He was who the Cardinals thought he was. And then some.

An old cliche says that you can’t judge a draft after one year.

Glendale Mountain Ridge came to town to pick a fight, but Highland more than handled itself with a 63-46 quarterfinal win Saturday at Gilbert High School.

The Mesa school board has decided not to put a $250 million bond election on the November ballot, and has instead directed the superintendent to focus on consolidating and "repurposing" schools.

A second grader at Mesa's Franklin Northeast Elementary School who brought a loaded semi-automatic pistol to school and fired it on a school bus was suspended by the school's principal and could face further disciplinary action.

A family dog bit and killed a 2-week-old girl Wednesday, according to Mesa police.

Short takes from the Tribune Editorial Board...

When Wal-Mart rolled out its SuperCenter concept in 1990, the company hired an industry veteran to help stock the shelves, and it just so happened that Steve Martori already had done business with the retail giant’s new produce director.

The Arizona State men’s 1,600-meter relay team set a school record Saturday in the final day of the NCAA track and field championships at Sacramento, Calif. The Sun Devils, however, had to settle for second in the event as the LSU team ran the fastest time in NCAA history, at 2 minutes, 59.59 seconds.

Offense made easy.

It’s that time of year to hand out some honors for the year’s best. So it is without further ado that I bring you the Third Annual Hammer Awards.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day, several couples from Immanuel Campus of Care in Peoria and Thunderbird Retirement Resort in Glendale shared words of wisdom and lasting love advice they would give today’s young couples.

East Valley school districts say one of the top impacts of the economic downturn has been a rise in class sizes.

Full disclosure up front: I was one of the writers who pushed for Levi Brown over Adrian Peterson back in 2007, so what I know about savvy drafting you can fit in your car ashtray.