The Alport Syndrome Foundation (ASF) and The Kidney Foundation of Canada (KFOC)/Macquarie Research Fund were awarded nearly $200,000 in joint funding for two Alport Syndrome research projects in 2013-14 year.

With the Affordable Care Act (ACA) set to begin open enrollment in October, many businesses are rushing to prepare for the changes it will bring. The Tempe Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a Hot Topics and Lunch event about the ACA this Thursday, June 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel Phoenix Airport, 427 N. 44th St.

And so it begins. After six years since the last substantive debates over immigration reform, the Senate Judiciary Committee recently approved the Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act, the title of the legislation borne out of the months-long work of the bipartisan Gang of Eight, which includes Arizona Senators John McCain and Jeff Flake.

Enjoy great food, live music and fireworks at the 38th celebration of Red, White and Boom! Hosted by the Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce and presented by Vision Community Management, the Red, White and Boom Fireworks Festival is professionally produced by HDE Agency and will be at the Ahwatukee Country Club, 12432 S. 48th St. from 4 to 10 p.m. on Wednesday, July 3.

The Maricopa Community Colleges Governing Board unanimously approved the appointment of Steven R. Gonzales, Ed.D., as president of GateWay Community College, effective July 1.

Governing board members for the Kyrene School District approved a recommendation this week that will ask voters to continue its current 15 percent maintenance and operations override this election.

REALITY TIME is fast approaching on the conclusion of the public comment period on the proposed Loop 202 for the South Mountain Freeway, as we have just until July 24 to submit our opinions.

Not waiting for formal gubernatorial approval, foes of her Medicaid expansion already are moving to undo at the ballot box and in court what they could not block at the Legislature.

Littlejohn Engineering Associates (LEA) announced the addition of Thomas Lavalette, RLS, as Southwest survey manager in the Phoenix office. He has been surveying for more than 25 years, most recently as the vice president of surveying for Engineering Alliance, Inc. During the last 19 years, Lavalette provided civil surveying and construction staking services on more than 500 projects throughout the state of Arizona.

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.

Culminating the ongoing discussion between local youth sports organizations and the Kyrene School District over use of facilities rates, the district presented a lowered rate structure Monday that now heads to the governing board.

The Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce is offering the community a unique chance to discover Cuba through a fully-inclusive “cultural connections” program.

She started looking into her homeowner’s association because she just didn’t think what they were doing to her was fair.

Combining the three area ZIP codes of 85044, 85045 and 85048, April property sales totaled 172, up 8.9 percent from 158 in April of 2012 and 25.5 percent higher than the 137 sales last month. The Median Sales Price in April was $249,500, up 31.3 percent from $190,000 in April of 2012 and up .6 percent from last month. April 2013’s average sales price was at its highest level compared to 2012 and 2013.

Chandler-Gilbert Community College (CGCC) honored their 10th annual Teal & Silver award recipients during a breakfast event at the college’s Williams Campus on May 7 at the Student Pavilion Center. Nine winners were recognized for their efforts and support of CGCC students, employees, programs, services and the college community.

Three students recently promoted from the eighth grade at St. John. Bosco Catholic School in Ahwatukee recently received scholarships for private high school tuition, each worth $8,000.


Abortion foes are making a late-session push to allow health inspectors to inspect clinics without a warrant.

Construction is under way at the new Lennar Homes subdivision near Desert Vista High School in Ahwatukee Foothills and because of a significant amount of interest, the company is allowing people to purchase homes before the models are even built.

Q: What is better for a computer, leaving it on all the time or shutting it down every night? — Justin


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.


Arizona’s favorable economic and sustainability benefits will be the focus of the 14th annual Global Links Business Outlook luncheon, 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 5 at the Phoenix Convention Center West Building, 100 N. Third St., Room W 101.

Arizona-based Maracay Homes recently spent $4 million to design new floor plans based on consumer requests in a post recession economy. Those new floor plans — the New Arizona Living Collection — include secondary living rooms that can be used as playrooms, laundry rooms by master bedrooms and expanded outdoor spaces, said Maracay President and CEO Andy Warren.

Like most future college freshmen, Ahwatukee’s Alexis Lupercio is determined and eager to make it to every class her first semester.
But the driving factor isn’t just a headstrong devotion to her education, it’s also because she’s never missed a day of school in her life.
Proving that senioritis didn’t get the best of her, Lupercio, 17, recently graduated from Mountain Pointe High School and has gone through some 13 years of schooling without calling in sick or leaving town, giving her a true perfect attendance record.
“It kind of just happened,” said Lupercio. “There have definitely been days where I asked my mom if I could miss school, but in the back of my head I knew I couldn’t miss.”
Though she never got sick enough to stay home all of those years, Lupercio insisted on going to school albeit tiredness from late-night study sessions and light colds.
Noting that both of her parents were supportive and encouraged her to keep up the record, Lupercio also credited a sense of independence.
“It’s just me being independent and taking responsibility instead of relying on others,” she said, mentioning that a pet peeve of hers is asking others for class notes or making up tests.
Though she was present on campus for all of her primary school years, being involved in student council as Mountain Pointe’s senior class president this year took her away from some classes for event set-up or other activities.
“I was even the one who had never missed a student council meeting last year,” Lupercio said.
Along with student council, Lupercio played volleyball as an underclassman and also was a member of the National Honors Society and the Language Honors Society. She also attended Kyrene de la Esperanza Elementary and Kyrene Centennial Middle schools.
With a plan to study business exploratory at Arizona State University this fall, Lupercio wants to be just as involved on a new turf.
“I really like being involved, I got to get to know more about the school and our other students so that was cool,” she said. “I want to see all that’s out there.”
For others who might want to finish out their high school days with daily attendance, Lupercio said it’s all about responsibility.
“I think anyone can do this,” she said. “It’s your responsibility to go to school, just go for it.”