Although the entertainment industry doesn't generally support conservative causes, Hollywood seems to be caught up in the human drama of the school reform movement. The 2010 movie "Waiting for Superman" explored the heart-wrenching experience of inner-city parents whose children's future hung in the balance as they sweated out the lottery for admission into a high-performing charter school. "Won't Back Down" (which I haven't seen yet), released last month, depicts a concerned parent and principal who team together to take control of a failing school using the new parent-trigger law.

WASHINGTON — Arizona had the second-highest income inequality in the nation between 2008 and 2010, trailing only New Mexico for the gap between its richest and poorest residents, a new report says.

A recent New York Times article titled, “Harder for Americans to rise from lower rungs” reveals a real blind spot in the way far too many Americans view both our nation’s present and our future.

The Census reveals that almost 50 percent of Americans can be considered either poor or barely keeping their heads above water as low-income earners.

Get a sneak peek at movies opening in East Valley theaters this week, including "From Paris With Love" starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers.

WASHINGTON – The recession has hit middle-income and poor families hardest, widening the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans as rippling job layoffs ravaged household budgets.

Although rigid critics of affirmative action are lambasting the Supreme Court's pair of rulings on the subject as confusing and contradictory, in truth they are consistent with past rulings and steer a clear if moderate path on the issue.

The American Left loudly proclaims it’s compassion for the poor. Any community organizer worth his salt knows that the role of government is to take from “the rich” (who don’t need it anyway, as President Obama insists) and give to the poor.

State lawmakers are moving to shift the property tax burden from businesses to homeowners in the name of economic development.

The demise of Mervyn's department store gives Ahwatukee Foothills a concrete reminder of the parasitic plutocracy promoted by the Bush administration. Through predatory, unregulated financial speculation, three private equity firms destroyed Mervyn's, closing 150 stores and firing 18,000 workers without severance pay.

Recently, more than 800 school board members from all over the United States traveled to Washington, D. C. to ask their members of Congress to improve and reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). I was privileged to represent the Tempe Union High School District at this National School Boards Association Conference.

Recently, more than 800 school board members from all over the United States traveled to Washington, D. C. to ask their members of Congress to improve and reauthorize the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). I was privileged to represent the Tempe Union High School District at this National School Boards Association Conference.

Hut Hutson fended off political newcomer Augustus Shaw for the final seat on the Tempe City Council in Tuesday's election.

Our readers throughout the years have responded to the many inequities of life presented in these pages with swift and certain generosity.

It was appropriate that the crowd of protesters for President Vicente Fox’s visit on Tuesday was hardly a crowd at all. While the two dozen picketers may represent a sizable number of Arizonans, solving the problems between the United States and Mexico will take more than slamming the border shut and shipping millions of illegal immigrants back home.

Solutions to big problems don’t fit on a bumper sticker.

WASHINGTON - The economy snapped out of a sluggish spell and grew at a faster-than-expected 3.5 percent pace in the final quarter of last year as consumers ratcheted up spending despite a painful housing slump.

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The demise of Mervyn's department store gives Ahwatukee Foothills a concrete reminder of the parasitic plutocracy promoted by the Bush administration. Through predatory, unregulated financial speculation, three private equity firms destroyed Mervyn's, closing 150 stores and firing 18,000 workers without severance pay.

In Arizona most employer-based health plans do not offer the same level of coverage for mental health services that is provided for other illnesses, often forcing a person with a mental illness or a substance abuse disorder to either go without care or obtain services from the already over-burdened public health care system.

First, a personal disclaimer: My saturation point for inspirational sports melodramas — particularly the kind in which economic and racial inequities are redressed through the “miracle” of amateur athletics — is very low.

State officials now are openly admitting extending the Valley's half-cent transportation sales tax for another 20 years won't pay for everybody's wish lists. Although that became obvious well over a year ago, getting politicians to admit unpleasant truths is progress of a sort.

Alan Shumway works inside a monument to capitalism, but ask him about about the American economy and he’s an honest as the man on the penny.

Tempe's Changing Hands Bookstore is set up for customers browsing its shelves in search of a good read, co-owner Gayle Shanks said.