Higher ed wants to offer states a deal: Let us run things our own way, and then judge us by the result. Should states accept?

Budgeting is not going to get easier for states anytime soon. In a Rockefeller Institute report released in August, fiscal analyst Nicholas W. Jenny concluded that "underlying state revenue trends in fiscal year 2003 were still down."

The White House can't wait to sell off federal programs. The states might want to look before buying.

Somebody keeps stealing garbage cans in Dallas, and it's causing a stink. Reason: These aren't your usual Rubbermaid trash cans; they're official City of Dallas receptacles, 90-gallon cans with wheels known as roll carts that are designed to work with automated garbage trucks.

"Why do I love Paris?" Cole Porter keeps asking, in one of his least clever songs. "Why, oh why, do I love Paris?" Finally he ends the suspense. It's because his sweetie is in the neighborhood.