WASHINGTON – The National Park Service is not interested in coming up with plans to let states pay to keep parks open should another government shutdown occur, a service official testified Thursday to a House subcommittee.

By Jan. 1, housing agencies will have found homes for the last 56 chronically homeless veterans in the Valley, making it the first metropolitan area in the country to accomplish this, advocates say.

All eyes on Arizona as formal energy hearings begin

At the heart of Arizona’s battle over solar net metering systems is whether utilities can balance solar energy with the cost of maintaining the grid that delivers electricity to all users.

The iArizona Committee is headed by Mesa Mayor Scott Smith and backed by a broad coalition of local politicians, construction contractors and business interests. Their ultimate goal is to boost Arizona’s economy and status as a transportation hub connecting Los Angeles, Dallas and Mexico, as well as linking Arizona’s manufacturing and economic hubs to one another.

When Mitch Ruttenberg teaches economics at Trevor G. Browne High School, he ends each semester with lessons on credit cards, taxes, budgeting and other aspects of personal finance.

Palo Verde is one place where no one can afford to make mistakes. “Put these on,” the security officer, whose bullet magazines protruded and glistened against his black uniform, told me.

Statewide political warfare is usually reserved for even-numbered years, targets millions of Arizona voters and follows well-defined partisan boundaries. But the fight over solar energy in Arizona has broken all those maxims this year.

Federal contract spending in Arizona grew more than three times faster than the national rate over the past 20 years, according to a Cronkite News Service analysis of government data.

For Arizonans, the centennial presents the perfect opportunity to reflect on the past and envision the future of our state, as these are serious times. Based on a number of factors, it appears a unified vision is sorely lacking, and without it, we run the risk of declining prosperity and intractable problems with the ultimate consequence being a significant decline in our quality of life, which is at the very essence of Arizona.