Top 12 College Towns For Commuting On Foot

Editor’s note:  Number 3 is a Pennsylvania university!

On his several-days-a-week walks to and from work in Ithaca, NY, Tom Knipe breathes in the scent of lavender plants during temperate months. Along his ¾-mile route between work and home, Knipe also spots creatures like otters, mink, turtles, ducks and heron. Or he stops to chat with friends and neighbors. During the winter, Knipe notices the “beautiful” changes in the ice patterns in Cascadilla Creek as the water freezes and thaws.

“I typically walk when the weather makes it uncomfortable or less practical to ride my bike. So, during the winter months when there is lots of snow on the ground, I tend to walk to work on average three out of five days a week,” said Knipe, the tourism coordinator for Tompkins County, NY.

In Ithaca, a college town with about 30,000 residents in upstate New York’s Finger Lakes region, Knipe is part of an army of walkers. Ithaca, the home of Cornell University and Ithaca College, ranks first among U.S. college towns for the percentage of workers who commute on foot, according to the U.S. Census Bureau analyzed by The SpareFoot Blog. It also leads the American Institute for Economic Research’s list of thetop college towns in the U.S.

Read more: http://blog.sparefoot.com/6684-top-college-towns-for-commuting-on-foot/

Centre County Rabies Cases Climbing

Image via Wikipedia

First rabid beavers in Philly, now drooling raccoons in State College???  Looks like 2011 is the year of the rabid animal.

Rocky Raccoon was tooling around the main campus at Penn State University on June 30^th when authorities shot the animal because it was drooling, running into things and falling down (guess only coeds are allowed to do that).  The raccoon tested positive for rabies (it hadn’t crashed a frat party).  This is rather alarming as there are tens of thousands of students at PSU’s main campus and a rabid raccoon throw into the mix could have been very dangerous.

So far this year there have been 8 diagnosed cases of rabies in Centre County.  In all of 2010 there were only 5 cases of rabies.  The next most recent rabies incident prior to last Thursday happened in nearby Gregg Township.  On June 27^th a dog and rabid raccoon fought.  The dog was vaccinated but is being quarantined.