Kick-off river season in style with Salt River Tubing’s annual launch event. This western-themed shindig offers free cowboy boot koozies and bandanas to the first 500 tubers, live music from 98KUPD, line dancing and lots of giveaways, not to mention a leisurely float down the scenic Lower Salt River.

When executives of corporations are caught aiding and abetting criminal behavior of their employees, the executives are prosecuted and the businesses are destroyed.

If you’ve got at least $50,000 lying around, you can own a piece of American history.

A lone, painted white bicycle sits at the side of Usery Park Road near Bush Highway.

A lone, painted white bicycle sits at the side of Usery Park Road near Bush Highway.

Kismet and Karma chase each other back and forth in their “penthouse.” The kitten and puppy stop to play with a two-legged visitor, then their game begins anew.

The silky petals of a fragrant pink shrub rose; the crunchy texture of a gravel path; a nook where grass rustles and a stream runs. What we smell, see, hear, touch and taste can make a garden walk a wonderful sensory experience.

The interior is revamped and the menu is fresh, but the jokes are still funny as ever. The Tempe Improv is reopening April 19 with a new look and a new owner, but a familiar headliner — comedian and impressionist Frank Caliendo.

The interior is revamped and the menu is fresh, but the jokes are still funny as ever. The Tempe Improv is reopening April 19 with a new look and a new owner, but a familiar headliner — comedian and impressionist Frank Caliendo.

WASHINGTON — This may be the year Congress decides what to do about the millions of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. And this may be the week when a bipartisan group of senators makes public details of the overhaul plan it has been negotiating for months.

A driver involved in a deadly hit-and-run east of the Valley Wednesday morning may also be to blame for a second fatal crash, according to the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office.

A walk through the Rose Garden at Mesa Community College with its curator includes stops at roses named Chihuly, Julia Childs and Day Breaker. This decades-old garden continues to grow and bloom each year through the work of hundreds of volunteers – and they’re ready to share their expertise.

On Jan. 16, students from 14 Valley schools gathered at Gilbert’s Higley Center for the Performing Arts for the Building Bridges program to fight bullying in schools. In May of last year, Kyrene Altadeña Middle School students participated in the Bully Academy Webquest, an online course involving reading articles, watching videos about bullying and most importantly, talking about it. After all, this is about how young people learn to express their emotions. In November 2011, students from Chandler’s Tarwater Elementary School spent a day focused on kindness, respect, and friendship.

With so many leafless, spiky plants growing all around us in this desert, roses seem luxuriously soft and frilly — even with their thorns — by contrast.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court suggested Tuesday it could find a way out of the case over California's ban on same-sex marriage without issuing a major national ruling on whether America's gays have a right to marry.

Ten years on, what do we have as a result of our involvement in Iraq?

March 19 this past week marked the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq originally named Operation Iraqi Liberation (OIL) later changed to Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Just to note some of the “Shock and Awe” for our $3 trillion to $5 trillion dollar investment: 4,489 dead U.S. soldiers, 32,220 U.S. wounded. This does not include dead or wounded U.S. civilians or private contractors nor the 300,000 plus brain injury and PTSD cases.

All-Tribune First Team

The American Society of Newspaper Editors dedicate this week each year as Sunshine Week. Its purpose is to remind Americans that public officials must conduct public business openly for all to see.

“Is there a criminal penalty for shooting down a drone over U.S. soil?”

We learned in school about the inventors such as Edison and Bell who parlayed their inventions into fortunes, of the great capitalists of the Gilded Age such as Rockefeller and Carnegie and Morgan who took great risks on their way to becoming titans of industry.

The state House voted to require that teacher-education programs be revamped to conform with the new "common core'' standards.