No one wants their school tagged with the embarrassing label of “underperforming.” Several schools are struggling with that very public rebuke after the state Department of Education issued its evaluations last year.

PORTOROZ, Slovenia - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld steered clear of any judgment on a classified document that concludes the terrorist threat to the U.S. has increased, saying efforts to judge whether the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have fueled terrorism would be futile.

For the first time in the history of Mesa mayoral elections, candidates are facing a battle of the blogs. Web logs and online comments weren't much of a factor in local races four years ago, and candidates are seeing mixed results this time around.

The balance between the Chandler City Council’s political factions may have reversed Tuesday, as voters elected Trinity Donovan and Jeff Weninger to two open seats.

Michelle Aubert has been on the scene for a relatively short time, but she was involved in one of Scottsdale’s most memorable political spats in years.

While visiting a small Franciscan college last week, I toured a nearby historic chapel with the college priest, who learned that I was headed to a family funeral. While knowing I wasn't a Catholic, he offered to say a prayer for the rest of my relative's soul.

When former newsman Robbie Sherwood started a new career on Rep. Harry Mitchell’s staff last week, he was able to carry most of his business tools to the office suite in a single cardboard box.

Black churches are facing a threat to their very existence. A few years ago, there were unsubstantiated fears of a campaign of physical destruction by arsonists. There is also the danger every election year of liberal politicians using black pulpits as soapboxes in violation of tax law.

NEW YORK - Alicia Keys says she's not a conspiracy theorist. In a statement issued Tuesday, Keys said she was clarifying "comments that were made during my recent Blender magazine interview since they have been misrepresented."

April 27, 2005

It’s time for a second round of public comments on new districts in the city of Phoenix.

Reaction by advocacy groups, elected officials and others to the U.S. Department of Justice's filing of a lawsuit challenging Arizona's immigration enforcement law:

It must be that the Mesa tea party has become an echo chamber for disinformation. In a letter from tea party member Bill Sandry, we are asked to believe that the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial savings banks from Wall Street investment banking since 1933, was repealed by the likes of favorite tea party targets Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Charlie Wrangle. It didn’t take five minutes of research to disprove such nonsense.

The immigration debate in Arizona, already heated, somehow keeps getting more inflamed.

Scottsdale has scheduled two public meetings and created an e-mail address to allow residents to comment on a proposal to ban political signs on public property.

I am beyond saddened by the events in Tucson this past weekend and even more disappointed in the reputation Arizona has made for itself recently. But this backlash of "who's to blame?" only makes it worse.

I am beyond saddened by the events in Tucson this past weekend and even more disappointed in the reputation Arizona has made for itself recently. But this backlash of "who's to blame?" only makes it worse.

In the last decade, politics has become completely cynical and outright hateful. You read claims which offer no facts, just blatant lies. Millions of dollars are spent each election on smear and fear tactics to attack candidates, and most people don't question their validity. And of course the news media makes little or no verifications of these blatant lies.

Thoughts on the D17 clean elections candidates’ debate: I find it amusing that Rep. Ableser substantiated his use of “public” clean elections funds by pointing out that the money comes from people with “lead feet”, i.e. speeding ticket revenue, and not from voters on different political wavelengths than him. Then he goes on to criticize Republicans for cutting funding for our local law enforcement. Maybe the good Representative from District 17, and all the other “clean” candidates running this fall, could give all of their Clean Elections money back to the officers that write the speeding tickets that create the Clean Elections revenue stream.

Sunday’s guest commentary “Women seem to grow stronger under attack” by Linda Turley-Hansen lacked objectivity. What are we to assume men do under attack, “Shrink and cower?”

In the most recent of David Plouffe’s Organizing for America e-mailing’s (which go to friend and foe alike), he made the following claim: