Agritopia, an agriculturally-focused, multi-use community in Gilbert, is planning what’s shaping to be its largest project since its establishment. Epicenter at Agritopia will be a food-based shopping center established over an estimated 25 acres that aims to showcase local farmers and retailers in an innovative way.

State lawmakers are close to declaring privately minted gold and silver coins to be legal tender in Arizona.

Warm weather and the first buds of spring have been slow to arrive in much of the country. But even if your garden has yet to grow, you can add beauty, fragrance and a sense of springtime to your home by decorating with lush plants and potted trees.

“This is My Mesa” is the theme of the campaign to get citizen input, as required by state law, for the city's General Plan Update. Mesa will hold a series of community workshops during late March and early April. The workshops use the iMesa village concept by inviting people to look forward almost 30 years to 2040 and imagine the type of community they would like to have.

The Groves Neighborhood is partnering with City of Mesa Neighborhood Outreach for a volunteer-driven citrus collection from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 23. Residents can donate the extra fruit as part of a citywide effort to benefit the United Food Bank.

State senators voted Wednesday to make gold and silver legal tender in Arizona -- but not copper, cattle, cotton, citrus or climate.

SAN FRANCISCO — What happens when you ask a group of food world luminaries to come up with their picks for Best Food Scene in a movie?

When most of the country is shivering in their boots, Mesa is bursting with blue skies and the smell of orange blossoms.

I long ago fell in love with the clean, crisp, sweet taste of Meyer lemons. And recently, Mexican foods guru Rick Bayless reminded me why.

YUMA — Prices for winter lettuce grown in southwestern Arizona already are rising because of damage caused by freezing weather, an agricultural expert said Monday.

The first rule of drinking on a diet is: Don't. Surely you've heard that Americans get way too many calories — and nutritionally empty calories at that — from alcohol.

Musical groups, character education, dance troupes and more benefit from Arizona’s Public School Tax Credit.

One trip to Chandler Fashion Center, a call to Ticketmaster, two online transactions and several stops at East Valley mom-and-pop shops in the bag, and my Christmas shopping is complete.

Before you know it, Mesa’s many citrus trees will be bursting with fruit ripe for picking – and for tempting those destructive rodents known as roof rats. You can help keep the rats away from yards and homes by volunteering to collect citrus for donation to local food banks.

It’s no secret that liquor is a simple solution to holiday gift-giving. You don’t see a lot of people lining up Dec. 26 to return bottles of 12-year-old Scotch. And what better way to embrace the spirit of giving than by giving a spirit?

Circle your wagons. By this weekend, downtown Mesa will be turning back the clock to more than a century ago when the city’s residents lived among cowboys, Indians, outlaws and scofflaws, and the horses they rode in on.

I discovered the inspiration for this recipe ages ago in an issue of the Australian edition of Vogue, a magazine I tried to hunt down as often as possible because it had a consistently innovative food section. Though my Jell-O years already were well behind me, I was struck by the cleverness of this recipe, particularly as a healthy snack for kids, and even more particularly at Halloween.

A meeting to better organize the battle against roof rats now invading Mesa’s Orange Grove neighborhood is set for Thursday.