Ken Tabar just wants to work.

The Social Security Administration's announcement that next year's monthly checks will contain the largest increase in more than 25 years may have been intended to keep retirees contented. But for many seniors in the Valley, the move is rather meager.

The U.S. Army today faces an imminent and menacing threat to our national security. We are engaged in a struggle that will determine our future. Failure to resolve this problem could leave us vulnerable and our enemies victorious.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Baghdad's streets were electric with tension Wednesday as U.S. officials confirmed the new security operation was under way. U.S. armor rushed through streets, and Iraqi armored personnel carriers guarded bridges and major intersections.

More than two years after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled, the United Nations is finally getting serious about corruption in its oil-for-food program, a well-intentioned but badly administered humanitarian gesture that had the perverse effect of prolonging his hold on power.

EdgeFest patrons converging on Schnepf Farms on Saturday will encounter twice as many law enforcement officers as concertgoers saw last year when criticism of the music festival for being rowdy and raunchy filled the air along with alternative rock in Tempe.

Downtown Tempe business owners say the lack of information about security for the presidential debate Oct. 13 at Arizona State University has them worried.

Mesa is about to test whether it can slash crime at its convenience stores by requiring an array of security measures that the industry has spent two years fighting.

“A short history of airport security: We screen for guns, so the terrorists use box cutters. We confiscate box cutters, so they put explosives in their sneakers. We screen footwear, so they try to use liquids. We confiscate liquids, so they put plastic explosives in their underwear. We roll out full-body scanners, even though they wouldn’t have caught the Underwear Bomber, so they put a bomb in a printer cartridge. We ban printer cartridges over 16 ounces — the level of magical thinking here is amazing — and they’re going to do something else. This is a stupid game, and we should stop playing it.” — Bruce Schneier, security technologist and author of several books on computer security, in an editorial he wrote for the New York Times entitled “Do Body Scanners Make Us Safer? A Waste of Money and Time”

When do we call it treason?

LOS ANGELES - Ratings champion "American Idol" will face serious competition when it returns next month: the Department of Homeland Security.

BRUSSELS, Belgium - European Union leaders want their nations to fingerprint all foreign visitors and take other new steps to keep out illegal immigrants as part of a sweeping security overhaul proposed Friday.

ChildHelp founders Yvonne Fedderson and Sara O’Meara enjoyed a leisurely lunch Wednesday at a busy restaurant in Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

ChildHelp founders Yvonne Fedderson and Sara O’Meara enjoyed a leisurely lunch Wednesday at a busy restaurant in Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.

Four Fry's food store guards broke company policy when they detained a 65-year-old Scottsdale retiree who died after being taken into custody on suspicion of shoplifting, the man's family said after reading legal documents.

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister told parliament Thursday that the coming U.S-Iraqi security sweep in the capital would not be the last battle against militants, who he said would not be safe anywhere in the country.

State officials have agreed to new procedures designed to ensure that food stamp applicants get their benefits on time.

The number of families receiving food stamps in Maricopa County has soared 15 percent in the past year and nearly doubled since 2002. Statewide, the figures are much the same, with nearly one in 10 Arizonans on food stamps, giving the state the distinction of having among the fastest-growing rolls in the country.

PHOENIX — Phoenix police fatally shot a man at a shopping mall Monday evening after he entered the food court area armed with a gun.

DALLAS - Whole Foods Market said Tuesday it has lined up financing to complete its $565 million purchase of rival organic and natural foods grocer Wild Oats Markets, ending a six-month battle against federal regulators who tried to block the deal on anti-trust grounds.

MILWAUKEE - Tyson Foods Inc. said Monday that its president and chief executive, Dick Bond, was stepping down immediately in a move he said was in the best interest for himself and the company.

Terry Bradburn, a 64-year-old widow, was No. 176 in line at Liberty Ministries Christian Fellowship's food pantry in Sacramento, Calif., on a recent Thursday, waiting for her allotment of salad mix, fresh pineapple, dried and canned beans, bagels and coffee cake.

Arizona is hiring three people to crack down on a particular kind of food stamp fraud.

QUINCY, MASS. - Tara Withington, with her two young sons in tow, combs the aisles of Hannaford Bros. Co. supermarket for what she deems healthy enough to feed her family.