A fire that caused potentially $300,000 damage to a Scottsdale town home late Saturday has been ruled accidental, according to the Scottsdale Fire Department.

Gilbert Town Councilman Don Skousen still gets e-mails and calls from residents concerned that advertisements hung on front doors will alert burglars — or make for littered lawns.

Mesa and Chandler voters easily approved home rule overrides in their cities that will prevent the communities from making deep service cuts.

Chandler voters overwhelmingly supported home rule status for the city this week - but they'll have to say yes to it once more this year at the polls to keep it in place.

A little-known proposition in Chandler’s May 18 election gives voters the power to preserve the city’s current spending plan or force officials to make cuts deeper than anything the recession triggered.

It's up to Queen Creek voters whether local officials or the state will control the town's budget for the next two years.

Mesa has such a robust City Council primary under way, with the mayor’s office and four of seven council seats up for grabs, that relatively little attention has been paid to another question on the city’s March 11 ballot about whether to continue the “home rule” exception to state spending limits.

Government land-use restrictions add $55,000 to the median cost of a house in the Valley, says a new study released by the Arizona Federation of Taxpayers.

WASHINGTON - A divided Supreme Court ruled Thursday that local governments may seize people's homes and businesses against their will for private development in a decision anxiously awaited in communities where economic growth often is at war with individual property rights.

WASHINGTON - Manufactured homes are a popular choice for low-income families, but new regulations from mortgage giant Fannie Mae could price some of those would-be homeowners out of the market.

Mesa and Chandler are asking voters to approve a home rule override on Nov. 2 to prevent the cities from slashing municipal services and programs.

Gail Barney is Queen Creek’s new mayor and the town’s home rule renewal is easily sailing toward victory, according to early election results released at 8 p.m Tuesday.

Queen Creek’s next election is five months away, but the Town Council is already getting its first look at a ballot issue going to voters in March.

Gilbert will not require in-home day care providers to install fire sprinklers, according to a code amendment approved late Tuesday.

July 8, 2004

Current law says any ballot measure needs a majority of those voting on the issue to pass. This would raise the bar to require a majority of those registered to vote -- even if they stayed home -- for any statewide initiative that would raise taxes or impose new spending requirements on the state, individuals or businesses.

Scottsdale is crafting a plan to use search warrants to enter rental properties when serious code violations might exist inside.

Scottsdale is crafting a plan to use search warrants to enter rental properties when serious code violations might exist inside.

“A man's home is his castle,” so the old proverb goes. Behind its walls, the homeowner makes the rules — and the government must stay out, unless its minions have first obtained a search warrant that will pass muster under the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution in a court of law.

Though the United States Supreme Court has compiled an admirable record of wise decisions throughout its distinguished history, some of its rulings have been egregiously wrong — with grave consequences for the nation and its citizens.

Municipal bureaucrats never fail to amaze. Whether they’re denying Subway the use of its trademark in Tempe or beating up on doughnut shops in Mesa, they have turned harassment and obstructionism into art forms. They are very good at what they do, and they are ubiquitous.

Terri Johnson installed a pool slide that barely exceeds the top of her backyard fence — and was fined $100.