East Valley city officials were down at the Legislature last week warning of a blight epidemic if they're no longer allowed to seize private property and give it to developers.

D.J. Diebold, in his weekly letter last Friday, begins with a pithy observance, that "the measure of an enlightened society is how they care for the less fortunate and the most vulnerable." He then gets off-track and starts to rant about the state government and his topic for the week.

Linda Turley-Hansen: There’s a term used in many newsrooms to describe stories that keep coming back. It reflects events in which the facts remain the same, only the names change. They call them “Rolodex stories.”

Candidates for Mesa’s March 9 city election disagreed on the role of city government Monday in back-to-back forums.

It ended soon after it began, this revolution. Not with a bang, or even a whimper. The soldiers, unsure of their cause, simply left the battlefield. As the sun set on the retreating army, the sun also set on the vision of a shining city on a hill, which remains darkened to this day.

The balance between the police and the policed is getting way out of whack — and we better restore it now.

Austin Hill: Where did the swine flu vaccinations go? They went the way of the “stimulus money” — that is to say, they were sent here, and shipped there. And, of course, they were “administered” and “disbursed” and “distributed” by high-ranking officials in our U.S. government. But nobody can say how many flu shots there are, or where they are, or where they might be headed.

 BAGHDAD -- A pair of suicide car bombings Sunday devastated the heart of Iraq's capital, killing at least 147 people in the country's deadliest attack in more than two years. The bombs targeted two government buildings and called into question Iraq's ability to protect its people as U.S. forces withdraw.

A Gilbert woman accused of signing her deceased mother's name to checks three months after she died was charged Wednesday for the offenses, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.

WASHINGTON — The White House said Thursday it was reviewing what has turned out to be a wildly popular "cash for clunkers" program amid concerns the $1 billion budget for rebates for new auto purchases may have been exhausted in only a week.

Our View: An American Legion post in Queen Creek is again asking local taxpayers to essentially donate several acres in a planned town park for the location of the group's first headquarters.

Tibor Machan: The current focus on bailouts brings to the fore a widespread confusion. Perhaps it can best be understood by comparing the bailouts that many of us who are parents have performed versus the government’s bailout of banks, car companies, etc.