A rural county increases college going rate from 26 percent to 84 percent.

How did such a thing happen? Old-fashioned community involvement in the schools and new-fashioned technology where every kid in 6-12 grades gets a laptop.  And investing in a wireless Internet system five years ago did not hurt.

More details at the following Web sites:
http://www.dailyyonder.com/greene-county-nc-wireless-and-way-ahead
http://www.gcsedu.org/home.aspx

Web site that focuses on small towns.

Smallwander.com ^SM links the high-quality resources of small towns. The site, which is still in the testing stage, will include 10 to 30 towns from each of the southeastern states in the not-too-distant future. This site is different than other tourism sites because it:
Focuses on small towns that have small-town charm, with historical, artistic, and natural offerings,
Pools the amenities of small towns into a single database,
Provides up-to-date information about events, and
Recruits businesses that are locally-owned, walkable, and environmentally-friendly.

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann to address Stennis-Capitol Press Luncheon

The Stennis-Capitol Press Luncheon will be held on Monday, April 7, at Galloway United Methodist Church.  The public is invited; registration is required.  If you wish to attend, email me at phil@philhardwick.com.

“Improv” your life

“Off the Cuff” - The Improv Comedy Event of the Year!
April 5, 2008, 6:30 p.m., New Stage Theatre, Jackson, MS - Tickets $10
More info: 601-201-7784

Opening Act:  Caroline Crawford

All proceeds donated to St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

The common denominator for a downtown office developer.

Steve Rogers, President and CEO of Parkway Properties, Inc., told an economic development luncheon yesterday that cooperation with the local government was a common theme in the 10 cities where the company had purchased downtown office buildings.

Your organization’s free Web site.

You say that your organization or community does not have a Web site because it’s too expensive and that nobody knows how to manage the software? Those excuses don’t work anymore.
Check out some of Google applications, many - if not most - of which are free and easy to use. Check out the Google Sites Overview page at http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/users/sites.html. I like the classroom example.

Annual Physical - What to measure?

Yesterday I went in and had some of my blood removed so that it can be analyzed in preparation for my annual physical next week.  Not a delightful experience, but a necessary one that result in a healthier me.  When things such as cholesterol, triglycerides and who knows what else are monitored it can help me adjust my lifestyle accordingly.

It occurred to me that every community should have an annual exam.  Many communities do so in the form of a Mayor’s State of City Address or an annual report, but I think if we could get a baseline of information that should be measured by every city it would be useful.  I’m working on my next Mississippi Business Journal column on that very subject.

So here’s a question for you - What should be measured and reported in a city or county every year at annual exam time?  Assessed valuation?  Sales tax collections?  Population change?

And then there is this…

 … from CQ Press, formerly Morgan Quitno Press.

http://os.cqpress.com/StateRank2008_Rankings.pdf

Most Livable States ranking -

Top 10

1.	New Hampshire	1.
2.	Minnesota	2.
3.	Wyoming	6.
4.	Utah	11.
5.	New Jersey	5.
6.	Iowa	3.
7.	Vermont	4.
8.	Massachusetts	7.
9.	South Dakota	13.
10.	Connecticut

Bottom Ten

41.	Georgia	38.
42.	Alabama	39.
42.	North Carolina	40.
44.	Tennessee	45.
45.	West Virginia	44.
46.	South Carolina	46.
47.	Kentucky	47.
48.	Arkansas	48.
49.	Louisiana	50.
50.	Mississippi

Mississippi has third highest per capita income growth in 2007.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) has issued the following news release today:

For the fourth consecutive year, the Southwest region enjoyed the fastest growth of the eight BEA regions (7.5 percent, down from 8.5 percent) and the Great Lakes region saw the slowest growth (4.8 percent in both years). 

The full text of the release on BEA’s web site can be found at
http://www.bea.gov/newsreleases/regional/spi/sqpi_newsrelease.htm

Richard Florida’s theories are all the rage worldwide. Trouble is, they’re plain wrong.

That’s what Steven Malanga, writing in City Journal, says. Read the article and then you decide:

http://www.city-journal.org/html/14_1_the_curse.html