The Mesa Historical Museum will close early next year because of lack of revenue and city funding. The museum's exhibits will be moved to other places, including the Arizona Museum for Youth, where the exhibit "Play Ball: The Cactus League Experience" will be housed...An illegal immigrant who was involved in a fatal car crash that killed a woman last October has been sentenced to 14 years in prison. Jose Luis Mendoza-Cardenas had a blood-alcohol level of .182 when he was involved in the fatal collision. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter in June...New carpool lanes in Tempe and Chandler along the Loop-101, from the Loop-202 freeway to State Route 51, are now open, but some drivers are still complaining there are no carpool ramps connecting to other freeways. Arizona Department of Transportation spokesman Doug Nitzel says the budget to build carpool ramps doesn't exist...
Alton Washington, top aide to retiring Phoenix City Manager Frank Fairbanks, says he will probably follow Fairbanks into retirement. Washington was considered a top candidate for the city-manager position, and says if the City Council doesn't find a new chief executive by his retirement date on November 5, he'll stay on as acting city manager...Seventeen journalists from Africa visited Gilbert yesterday as part of a nationwide trip to learn more about how American government works. In Gilbert, the journalists visited a police station and the town jail, and spoke with Town Council members Linda Abbott and Dave Crozier...A woman in Brussels, Belgium has been named "Miss Homeless" after a contest in which she competed with nine other homeless women in a five-part competition. She wins a year's free accommodations in Belgium.
