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U.S. News and World Report does a ranking every year of the "top schools." And every year, the schools that don't show up at the top complain. Now, 46 university presidents say they will no longer participate in the survey.

Newsweek tries to sort out the fight.

The Philadelphia Inquirer says that the US News rankings are overrated and that the power they have taken on has gotten out of hand.

Check your local schools -- how do they respond to such surveys? Do students and counselors take them seriously?

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Track the Candidates

OpenSecrets.org has some nice new tools for the 2008 campaign.

• See a comparison between any two candidates of their fundraising week to week.

• Review how industries and special interests are spending their money so far, candidate by candidate.

• Get micro-local in the key states of California, Florida, New York, Texas and Illinois. You can see how cities, even zip codes, are supporting individual candidates.

• Look at key demographics for donors so far.

I really like this color-coded map showing which candidate has raised the most in which states. It is a little busy right now because of the number of candidates, but it will get cleaner soon.

Just pop a name into this database and see who he or she gave money to.

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Are There More Dogs in Pounds on July 5?

For years I have heard this is true. The story goes that dogs run away during fireworks displays. The Humane Society says it is true:

Pets across the nation often become frightened and frantic by the noise and commotion of Independence Day. In fact, animal shelters across the country are accustomed to receiving "July 4th" dogs -- dogs who run off during fireworks celebrations and are rescued by animal control officers or Good Samaritans who take them to the safety of the local shelter.

I have also, over the years, heard that newspapers get more missing-pet ads right after July 4. I cannot prove it to be so -- but maybe you can.

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Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. Errors and inaccuracies found will be corrected.

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