Country musicians Brett Eldredge, Maggie Rose, Randy Houser and Greg Bates come together for a Christmas jam session, sponsored by KMLE 107.9 and benefitting St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

You’ve trick-or-treated door to door, in the mall and maybe — at Queen Creek’s Trunk or Treat — from car trunk to car trunk. But chances are, you or your children haven’t yet collected candy from the baskets of hot air balloons.

Fulton Homes and KMLE Country 108 FM Radio have launched a school supply drive with the help of Facebook. This year's drive ends Aug. 14. The average cost to send a child into the classroom with school-recommended supplies is approximately $474 for elementary school and $545 for middle school students, according to Huntington Banks Backpack Index for 2010.

Drowning is one of the leading causes of child deaths. So Fulton Homes is trying to save lives by giving away 12 free pool fences to families in need.

You can see scores of glowing hot air balloons in both Glendale and Cave Creek this weekend — and they’re both a bit of a drive — but the second annual Cave Creek Balloon Festival is the only spot where you can watch a team of pyrotechnic-flanked skydivers leap out of a plane wearing glow-in-the-dark jumpsuits and land in the crowd. Also part of the fun are KMLE 107.9 FM radio personalities Tim and Willy, cover band The Herndon Brothers, a kids’ zone full of inflatable attractions and food and drink concessions.

You can see scores of glowing hot air balloons in both Glendale and Cave Creek this weekend — and they’re both a bit of a drive — but the second annual Cave Creek Balloon Festival is the only spot where you can watch a team of pyrotechnic-flanked skydivers leap out of a plane wearing glow-in-the-dark jumpsuits and land in the crowd. Also part of the fun are KMLE 107.9 FM radio personalities Tim and Willy, cover band The Herndon Brothers, a kids’ zone full of inflatable attractions and food and drink concessions.

If you don’t recognize him for his five No. 1 hits on country radio, you might remember Rodney Atkins from recent Chevrolet promotions.

A Gilbert family has received a new pool fence through Fulton Homes' Fence Patrol program.

The Tribune has started a new education blog, ED Xtra — Schooling Arizona. The blog will feature items written by Tribune staff and local and state education figures. Click on http://edxtra.freedomblogging.com/ to go beyond today’s education headlines and inside classrooms in the East Valley and elsewhere.

Every other month or so, I get an e-mail from a college or high school student asking for tips on making it as a professional movie critic. One always wants to encourage young talent, but — lately, anyway — a sound vote of “no confidence” just feels like the responsible thing to do.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas in Queen Creek. The town will host two Christmas celebrations this weekend to celebrate the season.

It’s always great when a hometown guy does well, and even better when he does well for others at the same time. Dave Pratt knows a lot about both.

As the push starts to get sponsors and volunteers for Queen Creek's annual holiday festival and parade, organizers are worried about raising donations for the event in the current economy.

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, pop into a cornfield. Boxing great Muhammad Ali took a helicopter trip to Queen Creek Tuesday morning for a surprise honor - seeing his own image cut into a 10-acre cornfield at Schnepf Farms as part of the farm's sixth annual celebrity corn maze.

A funny thing happened to me on the way down the FM radio dial ...

Long-running, award-winning KNIX (102.5 FM) morning team Tim and Willy announced on the air Thursday morning they are leaving the station effective immediately.

Ticket sales for “American Idol” contestant Kellie Pickler’s performance at the Queen Creek Performing Arts Center on Saturday have been sluggish.

Chandler mother Stephanie Aragon saw the impact of drowning during her years working in the emergency room and knew she would need a gated fence around her pool when her daughter was born.

Riding into Scottsdale to the beat of horses’ hooves is the 54th annual Parada del Sol festivities. The longest-running public event in the history of “The West’s Most Western Town,” the parade and rodeo draw upwards of 170,000 people.

A couple of months ago, Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., agreed to go on the air with radio personality Dave Pratt, who regularly chats up country music stars and other celebrities during his morning show on Phoenix radio station KMLE-FM 108.