NEW YORK — Thomas Sohmers, 17, of Hudson, Mass., has been working at a research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since he was 13, developing projects ranging from augmented reality eyewear to laser communications systems. This spring, his mom, Penny Mills, let him drop out of 11th grade. She says she "could see how much of the work he was doing at school wasn't relevant to what he wanted to learn."

Gilbert residents Rick and Leslie Roman used to give shares of Boston Celtics stock as gifts to friends and family. The pair was always interested in company stocks and thought they made great presents, and it ultimately led to the couple’s first business venture.

A free all-day workshop for women in Phoenix this Saturday, May 18, aims to offer a way to “unlock one’s true potential as a catalyst for lasting love, stronger relationships and a greater sense of fulfillment,” says event promoter, Jan Hemming.

After years in the doldrums, the housing market appears back on track. Home sales and prices are up, and mortgage rates remain near historic lows, reinvigorating the appeal of home ownership.

If you love that mother in your home, get rid of those babes spread out on the coffee table. I’ve had it with them. They’re not good for either soul — male or female! Why do we contemplate airbrushed, digitally altered, Botox laden, breast-enhanced illusions?

My mother submitted a letter to the editor back in 2003.

Soar into Spring Kite Festival; Fiesta de la Primavera; Prescott Highland Games; Payson Wildlife Fair

What’s big in Japan now has the potential to be big in the East Valley, thanks to Lulubell Toy Bodega in downtown Mesa.

HEALDSBURG, Calif. — Sometimes visitors to MacMurray Ranch, the 1,500-acre (600-hectare) spread owned by movie and TV actor Fred MacMurray for a half-century, want to know: Where's the heliport? Where's the screening room?

I have to admit that this column is going to have few readers. For one thing, here is the only mention it will have of the name Jodi Arias. That’s it. Sorry.

Any chance of cities or counties conducting future gun-buyback programs is about to evaporate.

Dillie Nerios is a Florida food stamp recruiter. Her job is to sign up 150 seniors monthly in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

Makeup lovers, rejoice! Sephora is opening a new branch Friday, May 3, inside JC Penney at Superstition Springs Center in Mesa.

Taylor Hatch of Mesa is the latest early-bird prize winner in Mesa United Way’s Happiest Sweepstakes on Earth - two rounds of golf and a golf cart rental at Leisure World. Earlier winners include Monica Alcantar of Gilbert, a one-night stay for two plus continental breakfast at the Hilton Phoenix / Mesa; Jeffry Westerhaus of Glendale, four movie passes and a Carrabba’s gift card; and Dawn Dubry of Phoenix, a $100 Westcor mall gift card.

Valedictorians:

Private companies that do business on reservations with tribes and their corporations cannot automatically ask federal courts to intercede when legal disputes erupt, a federal appeals court ruled Friday.

Contracts that allow public employees to work on union activities on the taxpayer's dime are illegal, a Maricopa County Superior Court judge has ruled.

Fittingly for a guy who’s about to become “big time,” Dion Jordan’s life has been hectic.

I was chopping vegetables for dinner recently when my 14-year-old daughter, Grace, disappeared with the unusable end of the bok choy. She returned five minutes later with paper, a stamping ink pad and the pilfered vegetable.

Saying that guns are public assets worth money, state senators voted Tuesday to close what they say are the last loopholes in the law allowing cities to destroy weapons that come into their possession.