Journal News, by Bob Ratterman

With a new Miami University academic year drawing near, City Council got a look at a successful ShareFest collection that marked the close of the last one. Share-Fest was started in 2005 in an effort to keep furniture, clothing and food not needed by departing Miami stu-dents out of the landfill. Prior to that, items were left at the curb for trash pickup. ShareFest has evolved since then to scheduled pickups of items and is not limited to just Miami stu-dents. Any Oxford resident wishing to donate items they no longer need can go online to schedule a pickup. Dr.Carol Michael, president of the ShareFest board, made a presentation August 11th to Oxford City Council, calling this year's effort "another good year." She said this year's collection netted 154,273 pounds of donations, approximately 77 tons, which is an increase of 31 percent over the 2015 total. To see the full 2016 report, click here . 

The Georgetown Dish, by Mark Lieberman

Georgetown University released an updated version of its 2017 campus plan draft last week, retaining the es-sential features of the previous version and incorpo-rating revisions suggested by neighborhood leaders and residents. Major changes to the plan include addressing potential future expansion options as well as removing the previously proposed demolition and reconstruction of St. Mary's Hall, home of the nursing school. Other tweaks are mostly administrative in nature. The draft campus plan was released to the public in early June, with the university hosting public briefings and accepting comments through July 15. Advisory Neighborhood Commission 2E chair Rob Lewis said, "I don't have anything more. I think the plan they unveiled in June was a very sound plan and the result of a lot of collegial work with the community, the students and all the stakeholders."   

Lowellsun.com, by Grant Welker

A community is thankful for the job creation, consumer spending and indirect economic benefits of hosting a tax-exempt entity, but wants to protect taxpayers from having to pick up too many costs. Lowell is not the first city to want to commit a college, hospital or other non-profit to making voluntary payments to make up for a lack of property tax revenue. From Amherst to Boston, more communities that host large tax-exempt colleges or hospitals are solidifying voluntary payments in contracts or formal programs. With tax revenue and state aid not keeping up with perennially rising costs, commu-nities have been more proactive in trying to bring in volunteer payments from non-profits. "It's an issue that's been around for a long time," said John Robertson, legislative director for the Massachusetts Municipal Asso-ciation, which works with the state's 351 cities and towns.  

Cornell Chronicle, by Staff Writers

This year's BEAR (Being Engaged and Responsible) Walk comes in there parts: BEAR Walk-Door to Door, BEAR Walk-Community Fair, and BEAR Walk-Continuing the Conversation. Tonight Cornell students, Ithaca officials, Cornell staff, and Cornell and Ithaca police officers will take part in the third annual BEAR Walk to promote a stronger sense of community in Collegetown. BEAR Walkers will travel door to door in small groups to distribute "BEAR Walk bags" with information that encourages students and permanent residents to build better neighborhoods together. When residents are not home, BEAR walkers will hang bags of pamphlets on the doors. The event is modeled after Penn State's LION (Living in One Neighborhood) Walk. BEAR Walk sponsors include the Office of Community Relations, Student and Academic Services, the Cornell Collegetown Student Council and city of Ithaca. 

WVTF Public Radio, by Sandy Hausman

It's common in college towns to find tensions between students and long-time residents. In Charlottesville, home to the University of Virginia, two students have set out to improve town-gown relations with a program that cultivates friendships through gardening. Fifeville is a small neighborhood between the University of Virginia and downtown Charlottesville with a collection of small homes, many built in the early 20th century, and to newer, subsided town homes for low income families. Shantell Bingham and Artem Demchenko saw potential in the small yards of Fifeville. An architect specializing in sustainability, he was inspired by his homeland-Ukraine. They applied for and won a grant from the Daiai Lama's Compassionate Action Project. With the help of dozens of volunteers from UVA, they plan to continue the program next year, perhaps expanding to other parts of the city. 

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