Dental therapists are a distraction. They solve nothing. Legislative efforts to bring this position to Arizona divert attention from the real issues and real solutions. They set us up to be the next Minnesota, scrambling a few years from now after we learn that Pew’s hollow promises only delayed the day of reckoning.

Even after seven years as a foster parent, Darcy Olsen still gets teary eyed talking about the children who have come into her life. Not just for those the system has failed but also for the success stories.

Few have met someone more prepared for "every contingency" than Dana Naimark, president and CEO of Children’s Action Alliance. It's among the reasons why she's so successful.

The proposal by Rep. Michelle Ugenti-Rita, R-Scottsdale, would make it illegal for the clerk of superior courts in any of the state’s 15 counties to issue a marriage license to anyone younger than 18. Specifically, H2006 would undo laws that allow anyone age 16 or 17 to marry with permission of a parent.

The federal budget year expired Sept. 30 without lawmakers taking action to fund the Children’s Health Insurance Program for the new year. States use those dollars to provide care for about nine million children of the working poor, including 22,389 at last count in Arizona.

Attorney John Masterson, who represents Olsen, confirmed July 12 that the Goldwater Institute board of directors voted 7-6 to terminate Olsen’s employment agreement on June 27, nearly two weeks before the organization announced her departure.

The Goldwater Institute is losing its top staffer. CEO Darcy Olsen spent 16 years leading the conservative think tank, but is leaving the organization effective today, according to spokeswoman Starlee Coleman.

More Arizona parents are opting out of vaccinations for their kids. The number of children who got personal or religious exemptions from vaccinations in the state increased this year after falling for the past two years.

Cases of melanoma have steadily increased over the last 30 years due, in part, to the prevalence of indoor tanning use by teens. Life-threatening melanoma is now the fourth most common cancer among 15-29 year olds and has one of the highest years of potential life loss.

Saying good Samaritans deserve legal protection, a veteran state lawmaker wants to provide immunity from lawsuits for people who break into hot vehicles to rescue a trapped animal. And kids, too.