There's a cheap and simple way for governments to get their message out. It's called radio.

James Mejia owes a lot to his boss, Denver Mayor Wellington Webb. And now Webb is asking much in return: He wants Mejia to clean up the city's scandal-ridden parks and recreation department and, in the process, protect the mayor's own legacy.

A decade ago, colleges were doing everything they could to attract more students. Now they've got more than they can handle.

At the intersection of Wilson and Highland streets, a few blocks from where I live in Arlington, Virginia, there is a big, gaping hole in the ground. It isn't much to look at, as you might expect. But it's a hole in the ground with a rich history. If you will indulge me in a few paragraphs of local nostalgia, I think I can use it to draw some lessons about the ways of growth, planning and survival these days in metropolitan America.

What does it cost to launch a government Web site? It's a question that makes some governments uncomfortable, fearing apples-and-oranges comparisons with other jurisdictions. Governments budget for their Web sites in different ways, some including staff time and maintenance time, some paying from a central IT office, some paying through individual departments, some outsourcing, some building in-house.