The mass exodus the last two seasons has people wondering about the level of talent remaining in the Desert Vista football program.

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.

Arizona Structures is expanding its expertise into Arcadia, Scottsdale and Paradise Valley.

Dear Mikey,

Editor’s note: This is part one of a continuing summer series on the proposed South Mountain Loop 202 Freeway.

Senate Republicans are proposing a nearly $8.8 billion spending plan for the coming year, a tiny -- 1.6 percent -- hike over current levels.

Using their talents for hilarious, family-friendly improvisational comedy, Jef and Shurlin Rawls of Mesa hope to lift spirits while lightening the load for a family in their neighborhood with an event they are calling a “FUN-draiser.”

Seeking to keep fields accessible and available to some 4,000 kids in and around Ahwatukee, various youth sports leagues met with the Kyrene School District on Monday after add-on costs to the Ahwatukee Foothills Pony Baseball Association caused heated community concern.

Saying she's run out of patience, Gov. Jan Brewer will veto any bills sent to her until she sees movement on a new state budget and her pet Medicaid expansion project.

Attorney General Tom Horne paid a $300 fine Wednesday -- $582 with surcharges -- to settle a criminal misdemeanor charge he left the scene of an accident without leaving a note.

After months of waiting The Lakes Golf Course has closed its doors, but the future of the course still remains unknown.

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.

The Mountain Pointe boys volleyball team, the Desert Vista baseball team, and the Thunder softball program had their seasons come to an end Saturday.

Mountain Pointe has made it to the final four of the baseball season for the fourth time since 2008.

Chamberlain College of Nursing announced the appointment of Dr. Pamela Fuller, of Ahwatukee, as president of its Phoenix campus. Fuller succeeds Dr. Kimberly LaMar, who has served as the Phoenix campus president since 2009 and now becomes senior director of campus operations at Chamberlain.

For the first time ever, drivers of taxi cabs and limousines in Arizona will soon be subject to random drug testing.

Gov. Jan Brewer has cleared one hurdle for new research on the possible medical benefits of marijuana.

Dear Mikey,

Along with Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Iron Man 3” is one of the rare superhero threequels that doesn’t disappoint. While Jon Favreau remains an executive producer and co-star, he passes on the directorial duties to Shane Black of “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” Black maintains all the action, humor, and character development that made Faverau’s first two films so enjoyable, while also incorporating his own unique signature. His film continues to raise the stakes and pushes its characters to their critical limits. In addition, “Iron Man 3” makes some hilarious commentary on the media’s role in terrorism with several inspired twist. The result is the darkest of the “Iron Man” trilogy and, ironically, the funniest.

The Medicaid restoration plan put forth by Gov. Brewer is a prudent economic option that helps our state stay competitive while serving those who are most vulnerable.

The Phoenix City Council voted on Wednesday to begin phasing out a portion of the city’s food tax on Jan. 1, 2014.

The prom is making a big comeback.

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

The Norwegian directing team of Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, whose biopic of World War II resistance fighter Max Manus was a huge hit on home turf, have turned to another native hero for "Kon-Tiki." One of the most-vaunted escapades of the 20th century, Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Peru-to-Polynesia expedition by raft gets glossy big-screen treatment in this efficiently told action-adventure. Delivering visual drama and understated character study, sometimes in disappointingly formulaic fashion, the feature has its incisive moments but falls short as both epic and intimate portrait.