Arizona Air National Guard F-16 fighters will be flying over downtown Phoenix Thursday as they practice intercepting hostile aircraft intent on a terrorist attack.

The military will conduct air interceptions of mock hostile aircraft over Phoenix this week.

President Obama’s new “religious tolerance” consultant to the Pentagon, Mikey Weinstein, wants Christian military service members who openly talk about their faith in uniform to be charged with treason, which is a crime punishable by death according to military law.

In the galaxy of big-screen superheros — a rather glum lot — Robert Downey Jr.'s Iron Man is the snappy one.

Horrible, the loss of three innocent lives in the Boston bombing! Then what word could one use to express the fact that between 158,000 and 202,000 civilians have died as a result of the ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan? It is understandable that the attack in Boston is a national tragedy for the United States. Our sympathies and prayers go out to the victims. But why is it that the loss of innocent lives in the Middle East has been hardly worthy of a second thought, if any, on our part?

It is now being reported the Boston bombing suspect was unnecessarily ‘Mirandized’ in the midst of the FBI interrogations from which the FBI was obtaining important intelligence re present and future terrorist activities. The question now is; did the attorney general’s Boston representative jump the gun by rushing a Federal Magistrate and lawyers to the suspects hospital room to ‘file a criminal complaint’ and ‘Mirandized’? By doing so it placed the suspect into civil proceedings which we find out is not a necessary decision at this time. It has effectively limited further FBI interrogation(s).

Once again it happens with sickening suddenness — a jolting shock that alters and cruelly mocks our assumption of “normalcy.”

As the F.B.I. and Department of Homeland Security sift through the collateral damage in Boston, one thing is abundantly clear: it was an act of terrorism. Questions, like who is responsible and their motivation, remain to be determined. Along with those questions, one cannot help but ask where God is during events like this.

BOSTON — The bombs that ripped through the Boston Marathon crowd were fashioned out of ordinary kitchen pressure cookers, packed with nails and other fiendishly lethal shrapnel, and hidden in duffel bags left on the ground, people close to the investigation said Tuesday.

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.

What are the ethical standards of hunting? For hunters to be so actively ignorant is understandable; they have been able to bamboozle the public for generations. Morons, bullies, and brutes are trapping and baiting millions of innocent animals for sports, trophies, heritage. None of their lamebrain excuses should ever be taken seriously by anyone.

You may better know her sister, Dakota, from box-office smashes like “War of the Worlds” and “The Twilight Saga,” but 14-year-old Elle Fanning has already made quite a name for herself among the arthouse set, appearing in such acclaimed works as “Babel,” “Somewhere” and “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” This month, she takes center stage in a new drama from writer/director Sally Potter entitled “Ginger & Rosa” – a coming-of-age tale set in 1962 London as the threat of the Cuban missile crisis looms overhead.

Gilbert will gather to show appreciation and gratitude for two returning patriots during the next Operation Welcome Home ceremony at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Gov. Jan Brewer is making a bid this week to salvage part of what's left of the law she signed in 2010 aimed at illegal immigration.

Ten years on, what do we have as a result of our involvement in Iraq?

An April 9 trial date has been set for a man who's accused of sending his nephew into a street with a fake grenade launcher as he filmed the masked teen pointing the fake weapon at passing cars.

LOS ANGELES — A grave 12-year-old African girl, abducted from her village by vicious armed rebels and forced to wage war as a child soldier, guides the viewer through the horrors of Canadian director Kim Nguyen's engrossing Oscar-nominated drama "War Witch." Managing to be neither sentimental nor sensationalistic, the film tells its story from the heart, and from the simple, straightforward viewpoint of young heroine Komona, warmly played by the talented Rachel Mwanza in her screen debut.

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is the first ever from the Americas, an austere Jesuit intellectual who modernized Argentina's conservative Catholic church.

If you’re a commuter who endured one of the four recent massive traffic back-ups on Valley freeways thanks to serious accidents involving big rig trucks, no doubt you spoke words you’d never say in front of your kids.

NEW YORK — Shoes are having a 21st century moment as they've pushed from mere accessory to the center of the fashion stage.

A woman charged with killing her lover testified Wednesday that she has no recollection of stabbing him, slitting his throat or even whether she shot him during a fight at his Arizona home nearly five years ago.

A former board member and longtime volunteer, Jim Colletti returns to this year’s Sedona International Film Festival in an entirely new role: first-time filmmaker. Originally from New York, Colletti moved to the East Valley nearly 20 years ago – buying his first home in Chandler and opening a business in Gilbert before relocating to Mesa. He has been living in central Phoenix for about 2 years now, where he runs his graphic art/advertising agency Element Design along with his artist management/record label OEO Entertainment.

Doug Parker has no problem donning rapper Psy's light blue tuxedo for Halloween and performing his own version of Gangnam Style before hundreds of employees. The CEO of US Airways even let a video of his dance get posted to YouTube. He's outspoken, confident, and persistent, and he is very close to being put in charge of the world's largest airline.

The Obama administration seems to have gone Jack Bauer on us, which would be okay if we were just talking about non-American enemy combatants on some far-flung battlefield. It seems the administration danced its way around case law and the Constitution in an attempt to justify the assassination of three American citizens it refuses to acknowledge it had any part of, post execution.