News In Brief

NO WONDER THEY NEVER CAME

With, oh, about a month left in the academic year, school administrators in New London, Wis., reported to the local board of education that they've determined 60 or so elementary pupils have been reporting to the wrong buildings. The errors became apparent in a review of school boundaries. No effort will be made to address the problem now. But corrective steps will begin in time for the 2000-2001 school year. The rural town has about 7,000 people.

MINNEAPOLIS WAS SPOKEN FOR

Meanwhile, residents of a community in neighboring Minnesota awoke one morning last week to find themselves in a whole new place - without even venturing out the front door. And no tornado dumped them into another zip code, either. St. Augusta Township, the home of about 3,200 people, officially adopted the name Ventura, in honor of the state's governor, Jesse. But the change isn't universally popular, has been complained about, and could be undone in a special election.

Austin tops Forbes's list of best places to do business

If you're looking for the ideal location in which to work, it's not a given that you'll end up in Silicon Valley. In fact, that high-tech region doesn't make the top cut in Forbes magazine's ranking of best places in the US to do business or advance a career. Other parts of California figured well in the new survey, however, as did Colorado and Texas. Forbes teamed up with the Santa Monica, Calif.-based Milken Institute, an economic think tank, in ranking 200 metropolitan areas according to wage increases, job growth, and gains in high-tech output, among other factors. The top 10:

1. Austin, Texas

2.Atlanta

3.Santa Rosa, Calif.

4.Boulder/Longmont, Colo.

5.Boise, Idaho

6.San Diego

7.Orange County, Calif.

8.San Antonio

9.West Palm Beach/Boca Raton, Fla.

10.Colorado Springs, Colo.

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