You don't have to go to some high-end steakhouse or shell out $200 a pound for ultramarbled Wagyu beef from Japan to get flavorful, tender beef for your next barbecue. Just keep three crucial factors in mind: the grade, the grain and the aging. A well-informed purchase and a couple of easy prep steps can make the difference between a so-so steak and one that sends your eyeballs skyward.

Finding air-conditioned summer entertainment can be tricky in the Valley of the Sun. It got a bit easier when Arizona’s newest cultural attraction — Butterfly Wonderland — opened last month in Scottsdale.

EDITOR'S NOTE — Aging America is a joint AP-APME project examining the aging of the baby boomers and the effect that this "silver tsunami" is having on the communities in which they live.

GLENDALE

The great thing about the Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum isn’t that it houses expansive galleries chock full of pieces of famous modern art. The great thing is that it doesn’t.

An estimated 320 seniors will receive diplomas from Higley High School this year. The students have been awarded $5.5 million in scholarships.

Water still bubbles and the sharp scent of chemicals still fills the amber-lit darkroom at Mesa High School as students — years after the advent of the digital camera or the camera phone — develop film into photographs in the time-honored method.

Emily Woodward-Shaw, a seventh-grader from Chandler's Athlos Traditional Academy, was awarded a gold medal for photography in the 2013 National Scholastic Art & Writing competition. The name of her work was “Standing By."

Coming soon to downtown Mesa: big changes to one of the city’s acclaimed all-ages attractions.

Coming soon to downtown Mesa: big changes to one of the city’s acclaimed all-ages attractions.