CARLSBAD Â- Allison Crouch says she's tired of having to move. Twice recently, Crouch and her children have found out their landlord plans to sell the home they had been renting. Rent has been costly, homes are scarce, and each successive search for a new residence has been more difficult. "I'm just having a really hard time," said Crouch, who works at New Mexico State University- Carlsbad. "There are lots of other people like me, I am sure." Rent has skyrocketed to around $800 a month, Crouch said, and she is currently unable to afford or locate suitable lodging for herself and her children. Organizations like Habitat for Humanity and the Department of Housing and Urban Development can only help so many people. "We need some more community awareness about this. I'm not the only one in this situation," she said.

Growth comes, at a price, to Chaska

Pioneer Trail in Chaska was once a rambling gravel road. Now it's a fast-moving two-lane blacktop expected to eventually become a four-lane feeder highway running east and west across Carver County. Just off the road is the sparkling Pioneer Ridge Freshman Center, built just four years ago to take some strain off the school district's two middle schools that had been filled to capacity. Now the Chaska School District wants to build a second high school, this one in Chanhassen, and transform the new Freshman Center into a third middle school. The ninth-graders would move to the existing Chaska High and the new high school. This changing scene along Pioneer Trail is typical of what is playing out all over Chaska and Chanhassen -- two farm towns thrust into suburban status, now experiencing an enormous boom in population growth.

Heinz Endowments awards grants to city schools, South Side center

The major Pittsburgh Public Schools reorganization and the North Side's struggling Sarah Heinz House community center were the big winners as The Heinz Endowments awarded 220 grants totaling nearly $26 million yesterday.

The Sarah Heinz House board got $3.1 million -- $1.1 million for operating support and $2 million to cover unanticipated costs connected to an expansion. The aging North Side facility has grappled to serve some 800 Pittsburgh youth, about a third of whom live below the poverty line.

The next largest award, $2.1 million to advance education reform in the city's public schools, will fund neighborhood and family support systems, after-school programs and creation of an improved data-management system for the district.

The funding also will support expert planning and evaluation services, school-readiness programs and efforts to increase family involvement in the schools.

Abloy Presents Revenue Protection Security Solutions

Abloy Security, Inc. recently expanded the product offerings of the Shut-Out® Series to complement Abloy® Maximum Security Locking Systems. These two product lines used in tandem provide complete vending security solutions in order to better protect customer assets.

The Shut-Out® line includes heavy duty vending machine hasps, puck locks, bill stacker boxes, and the unique Shut-Out® Safeguard designed to protect the external face of the bill acceptor.

Dress up your outdoor space with wood tiles

Regardless of the size of your home, if it has a patio, deck or balcony, it seems larger. Even if its only large enough for two chairs and a small footstool, this sort of small expansion outside adds immense dimension to any interior living space.

But just having the space isnt enough. It needs to be as warm and inviting as the rest of your home, and this is where some interesting new decking materials come in. Natural stone and terra-cotta or ceramic tiles are excellent choices, but you need to be on the ground floor or make sure you verify that the structure can take the substantial additional weight.

The warmth of natural wood is one of the more finished looks you can elect to use, but the worry about mildew and decay keeps a lot of people from making this selection. Now, however, there is an appealing new concept in modular decking: removable hardwood tiles that snap together.