Mike McClellan: Education reform is the buzz lately around the country, in both government and the media. And last week, three reforms hit the news. National math and English standards were introduced, an attempt at raising the bar for what is taught in our nation's classrooms.

Struggling students and slackers are the focus of a new emphasis by educators and business leaders to reform Arizona’s high schools.

July 12, 2004

You might’ve noticed that Valley mayors want to get in the education reform game. After the defeat of the one-cent sales tax, combined with half of the budget overrides going down, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and Mesa’s Scott Smith appeared at a press conference to announce a group of mayors had formed to promote education reform and to find more funding for education.

Glenn Hamer, guest commentary

America’s most famous felon, Martha Stewart, has a lot ahead of her now that she’s out of jail — getting her company back into the black, launching two TV shows and re-establishing herself as the credible voice of domestic perfection.

Right now President Obama and Congressional Democrats are in the midst of pressing forward on financial reform legislation. Fresh from victory on health care reform, they are not shying away from tough issues in this Congressional election year.

You might’ve noticed that Valley mayors want to get in the education reform game. After the defeat of the one-cent sales tax, combined with half of the budget overrides going down, Mesa Mayor Scott Smith and Phoenix’s Greg Stanton appeared at a press conference to announce a group of mayors had formed to promote education reform and to find more funding for education.

Arizona enacted a new law earlier this month that got little attention but could make a big impact on school performance.

The League of United Latin American Citizens is demanding reform in English immersion classrooms statewide in response to allegations a Scottsdale teacher struck students.

July 23, 2004

President Bush's visit to Arizona on Monday to plug his immigration-reform agenda is the welcome push which — if he sustains it into 2006 — just might move this volatile issue onto Congress' agenda as well.

Thousands of acres in Scottsdale, Cave Creek and the Superstition Mountains area are targeted for openspace preservation in a proposal for state land trust reform.

Latinos throughout the Valley will dress in white T-shirts and take to the streets of downtown Phoenix on Tuesday morning for the second year in a row to demand immigration reform.

June 14, 2004

A four-year logjam on reforming the operation of homeowners associations broke in the 2004 legislative session, and just about everyone is predicting that more changes are coming.

Open-space preservation in Scottsdale and elsewhere in the East Valley stands to get a boost from a reform coalition’s proposal to change how the state land trust is managed.

Companies that make money providing “payday loans” have formed an organization they say is designed to “reform” their industry.

May 25, 2004

Glenn Hamer, guest commentary

AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. - As Air Force cadets return to classes this month, they are seeing a new system for handling rape allegations - reforms put in place throughout the military in response to the sex scandal that rocked this prestigious school more than two years ago.

June 29, 2004

ISTANBUL, Turkey - A day after Iraq's new interim government claimed power, President Bush said Tuesday that "freedom is the future of the Middle East" and that Islamic countries need not fear the spread of democracy.