For the first time in nearly a decade, the renowned Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, led by Conductor Keith Lockhart, will perform in the Valley.

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Myrtle Beach, this year celebrating the 75th anniversary of its incorporation, is the heart of South Carolina's $16.5 billion tourism industry. Myrtle Beach is in the center of a 60-mile (100-kilometer) reach of beaches that attracts more than 14 million visitors a year to dozens of golf courses, hundreds of restaurants and tens of thousands of hotel, motel and other rental units. There's shopping at hundreds of stores and nine live entertainment theaters with almost 12,000 seats. But there's a lot to do for free. Here are five suggestions:

Get ready to move to the music with this sampling of summer concerts

Complaining that Jodi Arias' sensational murder case has become a modern-day "witch trial," her lawyers tried to quit in the middle of the death-penalty phase Monday, then said they will call only one witness: Arias.

Even though “The Great Gatsby” has gotten the movie treatment several times in the past, no film adaptation has ever really stood out as the definitive version of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s celebrated novel.

Tempe police say a high school senior told police that an improvised explosive device found in the student's home was made by him years ago.

Volunteers are needed for the Fourth Annual Southwest Ambulance Arizona Celebration of Freedom, the state’s “coolest independence festival,” held this year in downtown Mesa on June 29.

Resign to run

Chandler Rotary Track Invitational

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Las Vegas is getting ready for the year of the snake. The casino capital celebrates Chinese New Year — also known as lunar new year — in a big way, with feasts, exhibits, performances and other events at outdoor festivals and at casino-resorts like Bellagio and The Venetian.

“What happened to global warming?”

Several Mesa residents hit the road to ring in the new year. But they weren’t looking to take part in normal New Year’s festivities like watching television as a glass ball descended a pole in Times Square, watching fireworks or clinking champagne glasses.

The nationally known Mill Avenue New Year's Eve party in Tempe is making some changes and some cutbacks.

We will remember 2012 as a year of change and extremely hard work by our board, staff and countless volunteers. As we wrap up the year, we thought we would take this opportunity to summarize what your Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce has been up to since January of this year.

For the first time in years, Tempe’s Mill Avenue will lose the gates, street closures and admission fee for its giant outdoor New Year’s Eve party. All of downtown will be open and free to the public.

Merely the premise of "Rust and Bone" sounds uncomfortably maudlin: A wayward single father and part-time fighter falls into an unexpected romance with a beautiful whale trainer who's just lost both her legs below the knee in a freak accident. Both must undergo drastic transformations that render them as vulnerable as newborn babies. Both are literally and metaphorically broken and must help each other heal.

After wowing audiences with supporting turns in Hollywood blockbusters such as “Contagion” and “The Dark Knight Rises,” Marion Cotillard returns to her French roots via “Rust and Bone,” from “A Prophet” director Jacques Audiard.

With cacti and strip malls obstructing the views at times, visitors could easily write Phoenix off as a place where water and culture are scarce. But this metropolis — which includes upscale Scottsdale and college town Tempe — is a nature lover’s oasis with pristine peaks and the vast Sonoran desert.

Through Dec. 24

When Lawn Griffiths continued his 26 years of perfect attendance at the Kiwanis Club of Tempe’s weekly meetings at noon on Thursday, there’s no doubt that he and likely a number of his fellow Kiwanians put a “Happy Dollar” in the hat as it was passed around.

10 Corporate Center, LLC

BOCA RATON, Fla. — President Barack Obama sharply challenged Mitt Romney on foreign policy in their final campaign debate Monday night, accusing him of "wrong and reckless leadership that is all over the map." The Republican coolly responded, "Attacking me is not an agenda" for dealing with a dangerous world.

It’s that time of year to get out and enjoy an entire day picking your favorite pumpkin, eating caramel apples, visiting a petting zoo and ending the night with fireworks and a haunted house. Or, to just take stroll through the pumpkin patch to snap a few photos with your family. Either way, the Valley has it all, and this is your one-stop guide for fall festivities in the East Valley.