If necessity is the mother of invention, a slumping economy fathered a state agency’s need to implement electronic audits of property management companies amid growing concerns of fraud.

The last time intercity passenger trains served Madison, Wisconsin’s capital city, students at the University of Wisconsin campus there were protesting the Vietnam War. The trains stopped running when Amtrak took over passenger service around the country in 1971. But in January, the federal government announced it would give the state $810 million in stimulus money to return passenger trains to Wisconsin’s second-biggest city for the first time in more than four decades.

On the surface, it seemed like a no-brainer to build a new Health Sciences Education Building for Arizona’s three state universities.

They come from various age groups, religions and ethnic backgrounds.

Some are wealthy, while others are struggling college students. But they are united by one belief: The state is moving in the wrong direction - and they’ve decided to do something about it by running for office.

Arizona has always had its fair share of larger-than-life politicians.

For years, the state has also been on the cutting edge of progressive politics, in selecting powerful women to hold its highest offices, in a traditionally male-dominated arena.

In a recent automobile commercial, an actor carps about the perils of driving on America’s roadways, describing the dangers of motoring next to a guy steering his vehicle with his knees while talking on his cellphone and eating a cheeseburger.

The priciest federally funded transportation project in Arizona will end up costing much less than originally projected.