When I meet with clients who have a dispute with another individual or company, oftentimes my clients tell me to file a lawsuit believing that this is the only way for them to get what they are after: typically money and vindication that their position is correct. I always counsel my clients that litigation can be expensive and that there may be — though not always — a less expensive way to achieve their objective in a far quicker manner. Some of the less expensive ways of achieving the desired objective include mediation and arbitration.

Humanity's home planet hardly merits the name-check in "After Earth," M. Night Shyamalan's sci-fi survival tale whose shipwreck action could (with the exception of a scene where our hero scrawls a crude map over Lascaux-like cave paintings) take place on any old life-supporting globe in the cosmos. The disappointingly generic film, which strands a father and son (Will and Jaden Smith) on Earth a thousand years after a planet-wide evacuation, will leave genre audiences pining for the more Terra-centric conceits of "Oblivion," not to mention countless other future-set films that find novelty in making familiar surroundings threatening. Will Smith's presence, not just as co-star but as originator of the story, seems likely to carry box office receipts beyond the benchmark of Shyamalan's previous picture, the wretched "The Last Airbender," but those hoping for a franchise should navigate elsewhere.

Refusing to blink, Gov. Jan Brewer late Thursday vetoed five bills sent to her this week by Senate President Andy Biggs despite her threat she would do just that.

If you are returning to the dating world after a long time away or if you have not had the dating life you hoped for, maybe it is time to try something different.

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

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.

As the gun debate stirs and emotions rise higher and higher, we tend to leave ration and logic out of the subsequent efforts to address what is an important public issue. Emotionally charged solutions seldom fix anything. They simply make a lot of people feel like something positive is being done but they truly accomplish nothing. And marching out victims to use as props for your initiative is a shameless political ploy. Politicians are great at using emotional issues to push their pet plans. Most of the efforts currently in flight to answer the recent tragedies in Colorado, Arizona, Connecticut (all very liberal enclaves I might add) are labeled as “Gun Safety” and “Gun Violence” initiatives. Looking at those terms, who is not for Gun Safety? And who is not for ending Gun Violence?

During a recent home remodel, Diane Wright decided the stairway leading to her garage needed some perking up.

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.

Wondering what became of that New Year’s Resolution? Or just need a little motivation to stay on track?

I am trying to find a way to legally copy DVDs we own to an external hard drive for storage connected to my laptop. When we take long road trips it would be nice to not have to haul all our movies along. — Bill

If the number of failed New Year’s resolutions are any indication, eating healthy in a fast-paced world still isn’t all that easy.

If you are returning to the dating world after a long time away, or if you have not had the dating life you hoped for, maybe it is time to try something different. Reflect on these dating roadblocks and see if you experience more success and happiness in your dating life by overcoming them.

The state House voted to require that teacher-education programs be revamped to conform with the new Common Core Standards.

In Mike McClellan’s guest commentary in the AFN on Feb. 15 (“The inmates do indeed run Ariz.’s asylum”), he ridicules three state lawmakers for proposing legislation that would “require Arizona judges and law enforcement to act in an unconstitutional manner” because the federal government has “supremacy” over gun laws.

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Now that the holidays have passed along with your desire to keep the multitude of resolutions you made New Year’s Day, you may be wondering what you can do to fill the void left by Old Saint Nick and the football season. How about upgrading your computers? If your only remaining New Year’s resolution is to upgrade, there may be some things you need to consider before running out to Sam’s Club and getting one off the shelf.

Hoping for a speedy conclusion, Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery on Friday asked the Arizona Supreme Court to immediately take up his challenge to the state's medical marijuana law.

After working as young staffers for a Senate campaign on Capitol Hill, Jayne Jones and Alicia Long decided to turn their experiences and too-good-not-to-share stories of political life into a new book, called “Capitol Hell.”

This tale begins, like most everything in my life, with the size of my rear end.

I’ll admit it. It’s hard to stick to a New Year’s resolution of getting into shape. At this point in the new year, some of us have given up, some of us are dropping off our new workout commitments.

For local gyms it’s easy getting new clients in January. The tough part is making sure those newcomers keep their New Year’s resolutions year-round.

January means resolutions. My guess is that at least one of your resolutions falls under the category of being happier in some area of your life. If so, you might want to take a look at Gretchen Rubin’s new book, “Happier at Home” (2012). Her previous book, “The Happiness Project,” was No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list for months. Although I hadn’t read that one, I bought her next book as the “perfect” gift for someone. Before I wrapped it I skimmed it a little further than in the bookstore. Soon I was reading each page and knew I had to have my own copy. This is a valuable and inspirational reference for any individual, family or home — the kind of book you might not read at one sitting or from beginning to end, but snippets on a daily or weekly basis. With a highlighter.