Merry Christmas!!!

Top 25 Highest Income Counties

Top 25 highest-income counties by median household income (2006-2008) This data is average 2006-2008 from the American Community Survey of the United States Bureau of the Census. Of the top 25 counties, 11 are part of the Washington Metropolitan Area, 6 counties are part of the New York Metropolitan Area, and 2 counties are part of the San Francisco Bay Area. Rank County,Median Household Income, Population, Educational Attainment* 1 Loudoun County, Virginia $110,643 277,433 58% 2 Fairfax County, Virginia $106,785 1,005,980 60% 3 Howard County, Maryland $101,710 272,412 60% 4 Somerset County, New Jersey $103,227 321,589 53% 5 Hunterdon County, New Jersey $100,947 129,000 52% 6 City of Fairfax, Virginia $98,133 23,281 52% 7 Morris County, New Jersey $97,565 486,459 52% 8 Douglas County, Colorado $97,480 270,286 54% 9 Arlington County, Virginia $96,390 204,889 71% 10 Montgomery County, Maryland $93,999 942,747 59% 11 Nassau County, New York $93,579 1,352,817 45% 12 Stafford County, Virginia $89,536 120,219 36% 13 Calvert County, Maryland $89,049 88,126 30% 14 Prince William County, Virginia $88,675 358,719 38% 15 Putnam County, New York $88,580 99,195 40% *Based on bachelor's degree attainment (and above) for people 25 and older in the county

Happy Halloween!!!

Redskins Beat Cowboys 13-7

The first half ended with a fumble returned for a touchdown. The second half ended with a touchdown that didn’t count. Nothing less should be expected from a game between the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys. The cast might change with new quarterback Donovan McNabb and new head coah Mike Shanahan into the mix, but one thing is eternal: This Redskin/Cowboy rivalry will always have some memorable finishes.

The Redskins came out on top this time, winning 13-7 in Sunday night’s opener even though Tony Romo completed a 13-yard pass to Roy Williams in the end zone on the game’s last play. Alas, the score was negated because tackle Alex Barron was whistled for holding linebacker Brian Orakpo, stopping the Dallas celebrations in their tracks and giving Washington a victorious start in its new era with quarterback McNabb and coach Shanahan.

“I knew he held me, but as soon as I seen him throw it to Roy, I’m like `Are they gonna call it?”’ Orakpo said. “Then I looked up and saw the yellow flag on the floor. Hey, it’s game, set and match. Game over, it’s celebrating time.”

The Redskins didn’t get to celebrate much last year, going 4-12 under coach Jim Zorn and 0-6 in the NFC East. They didn’t score a touchdown in either game against the dreaded Cowboys. For that matter, they didn’t score an offensive touchdown Sunday night— cornerback DeAngelo Hall was the only Redskins player to find the end zone—but that hardly seemed to matter.

Virginia Colleges Rank High

The University of Virginia is the top non-military-academy public university in Forbes Magazines "America's Best Colleges" rankings, released Wednesday.

U.Va. ranks 44th overall among the 610 schools on the Forbes list, which was compiled with the assistance of the Center for College Affordability & Productivity. The only public institutions rated higher are the United States Military Academy (No. 4), the U.S. Air Force Academy (No. 11) and the U.S. Naval Academy (No. 29).

In total, 88 of the top 100 schools on the Forbes list are private. Trailing U.Va. among public schools in the top 100 are the College of William & Mary (No. 46), Virginia Military Institute (No. 60), the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (No. 62), the University of California, Berkeley (No. 65), the University of California, Los Angeles (No. 71), the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (No. 92), the University of Florida (No. 93) and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (No. 97).

The top-rated school was Williams College, followed by Princeton University, Amherst College, the U.S. Military Academy and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The Forbes rankings have a heavy consumerist influence. In explaining its methodology, the business magazine wrote: "Americans spend more money on college education than nearly any other investment. Just as they want home inspectors to evaluate possible house purchases, and Consumer Reports or J.D. Power and Associates to help guide car purchases, they look to information providers like Forbes to assist them in their choice of colleges and universities."

To that end, rankings of student satisfaction – chiefly from RateMyProfessor.com – account for 27.5 percent of the score. Postgraduate success, including alumni salaries, are weighted 30 percent, and measures of student debt account for 17.5 percent of the score.

Also factored in are the four-year graduation rate (17.5 percent) and competitive awards won by students (7.5 percent).

The commonwealth of Virginia was well represented, with 17 schools appearing on the Forbes list. Besides U.Va., William & Mary and VMI, other Virginia schools listed included Washington and Lee University (No. 37), the University of Richmond (No. 84), Sweet Briar College (No. 87), Randolph-Macon College (No. 103), Virginia Tech (No. 156), James Madison University (No. 169), Hampden-Sydney College (No. 205), the University of Mary Washington (No. 208), Hollins University (No. 267), Randolph College (No. 272), Emory and Henry College (No. 278), George Mason University (No. 297), Roanoke College (No. 433) and Longwood University (No. 462).

In a separate ranking of "America's Best College Buys," Forbes rated U.Va. 43rd overall. Those rankings were derived by dividing each school's overall quality score by its 2008 tuition and fees.

The rankings do not take into direct account financial aid – though student debt factors into the overall quality score. In the Princeton Review "Guide to the 373 Best Colleges" released earlier this month, U.Va.'s financial aid program, AccessUVa, was rated second in the country.

Forbes released its rankings days before Tuesday's expected announcement of the closely watched U.S. News and World Report rankings.

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