As we move into November, a month of gratitude, the Small Business Association begins the month by celebrating National Veterans Small Business Week (NVSBW).

Like other fast-growing communities, public transportation is a critical service and something each city manages uniquely. There is no one-size-fits-all model when it comes to transit. Instead, each city must closely evaluate how to bring about the right kind of transit to meet the diverse a…

As a kid growing up in Queens, New York, a drive over to the White Castle restaurant on Northern Boulevard was a family tradition. 

At last count, Arizona had 4,377 women in its state prisons. You’d be forgiven for thinking there was only one female currently under lock and key.

On the first Sunday in October, the Dallas Cowboys played the Green Bay Packers. The Packers won in a rout, 34-24, but that wasn’t the story.

It’s an exciting time in the Deer Valley Unified School District—growth. With 38 schools covering northern Maricopa County from New River to Bell Road, our 367-mile school district boundaries encompass parts of Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria, Anthem, New River, Cave Creek and unincorporated secti…

By now, voters in nearly half the school districts in Maricopa County have received ballots asking them to decide significant local public school funding questions.

Enough is enough

He was 22 years old when he left this mortal life, on a dusty road in the township of Yusafiyah, a region of Baghdad known as the Triangle of Death.

Did you know that in the United States 129 individuals experience death by suicide each day? Twenty of those occur within our veteran population.

Arizona Helping Hands is the largest provider of basic needs to the 14,000 children in our state’s foster care system. It is truly important to give boys and girls who have been abused and neglected a sense of safety and dignity.  

“Walmart Inc. will stop selling e-cigarettes in its U.S. locations as the country grapples with a string of vaping-related deaths,” Bloomberg reports.

he robots are coming

You move to Arizona to get away from hurricanes, but it turns out massive tropical storms care not at all about geography. 

By now, school children in Arizona have brought markers, scissors, folders and other supplies to class. Although children are bringing items they need to learn and succeed, Arizona is failing to supply safe drinking water in schools across our state. According to the Arizona Department of En…

Labor Day

The Rolling Stones played in Glendale last week, and though a friend offered me a ticket, I passed. Don’t get me wrong: The Stones are terrific and by all accounts put on a helluva show. However, septuagenarian rockers aren’t my thing. The thought of 76-year-old Mick Jagger preening about wh…

We hear a lot of talk these days on health care reform, but it’s important to consider the hundreds of millions of Americans who currently receive quality care thanks to their health plans. I am one of these Americans, and I think my story represents the peace of mind — in otherwise traumati…

When I was first elected to represent Peoria citizens nearly 15 years ago, the city of Peoria’s population was nearing 130,000 residents and our city was growing by the day. We were in the midst of the housing boom and our economy was thriving. People wanted to live in our city, and Peoria w…

The emails came back to back early Tuesday afternoon, two apologies for canceling meetings on short notice.

As the back-to-school season is finally upon us, it is encouraging to think about all that our children will learn in this new academic school year. I was among the many parents in Arizona packing lunch boxes and taking the traditional “first day of school” photos of my children. As they hea…

You know what affliction never gets the attention it deserves? Fame. That’s a disease I hope never to catch. 

I am pleased to share that again this year the Maricopa County Justice Courts will participate in Glendale Stand Up. This is an annual event that helps veterans with a variety of issues that include, but are not limited to, legal advice by experts, assistance from the city courts and justice…

Let me let you in on a professional secret when it comes to managing the news media. 

When I was a little boy growing up in Queens, New York, in the 1970s, my career aspirations inevitably focused on who got to drive the biggest truck.

Did you know Jesus was the first neighborhood activist? In Jesus, God’s Word became flesh. Jesus was sent by God from heaven to earth to show us what God is like. The original language in the Bible clarifies Jesus’ mission. “Jesus pitched His tent in earth’s neighborhood…” Jesus came to eart…

Hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on political campaigns, and the 2020 elections will be no different. Many of these dollars are from organized donors assembled as countless political action committees or PACS — private corporations and unions. It can be overwhelming to think about r…

In the ongoing uncivil war between President Donald Trump and Democrat congresswomen like Reps. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley and Rashida Tlaib, I choose to side with …

You will be pleased to learn that the law limits your liability if you break a window on a car to rescue a child or a pet. However, you must follow the rules very closely for this protection.

Homeownership was always a dream, but never a possibility for the Sinclair family. It was when they moved to Arizona to help a sick family member that their search for affordable housing brought them to Habitat for Humanity. Two years later they moved into their new, two-story home in Peoria.

Have you ever considered that good changes can come from crisis or even dry times in your life? Perhaps God is saying, “Hey, I love you but now it’s time to change directions and locations because I’m repositioning you. Let’s get you to the place where you can say, ‘Wow. I was born for this!’”

The argument came out of nowhere.

Sometimes the news and life intersect in strange ways. Last weekend, I bore witness to an epic screaming match on the golf course, a skirmish between two fat old guys over pace of play that would have surely turned into an aggravated assault with nine irons had their playing partners not sep…

Last month, 144,278 migrants were apprehended or deemed inadmissible trying to illegally cross our southern border. That’s enough people to fill State Farm Stadium almost two and a half times over. Perhaps a more staggering figure, the United States is on track to apprehend more than 1 milli…

Running an errand this week, I watched two Phoenix police officers offer a bottle of water to a homeless man grabbing some shade outside a local grocery store.

A few years ago, I was asked some questions on leadership by a graduating university student for a paper he was writing. I thought sharing what I shared with him might be helpful to you. No matter what you do or how old you are, increasing your leadership competency is always good. Everyone …

When we were in elementary school our teachers taught us how to construct a sentence. The very first punctuation we learned was that of a period. I have to admit in those early, early years I did not think it was that big of a deal. I mean really, how could something so tiny make a big diffe…

Recently, some business and personal trips prompted me to fly back and forth across the continent several times. Nothing makes a better case for staying home — forever — than traveling in the 21st century.

Recently, a Māori pastor and close friend of mine, Matai Bennett, made a post on his Facebook page that caught my attention. It was a picture of Matai and his teenage daughter sitting at a restaurant table. She had a smile on her face the size of the Southern Alps in Aotearoa, the Māori name…

It was the Sunday after D-Day 75 years ago and the Allied troops were hard at it across Europe.

Here’s a simple one-question test to determine whether you’re a realist or a dreamer: What do you believe when it comes to arcade games that offer gaudy prizes in return for a quarter or a buck?

Here’s a story for us to start off with. This story has been around for a while, but knowing a story and applying the lesson of the story are two different things.

The fastest-growing part of the nation’s fastest-growing county is getting some love from Maricopa County. The county’s proposed fiscal year (FY) 2020 budget includes a number of wins for the West Valley, including big investments in our regional parks.  Here are the highlights:

I sat down at my favorite watering hole “Bitzee Mamas,” and across from me was William (Bill) Kelleher, known to his children as “Wild Willie.” Bill told me he met his wife Judy when a friend had arranged a blind date for him. On the way to pick her up he had auto accident and ended up in th…

We talked about it, my mother and I, back when I was a teenager. How she felt in the fall of 1964, a New York City girl just graduated from high school at the age of 17 who found herself pregnant.

Two frogs were hopping in a rut in the middle of a road. One frog got tired of being in a rut and jumped out. The liberated frog encouraged his friend to do the same. However, the other frog had learned to tolerate rut life. He felt the walls were too high for him to jump out. Suddenly, a bi…

The first time I ever heard the phrase “go to the mattresses” was in the Mafia masterpiece “The Godfather.” Vito Corleone is near death in a hospital bed, shot down by a rival Mob family. The Don’s hotheaded oldest boy, Sonny, demands revenge. Tom Hagen, the consigliere, urges caution, but S…

High school graduation is right around the corner for Arizona seniors, and teens are faced with a wild mix of emotions – sadness to be parting with friends and the familiarity that high school brings, stress as they push through their final assignments and nervousness and elation as they pre…

There are plenty of small sports sedans on the market, but those seeking one with Japanese engineering and build quality should give this Lexus IS350 a test drive.

Today, let’s muse on answering those difficult “Why” questions we have from time to time. Here’s a stellar example of someone struggling at 66 years old to answer her deep questions. A friend sent this to me.