Be it the inevitable awareness that students, in particular, are struggling with the startling fallout of this challenging economy or simply an acknowledgment that higher education is being forced to evolve away from the cold bureaucratic model in order to better compete, change is certainly afoot on area campuses this fall.  

Although it sounds like a facility where mutant superheroes might train, X-Lab actually is Xavier University's economic development program. Operated by the Williams College of Business, the lab is holding a unique competition: 35 entrepreneurs submitting ideas in a bid to win consulting services from X-Lab to help start or expand their business.  

A new facility for the Williams College of Business and a state-of-the-art Conaton Learning Commons are being built with green construction features, providing Xavier students, faculty members, staff, alumni and business executives with 170,000 square feet of additional academic space.  

U.S. House Minority Leader John Boehner performed the equivalent of complaining to the night manager at McDonald's when he formally urged the state of Ohio to join a lawsuit against the new federal health care law. Boehner said in a statement that the law will mean higher costs, lost jobs, fewer freedoms and blah blah blah.  

General Electric boss Jeffrey Immelt wants major businesses to create a regional cooperative to deal with major shortcomings (limited access, rising costs) of our health system. Something similar was tried in 1992, when the big four employers (P&G, Kroger, GE Aviation and Cincinnati Bell) basically sought to control costs by demanding that hospitals demonstrate cost effectiveness. Facing threats to their fees, unhappy physicians used scare tactics to predict a health care crisis as specialists left for more lucrative cities.  

College is a time of decisions: Where are you going to go to school? What are you going to major in? What organizations are you going to join? While considering these long-term scenarios, another eminent decision to make is whether or not to live on or off campus.   

Joey Votto's problem for the last month was a deficiency in the resources athletes can often tap to beat aches, pains and pulls. He's struggled with dizziness after an inner ear infection and flu limited him to three full games in a 17-game stretch last month. The Reds put Votto on the 15-day disabled list May 31 due to "stress-related" issues. Addressing whether the ear infection is involved, General Manager Walt Jocketty told reporters, "It's partly that. Let’s leave it at that."  

One character asks, "When did we meet?" A simple question, right? Not so in Cloud Tectonics, a 75-minute 1995 Jose Rivera script that Transit Five Productions is premiering locally at Xavier University studio theater.