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Peter O'Dowd

  • Women have been moving for their husbands' jobs for decades. But today, more men are following in their partners' footsteps — and grappling with the implications for their own careers.
  • The latest expression of over-the-top stadium food is a $25 bat-shaped corn dog packed with cheddar cheese, bacon and jalapeños. Its creator says he's game for some competition between teams.
  • Despite federal protections, slow-moving wild donkeys are being targeted, and the shooters are getting away with it. Originally gold miners' pack animals, burros are symbolic of the American West.
  • Intel planned to open a massive chip plant in Arizona, and President Obama even visited it and called it "an example of an America that's within our reach." But demand for PCs has slowed, and the company is rethinking its next moves.
  • For the first time in decades, interest rates for jumbo home loans are lower than rates for a typical mortgage. And because of that, the luxury market is the fastest growing sector of home loans. In Phoenix, sales of homes that cost more than $500,000 are up 64 percent.
  • Homebuilders are finding there's a post-recession demand for bigger houses, and it's partly thanks to boomerang kids who can't find jobs and aging parents who can't afford to live alone anymore.
  • On a summer night in Phoenix, city dwellers can watch a line of head lamps inch up Piestewa Peak. The mountain rises sharply more than 1,200 feet above the neighborhoods of Central Phoenix. It's the most popular outdoor trek in the city. But in July and August the sun turns deadly there and hikers wait until it's safely below the horizon to begin their ascent. At the top, the view unfolds like magic every time — a desert city of four million people that glows red, white and orange.
  • During the Great Recession, whole neighborhoods in Phoenix were left half-built or mostly vacant. But now developers are buying these lots to keep up with the high demand for housing. The market isn't where it should be, but it's better than it was two years ago, one real estate agent says.
  • Some of Sen. Jeff Flake's constituents in Arizona are still livid over his recent vote against expanded background checks for gun sales. They say the Republican is ignoring their calls for a public meeting.
  • One of the busiest airports in the country is in the midst of a major upgrade that will bring local restaurants into a space typically reserved for mega-corporate chains. Nearly two dozen Phoenix culinary landmarks have landed space at Sky Harbor. But there is a cost. Rent at the airport is 10 times more expensive in some cases, and some small businesses have gone into a lot of debt to get their foot in the door.
  • A group of Phoenix charter schools is facing criticism for using a teaching tool based on the work of L. Ron Hubbard, best known for founding the Church of Scientology. The tool has concerned parents in other schools, but the Phoenix schools' leader insists it has nothing to do with the church.
  • With consecutive days of subfreezing temperatures, homeless shelters say they're short on supplies and their budgets are stretched. Meanwhile, farmers are working to fight freezing temperatures that could affect the size and quality of this year's crops.