambitious green energy objectives.

As I see it, the voters rejected Kyrene School District’s bond override, the Legislature has reduced school funding, the Goldwater Institute threatens lawsuits to municipalities that provide services that can be provided by the commercial market.

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

Arizona Theatre Company (ATC) welcomed two individuals to its administrative team: Matthew Graber, director of marketing, and Zacory Boatright, director of sales and business development.

By the time a client parks their car and walks up to the front doors of Harvest of Tempe, the southeast Valley’s only medical marijuana dispensary, he or she, their license plate, and their car have all been caught on camera.

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

I’m sure by now you’ve heard that we have a short supply of homes to sell. As I have been saying, this shortage is pushing up the price of homes that do go onto the market.

You may remember one of the most well-known miracles that Jesus performed in Mark, chapter 6: Thousands have gathered, it’s getting late, and most (if not all) are hungry. The natives are starting to get restless, and much like I get when I’m hungry, I’m sure that irritability was going up as patience was on the decline. So, Jesus tells the disciples to feed the masses of people who had followed them there, to which their first thought was to make a run to the local market and buy all the bread they had left (Mark 6:37). We know where the story goes from there — Jesus performs another miracle, turning close to nothing into a feast, satisfying all who were hungry.

The persistence and determination I have shown in the past four years is about reform and getting us ready for the new world we live in. There is a bigger reason why I have been pushing so hard for change. It’s about getting Phoenix ready to compete in a global economy. If the council repeals the food tax it will be added to a long list of reforms we accomplished. There were three significant reforms toward the goal of getting us ready to compete in this new world market and getting government to operate more like your household

A federal judge on Tuesday slapped down the latest efforts by the state to block the Tohono O'odham from building a casino on the edge of Glendale.

The prom is making a big comeback.

15815 S. 46th St., Suite 116

Practicing what we have been preaching about the need to shop locally, the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce is partnering with a local business on our annual print Resource Guide and Directory. The Chamber’s 2013-14 Directory will be marketed, designed and produced through an agreement with the Ahwatukee Foothills News (AFN), the publisher of this newspaper and a chamber member. We believe this will be a valuable partnership for all chamber members and those who take advantage of this opportunity to get their message out to the public.

Mary Myles, a 2009 alumnus from Desert Vista High School, will graduate from the University of Arizona Honors College this month with degrees in marketing, business management and entrepreneurship from the Eller College of Management.

New Valley Church in Ahwatukee is offering Financial Peace University, a well-known program, for those wanting direction in how to save, spend and get out of debt.

Here’s a sobering statistic: 46 percent of workers surveyed had little or no confidence that they will have enough money to live comfortably throughout their retirement years, according to the 2010 Retirement Confidence Survey, issued by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. So you may want to explore all possible retirement savings vehicles —including a variable annuity.

An Ahwatukee Foothills resident is making her dreams come true by providing much needed furniture to families getting back on their feet after homelessness.

When Arizona voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 2010, Steve Cottrell saw a way to combine his laboratory background and his interest in the plant he’d been studying since his 11-year-old son died of cancer more than a decade before.

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.

It’s been nearly 10 years since his science-fiction indie “Primer” left audiences spellbound, which makes the arrival of Shane Carruth’s “Upstream Color” an even more momentous occasion.

With the housing recovery gaining steam, Americans have more incentives to paint up, touch up and otherwise redecorate their homes. But there’s no need to spend willy-nilly.

If you’re an HGTV junkie, you’ll feel right at home at the Maricopa County Home and Landscape Show. The huge event features tons of ideas for landscaping, remodeling, decorating and otherwise making the most of your home. Drew and Jonathan Scott, stars of HGTV's “Property Brothers,” will give talks Saturday and Sunday on home renovations and the real estate market.

Pet rescue groups across the Valley are coming together with a three-year initiative to solve the problem of pet homelessness by fixing, adopting and saving Valley pets.