AUSTIN, Texas - Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who championed conservation and worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, former President Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday, a family spokeswoman said. She was 94.

AUSTIN, Texas - Lady Bird Johnson died amid song and prayer as she spent her last moments with her two daughters, other family and friends at her bedside, a priest said Thursday.

The Medicaid Restoration plan put forth by Gov. Brewer is a prudent economic option that helps our state stay competitive while serving those who are most vulnerable. We need a solution that works with us to reinstate coverage for those in need, while remaining fiscally responsible by reigning in the out of control costs of uncompensated care. The Governor’s plan is an excellent solution for Arizonans since it allows our hospitals and providers to continue giving the very best standard and quality of care, while reducing stress on taxpayers and the general fund to pay for the costs of uncompensated care.

As an individual with multiple sclerosis and a support group leader in the East Valley, I know how devastating the past few years have been for some of my friends and group members. I have seen people who have had to stop using their medication when their Medicaid was cut. When confronted with feeding their families or their medication, they had been forced to choose their families. One of my medications, the one that slows down the progression of the disease, is $4,324.09 per month. If my insurance company would not pay for it anymore, I would be forced to discontinue using the medication that allows me to live a normal life. It is a horrible choice to make. Please join me in encouraging the governor to expand the current Medicaid program. In a state that is as great as Arizona, we should not force our citizens to make choices like this one.

The fight to expand Medicaid in Arizona continues as Gov. Brewer pushes the Legislature to pursue legislation to expand coverage to include folks up to 133 percent of poverty guidelines.

As “Opponents of Brewer’s Medicaid plan speak out” it rapidly becomes obvious that they are obsessed with forcing their personal, misguided value systems on we citizens.

Washington’s self-created “fiscal cliff” crisis has been somewhat resolved, which means we can continue ignoring the real fiscal crises that are dead ahead.

Medicaid expansion needed

Expanding Arizona’s Medicaid program is vital to the wellbeing of children and their parents — our state’s working poor. As Arizona’s leading professional pediatric organization, we strongly urge support for Gov. Jan Brewer’s proposal.

Mr. Purcell’s explanation of high Medicare costs are wide off the mark. America’s health care costs lead the world for a very simple reason, we’re the only developed nation that doesn’t carefully limit at least health care prices; some limit total spending as well. We spend about 18 percent of GDP on health care, compared to 8 percent for competitors Japan and Korea, and 4 percent for Singapore. Taking aggressive action aka our competitors would free up at least $1.5 trillion per year, though admittedly, also shatter a few free market shibboleths.

Can there be any doubt that it has become little more than a game, run by and for the wealthiest 1 percent and corporate CEOs?

The Governor’s plan to add more than 300,000 Arizonans to the Medicaid rolls will do nothing more than facilitate and expand ObamaCare. Voters clearly expressed their will to reject implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) via Proposition 106 in 2010. If this expansion goes through, nearly one fourth of all Arizonans will receive free taxpayer-paid medical care. This isn’t a ”safety net” for the poorest citizens. It is an incentive program for socialized medicine.

WASHINGTON - Republican Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona is hosting a film screening at the Capitol for a far-right Dutch lawmaker who claims that Islam inspires terrorism.

Time magazine makes headlines every year by selecting a Person of the Year. It’s great PR for the magazine and it prompts us to think about our times and the people who shape them.

NEW BRAUNFELS, Texas - A bottle of Lone Star beer raised in one hand and his guitar in the other, Fred Andrews, the lead singer of Honeybrowne, toasted the crowd gathered around the old wooden stage in Gruene Hall with "Here's to all the ladies."

NEW YORK - Sotheby's has withdrawn from auction three papers related to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. after his estate claimed the documents being sold by Harry Belafonte are estate property.

Donald H. Goldwater launched his candidacy for the governor’s office by recalling his family’s long ties to Arizona on Tuesday.

A memorial park commemorating the late U.S. Sen. Barry Goldwater is nearing completion, though donations to cover the cost of a bronze statue of Arizona’s most noteworthy political figure are still lagging.

At least Romney had binders. Binders full of qualified women to fill cabinet positions, that is. Democrats mercilessly pounded Romney for the binders comment he made during the 2012 presidential campaign, but I’ll bet the Obama campaign now wishes Romney had passed the binders on to Obama since it seems he’s having a hard time picking women to fill his second term cabinet positions.

The Arizona Legislature has gone from the fast track to stuck in the mud as lawmakers have become bogged down by the three key issues: Medicaid, sale taxes and the state budget.

NEW YORK - An original handwritten outline for the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s first speech condemning the Vietnam War owned by his friend Harry Belafonte is going on the auction block this week.

Milt Lee was a barber then, and not a lot of barbers get to josh with presidents of the United States.

Many of us know them only as the stuffy portraits on the walls of our childhood classrooms. But America’s presidents are a fascinating, eclectic lot: Some brought genius to the office, some forged greatness in the crucible of Washington politics, and some were freakier than a carnival sideshow.