Board could use business presence

Attention, business leaders who've been calling for closer ties between employers and higher education: Have you considered seeking a seat on the University of Minnesota Board of Regents? Think fast. The deadline for applying to the Regent Candidate Advisory Council for the 2013 cohort is Nov. 26.

Community leaders of all stripes -- not just employers -- are welcome to apply. But business voices have been in short supply on the 12-member board in recent years. And as the Itasca Project emphasized in a report this summer, Minnesota businesses have a huge stake in the university's performance.

The Legislature will fill four regent seats in 2013. Two of them are at-large positions occupied by incumbents seeking second terms, board chair Linda Cohen and former state Sen. Dean Johnson. A third, open seat is earmarked for a resident of the Fifth Congressional District. The fourth seat must go to a student enrolled at the university.

Interested? Application materials are available at www.rcac.leg.mn or by calling Sally Olson at 651-296-9002.

LORI STURDEVANT

ARENA NEEDS

And now it's Milwaukee's turn

The Milwaukee Bucks and the metropolitan area have less than five years to decide whether they want to be one of 30 cities with an NBA franchise. In order to stay here, the Bucks need to have a plan in place to construct a new state-of-the-art facility by 2015 -- a new arena that would be a year-round draw for downtown Milwaukee.

Being in one of the National Basketball Association's smallest markets, the Bucks can't command the kind of television revenue that franchises in large cities rake in. While the last NBA agreement helped smaller markets through revenue sharing, the Bucks need more than that to make it.

FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL