Hundreds of teachers at religious schools around the state could soon be at risk of being laid off with no prospect of collecting jobless benefits.

Valley of the Sun United Way and Mesa United Way are partnering for a special Project Connect event April 11 at Broadway Christian Church, 7335 E. Broadway Road, Mesa.

About an hour after the school day ends, Mountain View High School Principal Craig Luketich leaves a meeting to take a walk around the Mesa campus. He doesn’t get two steps outside the main office doors when he stops to chat with a handful of young men. He then waves to a few other students, says hello to a parent coming on campus, and makes his way into the center of the large school.

Valley of the Sun United Way and Mesa United Way will join together this week for the fifth Project Connect event held in the City of Mesa since 2009. It is an effort to prevent and end homelessness in the community.

Finally some actual facts! That’s what I was hoping to find when I opened Rod Livdahl’s letter about the “tickle up effect”. Alas, it was not so. It was simply more “theory,” not supported by actual facts in an attempt to disparage President Reagan’s implementation of supply side economics. So I took one statistic, the unemployment rate, and did some research. These facts paint an interesting picture:

Recovery seems to be on the minds of many these days as the economy continues to shake off the after-effects of the recession. Housing prices and sales are climbing, the unemployment rate is falling and near record-low mortgage rates are bringing potential buyers who had been reluctant to make a move during the housing downturn back into the market.

State lawmakers are poised to make it more difficult for some people to collect unemployment benefits.

The state's jobless rate jumped a tenth of a point in January to 8.0 percent.

The sequester is giving job seekers the "one-two punch," first in terms of unemployment benefits and second in job training.

Saying it will help prevent fraud, state lawmakers voted Wednesday to impose new burdens on some people seeking unemployment insurance.

Arizona is facing a literacy crisis and it begins in early childhood.

A House panel voted Wednesday to require those seeking unemployment benefits to prove that they were fired and did not just quit.

Without a place to live, and carrying little more than a small bag of clothes, Jennifer Allanson rode the free Orbit bus in Tempe, unsure of where she would turn to next.

The state department that administers unemployment benefits is closing a call center and will require all new filings from people who lose their jobs be done online starting Feb. 1.

A new report from the federal government shows that women in Arizona are much more likely to be paid on par with men than in most other states.

The state's jobless rate jumped a bit last month -- maybe.

The City of Mesa is among local municipalities looking for volunteers to literally hit the streets to help the less fortunate this month.

More than a third of Arizonans collecting jobless benefits could be getting their final checks this week.

"The Central Park Five" takes an emotionally charged subject — the wrongful conviction and imprisonment of five black and Hispanic teenage boys for the rape of a white female jogger — and makes its case in a straightforward, detached manner.

Mesa students will see new computers, Dobson High School will get new classrooms, and the district’s transportation centers will be rebuilt after voters approved a $230 million bond program Nov. 6.

WASHINGTON — Arizona had the second-highest income inequality in the nation between 2008 and 2010, trailing only New Mexico for the gap between its richest and poorest residents, a new report says.

Now that schools are allowed to appeal up and down a division in high school sports in Arizona, even when we get answers it often leads to more questions.

Now that schools are allowed to appeal up and down a division in high school sports in Arizona, even when we get answers it often leads to more questions.

Five Valley nonprofits each received grants this month from the US Airways.