St. Cloud State University, by Nick Lenz

In partnerships with 19 local agencies, St. Cloud State University conducted a full scale emergency campus ex-ercise to train and better prepare the local community for an actual emergency. "This was a complex exercise with several different components operating simultane-ously. St. Cloud State was only one of the locations in a truly community-wide exercise," said Jennifer Furan Super, St. Cloud State's Public Safety security coordinator. About 400 par-ticipants, including local area emergency responders, hospital employees, volunteers and St. Cloud State employees played the roles of players, victims and observers during the three hour exercise. "Practicing and simulating events like this are crucial to ensuring our response to actual large scale incidents and ensuring we are providing the best public safety possible," said Jeffrey Oxton, assistance chief of the St. Cloud Police Dept. 

The executive committee overseeing the University of Massachusetts-Town of Amherst Collaborative (UTAC) will soon be reorganized as part of a renewed effort to get projects and initiatives focused on housing, eco-nomic development and cultural opportunities under-way. Town Manager Paul Bockelman told the Select Board Monday that he and UMass Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy have agreed to enact recommended changes made at a retreat in March in which  members of UTAC expressed frustration at the lack of perceived accomplishments in the 18 months it has existed. Economic Development Director Geoff Kravitz and Tony Maroulis, executive director of external relations and university events at UMass, will serve as co-directors of the reconstituted committee. "We're hoping to look at the town-gown relation-ship from a much larger lens," Maroulis said. 

The Mercury, by Dylan Lysen

K-State and Manhattan city government officials are working together to address alcohol abuse and other issues in town. Linda Morse, Manhattan mayor pro tem; Jack Ayres, K-State student body president; and Jared Wasinger, assistant city manager, recently attended the ITGA conference in Eugene, Oregon. Ayers said it was the first time Manhattan and K-State have attended the conference. Wasinger said communities shared initiatives they started that may be used in other communities. California Polytechnic State University presented on a renter certificate program that teaches students how to be good renters. Corvallis and OSU presented "Beavers Give a Dam," a work-shop to educate bystanders on how to prevent sexual assault. Another is a drink coaster that includes a drug test with it, which allows people to check if their drinks have been drugged. He brought the idea back to Manhattan and shared it with Mayor Reddi, who wanted to move forward on it. 

Denverite, by Erica Meltzer

Denver Mayor Michael Hancock wants to create an office within city government that will screen, vet and shep-herd public-private partnerships related to major city projects, like the redevelopment of the National Western Center and the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Under the proposal, City Council would get to set the brand parameters of deals, but contracts would be finalized at the administrative level. Marteza Farajian, director of the P3 Office in the Virginia Department of Transportation, said the big advantage of having a specialized office is that expertise is retained from project to project "rather than reinventing the wheel." Right now, city officials are $475,000 deep into a contract with Arup Advisory Inc. to develop the pro-gram and they're asked City Council to approve an additional $480,000 in consulting work to get the program up and running by the year's end.  

The Star, by Alex Moore

The historic area has been deteriorating since the old Castle Market was knocked down, and has long been earmarked for redevelopment. The council wants to try to uncover the ruins of Sheffield Castle while also at-tracting new business and investment. The council has today announced a fund of $786,000 to put towards several schemes over the next 18 months. They include an archaeological dig, essential repairs to the Old Town Hall, bringing empty shops back into use and creating a conservation area. A vision for the re-generation of the area is being developed by the Castlegate Partnership, which included the  council, friends group for the castle and Old Town Hall, the two universities, hoteliers, retailers and Sheffield Culture Consortium. The castle site itself is key to the regeneration plans. The council hopes to find some evidence of the old building and turn it into a public square. 

BG Independent New, by Jan Larson McLaughlin

As editor of Ohio Magazine, Jim Vickers is accustomed to visiting communities throughout the state. But during a recent stop in Bowling Green, Vickers was struck by three features of the city, the energy from the univer-sity even though most students were gone for the sum-mer, the healthy downtown, and the beautiful Simpson Garden Park. Bowling Green left such an impressions that the city was named one of Ohio's Best Hometowns by Ohio Magazine. The 12th annual Ohio's Best Hometowns issue recognizes four communities in addition to Bowling Green: Marietta, Milford, Mount Vernon and Wooster. This is the second time Bowling Green has been named one of the state's best hometowns by Ohio Magazine. The last time was 10 years ago, said Wendy Chambers, executive director of the Bowling Green Convention and Visitor's Bureau. "It's a year long honor," Vickers said.  

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