Would someone please answer these Top 10 nagging questions?
By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer Nothing is more maddening than something that leaves you begging for an answer. So, someone please help me out with these: 10. When a commercial states, “Not available in all states,” doesn’t that mean not available anywhere? 9. Why doesn’t the IRS send thank you notes when we pay […]
Read More →Bringing about national togetherness with a simple kiss
By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer As politicians decry the polarization that is the current state of the nation, I wondered what I — one person — could do to better understand the divisions in our thinking and take action to narrow the differences that plague the American citizenry. I came up with this list […]
Read More →Drink up, Arizona, it’s lemonade, not milk
By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer The Arizona House on Thursday ignored the state’s dairy industry and voted to make lemonade the state drink. The bill (HB2692) came at the request of a Gilbert student who wants Arizona to join 27 other states that have adopted state drinks. They are, according to Wikipedia: Alabama Conecuh […]
Read More →Visiting Hell and back again
Moving to Arizona saves a marriage By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer With wind chill, the temperature in Laramie, Wyo. last week was 31 below zero. Seems by life has gone from the hell of frigid conditions to the hell of days that bring 115-degrees. For the purpose of having a partner in this column, […]
Read More →Giffords rounds up former colleagues, victims, to rally for gun bill; Lesko lambasts the measure [VIDEO]
By Andrew Howard | Cronkite News Former Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords rallied House lawmakers Tuesday to support a bill that would expand the requirement for background checks on private gun sales. Giffords, the victim of a 2011 shooting that still makes it hard for her to walk and speak, was surrounded by other […]
Read More →Those crazy legislators and their crazy bills
By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer It’s deadline time at the Arizona Capitol for lawmakers to submit their bills, several hundred of which will be dead on arrival. Here are examples of measures likely to be ignored by the speaker of the House and president of the Senate HB 2012—Appropriations: Light, Rail Tombstone to […]
Read More →Keeping Pinal County agriculture alive as federal deadline for drought plan nears
How Arizona ended up in this water short situation, experts say, is the Colorado River was over-allocated from the beginning, and as water management policies were drawn in 2000 and 2004, they did not take into account one factor — drought. By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer (STATE CAPITOL) — Numerous witnesses with a […]
Read More →[COMMENTARY] The government shutdown through the eyes of Abraham Lincoln
By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer What follows is a column I wrote in 2013. I find no reason to change a word. I look out onto the Reflecting Pool, and there are no reflections of visitors to this Capital. There are no people touching and tracing the names of the soldiers on the Vietnam […]
Read More →News media feel the need to spoon-feed us
From the Rose Law Group Growlery By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer Pick up a newspaper or check a news website and you’ll find training wheels on how to read or understand a story. After all, we’re just like the people who, said a political operative, voted for Kyrsten Sinema: “Dumb asses!” One example is […]
Read More →[SUNDAY FEATURE] Beyond fire: 3 stories of survival
By Phil Riske | Senior Reporter/Writer Over the past week, there have been local news stories about horribly burned patients who have made miraculous recoveries. Isabella McCune of Phoenix spent her ninth birthday in the Arizona Burn Center, just one of the near 300 days. She underwent more than 100 surgical and medical procedures […]
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