State senators gave final approval Wednesday to legislation supporters said enhances religious freedom while foes argue it will give people an ability to use their beliefs as an excuse to discriminate.

When is a prayer not a prayer?

A punch to the gut. A smack to the head.

Division II baseball state championship game

Three years ago, in the wake of a new Arizona law aimed at those in the country illegally, tens of thousands converged on the Capitol with a message: Today we march, tomorrow we vote.

“Mesa judge Markel [Mark] Chiles was issued a citation for shoplifting recently. Will another judge give him the six months in jail and $2,500 fine just to set the punishment at a level others could receive? Watch for a slap on the wrist.”

President Obama’s new “religious tolerance” consultant to the Pentagon, Mikey Weinstein, wants Christian military service members who openly talk about their faith in uniform to be charged with treason, which is a crime punishable by death according to military law.

“Mesa judge Markel [Mark] Chiles was issued a citation for shoplifting recently. Will another judge give him the six months in jail and $2,500 fine just to set the punishment at a level others could receive? Watch for a slap on the wrist.”

The Arizona Cardinals didn’t need this.

The Arizona House of Representatives has tempered a divisive bill that would expand the state's religious freedom law.

So if you think the lines at the grocery store move slowly now, imagine waiting behind someone who wants to pay with a few chunks of gold.

In the Tempe, future inclusive leadership begins early due to a nationally recognized program ran by the city’s Diversity Office.

No one can deny the Great Recession left a permanent mark on our nation and its economy. But what effect did it have on the American Dream of Home Ownership? That’s the question we set out to answer by asking Phoenix-based Benchmark Research Technologies to survey nearly 1,700 Arizona new home shoppers about their attitudes surrounding home ownership in the post-recession era.

I feel it has become an embarrassment to the community of Gilbert to have three very radical (Town) Council members. No other neighboring city councils have such radicals that would want to protest federal grants for seniors and the needy.

Thousands of students in poorly performing public schools could soon get what amounts to a voucher from the state to go elsewhere -- or even get educated at home -- a move that could remove hundreds of millions of dollars a year from public schools.

Folks, when did America’s greatest treasure, United States citizenship, become a bartering commodity for votes with the Hispanic/Latino community as per Sen. John McCain? When did America’s greatest treasure, United States citizenship, become a bartering commodity with the Hispanic/Latino Community for converts to the Mormon religion or the recapturing “fallen away” parishioners of the Catholic church or more donations in the Sunday Mass collection basket or monthly tithes.

A new poll suggests that the state’s senior senator has pretty much worn out his welcome in Arizona, at least as far as representing them in Washington.

The City of Mesa is celebrating Global Youth Service Day by hosting an athletic shoe drive for kids 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, April 27 at Mountain View High School.

Gun rights

With as many as 35 percent of Mesa eighth graders admitting to at least trying alcohol, the Mesa Prevention Alliance is planning an event this weekend to show them there’s another lifestyle to choose.

Why does Bon Jovi crank out an unending string of relentlessly upbeat, unavoidably catchy songs in the style that made the Jersey boys famous 30 years ago and kept them there 'till now?

It is beyond belief that we have a handful of senators that want to filibuster to prevent even a vote on sensible gun control. When 90 percent of America is saying universal background checks are needed now. When over 75 percent of gun owners and NRA members are saying the same thing.

Former State Senator David Schapira has been appointed assistant superintendent at Mesa’s East Valley Institute of Technology.

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