Mesa Grande Cultural Park, 1000 N. Date St., closed for the summer Monday, May 20, and will reopen Oct. 3 for the fall/winter season.

Mesa is asking residents to consider donating their gently used or new swimsuits, as about five to 10 people are turned away daily from Mesa pools because they don’t have proper attire.

Yoga, yachting and snow will all come together June 1 at the grand opening of Mesa’s Eastmark, the largest planned community in the East Valley in the last few years.

In February, elementary physical education teachers challenged 5,000-plus fifth-graders in Mesa Public School District to make healthy food choices and get more exercise for 28 consecutive days as part of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona’s Walk On! Challenge. Every fifth-grade student in the Mesa district had the opportunity to participate in the Walk On! Challenge, which was facilitated by the physical education teachers in each of the elementary schools in Mesa.

A punch to the gut. A smack to the head.

The City of Mesa and Arizona State University are partnering on a technology business accelerator site, to be located at the ASU Polytechnic campus, in the southeast part of the city.

An elderly woman crashed her car into a craft store in Mesa Tuesday morning, sending four people to the hospital, police said.

When it comes to improving our community and helping people in need, Mesa has no shortage of role models. That’s what makes Susan Carland’s selection for Mesa United Way’s Ross N. Farnsworth Spirit of Mesa Award so special.

I have been using the Valley’s mass transit system for several years. Actually, I had to buy a car when I first moved to the Valley fourteen years ago because the mass transit at that time was close to non-existent. I moved from Denver where having a car is great, but not really necessary because the transit system is so good!

Families can learn about the effects of Alzheimer’s and receive encouragement through the Alzheimer’s Workshop held at the Mesa Main Library, 64 E. First St., on Wednesday, May 22 from 11 a.m. to noon.

An elderly woman drove into a Jo-Ann fabric store near Main Street and Recker Road around 11 a.m. and hit four women inside the store.

Banner Health Center in Gilbert will open Wednesday for patient care. Staff physicians will include pediatrics, family medicine and internal medicine. There are 16 exam rooms, basic imaging and laboratory services available.

The Mesa Police Department will participate in the East Valley Memorial Day DUI Task Force. This DUI Task Force is in cooperation with the Arizona Governor's Office of Highway Safety. A combination of DUI saturation patrols and a sobriety checkpoint will be used throughout the Memorial Day weekend, day and night. The command post will be spread out over various locations.

The Arizona Educational Foundation is accepting nominations for the 2014 Arizona Teacher of the Year program. This program recognizes 10 exceptionally skilled and dedicated Arizona public school teachers. One winning teacher will be sent to Washington D.C., to meet the president and will receive prize package including a $15,000 cash award, professional speech training, a full scholarship toward an advanced degree at Argosy University Phoenix and the chance to attend international Space Camp.

A unanimous Maricopa County Board of Supervisors has endorsed a $2.2 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, some $82.4 million lower than the county currently spends. The budget approved today is likely to produce a modest property tax decrease for Valley homeowners but also a merit-based salary increase for county employees, who have gone without permanent increases for five years.

‘They told me the window for my recovery had closed.”