I guess it is pretty difficult for a buffet to have a great restaurant inspection. Scanning the list of the best restaurants this month I really didn't notice any buffets. Not true with the naughty list, where it is common to find a least one or two buffet restaurants that find compliance with all the health regulations a challenge. In April there were three buffets in Maricopa County that had seven or more major violations. Although it isn't a buffet, there's one Mexican place on 32nd Street in Phoenix that has been on my "avoid these list" since October! I would think they'd be ready to be closed down by now. I can tell you, I'm not eating there any time soon.

Find out which restaurants you might want to avoid until they clean up their act. Read more...

The Phoenix Suns have officially begun their search for a new head coach. Mike D'Antoni announced that he is leaving the Suns and will go to New York to be the coach for the New York Knicks.

When D'Antoni came to the Suns -- his first full season as head coach was in 2004-2005 -- he was credited with the third-largest turnaround in NBA history by leading the Suns to 62 wins. That was a 33 wins better than the previous year.

The Phoenix Suns made the playoffs in every year that Mike D'Antoni was the coach for the full year. Although management asked him to stay on, he decided to talk to other teams after the Suns lost in the first round of the playoffs this year. The presumption is that he wasn't happy with some management decisions regarding the team and its players.

Maybe 2007-2008 was the last chance at an NBA championship for the Phoenix Suns for a while. Steve Nash was not as dominant as he used to be, and the addition of Shaquille O'Neal to the line-up was either too late or didn't provide enough of what he was there to do. That deal wasn't the magic bullet we hoped it would be.

You Might Also Be Interested In....

• The Gorilla
• Suns Logo
• NBA Playoffs Update 2008
• 2009 NBA All-Star Game in Phoenix

Arizona has approved the rules that will cut greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and other passenger vehicles. According to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, vehicles produce roughly 40 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions in Arizona. The Clean Car Rule will reduce GHG emissions from passenger cars and light trucks by 37 percent by 2016 by requiring automobile manufacturers to meet certain specifications for the vehicles that are driven here. According to supporters of the measure, the technology already exists to produce cleaner vehicles.

Arizona has the fastest rate of growth of GHG emissions in the country. Between 1990 and 2005 Arizona’s GHG emissions grew by nearly 56 percent, roughly two-and-a-half times the national average. If Arizona’s growth continues on its current path, emissions are projected to grow by 140 percent over 1990 levels by the year 2020 and get even worse after that.

Arizona joins 13 other states, including California and New Mexico, that have adopted the Clean Car standards. Other states are also gradually coming on board with the rules. In Arizona, Clean Car rules will apply to vehicles beginning with the 2012 model year, pending EPA approval of the program.

You Might Also Be Interested In....

• Finding Cheap Gas in Phoenix
• Arizona Auto Show
• Maricopa County Home Show

Phoenix pretty much made everyone's list of one of the most affected areas of the real estate crunch. That shouldn't come as a surprise, since we were also in the top few locales in the nation a couple of years ago with respect to increasing home values, speculation and house-flipping.

March showed signs of a continuing weak real estate market. Even though the number of home sales improved over the February numbers, sales were significantly below last year’s numbers. Actually, March 2008 had the lowest number of home sales since March 1996. Ouch! In Maricopa County, 39% of the resale homes sold for more than $300,000 in March 2007. It was 27% in March 2008. Homes selling for under $200,000 have increased from last year’s 16% to a current 40% of the local resale housing market.

Don't forget that home prices vary widely from place to place in Maricopa County. Some parts of town have experienced more price suppression than others. You can check on the median prices of both new and resale homes as recorded in the first quarter of 2008 here and compare those to what the prices were at the same time last year.

Even though they lost this weekend's series -- the first time that's happened since the first series of the season -- the Arizona Diamondbacks have had a great start to the season. We had a terrific time at Saturday's game, where Augie Ojeda was the shining star.

This was our first time to see the new state-of-the-art scoreboard. Wow! There's almost too much information! By the time I digested all the stats and details on the playing field, I had to be careful not to miss the action on the field! By the way, for those of you that are learning to do box scores, you'll see the correct notation on the screen after every play.

In his blog about the Arizona Diamondbacks, Jim McClennan sheds some light on why he thinks Chase Field was ranked only 25 out of 30 major league baseball parks in the country by Sports Illustrated. I don't know why we don't get much respect here. Is it because it is a relatively new franchise? Is it because everyone here is a transplant and we always have lots of fans that are rooting for the visiting team? I think Chase Field is a great place to see a game. There are some tickets that are pricey, but you can always find special deals if you don't mind sitting in the upper deck or in the outfield. For instance, on Family Fridays just $15 gets you a ticket to the D-backs game, a medium Pepsi, a Diamondback Dog, the post-game fireworks show, and a free pass to the Phoenix Zoo.

I received an email. It is despicable. I am writing this to warn you -- if you receive an email like this DO NOT RESPOND! Here is what the person write in the email:

From Brother Frank Williams

Dear Beloved in Christ,

Greetings in! the wonderful name of our Lord Jesus! May the Lord's favour and peace be multiplied to you,see Numbers 6:24-26;2 Peter 1:2.The word of God also says,"They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength,they shall mount up with wings as eagles: they shall run,and not be weary, and they shall walk, and not faint."Isaiah 40:31. It is a priviledge to share this great testimony with you,to God be thy glory. I am Brother Frank Williams, Happilly married to my wife with Four children.During a prayer and fasting session in our church i asked God Almighty to direct me to an honest person that will use this Fund righteously to reach the needy, the less priviledge and lost souls.

For the word of God says, "what shall it profict a man if he gains the whole world, and loss his soul". The bible also says, "the blessi! ng of God comes supernaturally and it is through Divine favour".

The amount involved, is $6.5m US dollar (SIX million,five hundred US dollars) This said fund was aquired,when i was working with an International Oil Firm in my Country, I was the field operational Manager of Exporting of CRUDE OIL in my Company when i was in the world. I gave my life to God Almighty after my predicaments in the world and God really touched my life.

Read more...

Brooke White, who was raised in Mesa, made it to the final five on American Idol but she won't be going on. On April 30th she was voted off American Idol. I'll be honest. After her false start during last week's performance, I had already written this blog, ready for her to be eliminated when, surprisingly, she was given a reprieve and Carly was voted off. In March I predicted who the top 4 would be and I included Brooke in that group. I think that Brooke's style didn't really grab the voting public; there wasn't quite enough versatility to her vocals and her performance skills weren't as striking as some of the other contestants. Still, it's clear that Brooke White is immensely talented, and I'm certain she'll have a wonderful singing career. Arizona is proud of you, Brooke!

On other local American Idol news, did you hear that Jordin Sparks had to cut short her national tour with Alicia Keyes to recover from a vocal hemorrhage? That doesn't sound good, but with rest, she says it is not career-threatening. We hope that's true.

© Judy Hedding

See more Wordless Wednesday images.