Norris Vaughan looked at peace sitting at his desk in the football office after a recent spring football practice.

As anyone who has ever taken a standardized test knows, the last step in preparing for the test is to sharpen your No. 2 pencil. That may not be enough, however, for those thinking about taking college entrance exams. Planning and preparation for the ACT/SAT should begin now for rising seniors. Here are some topics to consider as you establish your test-taking strategies.

Cyan McFarlane, a 2009 graduate of Mountain Pointe High School, received the presidential service award from New York University this spring.

More than 300 Kyrene School District teachers were surveyed this year on their opinions of the newly-adopted teacher evaluation system, most agreeing the system’s feedback helped refine their practice.

Jackie Robinson was the ideal class act to break the barrier and become the first black player in Major League Baseball.

"Blood-drenched" barely begins to describe Fede Alvarez's remake of "Evil Dead," a gore-for-broke affair that strips the flesh off Sam Raimi's cult-beloved comic-horror franchise and exposes the demons at its core. The presence of Raimi, original collaborator Rob Tapert, and star Bruce Campbell as producers should give the faithful permission to attend what would otherwise smell like a shameless exploitation of the 1981 film, but the high production values and nonstop action offered here should also please younger genre fans who've never bothered to rent it.

Noah Miller is in a perpetual fight with his own body.

Maalox would have a sign in Chase Field or maybe even naming rights if he was the general manager of the Diamondbacks and was responsible for trading Justin Upton.

Drake Moran had enough of Mountain Pointe.

Up there with “Stoker” and “Like Someone in Love” as one of the best films to hit theaters this spring, “War Witch” is devastating, beautiful and truly not to be missed. An Oscar nominee for Best Foreign Language Film, this gut-wrenching tale of a child soldier has been reeling in the accolades: Best Actress awards for young star Rachel Mwanza at both the Berlin and Tribeca film festivals, along with a whopping 10 honors (including Best Picture) at this year’s Canadian Screen Awards.

A taste of California is coming to Chandler.

Harmony Korine seems to want it both ways, all day, with "Spring Breakers," his super-stylized descent into a sunbaked hell where bikini-clad, gun-toting college babes serve as our guides.

With a little bit of a lull during spring break, I had a chance to get some down time and poke around about several topics.

Danielle Block pitches hungry.

On their last day before spring break last Friday, 120 students from Kyrene de los Lagos Elementary explored through the grocery isles at Safeway, learning about weights, measures and pricing inaccuracies.

Spring break is here and many people have travel plans. But before you travel make sure you know the rules of the road, because they are different in every state.

So, despite my best efforts to resist self-improvement (I bought a self-help book on how to avoid it), I finally had to bite the bullet one day and address my weight when I realized that: a) I was 53 years old; b) my knees were making funny popping noises when I walked up stairs; and c) me in a bathing suit currently violates six zoning ordinances.

As staff at the Mesa Arts Center began preparation for its second “Festival of Creativity,” MAC executive director Cindy Ornstein said the group was looking for something to pique their interests — a spark, of sorts.

The way Andy Lane reacted it looked as if he just came up short in the biggest at-bat of his life.

The Mountain Pointe baseball team is hot right about now.

Students at Kyrene de los Lagos Elementary School in Ahwatukee Foothills are celebrating the national program Read Across America with a challenge: reading a quarter of a million pages or minutes in about six weeks.

Ahwatukee second-grader Dustin Henry loves random acts of kindness.