Two small tremors...a future earthquake?

[GordonJ]

First one:

http://www.cleveland.com/akron/index...tudents_f.html

Second one: we had our first power outage of the season.

Behind closed doors they blame Title IX. Publicly it is about budgets and expenses.

For the last 15 years the University of Akron has been spending money like a drunken sailor in a strip club, only they weren't dollar bills, they spent millions.

The piper has called.

Akron now joins a host of colleges across the land raising tuition, laying off employees and cutting athletic programs.

It is only the beginning. Even THE Ohio State is looking at some of their programs. The binge is over, and the downturn actually started a few years ago during the housing/bank crisis, the universities thought they were immune.

So what? It will affect thousands of students on scholarships. It will prevent thousands more to be unable to afford tuition. The small number of employees is small and some say insignificant ( tell that to their families) but could be a coming trend. This trend ripples through our economy, some of the contractors who feasted on Akron's building and expansion program are now looking to lay off their employees.

Let's keep a close watch on this.

Power. July 18 is kind of early for us to experience brownouts. Maybe it was the Italian Festival downtown today coupled with unbearable 90 degree heat, and all the air conditioners running...but we're probably not going to see snow in Aug./Sept. More likely 100 degree heat waves.

Maybe I'm crying wolf, perhaps being chicken little a little.

But I find these little tidbits to often times be the precursor to the shaking of structures and the injury of many.

Gordon