Chandler’s Arizona College Prep-Erie earned a Top 100 on Newsweek’s 2013 America’s Best High Schools list.

The number of hybrid cars in the U.S. will triple by 2015, according to J.D. Power and Associates. This change in demand and technology requires a new skill set from today’s mechanics. The premise is that drivers around the world will continue trading gas guzzling, big-body cars for lighter, more fuel-efficient vehicles that are easier on the pockets and the environment.

Editor's note: Claire Hoogenboom is a broadcast major studying journalism at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University.

U.S. homebuilders broke the 1 million mark in March for the first time since June 2008. The gain signals continued strength for the housing recovery at the start of the spring buying season.

“Rape is the only crime in which the victim becomes the accused. It is she who must prove her good reputation, her mental soundness, and her impeccable propriety” — Freda Adler, Criminalist.

With as many as 35 percent of Mesa eighth graders admitting to at least trying alcohol, the Mesa Prevention Alliance is planning an event this weekend to show them there’s another lifestyle to choose.

NEW YORK — Recent high-profile attacks on tourists in India, Brazil, Turkey and Mexico — including rapes — have raised questions about personal safety for overseas travel, especially for women. But frequent travelers and those who work in the industry say a few common-sense precautions can go a long way to ensuring personal safety.

Everytime a baby with Down syndrome is born in Arizona, Virginia “Gina” Johnson knows about it.

Three years ago, a bunt, overthrow, or bobbled grounder led to a 1-0 win or loss.

WASHINGTON — This may be the year Congress decides what to do about the millions of immigrants living illegally in the U.S. And this may be the week when a bipartisan group of senators makes public details of the overhaul plan it has been negotiating for months.

LONDON — After crocheting a colorful blanket, Joan Ferguson snuggled up under it one night and proudly thought: "This is one groovy blanket. I'm brilliant."

“The NRA proposes putting a school official through 60 hours of weapons of training for school security. There is an old adage that says (A Jack of all trades is master of none). Does anyone really want to put the life of their small child in the hands of a master of none?”

PAGO PAGO, American Samoa — A tiny Samoa airline is giving passengers a big reason to lose weight: tickets sold not by the seat, but by the kilogram.

“Those three seconds I took my eyes off the road changed my life forever.”

On Jan. 16, students from 14 Valley schools gathered at Gilbert’s Higley Center for the Performing Arts for the Building Bridges program to fight bullying in schools. In May of last year, Kyrene Altadeña Middle School students participated in the Bully Academy Webquest, an online course involving reading articles, watching videos about bullying and most importantly, talking about it. After all, this is about how young people learn to express their emotions. In November 2011, students from Chandler’s Tarwater Elementary School spent a day focused on kindness, respect, and friendship.

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:

This will be a great year for women – and in part, you have the Girls Scouts to thank for that.

It’s a shame St. Mary’s doesn’t keep girls basketball statistics, because it would be nice to quantify the dominance of Chantel Osahor.

Have a long list of home improvement projects? Don’t know where to start?

“Just spent the day doing my federal and state tax returns. The good news is I don’t owe anything. The bad news is that, for the first time in 40 years, I didn’t earn enough to owe any income tax.”

Let’s Talk Tax Reform — reform that actually builds the American economy and creates new jobs.

Now that the Chicago Cubs have secured a spring-training home in Mesa well into the future, the East Valley will soon welcome to the area the first of possibly many in a long line of Windy City favorites: Portillo’s Hot Dogs.

The worn boxing gloves and yellowed punching bags tell only part of the story.