The 2013 legislative session began with a unanimous vote in the House and the Senate to appropriate emergency funding for additional Child Protective Services staff. With that vote, lawmakers affirmed child safety as a top priority.

The Food and Drug Administration will now allow women age 15 and older to buy the emergency contraceptive Plan B over the counter. Unfortunately, there is no “Plan B” for dogs and cats who find themselves in trouble — and that’s why it’s vital to have them spayed or neutered as soon as possible.

Students and staff at Kyrene Altadeña Middle School are hosting a fundraiser dinner for their beloved choir teacher this week.

Even though “The Great Gatsby” has gotten the movie treatment several times in the past, no film adaptation has ever really stood out as the definitive version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s celebrated novel. Director Baz Luhrmann’s film is certainly the most visually arresting interpretation of “The Great Gatsby” ever produced. Catherine Martin, who previous worked with Luhrmann on “Moulin Rouge,” “Romeo + Juliet,” and “Australia,” deserves multiple Oscar nominations for her hyper sets and eye-popping costumes. As wonderful as Luhrmann’s “Great Gatsby” is to look at, the enchanting visuals are also ironically the movie’s downfall. In the midst of the art direction, costumes, and music, the story and characters that made Fitzgerald’s book a classic become a mere afterthought.

Since her sister’s health took a drastic downturn this past February, Mountain Pointe High School teacher Donna Sampanes is organizing a blood drive at the school this weekend in an effort to help her sibling.

Even though “The Great Gatsby” has gotten the movie treatment several times in the past, no film adaptation has ever really stood out as the definitive version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s celebrated novel.

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• CruiseOne

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.

After eight years of treating orthodontic patients with lingual braces, Dr. Ken Danyluk brings patients in Ahwatukee a more inconspicuous option.

With the housing recovery gaining steam, Americans have more incentives to paint up, touch up and otherwise redecorate their homes. But there’s no need to spend willy-nilly.

Pet rescue groups across the Valley are coming together with a three-year initiative to solve the problem of pet homelessness by fixing, adopting and saving Valley pets.

"It’s been 10 years, now,” the strong voice said on the phone. Mari Justin is a breast cancer survivor. She, along with hundreds of thousands of breast cancer veterans have faced the demons and now crusade alongside those who are fresh on the battlefield.

More than 55 million people in the United States are currently experiencing some degree of hearing loss. According to the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing (ACDHH), there are more than 700,000 people in Arizona who are hard of hearing, but not everyone realizes there is something that can be done prevent further loss.

Dr. Stuart Hetrick never planned to open New Image Med Spa in Ahwatukee Foothills.

Debbie Groff remembers her daughter’s first basketball game as a member on the JV cheerleading team.

Public awareness, using the city of Phoenix as a model, system reform, coordinated services and partnerships are all part of a plan to make domestic violence a focus for the city of Phoenix.

If you’ve been putting off pampering to pinch pennies, it’s time to gleefully smash that piggy bank to smithereens.

When it comes to health care, the saying “you get what you pay for” doesn’t always apply. Sometimes, particularly in the realm of end-of-life care, “less is more.”

Spurred by the pleas of a widow of a Department of Public Safety officer, Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation Friday to ensure that survivors of fallen police officers and others have taxpayer-provided health insurance for as long as they need.

State lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to legislation designed to let Arizonans shop around for the least expensive CAT scan, hip replacement or even routine physical.

The fight playing out today at the U.S. Supreme Court could impact an Arizona case the high court has not yet decided whether to hear.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons announced that it will review its policies on solitary confinement in light of evidence that this practice causes mental breakdown in prisoners. The devastating effects of solitary confinement can also be seen clearly in dogs who are kept chained “out of sight, out of mind” in their owners’ backyards.

4350 E. Ray Road, Building 2, Suite 108

Selling any home can be challenging, depending on the market. But if you have an old home and want to appeal to buyers in their 20s and early 30s, you may need to take some extra steps.