While visiting a second-grade classroom in Chandler some seven years ago, Barbara Blalock witnessed a 7-year-old girl hand in her right tennis shoe as collateral. She was borrowing a pencil from her teacher.

Hundreds of teachers at religious schools around the state could soon be at risk of being laid off with no prospect of collecting jobless benefits.

We learned in school about the inventors such as Edison and Bell who parlayed their inventions into fortunes, of the great capitalists of the Gilded Age such as Rockefeller and Carnegie and Morgan who took great risks on their way to becoming titans of industry.

Arizona lawmakers are once again challenging federal authority despite warnings it will just land the state on the Daily Show -- again.

Doug Parker has no problem donning rapper Psy's light blue tuxedo for Halloween and performing his own version of Gangnam Style before hundreds of employees. The CEO of US Airways even let a video of his dance get posted to YouTube. He's outspoken, confident, and persistent, and he is very close to being put in charge of the world's largest airline.

Sometimes, it takes a pair of outside eyes to see what those who are closest often overlook. Such was the case last year when the East Valley Institute of Technology was touted by TIME magazine as “learning that works.” The writer traveled to Mesa, toured EVIT and saw first-hand how we prepare young people for productive, successful lives while meeting the needs of business and industry. Hearing from EVIT students made the biggest impact. Kids want to come to EVIT. They love it here.

Saying they are promoting transparency, members of a House panel voted Tuesday to force cities and counties to negotiate with public employee unions in the open.

PHOENIX -- A Senate panel set the stage Wednesday for a confrontation between state and federal law enforcement over gun laws.

With the opening of the state legislative session, school safety soon took center stage.

A former Arizona legislator was sentenced to 18 months of home confinement for his felony convictions for seeking and accepting bribes while he was a Tempe city councilman and misleading donors about a scholarship fund that benefited his relatives.

A former Arizona legislator will be sentenced Wednesday for felony convictions for seeking and accepting bribes while he was a Tempe city councilman and misleading donors about a scholarship fund that benefited his relatives.

East Valley chambers of commerce will be watching for bills related to unemployment benefits burden of proof, initiative reform, sales tax reform, the budget, and the federal health care system during the 2013 legislative session, according to the Dorn Policy Group.

Increasing Medicaid expansion to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL) provides the unique opportunity for Gov. Brewer and the Republican-led legislature to take positive steps in improving Arizona’s economy. This can be done while taking the moral high ground by reinstating the voter-approved AHCCCS benefits for childless adults. The benefit that our Arizona economy receives from this expansion is very important for our recovery. By investing $1 billion in expanding Medicaid, the return on investment for Arizona is $8 billion. Uncompensated medical and hospital care create a hidden tax on everyone else through an increase to their insurance premiums. It should be noted that there are uninsured adults that have untreated mental illnesses. This is a tragic situation which, as history shows, potentially results in a public-safety catastrophe. Arizona legislators have the opportunity to lead as conservatives by containing costs, cutting the hidden tax that is placed on insurance premiums to cover the uninsured and making an investment that brings $8 billion into Arizona’s economy.

Senate President Andy Biggs advised a group of East Valley business leaders and fellow legislators that Arizona has a unique opportunity to see economic growth in the coming months and years.

It’s weathered a lengthy recession and even threats of boycotts over Arizona’s controversial immigration legislation, yet the hotel and hospitality trade still remains one of the Grand Canyon State’s benchmark industries.

School districts in Gilbert, Queen Creek and Tempe are facing budget cuts next school year after voters in those communities turned down requests to renew budget overrides.

Voters were opposing a 15 percent budget override for maintenance and operations put on the ballot by Chandler Unified School District’s governing board with about 54 percent of votes against it and 46 percent of votes for it, according to early, unofficial general election results.

5…4…3…2... You get the idea.

Editor's Note: These letters to the editor have been sorted by topic by the Tribune editorial staff in an effort to allow readers to read varied opinions on the issues, candidates, and other circumstances surrounding the 2012 general election. These submissions are the opinions of the author, not the Tribune, and have not been edited for grammar or content.

Editor's Note: These letters to the editor have been sorted by topic by the Tribune editorial staff in an effort to allow readers to read varied opinions on the issues, candidates, and other circumstances surrounding the 2012 general election. These submissions are the opinions of the author, not the Tribune, and have not been edited for grammar or content.

Five out of seven candidates running in Legislative District 18 have confirmed they will be in attendance for a debate in Tempe on Tuesday.

Police said one person was taken to the hospital Thursday night after being shot at a medical marijuana Co-op in Tempe.

East Valley school districts say one of the top impacts of the economic downturn has been a rise in class sizes.

The Valley Interfaith Project (VIP) is sponsoring a candidates’ forum for Legislative Districts 18 and 26 on Oct. 30 at 6:30 p.m. at St. James Episcopal Church, 975 E. Warner Road in Tempe.