Good morning, Mesa.

KJZZ's Lauren Gilger will moderate a free community conversation, The Show & Tell: Future Phoenix, at 5 p.m. Sunday, Nov.

15, 2026, at Changing Hands Bookstore (6428 S. McClintock Drive, Tempe), where writers and researchers will discuss heat, water, and urban adaptation; free tickets are available.

Friends for Life will hold its 28th annual BARKtoberfest on Saturday, Oct.

31, from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Gilbert Civic Center with 100+ vendors, food trucks, dog activities, adoptions, a K-9 demo at 11:30 a.m., costume and trick contests, and free admission.

Roadside Strange, co-owned by Valley resident Nathan Wood, maps more than 10,000 public paranormal cases including Arizona spots (Vulture City) and offers an easy way to plan spooky road trips as Halloween approaches.

An ASU study published Oct.

28 shows membranes coated with palladium can break PFAS molecules in contaminated water, making them biodegradable, and researchers say they will feed the defluorinated compounds to bacteria and work to scale the system from the lab to the market.

Rain will arrive Friday, Oct.

30 as showers and isolated thunderstorms across central Arizona (including Phoenix), spreading in the morning and raising flash flood risk in low-lying areas; skies should clear for much of Halloween on Saturday, Oct. 31, then a stronger round will bring heavier rain Sunday, Nov. 1.

Phoenix-area data centers use modest on-site water but create large water demand because they consume lots of electricity and power plants need water to generate that power; with dozens more centers planned, experts say water use at generation facilities could rise sharply.

Mesa Council approved a notice of intent Monday to pursue a retail tax-incentive deal with Martens Development for The Craftsman, a 19.25-acre project at Hawes and Elliot that would include 30,000 sqft retail + 10,000 sqft of upscale restaurants.

The council will vote on the agreement on Nov. 16.

Serenity Mental Health Centers opened an outpatient clinic on Oct.

26 at 2046 Riverview Auto Drive (Suite 401), offering psychiatric evaluations, medication management, Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, ketamine infusion, ADHD testing, and Saturday appointments; call 480-864-3341 to request an appointment.

Echoes Church bought a vacant Macy's for $5 million and will spend about two years renovating the 154,000 sqft store at Superstition Springs Mall before holding services there.