A $4.6 million project will give the rapidly growing Higley Unified School District its first transportation center. Just a few years ago, in 2003-04, Higley had 4,500 students and 24 buses. Today, the district has 10,000 students and 61 buses.

Gov. Janet Napolitano wants to battle the “time tax” of congestion by having voters approve a statewide plan for highways, transit and a Phoenix-to-Tucson rail line.

Mesa leaders are asking residents to head online to lend their thoughts on the city’s transportation outlook — input Mayor Scott Smith says is invaluable to creating a plan for the future that suits changing philosophies.

A last-minute, last-ditch effort to build a Jeep clone led to the modern-day sport-utility movement.

It's been projected the Phoenix area could be home to 6 million people by 2050, so the key to managing the future of the Phoenix area is to invest billions in transportation and create more jobs closer to where people live, a group of real estate and government leaders say.

A new leadership group in Pinal County sees a fastclosing window of opportunity to locate new transportation corridors in the area.

Williams Gateway Airport in east Mesa has landed an $11 million executive jet service center that will bring about 60 jobs to the area.

Dal Eaton, a resident of Gold Canyon, just got his pilot’s license and

General Dynamics Decision Systems in Scottsdale has won a contract potentially worth $304 million over 10 years to provide an improved communications system for U.S. Air Force cargo and troop-transport planes.

ArmorWorks, a Tempebased manufacturer of hightech composite plates to protect military personnel, has received two contracts totaling $33 million to produce body armor for U.S. soldiers and aircraft armor for U.S. Navy and Marine helicopters.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Endeavour returned to Earth safely Tuesday, ending a nearly two-week orbital drama that centered on a deep gouge in the shuttle's belly and an early homecoming prompted by a hurricane.

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Scottsdale officials are looking to buy land near Loop 101 and Cactus Road for a regional park-and-ride facility to support Valleywide mass transit.

Chandler is on the verge of spending $1.9 million to buy the last plots of land needed for a driving training center for police and other city employees.

Tempe is starting the process of buying land, mostly along Apache Boulevard, for the Valley Metro light-rail system.

LOS ANGELES - Paris Hilton plans to appear on CNN's "Larry King Live" on Wednesday night, a day after she's scheduled to be released from jail, a spokeswoman for King said Saturday. "We do have Paris on Wednesday," said the show's spokeswoman, Bridget Leininger. "She'll do the whole hour."

The sale of prime real estate at the southwest corner of Tatum and Mayo boulevards is just a portion of the Scottsdale-area property the state Land Department plans to offer to buyers in the near future.

May 12, 2005

May 13, 2005

Mesa is considering the sale of 1,600 acres of city-owned land in Pinal County to a Colorado-based firm currently building a heavy, rail-driven industrial development near Denver’s airport.

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - Smiling broadly, journalist Jill Carroll arrived Saturday under U.S. military protection in Germany, the first stop on her return to the United States from Iraq where she was kidnapped and spent 82 days in captivity.

Ahwatukee Foothills residents will have to wait a year or more to learn if and where the South Mountain Freeway will be built.

Orbital Sciences Corp. said Friday it has won a contract that could exceed $200 million over the next seven years to launch scientific satellites for NASA.

On the northeast side of Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, plans are in the works by the city for shaping a future terminal site with other businesses and uses.