by Mike Lavelle I have never seen a ghost, goblin, gremlin, spirit, apparition, genie, fairy, troll, orb, shadow person, leprechaun, sasquatch, chupacabra, extraterrestrial alien, or an unidentified flying object. I would absolutely love to see any one of these, minus the chupacabra. If I were to see one of these things, I would much prefer to see...
Dear Editor, My volunteering with the Vail School District has highlighted a dramatic need for an improvement in their fingerprint and background checking system. Hourly workers and volunteers have to undergo a thorough background and fingerprint check when initially hired. But, unless they have a break in work service, they are never again...
by Susann Miller of the Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona Medicare cards are undergoing a big change to make them more secure. But, in the meantime, scammers are (of course!) taking advantage of confusion around the launch. How the scam works: You receive a call from a person claiming to work with Medicare. They are allegedly calling...
Local high school volleyball players from Cienega and Empire will be moving on to college and have signed up with their respective college teams. Cienega volleyball player Katelyn Anders will play for Yavapai College in Prescott. Emily Robinson from Cienega will play for Pima College in Tucson. Zhanish Tounsel from Empire High will play for...
by John Simpson After a very wet February (I wrote about this last month), March ended up being very dry with only a couple hundredths of an inch of rain falling, which was well below the average of around 0.75.” In fact, every month since September 2017 has had well below average precipitation except for February 2018 for Vail. There were plenty...
by Burt Graeff Anyone who has not played del Lago Golf Club in a while is in for a surprise. The facelift has been dramatic. The course, which has five sets of tees ranging from 5,044 yards to 7,206 yards and plays to a par 36-36- 72, has gone from looking like a rag-tag muni to rivaling any high-end country club in Tucson. Two things are needed...
Dear Claire, I have versions of this dream where I am in this huge, mansion-like house at nighttime. It is very dark, and there is this horrible storm that seems to be at its worst right over the house. Just about everything in the house is in disrepair; the roofs, windows, and doors are all leaking, rotting, and falling apart. As a result, it is...
by Evan Lavelle Neuroscientists used to think that brain cells would stop growing once a person reached adulthood. For most parts of the brain, this is still agreed to be the case. However, recent research suggests that one area of the brain, called the hippocampus, can continue to develop even after someone has reached adulthood. The hippocampus...
Dear Heather, My wife and I have been happily married for 15 years. We have good careers, great kids, a supportive family and some amazing friends. Over the past several years we have become very close with one pair of our couple friends. We hang out with them on the weekend, go on short trips with them and sometimes meet up with them during the...
by Joel Elizaga A team of AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) members is serving with the Sonoran Desert Mountain Bicyclists (SDMB) to maintain and construct Pima County’s first ever machine-built trail system, McKenzie Ranch. The group of young adults arrived on February 2nd, and have since finished the 6.5-mile North Loop of the...
