The trouble with spring is that we get eager to grill, but we can't always count on the weather to cooperate.

Saying the Senate vote is not enough, Gov. Jan Brewer won't lift her vow to veto other legislation until lawmakers make more progress on her plan to expand Medicaid.

The Medicaid expansion plan approved by the Senate late Thursday is pretty much dead on arrival at across the courtyard, House Speaker Andy Tobin said Friday.

In an historic move, a group of Republican senators united with Democrats Thursday to approve the plan by Gov. Jan Brewer to sharply expand the state's Medicaid program.

Buzz words such as “subsidies” and “loopholes” have been thrown around by politicians for decades. If you’re seeking to impose punitive financial policies, these words are certainly more appealing than terms like “tax” or “penalty.” The Obama Administration is currently pursuing tax increases on the oil and gas industry under the guise of ending accounting loopholes.

PHOENIX — Obstacle course runners start on their feet, but eventually end up on their stomachs, sides, even backs at they clamber through mud, over shipping containers, across netting made of mangled ropes.

Calling the governor's proposal unacceptable and politically dead at the Legislature, House Speaker Andy Tobin unveiled his own new plan Tuesday to expand Medicaid, one that would give Arizona voters the final say.

A quick breakdown of Monday night's Division I softball state championship matchup between No. 14 Chaparral and No. 6 Red Mountain:

Picking up some fresh wines for summer is in the bag — or shopping cart, actually — as supermarkets get in touch with their inner sommeliers.

Whoever believes there's nothing new under the sun hasn't seen the plants being introduced for the 2013 gardening season.

Saying she's run out of patience, Gov. Jan Brewer will veto any bills sent to her until she sees movement on a new state budget and her pet Medicaid expansion project.

LAS VEGAS — To step into club XS at the Wynn Las Vegas is to enter the dreamscape of a modern artist with fetishes for gold and bronze and bodies in motion.

A federal judge on Tuesday slapped down the latest efforts by the state to block the Tohono O'odham from building a casino on the edge of Glendale.

Facing a recalcitrant Senate president, Gov. Jan Brewer said Monday she is working instead with individual lawmakers in her bid to expand the state's Medicaid program that may need to bypass Andy Biggs.

Bring your lawn chairs or picnic blankets to Freestone Park for an evening of complimentary music from popular Valley blues band Cold Shott and the Hurricane Horns. Food and beverages are available for purchase. Alcohol and glass containers are prohibited.

The Norwegian directing team of Joachim Roenning and Espen Sandberg, whose biopic of World War II resistance fighter Max Manus was a huge hit on home turf, have turned to another native hero for "Kon-Tiki." One of the most-vaunted escapades of the 20th century, Thor Heyerdahl's 1947 Peru-to-Polynesia expedition by raft gets glossy big-screen treatment in this efficiently told action-adventure. Delivering visual drama and understated character study, sometimes in disappointingly formulaic fashion, the feature has its incisive moments but falls short as both epic and intimate portrait.

In the galaxy of big-screen superheros — a rather glum lot — Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man is the snappy one.

Scrambling to find votes for her Medicaid expansion plan, Gov. Jan Brewer said Thursday she is now willing to approve legislation to stop Planned Parenthood from getting any of the funds.

The Governor’s plan to add more than 300,000 Arizonans to the Medicaid rolls will do nothing more than facilitate and expand ObamaCare. Voters clearly expressed their will to reject implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) via Proposition 106 in 2010. If this expansion goes through, nearly one fourth of all Arizonans will receive free taxpayer-paid medical care. This isn’t a ”safety net” for the poorest citizens. It is an incentive program for socialized medicine.

LOS ANGELES — A toy poodle that was rushed to the vet after swallowing a tube sock. A Great Dane that had to be operated on three times for eating his owner's shoulder pads.

New video and 911 calls are painting a clearer picture of a massive fight that broke out during a fraternity party at a Tempe apartment complex over the weekend.