Debbie Frazier wants her two children to grow up appreciating the outdoors. So she introduced them to hiking before they could walk.

It’s not often art lovers get to see a work in progress let alone contribute to it, but Arizona Opera gives fans the opportunity to do just that this weekend when they present the first reading of “Riders of the Purple Sage” — an original opera based on Zane Grey’s western novel, set on the Arizona-Utah border.

The new link between meat consumption and heart disease, discovered by Dr. Stanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic, is just the latest evidence linking meat consumption to killer diseases that cripple, then kill, 1.3 million Americans annually. Hazen’s study showed that carnitine, an amino acid contained in all meat products, is a major factor in heart failure.

More than 1.7 million fans helped the Cactus League set a new attendance record with the 2013 spring training season that ended Saturday in Arizona.

Mesa’s Youth Sports League is partnering with the Chicago Cubs and hosting a free pitch, hit and run competition on 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Hohokam Stadium, 1235 N. Center St. Boys and girls, ages 7 to 14, can compete in pitching accuracy, hitting distance and quickness on the base. Winners in each division will receive two tickets to the Saturday game against the Cleveland Indians.

Washington  --  A US Airways executive repeated assurances in Washington on Tuesday that the company plans to maintain a significant corporate presence in Phoenix after its proposed merger with Texas-based American Airlines.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The young man stumbled into the emergency room late one night after a house party, saying his heart wouldn't stop pounding and he could barely breathe after downing liquor mixed with energy drinks.

That happy rainy day has arrived.

A valuable piece of the region’s economic impact puzzle came through a simple conversation between then Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell, local homebuilder Brad Curtis and a group of businessmen from Chase Bank a number of years ago.

So it appears an NBA mascot shift is in the offing. New Orleans owner Tom Benson, who has been itching to change the name of his team since buying the struggling franchise, wants to rename the ill-titled Hornets – and call his team the New Orleans Pelicans.

WASHINGTON — Home prices increased in September in most major U.S. cities, more evidence of a housing recovery that is providing a lift to the fragile economy.

Pete Rose, baseball’s all-time hit king best known from the Cincinnati Reds’ “Big Red Machine” days and banned from baseball in 1989 for gambling on baseball including the Reds when he managed them, was scheduled to sign autographs for $70 a pop for a sports memorabilia shop at the Paradise Valley mall on Saturday.

“Anything Goes,” the pièce de résistance of Cole Porter’s career, is big and bright and sparkling, but it begins in a dark martini lounge where gleaming bottles of spirits line the wall, illuminating the room.

Lakers fans had to be overjoyed this summer when Steve Nash and Dwight Howard were air-dropped into Hollywood from heaven, ostensibly putting Kobe Bryant back on track to collect more jewelry.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Tuesday's presidential election results showed the American voting public has not only become more permanently diverse in its makeup, but also in its mindset.