Spring wildflowers are on their way. Learn about them at an indoor brown-bag session with a park ranger. Noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday. The Nature Center at Usery Mountain Regional Park, 3939 N. Usery Pass Road. A 2.5 mile walk in search of flowers is 1:30 p.m. Thursday. $6 per car. (480) 984-0032 or maricopa.gov/parks/usery.

The Summit at Sunland Springs, a 48-bed memory care community, will open to new residents Jan. 1, at 2415 Signal Butte Road. The center is open to individuals with forms of dementia, Alzheimer’s and memory loss.

Scottsdale has sought a big-name museum for its downtown for many years now, and more recently, a Western history museum. Seems fitting in a place that still proudly calls itself “The West’s Most Western Town.”

This is not an ode to a home improvement center. If it were, people might laugh.

For Louisiana State University and the citizens of Baton Rouge, Hurricane Katrina was initially no big deal.

For Louisiana State University and the citizens of Baton Rouge, Hurricane Katrina was initially no big deal.

As part of its regular “Operation Welcome Home” series, the Town of Gilbert will honor three local military heroes Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

The town of Gilbert will host a hero’s welcome at 6 p.m., Jan. 12 at Town Hall, 50 E. Civic Center Drive, for Army Capt. Edward Miller, who recently returned from a deployment to Joint Base Balad in Iraq, where he served as platoon leader/operations and training officer. This “Operation Welcome Home” event is open to the public and will be televised on local Cox Channel 11 and streamed online at www.gilbertaz.gov.

In 1976, when Syrian troops entered Lebanon, there may have been some justification for their presence in trying to end a nasty civil war that ultimately wrecked that once-thriving, agreeably cosmopolitan commercial center of the Mideast.

Recently released data shows schools across Scottsdale and especially those in the north are expected to keep growing over the next 25 years, a fact that comes as welcome news to the Scottsdale school leaders.

What Marshall Stone likes best about his new home is he can look up at night and see the stars.

The bait and lure were tossed out during the postgame interview, but Shawn Marion wasn’t biting.

There are signs of progress in Maricopa. Some of them are a welcome sight. Others should never have been put up in the first place.

The Suns want to bring Scott Williams back for another season, meaning the club is looking at the same lineup of centers as last season: Williams and "Big Jake" Tsakalidis and "Little Jake" Voskuhl.

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

A new Verizon commercial shows little Susie working her lemonade stand when her father hands her a smart phone with a calculator in it. Susie’s eyes light up. She immediately uses the technology to network friends into a lemonade empire, complete with an office building behind her house.

A new judge is coming to Maricopa County Superior Court in Mesa.

You’ve probably never heard of Restricted Area 2310.

Eric King is venturing into cyberspace to bring Scottsdale closer together.

The loyal soldiers in Lute Olson’s Southern Arizona army believe he can restore order at McKale Center and coach the Wildcats to another Final Four. They believe Olson will return Arizona to its up-tempo style, resume beating Oregon and USC, and brush off Arizona State as a mere annoyance.