NEW YORK — Laura Radocaj of Vero Beach, Fla., was warned when she was pregnant with twins that motherhood would be harder than she imagined — especially because she planned to go back to work while the twins were still babies. "But this has been the easiest transition," said Radocaj, 28, who works from home in corporate communications.

It started with a headline in the New York Times. Bob Barr, 88, picked up his newspaper to find an article about the closure of a fully-automated Japanese factory.

Arizona State University sophomore Anisha Hindocha works hard to put herself through school without having to take out loans – so hard that it’s started to affect her health.

Being a few minutes late for work a couple of times may allow an employer to fire a worker.

Arizonans who have exhausted their initial 26 weeks of unemployment insurance will see cuts in their weekly benefits of as much as $40 because of across-the-board federal budget cuts known as the sequestration.

EDITOR'S NOTE — Aging America is a joint AP-APME project examining the aging of the baby boomers and the effect that this "silver tsunami" is having on the communities in which they live.

Imagine you are a 19-year-old Marine. You are riding in a Humvee with four other Marines — your friends — when an improvised explosive device (IED) explodes.

Americans are more confident in the U.S. economy than at any point in the past five years, thanks to surging home values, a brighter job market and record-setting stock prices.

The resurgent U.S. housing market has sent builders calling again for Richard Vap, who owns a drywall installation company. Vap would love to help — if he could hire enough qualified people.

The forecast for summer travel, 2013: Partly sunny.

NEW YORK — Thomas Sohmers, 17, of Hudson, Mass., has been working at a research lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology since he was 13, developing projects ranging from augmented reality eyewear to laser communications systems. This spring, his mom, Penny Mills, let him drop out of 11th grade. She says she "could see how much of the work he was doing at school wasn't relevant to what he wanted to learn."

Forget fears of sequestration. And never mind the hike in payroll taxes that shrunk paychecks.

State senators gave final approval Wednesday to legislation supporters said enhances religious freedom while foes argue it will give people an ability to use their beliefs as an excuse to discriminate.

New figures show the state's economy continues to plug along.

“Mesa judge Markel [Mark] Chiles was issued a citation for shoplifting recently. Will another judge give him the six months in jail and $2,500 fine just to set the punishment at a level others could receive? Watch for a slap on the wrist.”

“Mesa judge Markel [Mark] Chiles was issued a citation for shoplifting recently. Will another judge give him the six months in jail and $2,500 fine just to set the punishment at a level others could receive? Watch for a slap on the wrist.”

I have to admit that this column is going to have few readers. For one thing, here is the only mention it will have of the name Jodi Arias. That’s it. Sorry.

During the weeks preceding the formal unveiling of the ludicrously named Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2103, S. 744, the Gang of Eight authors dominated the headlines with their empty promises.

New unemployment numbers released Thursday suggest the state's economic recovery is weakening.

Unemployment insurance

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.

With the need to cut $6 million from its budget next year, the Gilbert Unified School District is looking at shaving school budgets, hiring occupational and physical therapists rather than using contract workers, and raising athletic fees.

Arizona’s unemployment rate came down slightly, going from 8 percent in January to 7.9 percent in February.

Calling it "an important part of improving education,'' Gov. Jan Brewer signed legislation Thursday to eliminate the AIMS test -- including the graduation requirement -- paving the way for something else to measure the new Common Core standards already being implemented in Arizona schools.