Boca Newspaper, by Staff Writers

A decade of discussions over how to transform Boca Raton's 20th Street received a nudge forward recently by Boca officials. Council members approved research-ing what it would take to turn a stretch of 20th Street into an area that will become a place for FAU students to spend more time in. The goal is to make it a student-friendly place that harmoniously creates a district that the city and FAU campus would like to see people enjoy. In December, officials from FAC, the city and local business owners and residents partici-pated in a summit on the topic hosted by Treasure Coast Regional Planning Council. Kim Delany, the council's director for strategic development and policy, shared the ideas that came out of the summit with the city council. Delaney said Treasure Coast will bring in an economist to research the area and provide data the city will need to make decisions on future land use. 

The Star, by Brett Bundale

The Nova Scotia capital has outpaced Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver and Toronto in population growth. Rodgers, a veteran of Waterloo's tech startup scene, moved to the Nova Scotia capital a year ago with his family. They are part of a convergence of factors-thriving manufacturing and construction sectors, healthy employment and in-come gains, strong housing and retail markets, off-the-charts population gains-that have made Halifax one of the country's fastest-growing cities, and earned it the title of Canada's fifth-biggest tech hub. "The start-up community in Halifax feels like Waterloo 15 years ago," said Ridgers, who helms the city's startup entrepreneur hub Volta Labs. Halifax Mayor Mike Savage said a couple of things are driving the city's population boom. The biggest is the growing "stickiness" with immigrants who in the past have landed here and then moved to there places, he said.  

Corvallis Gazette-Times, by James Day

As housing and neighborhoods coordinator for the city of Corvallis, Tracy Oulman spends a lot of time in the streets. "When you are out walking with them and looking at the places where they live and helping them tell their stories...that gives you insight into what's im-portant to them," said Oulman, who started her position in November. Oulman has been on walking tours with members of about 20 neighborhood associations and also has embarked on a pair of guided tours with Todd Easton, the city's new code compliance supervisor. "We're both kind of newbies," Oulman said. "The walkabouts were a brainchild of Todd from his experience in Bloomington (Indiana)." Easton and Oulman both came to Corvallis, home of Oregon State Univer-sity, from college towns. Oulman hopes to organize joint meetings of neigh-borhood groups in the fall to talk about issues and share ideas.  

Penn State News, by Staff Writers

In the summer of 1967, Penn State's College of Arts and Architecture and the State College Chamber of Commerce sponsored an arts event with the idea that it would encompass all of the arts in a true town-gown collaboration. More than 50 year later, the Central Pennsylvania Festival of the arts-more fondly known as the Arts Festival-continues strengthening bonds be-tween the local and campus communities and will draw mire than 125,000 art aficionados, young and young at heart, to the sidewalks and streets of the University Park campus and downtown State College. This year's event begins Wednesday, July 12, and runs through Saturday, July 16, bringing artists, visitors, and alumni to the area from all across the country. A volunteer Board of Directors of representatives of the State College and Penn State communities establish Festival policy. 

The Missourian, by Steve Spellman

MU's budget creativity has now turned to renting out dorm rooms to football fans. This smart move comes with trade-offs, however, in the local economy. Mizzou's residence halls offer housing mostly for freshman and a few others. When undergraduate enrollment growth seemed to have no limit, the university built up its investment in on-camus housing. That was the case un-til two years ago. Freshman enrollment this fall looks to be down about 2,000 students. MU Has gone from overflowing dorms to seven empty residence halls. As even more private downtown apartments are set to open soon, it turns out that MU's immediate budget situation has led the public-sector to be stuck with surplus student housing to deal with. When news got out that residential rooms would be rented to football fans on busy weekends, reservations were snatched up in no time. 

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