MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. — Myrtle Beach, this year celebrating the 75th anniversary of its incorporation, is the heart of South Carolina's $16.5 billion tourism industry. Myrtle Beach is in the center of a 60-mile (100-kilometer) reach of beaches that attracts more than 14 million visitors a year to dozens of golf courses, hundreds of restaurants and tens of thousands of hotel, motel and other rental units. There's shopping at hundreds of stores and nine live entertainment theaters with almost 12,000 seats. But there's a lot to do for free. Here are five suggestions:

The fight to expand Medicaid in Arizona continues as Gov. Brewer pushes the Legislature to pursue legislation to expand coverage to include folks up to 133 percent of poverty guidelines.

The Governor’s plan to add more than 300,000 Arizonans to the Medicaid rolls will do nothing more than facilitate and expand ObamaCare. Voters clearly expressed their will to reject implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) via Proposition 106 in 2010. If this expansion goes through, nearly one fourth of all Arizonans will receive free taxpayer-paid medical care. This isn’t a ”safety net” for the poorest citizens. It is an incentive program for socialized medicine.

Foes of the governor’s plan to expand the state’s Medicaid program laid out their objections and alternatives Thursday, including one that actually would dump thousands of people from the program who are now getting care.

When Arizona voters approved the use of medical marijuana in 2010, Steve Cottrell saw a way to combine his laboratory background and his interest in the plant he’d been studying since his 11-year-old son died of cancer more than a decade before.

I am a longtime Republican Conservative and Business owner. I congratulate Arizona State University and the many other colleges that are banning smoking and other forms of tobacco use on their Campuses. Smoking does NOT belong in an Institution where today’s best are being prepared to be tomorrow’s leaders.

Starting next semester, students who smoke will have to find other places to light up between classes. All Arizona State University campuses and buildings will become tobacco-free beginning Aug. 1.

Arizona authorities say a package addressed to Sheriff Joe Arpaio discovered in a northern Arizona mailbox would have exploded if opened, leading to serious injuries or death.

Maricopa County College was named one of the Valley’s healthiest employers by the Phoenix Business Journal.

A preschool wall in Mesa is covered in words, colors and pictures.

During a recent school day in Mesa, two girls in the district’s preschool program at the Mesa Education Center practiced writing the names of their classmates at a small desk. Another group of girls “washed” their babies in a pretend tub.

The NRA and their willing allies — denial, deception, and deflection — are working overtime in the nation’s newspapers, and our Valley dallies are no exception.

Boy, do I feel sorry for smokers these days.

Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett spoke to an audience of around 80 Wednesday at the Chandler chamber of Commerce’s economic update luncheon, attempting to shed light on a sometimes murky, sometimes confusing state budget scenario in recent years.

Fearing new federal laws and regulations, a state legislator wants to provide legal cover for Arizonans who do not want to obey them -- and penalties for federal officials who try to enforce them.

The organization that funded Arizona's 2010 medical marijuana initiative says lawmakers who now want voters to scrap the program are missing the point of a study on teen use.

CASA GRANDE — Authorities say they're investigating a small explosion that happened at the back entrance of a Social Security Administration office in a small town about 50 miles south of Phoenix.

Arizona lawmakers are free to raid cash for injured workers in the State Compensation Fund to balance the budget, the Court of Appeals ruled Friday.

Insulin resistance, Type 2 diabetes and obesity (diabesity) are global epidemics that continue to rise and come with major health consequences. Type 2 diabetes is commonly associated with poor diet and inactivity. However, there is now evidence of autoimmunity in Type 2 diabetes.

DETROIT — Twinkie lovers, relax.

Over the past several years, you might have heard about socially responsible investing, sometimes known as “sustainable investing” or “ethical investing.” Probably the most common way to take part in this type of investing is through socially responsible mutual funds — but are these funds suitable for your overall financial goals?

Arizona State University will become a tobacco-free campus beginning next summer, but in protest and to raise awareness of the ban, one student-led group passed out cigarettes to students on the Tempe campus Wednesday.

Mike McClellan’s headline should be that “Mexican cartels are well armed due to failure to enforce existing laws in Mexico. (Or, Mexican cartels are lawless criminals). Because if they already have laws prohibiting purchase and possession of weapons larger than .32 handguns, then it’s just proving once again that when guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns. Visit Chicago or D.C. sometime if you doubt that, Mike.

Arizona: Mexico’s firearm superstore