It's a mixed bag for Columbia today. The school was probably happy to find out that it ranked 9th in U.S News & World Report's latest top college ranking issues, but it's no fun to learn that its billion-dollar Manhattanville project was rejected by a community board committee. more ›

Newsweek released that latest list of 1,200 top high school rankings. It is precisely the kind of list that makes people many parts crazy, because their schools aren't listed at all or because their schools are listed and it'll drive up property prices. The NY Sun says that the list snubs the city, as none of the city's prestigious schools are listed in the top 100: "The top-ranked city school, the High School for Arts and Business in Queens, placed at no. 351. Forest Hills High School, also in Queens, squeezed in at no. 1,159." Three other high schools in Queens were listed, as were a school in Staten Island and one in Brooklyn. more ›

Ah, there's nothing like politicians sinking their teeth into a national tragedy for their own gain. Someone on Gothamist Contribute pointed out something happening in the Ohio Senate race between Republican incumbent Mike DeWine and challenger, Representative Sherrod Brown. DeWine's campaign used a doctored photograph of the World Trade Center burning in a television ad that touted his national security platform. According to CNN, "The senator was notified Wednesday by a reporter at U.S. News & World Report that the image of the burning Twin Towers could not have depicted the actual event because the smoke was blowing the wrong way." Good grief. His campaign spokesman said, "The senator thought it depicted the actual events of 9/11 and when he found out that wasn't the case, he wanted an actual picture used." Hear that? If you're trying to exploit a tragedy, make sure you've got the real goods; DeWine had Rudy Giuliani at one of his events, so he really should have known better. more ›

And you thought they spent all of their time ranking the colleges you just had to go to and then spent the next 4 years doing everything but studying and now remember nothing. But the folks at U.S. News and World Report also like to make cute little lists of other things - and this time its hospitals! This week the magazine named 7 New York City hospitals in several Top 10 lists in its red hot "America's Best Hospitals" issue. The Ivy League pedigreed behemoth love child of Columbia and Cornell, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, won the most accolades (shocking) as the 6th best medical center in the country. Other notable list-makers include Memorial Sloan-Kettering as #1 in the nation for cancer care and The Hospital for Special Surgery as #2 for orthopedics. The full list is available here. more ›

Columbia's attempt to raise its rankings is featured in the NY Times today, as it begins to embark on a $4 billion campaign over the next seven years. Damn you, U.S. News & World Report for your listings! Columbia's $4 billion-seven year derby is supposedly the biggest ever for a university, and many experts feel its inevitable schools will be calling for more and more money. And Columbia's desire to break out is because of what the Times calls two "longstanding constraints: space and money to grow." Huh, those are like the longstranding constraints of anyone living in the city - space and the money to get that space (or just live in the city). more ›

Billionaire developer and owner of U.S. News & World Report and the Daily News Mortimer Zuckerman has donated $100 million to Memorial Sloan-Kettering for cancer research. The NY Times says it's the biggest in the hospital's history, and one of the largest to a medical institutiong overall. Since the donation is unrestricted, MSK will be putting most of it towards their new research building on First Avenue and East 68th Street. The 23 floor building, designed by Skidmore Owings Merrill, will be named after the mogul. Zuckerman said, "New York is a city that inspires philanthropy. There are more people who support more eleemosynary institutions than any other place by far. It's one of the reasons I love this city." Yeah, we had to look that up too, but, hey, big word for big donation. more ›

U.S. News and World Report wants let the heartland know it's okay to date online with their cover story, Love.com. The article looks at mostly online daters who end up married or explains that, yes, all kinds of people, even attractive ones, use online dating services. There were some interesting thoughts and quotes here and there, such as one from the founder of eHarmony ("In this culture, if we like the person's looks, if they have an ability to chatter at a cocktail party, and a little bit of status, we're halfway to marriage. We're such suckers."), but Gothamist couldn't feel depressed when we read "Other popular sites, like Friendster.com (sidebar), use circles of buddies to recommend dates of good character." Our lives boiled down to a sentence in an article in U.S. News and World Report that's not Best Colleges issue-related. more ›