Deputies discovered a 30-year-old man with a gunshot wound in front of a known drug house in Mesa Thursday afternoon, Maricopa County Sheriff's Office reports.

LAS VEGAS - Take 500 decks of playing cards, 1,800 poker chips, 800 dice and more than a few tubes of Super Glue. Add an artist who likes to stack things and mix in some Vegas glitz.

WASHINGTON -- The secretary for one of the world's wealthiest men and the wife of late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs are among those invited by the White House to attend the State of the Union address.

Although “Friday Night Lights” has portrayed high school football life on television for five years, Matt Lewis could not tell you whether any of his McClintock players are fans of the show.

WASHINGTON -- The secretary for one of the world's wealthiest men and the wife of late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs are among those invited by the White House to attend the State of the Union address.

WASHINGTON -- The secretary for one of the world's wealthiest men and the wife of late Apple cofounder Steve Jobs are among those invited by the White House to attend the State of the Union address.

TUCSON - Arizona State has run a trick play with quarterback Rudy Carpenter standing back in punt formation a few times this season. On Saturday against Arizona, it worked — sort of.

Some weight gain was good, some wasn't, according to Arizona State football coach Dirk Koetter.

We encourage readers to submit letters to the editor on issues of interest to East Valley residents. Submissions should be no longer than 300 words, factually accurate and original thoughts of the writer. Please be brief and include name, address, city and phone number for verification. Letters and call-in comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Mesa will not ask residents to approve a primary property tax that was expected to finally bring long-term financial stability to the city.

Mesa will not ask residents to approve a primary property tax that was expected to finally bring long-term financial stability to the city.

The 2006-2007 season had a gut-wrenching conclusion for the Ironwood High School boys soccer program. The five-time state champions entered the 2006-2007 state playoffs as the No. 1 seed and defending champions in the 5A Div-II ranks. A day after opening their repeat bid with a 7-1 first round win coach Tim Beck was informed one of his players had spent the previous weekend playing in a club tournament, a violation of Arizona Interscholastic Association rules. A high school player that plays in a club event is deemed ineligible for the remainder of the season. By playing in the state tournament game, Ironwood played an ineligible player, an offense that is penalized by forfeit. So instead of having their 21-1-2 team head on in the playoffs the Eagles saw their season come to a close. As the 2007-'08 season gets under way Beck, now in his 14th season, said he hopes that last year's disappointing ending doesn't have a carry-over effect. "It's obviously something that I've been asked about more than once," Beck said. "The one thing I want to say is that it hasn't reflected negatively on our program. Most people have been complimentary about how we handled things. We want to put what happened in the rearview mirror and the reality is this is mostly a new crop of players so that makes it easier to do that." Ironwood graduated a large crop of seniors, including the school's all-time leading goal scorer in Danny Cruz and its all-time leader in assists Austin Horner leaving Beck and his squad with numerous unanswered questions. "I still believe we're going to win a lot of games, but you're probably not going to see very many 7-0, 8-1 finals," the coach said. "We're going to have to grind out wins." Of the starters that return, two will be key cogs defensively in junior goalie David Folsom and junior sweeper Scott Osselaer. "David had a good season last year, but I think with a year of experience under his belt he should be even stronger this season," the coach said. "He has only been out from football for two weeks, but he is bigger, stronger and quicker." Along with Osselaer, the Eagles will look to senior midfielder Erin Hauptman to provide leadership. Both players are captains for an Eagles squad that has won three consecutive region championships and 10 in Beck's first 13 seasons as coach. The program's tradition dictates the goals are high for the school from Glendale. "It's Ironwood soccer, the kids want to win a state championship," he said. "How realistic is that? Right now I can't honestly say. We've got talent, but it's young and these guys have to learn to play together. I'd say they're probably eight to 10 teams that can realistically call themselves championship contenders and we're in that mix." The Ironwood coach said his team will build towards January and February when the region schedule gets under way. "We may take our lumps early (Ironwood won its opener 3-0) but we'll be OK," he said. "I still think we'd have to be considered the favorite in our region. I think winning that again is a very realistic goal." While Ironwood would just as soon forget the end to 2006-'07, the Centennial Coyotes would like nothing more than to build on the successes last year's squad experienced. A 13-10-2 record included a 7-3 record during the 2007 portion of the schedule. Included in that run, was a 1-0 win over Deer Valley in the opening round of the state tournament and an 8-3 win over Goldwater in the quarterfinals. Fresh off a semifinal appearance, the best in the program's history, Steve Ybarra begins his fifth year looking to maintain a high level of play while replacing key members of last year's success. "Well you hope that the ones that were a part of it tell the new players how much fun it was, how hard they had to work to get there and just express the sense of how they wished they could play one more time as a group," Ybarra said. "We've got a lot of new faces, so it's going to take some time to come together, but there's still an excitement from what happened last year." If that success is going to continue, Centennial, which finished second in the Desert West Region to Ironwood, will look to seniors Jake Willis, Kirk Geiger and Sean Proctor to set the tone. "They've all been on the varsity since they were freshman," Ybarra said. "They've seen what leaders can do for us, both good and bad. Up until now they've been support players. Now they've got to step forward and lead." Willis, a midfielder, is a play maker for a Centennial offense that will try and replace three of their top four scorers from last season including their top two that accounted for 80 percent of their scoring. "He's creative, crafty and when he's playing with confidence he can be one of the best players on the field," Ybarra said. The coach said Geigher, at least in workouts, has taken his game to a new level as he is seeing the field much better than in years past. Once the Centennial football team's season comes to a close, which will happen by Dec. 7, the Coyotes will team Proctor with fellow senior Kevin Hamilton to form a physical defense. Junior Nick McGrath and sophomore Kenneth Lewis also figure to be impact players for Ybarra's squad. "This group plays with enthusiasm, they have a good attitude and work ethic, but we're very young," Ybarra said. "We're probably going to go through some peaks and valleys. You just want to make sure the valleys aren't too severe. If I can find some guys to step up and score some goals we should be in good shape." At Sunrise Mountain, the Mustangs, led by coach Eric Berge continue their search to find a winning formula coming off a season in which they won three games. "We need to become winners as people and team members; winning games will follow," he said. The Mustangs core consists of midfielders Colton Ryan, a senior, and junior Nima Beik, along with junior forward Juan Munoz. The rest of the Desert West Region consists of Westview, Tolleson and La Joya. 5A Div-II Northwest Region Deer Valley is coming into the 2007-'08 season with 10 of 11 starters returing from a team that went 12-6 a season ago. That was good enough to earn a No. 9 seed in the 5A Div-II state tournament. But coach Rick Anderson is guarded in his optimism about the upcoming season. "We'd like to be competitive," he said, when asked about his team's goals. "I'd rather be the chaser than the chasee," he said when asked about the Skyhawks potentially being the favorite in the newly formed Northwest Region which includes Boulder Creek, Goldwater, Willow Canyon, Kingman and Valley Vista. But the numbers seem to suggest that Deer Valley is in for a big season. Anderson enters his 26th year at Deer Valley. He said he foresees the trio of senior midfielder Gabe Navarro, senior midfielder Carlos Garcia and junior Manuel Ramero tallying between 15 and 20 goals this season. "We have offensive firepower," he said. Couple that with a defense featuring senior Tyler Watterson, sophomore Bobby Schwarzkopf and senior Justin Doyle, a core in its second year playing together, and sophomore goalie Fransisco Marmolejo back for his second year as Deer Valley's starting goalie and the defense appears to be solid. So what could keep this year's squad from being a factor come the state tournament? "We've been a top 10 team (seed for the state playoffs) the last two years and I think we're very capable of doing that again, but you always have to be concerned about injuries and kids staying eligible," Anderson said. "Those are things that can stand in the way of being a good team." 5A Div-I Desert Valley Region The Mountain Ridge Mountain Lions were nearly the story of last year's state soccer playoffs. Entering the playoffs as the No. 16 seed in 5A Div-I, the Mountain Lions jumped to a 3-0 halftime lead against top-seeded Brophy before falling 5-3 in overtime. "That gives us a lot of motivation, especially since Brophy is now in our region," said seventh-year coach Doug Evans. "We showed that we can play with top level teams." While this year's squad only has six returners from last year's 10-6 team, Evans said he likes what the squad brings to the field. "I can already tell that this team works better together," he said. "Perhaps they aren't quite as talented, but I think they make up for it with their hard work." Evans plans to turn over a defense lacking in experience to a pair of seniors, pairing Rob Lalli at stopper and Josh Kuncis at sweeper. "Those two really play well together," he said. "Neither have played those positions much, but I like their chemistry and think they'll help us defensively by being back there." Those two will work in front of sophomore goalie Spencer Anderson. Offensively junior Johnny Chavez returns as the team's leading goal scorer after recording 13 goals as a sophomore. "He just works hard," Evans said. "He's got great ball skills and then a very good shot. Plus he just has a sense of where he needs to be to get open." Also contributing offensively will be midfielders Jacob Schrier, a sophomore, and senior Ernesto Ibarra. "If we can keep teams to one or two goals I really think we should be able to score some goals this season," Evans said. 4A West Valley Region After a difficult 4-11 season a year ago, Pat Perez begins his 10th season as the coach at Peoria. This year's Panthers team, he said, should be much improved. "It was one of those years where we just couldn't put it in the net," Perez said. "I think we've remedied that." One of the guys Perez is counting on for a big season is junior midfielder Luis Velo. "He wasn't used to how we played and needed some time to find his role," Perez said. "He looks much more comfortable with our style this year." Velo will team with sophomore striker Bryan Castellanos for what the Panthers coach hopes will be a 1-2 scoring punch. Defensively, junior Colin Guzman and senior Carlos Hernandez give the Panthers two experienced contributors. When the Panthers football season comes to a close, which will happen no later than Dec. 8, Peoria will add senior striker Ali Muhassen. The Panthers coach said chemistry is much better this season. "Last year's team never came together," Perez said. "They weren't as willing to play their roles. We had a lot of individuals. This year, the ball movement is excellent. We've got some kids that are so unselfish that I'm having to tell them to look for their shots. That should make things a lot more fun." The rest of the West Valley Region includes Cactus, Millennum, Lake Havasu, Copper Canyon and Agua Fria.

A couple of lasting impressions from Ridge Nielsen’s football career at Mesa Mountain View took place the final two weeks of 2006.

Performing Arts 2012-13 season preview

Complete list of nominees in 107 categories announced Tuesday for the 47th annual Grammy Awards, to be presented Feb. 13 in Los Angeles:

What is fast becoming one of the best events in the nation, the Nike Cross Nationals cross country championship series, will be holding its Southwest Regional meet on Saturday at Toka Sticks Golf Club in Mesa.