They may be so commonplace they’re unappreciated, so simple they fail to activate the saliva glands at first sight, but in our book it’s hard to go wrong with chips and salsa.

Dwayne Stowell was just a high school senior when his life was instantly changed.

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 official transition for the renaming of Mesa’s Eighth Street to Rio Salado Parkway began this week, when dual-named street signs were installed along the road between Country Club Drive and the Loop 101 freeway.

Valley residents will band together this weekend to walk for an organization that got its start in the Phoenix area more than three decades ago, and on behalf of youngsters around the world looking to have that one ultimate wish granted.

When Bill Keller landed a store manager’s job with Dillard’s department store in the Valley 34 years ago, his wife, Dianne, said she wasn’t excited about moving to Arizona, much less Mesa — from Minneapolis.

A merger between Tempe-based US Airways and American Airlines appears to be imminent. As that lingers, some local businesses are in a holding pattern of sorts.

Got a hankering for Hop Knot, a soft spot for Sunbru or an urge to kick back with Kiltlifter? Express your passion for these local brews in Four Peaks Brewing’s Beer Can Art Contest.

Just a mile from the Mesa location for the Chicago Cubs new spring training facility, another Windy City mainstay is set to open: Portillo’s. The restaurant that specializes in Chicago hot dogs and Italian beef will open a 7,000-square foot eatery in the summer of 2013 at Tempe Marketplace.

Special interests won the day in the race for the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) in 2012, and the Arizona public got legally swindled.

A body found over the weekend near Tempe Marketplace has been identified as the missing Arizona State University student, according to the Medical Examiner's Office.

A body was recovered from the Salt River Sunday near the spot where an Arizona State University student was last seen and there's a good chance it is the missing teen, a Tempe police spokesman said.

A group of Arizona State University students and volunteers have taken matters into their own hands in the search for missing 19-year-old Jack Culolias .

The Arizona Department of Liquor Licensing and Control is investigating a Tempe bar where Arizona State University student Jack Culolias was last seen during a fraternity-sponsored pledge event attended by dozens of university underclassmen.