Education decisions are among the most important choices people ever make. So we were surprised and disappointed to see an article so loosely reasoned and reckless in its conclusions as “Five Reasons to Skip College” published in Blank Slate at Forbes.com on April 18, 2006. The article never provides a numerical assessment of the costs and benefits of going to college, uses statistics inappropriately and in a way that biases the conclusions against college, contains conceptual errors on how to evaluate the return on a college education, and greatly exaggerates the only substantive criticism of typical evaluations of the financial worth of a college degree.

The La Paz Transportation Planning Study was conducted as part of the Planning Assistance for Rural Areas program sponsored by the Arizona Department of Transportation Multimodal Planning Division. This Study developed 5, 10, and 20-year transportation plans, as well as an implementation program, to guide the County, Towns, and the Colorado River Indian Tribes in meeting transportation needs for the Study Area into the future.

ADOT, in cooperation with the City of Kingman and Mohave County, initiated the Kingman Area Transportation Study Update to update the 2005 Kingman Area Transportation Study. The study provides a plan of improvements for 5-year (short-range), 10-year (mid-range), and 20-year (long-range) transportation planning horizons. The recommendations are multimodal, considering roadways, nonmotorized transportation modes (bicycles and pedestrians), and transit components.

The Arizona Department of Transportation, the Arizona Game & Fish Department and the Arizona State Parks Board are required to conduct a study every three years on watercraft fuel consumption and recreational watercraft usage. The fuel consumption data is collected to determine the allocation of motor vehicle fuel tax to the State Lake Improvement Fund. The information on recreational watercraft usage patterns on Arizona’s lakes and rivers is necessary, in part, to determine the distribution of SLIF funds to applicants.

In fiscal year 2011, Kingman Unified School District’s student achievement was similar to peer district averages, and it operated efficiently with lower costs than peer districts’, on average. The District operated its administration with lower per pupil costs because it employed fewer administrative staff per pupil than peer districts, on average. In addition, the District’s plant operations cost per square foot and food service cost per meal were lower than peer districts’ averages. The District’s transportation program cost per pupil was higher than the peer districts’ average, but the program was efficient, with lower per mile costs. However, the District should improve some of its administrative practices. In particular, the District should strengthen controls over its cash handling, culinary arts program, and computer network and systems.

Arizona is one of the states in which the high-wage end of the employment distribution provides a more favorable impression of its job quality than that based on all employment. Thus, Arizona’s subpar job quality is not due to a scarcity of high-wage jobs, but instead results from lesser job quality in the remainder of the employment distribution. In particular, Arizona has an above-average share of very low-paying jobs that serve tourists and seasonal residents. In turn, the low overall average wage in Arizona — 7 percent less than the U.S. average — primarily results from factors other than job quality. The average wage in Arizona is less than the U.S. average in the vast majority of industries and occupations, both high- and low-paying.

Grace Neal Parkway and Bank Street are located in the northern Kingman area partially outside of the Kingman city limits. This report discusses of creating a new arterial roadway providing safety and convenience for vehicular traffic and pedestrians. Although Grace Neal is referred to as a parkway, its designation for design is arterial.