GOOD NEWS

The economic downturn is blowing through the country, but some cities are predicted to fare much better than others, and two national magazines say six of those are in Texas. Forbes has compiled its list of “Best and Worst Bang-for-the-Buck Cities,” ranking Austin first, San Antonio second, Houston fourth and Dallas seventh. Meanwhile, BusinessWeek’s list of the 20 best places to live during a recession includes Lubbock because of its higher education, agriculture, health care and energy sectors, and Corpus Christi because of its military base, energy industry and agricultural job opportunities.

— Real Estate Center Online News. On a side note, The American Planning Association also ranked El Paso’s South El Paso Street as one of its Top 10 Great Streets for 2008

SUBJECTIVITY

There’s no pretending to be objective. What we’re fighting to save here is our city, our culture, and by extension, our jobs, our houses, our schools. When we write this s---, we don’t just report the stuff and let it fall where it may. We’ve got way too much at stake to be dispassionate observers covering a sporting event and not caring who wins. — New Orleans Times-Picayune columnist Chris Rose, adding that he and the entire newspaper staff looked at the world differently after Hurricane Katrina.

MAXIMUM SECURITY

If you didn’t know what it was, you would have thought they were building the meanest maximum security prison that ever existed. And I guess that’s what it is, in a way. Anyone attempting to cross would face a 20-foot+ jump on the American side. I couldn’t help but think of the Berlin Wall, which I passed through in 1975. This wall, one day, will meet the same fate.

— Texas Monthly Senior Executive Editor Paul Burka discussing his reactions upon first seeing the border fence

SCARY STATS

A new national poll suggests that only a quarter of Americans think things are going well in the country today, while the rest of those questioned are angry, scared and stressed out. Two-thirds of those questioned say they’re scared about the way things are going in the U.S.

Seventy-five percent of those surveyed in a CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Tuesday said things are going badly in the United States.

An equal portion of those polled said they are angry about the way things are going. Two-thirds of those questioned said they’re scared about the way things are going and three in four said the current conditions in the country are stressing them out.

“It’s scary how many Americans admit they are scared,” said Keating Holland, CNN’s polling director.

— CNN.com

NEW AGE FUNDRAISING

An attempt to reach younger donors with a breezily written letter that uses the word “blah” 137 times has some Framingham State College alumni questioning the school’s professionalism, judgment and ... blah, blah, blah.

The Sept. 5 letter, signed by the president of the school’s alumni association, was sent to about 6,000 recent graduates who hadn’t donated to the school. It used standard fundraising pitches, interspersed with sentences of nothing but “blah.”

“With the recent economic downturn and loan crisis, it has become even more important for Framingham State College to receive your support. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,” one part of the letter read.

Christopher Hendry, the school’s vice president of college advancement, told the MetroWest Daily News of Framingham he approved the letter, which he said was written in a marketing style expected to appeal to younger donors. However, Hendry notes that after the “blah” letter was sent, the school collected about $2,000 from nearly 40 alumni who had never previously given money.

— The Associated Press

FREEING THE GRID by the Network for New Energy Choices discusses the best and worst practices in state net metering policies and interconnection standards. The report grades practices in each state and makes recommendations for improvement. It also takes a special, though not glowing, look at Texas. The report can be read online at www.newenergychoices. com.

CRAWFORD by director David Modigliani. Okay, it’s a documentary, not a book, about how just one new resident can change a small town, if that resident is President George W. Bush. It debuted for free online. That’s right – no theater, just www.hulu.com/watch/37906/crawford. A DVD with extra features is for sale at www.crawfordmovie.com. THE ART OF THE PUBLIC GROVEL: SEXUAL SIN AND PUBLIC CONFESSION IN AMERICA by Dr. Susan Wise Bauer seeks to explain why some apologies are effective at saving careers and elections and why other apologies fail. Bauer makes an example of Grover Cleveland, Aimee Semple McPherson, Ted Kennedy, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Cardinal Bernard Law, among others. Published by Princeton University Press.

TWILIGHT OF THE TEXAS DEMOCRATS by Kenneth Bridges explains the forces at work during the Texas’s 1978 gubernatorial election – disaffection among Mexican American voters, superior polling techniques, changing demographics and unprecedented spending. Published by Texas A & M University Press. SEE SAM RUN by Peggy Heinkel-Wolfe. A real-life story of the challenges, despair and triumphs the author has while raising her autistic son. As more and more children are diagnosed with autism – some 1 in 150 – new resources are going toward treating and understanding the disease. Published by University of North Texas Press.

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