Let’s say a huge Arizona Diamondbacks fan spent three months completely out of touch – a stint on a space station, sealed in the Biosphere, working for the IRS in Cleveland, take your pick – and had no idea how his favorite baseball team had fared over the first two-plus months of the season.

DALLAS — Susan G. Komen for the Cure says it is canceling half of its 3-day charity races next year because of a drop in participation levels.

It’s been a tried-and-true formula for the Phoenix Suns of old: Look to a former NBA guard, preferably one with a Suns pedigree, and give him his shot to be a head coach. Use his offensive mind to steer an exciting brand of basketball and protect your home court enough to be a consistent playoff team.

U.S. home prices jumped 10.9 percent in March compared with a year ago, the most since April 2006. A growing number of buyers are bidding on a tight supply of homes, driving prices higher and helping the housing market recover.

“Out of respect for the victims, I refuse to name, watch or listen to the accused, while the victim is six feet under, robbed of their precious lives! I began this promise, to victims, starting in 1995. I blackout all media that creates a rating circus, totally disrespecting the dead... sickening!”

Debbie Frazier wants her two children to grow up appreciating the outdoors. So she introduced them to hiking before they could walk.

It’s not often art lovers get to see a work in progress let alone contribute to it, but Arizona Opera gives fans the opportunity to do just that this weekend when they present the first reading of “Riders of the Purple Sage” — an original opera based on Zane Grey’s western novel, set on the Arizona-Utah border.

The new link between meat consumption and heart disease, discovered by Dr. Stanley Hazen of the Cleveland Clinic, is just the latest evidence linking meat consumption to killer diseases that cripple, then kill, 1.3 million Americans annually. Hazen’s study showed that carnitine, an amino acid contained in all meat products, is a major factor in heart failure.

More than 1.7 million fans helped the Cactus League set a new attendance record with the 2013 spring training season that ended Saturday in Arizona.

Mesa’s Youth Sports League is partnering with the Chicago Cubs and hosting a free pitch, hit and run competition on 6:30 p.m. Thursday at Hohokam Stadium, 1235 N. Center St. Boys and girls, ages 7 to 14, can compete in pitching accuracy, hitting distance and quickness on the base. Winners in each division will receive two tickets to the Saturday game against the Cleveland Indians.

Washington  --  A US Airways executive repeated assurances in Washington on Tuesday that the company plans to maintain a significant corporate presence in Phoenix after its proposed merger with Texas-based American Airlines.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - The young man stumbled into the emergency room late one night after a house party, saying his heart wouldn't stop pounding and he could barely breathe after downing liquor mixed with energy drinks.

That happy rainy day has arrived.

A valuable piece of the region’s economic impact puzzle came through a simple conversation between then Tempe Mayor Harry Mitchell, local homebuilder Brad Curtis and a group of businessmen from Chase Bank a number of years ago.

So it appears an NBA mascot shift is in the offing. New Orleans owner Tom Benson, who has been itching to change the name of his team since buying the struggling franchise, wants to rename the ill-titled Hornets – and call his team the New Orleans Pelicans.

WASHINGTON — Home prices increased in September in most major U.S. cities, more evidence of a housing recovery that is providing a lift to the fragile economy.