WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is designating five new national monuments, using executive authority to protect historic or ecologically significant sites — including one in Delaware sought by Vice President Joe Biden.

Police say a former Mesa Police Sergeant has been arrested on sex abuse charges.

A Mesa man is in custody for allegedly sending an explicit photo to a 16-year-old girl online.

In celebration of Black History Month, Southeast Regional Library in Gilbert is hosting an exhibit of West African art on loan from local genealogist Joyce Reese McCollum.

As the Mesa Martin Luther King Jr. Committee prepares for the annual 2013 Celebration of Dr. King’s life, Legacy and dreams this weekend, my thoughts are not only on Dr. King but also on President Abraham Lincoln.

Parting ways with her own Republican Party, Gov. Jan Brewer on Monday proposed expanding Arizona’s Medicaid program to take advantage of the federal Affordable Care Act.

As a dark veil began to sweep over Europe in 1939 — the pale hint of what would come from Nazi rule — a stockbroker from England took a course of action that would save the lives of nearly 700 children.

Child-sex trafficking — it sounds like such a foreign problem.

After “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction,” Quentin Tarantino quickly became the coolest director working in Hollywood. Achieving such early acclaim in his feature film career, Tarantino easily could have come and gone like any other trendy flavor of the month director.

‘Lincoln’

Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln is a match made in heaven. It’s a logical casting decision for our greatest living actor to portray perhaps the most influential individual in American history, even if Day-Lewis is of British and Irish citizenship.

For anyone who cringed just a little while watching the trailer for “Lincoln” and worried that it might be a near-parody of a Steven Spielberg film, with its heartfelt proclamations, sentimental tones and inspiring John Williams score, fret not.

Scott Sternlieb’s remarks on Nov. 7 were uninformed and unfair. He inferred that instances of slave murder, torture and rape were common. They were not. Slavery, then as now, was an uncivilized and inhuman institution, but the slaveholders were not the Simon Legrees depicted in Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Assuming them to be so is an affront to any intelligent discussion of the subject.

This coming Tuesday, when the Sons of Confederate Veterans gather at Globe Cemetery, the historical veterans organization will honor Pvt. Wesley Lancaster, who has been buried in an unmarked grave for nearly a century.

In her Sept. 5 (Spiritual Side) column (“‘Coming out’ for marriage equality — a letter of thanks”) Diane Meehl proclaimed her support for legal and church marriages between persons other than one man and one woman. Meehl urged Christian churches to follow suit, saying “does the church want to continue to be associated with a divisive issue about which we likely will never achieve consensus?” There are many “divisive issues” — including the divinity of Christ and the message of salvation — on which the church must take an unwavering position on principle, not on the nose count of a supposed “consensus.”

“Just when the overwhelming abundance of far-right Vents these past months were about to lull us into apathy and lose us as readers, the Trib publishes one, progressive opinion that gets the Rabid Right squealing like a bunch of little piggies! Don’t you folks understand that opposing viewpoints make the Vent entertaining and informative for everyone? Moreover, balancing out viewpoints gives a more accurate view of the kind of people (and readers) who live in Gilbert. It is what democracy, free speech, and freedom of the press are all about.”

If you get the impression Arizona can sometimes seem a little wacky to the rest of the nation, take heart, at least, that attention-getting shenanigans are nothing new for the Grand Canyon State.

If you get the impression Arizona can sometimes seem a little wacky to the rest of the nation, take heart, at least, that attention-getting shenanigans are nothing new for the Grand Canyon State.

Tempe’s Stephen Marc was in a shop for rare and used books outside Cambridge, Md., when serendipity smiled on him yet again.

Hanna Nelson responded to a previous op-ed (“Do research before attacking the Bible,” June 22, AFN), claiming Andy Wangstad (“Don’t take every word of the Bible as literal truth,” June 8, AFN) should do his research before attacking the Bible. She claims she wants to see scripture references for the bold claims he made, here they are:

We can all stop pretending continued Republican anger about the Affordable Care Act is news. Some figured a Supreme Court ruling would settle things. And since the GOP said it was unconstitutional with the same fervor as people who’ve read the Constitution—it was easy to assume a decision from the nine justices in the highest court in the land—regardless of the outcome—would chill them out.

Legalization of something does not necessarily make it a good idea. It was once legal to own a slave. Democrats who voted against abolishing slavery in 1864, have been doing their part ever since to enslave Americans to one social program or another. Obamacare is just the latest example.

Legalization of something does not necessarily make it a good idea. It was once legal to own a slave. Democrats who voted against abolishing slavery in 1864, have been doing their part ever since to enslave Americans to one social program or another. Obamacare is just the latest example.

LOS ANGELES — Oliver Stone has smoked great marijuana all over the world, from Vietnam and Thailand to Jamaica and South Sudan. But the filmmaker says the best weed is made in the USA and that pot could be a huge growth industry for taxpayers if it were legalized.