With the monsoon season officially beginning tomorrow, June 15, Arizonans should be aware of the possible dangers the monsoon can bring both on the road and at home. Thunderstorms, flash floods, heavy rain

Owners of The Lakes Golf Course have decided not to continue to fill a lake on Lakeside Boulevard in Ahwatukee now that the golf course has shut down for business. That is forcing the neighboring homeowners association’s pond to dry up and residents are scrambling to save stranded fish and turtles.

After being stuck in a storm drain for a week, Ellie was sick and scared, but with love and good care she’s gotten her “sparkle” back. Ellie is very curious and just has to see what’s hiding in an open drawer, cabinet or a box because if it’s hidden, it must be something special. Although not a big talker, she does chatter at the birds and will let you know its snack time or if I need your help with a toy that got stuck. Affectionate but not needy, Ellie is happy to just be in the room with you, although I she loves to snuggle at bedtime.

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.

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

The soft underbelly of a lot of volleyball teams is right in the middle of the net.

When Mountain Pointe volleyball coach Fred Mann stepped foot in the gym on Saturday, he knew his time with the Pride might be coming to a close.

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

Trees in the city of Phoenix provide $9.4 million in annual benefit to residents in air quality, storm water management, energy savings, shade and aesthetics, according to the city of Phoenix Parks and Recreation Department.

Ryan Tolman loves the fact that his team has shown the ability to comeback; he just wishes they didn’t have to do it so often.

Used to be, a foreclosure was something people seldom spoke about. Today, times have changed. Right now is the ideal time to buy a new home with record lows in mortgage rates and an increase in available, affordable homes. But if you’ve got a foreclosure or short sale on the books, you might be asking — how long before we can buy again?

Spring is in the air and the desert is entering its cycle of new life. However, for the Ahwatukee community, that could mean more than seasonal allergies.

The Arizona Department of Transportation cautions drivers to be prepared for blowing dust today.

With April being Water Awareness Month, March turned out to be a pretty good time to start focusing on saving water when Salt River Project hosted its sixth annual Water Conservation Expo at the SRP PERA Club in Tempe.

Now that the Chicago Cubs have secured a spring-training home in Mesa well into the future, the East Valley will soon welcome to the area the first of possibly many in a long line of Windy City favorites: Portillo’s Hot Dogs.

A blustery, wet day culminated in a hail storm in Ahwatukee Foothills Friday afternoon.

Mountain Pointe had the right guy with the ball. It was the right shot from 10 feet away. It was in the basket.

The Desert Vista girls basketball team clearly got the funk out of its system.

Zombies are terrible characters. That’s not to say there haven’t been plenty of good movies featuring zombies like “28 Days Later,” “Shaun of the Dead,” “Zombieland,” and the George A. Romero classics. In those films, however, it was the human characters and their pursuit to endure the zombie apocalypse that kept the audience invested. Unlike vampires or werewolves, zombies have never been blessed with interesting back-stories, individuality, or moral dilemmas. Last summer’s “Chernobyl Diaries” left me asking why couldn’t there be a movie about a mutant/zombie who’s intelligent with character traits and motivation. Jonathan Levine, who previously made the wonderful “50/50,” responds to my question in “Warm Bodies.”

"Warm Bodies," the latest permutation of the zombie screen phenomenon, places heart over horror and romantic teen angst over sharp social commentary.

Zombies are terrible characters. That’s not to say there haven’t been plenty of good movies featuring zombies like “28 Days Later,” “Shaun of the Dead,” “Zombieland,” and the George A. Romero classics.

At heart Trevor Neider is a teacher.

When Jontar Coleman came to the Desert Vista girls basketball program, he had no clue he’d be called upon to take on the duties presented to him on Tuesday night.

The city of Phoenix has a goal to achieve 25 percent canopy cover over the city by 2030 and to reach that goal city staff is asking residents to become tree experts.