Authorities say no criminal charges will be brought against a Gilbert High School math teacher and former football coach accused of slapping a student last month.

I can’t think of a country that doesn’t have something like Memorial Day. Whether democratic or totalitarian or anything in between, national honors are paid annually to those who have given their lives for their countries.

House lawmakers on Thursday approved legislation that links student loan rates to the ups and downs of the financial markets in spite of a veto threat from President Barack Obama.

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.

College students have spoken and lecture-based learning is prehistoric. An emerging trend on which colleges are reporting solid success rates is lecture-free classes. This approach to learning is being designed to promote deeper student learning, collaborative learning, skilled communication, self-managed learning, and cross-disciplinary and technology-enhanced coursework. Lecture-free classes are a response to growing criticism of the traditional, often passive lecture-based college classes which some educators say are a turn-off to students, leading to aggravation and poor grades.

Raise your caps and don your gowns: It's graduation month!

Mesa Grande Cultural Park, 1000 N. Date St., closed for the summer Monday, May 20, and will reopen Oct. 3 for the fall/winter season.

In February, elementary physical education teachers challenged 5,000-plus fifth-graders in Mesa Public School District to make healthy food choices and get more exercise for 28 consecutive days as part of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona’s Walk On! Challenge. Every fifth-grade student in the Mesa district had the opportunity to participate in the Walk On! Challenge, which was facilitated by the physical education teachers in each of the elementary schools in Mesa.

For nearly two hours on Monday night, stories were shared, laughs were loud and Kleenex was out in full force.

When it comes to improving our community and helping people in need, Mesa has no shortage of role models. That’s what makes Susan Carland’s selection for Mesa United Way’s Ross N. Farnsworth Spirit of Mesa Award so special.