At the top: The undergraduate and graduate programs at the LSU Robert Reich School of Landscape Architecture once again received top rankings from DesignIntelligence magazine. The 2017-18 “America’s Best Architecture & Design Schools” ranked the school’s undergraduate program No. 1 nationally and the graduate program No. 3. LSU’s landscape architecture undergraduate program has consistently ranked in the top two in the nation for well over a decade, while the graduate program has ranked among the top six. See the full ranking.
For rent: DSW may get in the shoe rental business, The Washington Post reports. The retail chain is considering adding a rental service, as well as shoe repair and storage facilities, to some of its 511 shoe-and-accessories stores. DSW has a location at the Mall of Louisiana. The experiments are part of a broader effort to get more customers into its stores. The idea is to create a one-stop shop where customers can buy everyday footwear, stash items that are out of season and rent shoes, executives say. Read more.
Surveyed: Just 24% of Americans believe the country is heading in the right direction after a tumultuous stretch for President Donald Trump that included the threat of war with North Korea, stormy complaints about hurricane relief and his equivocating about white supremacists. That’s a 10-point drop since June, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The decline in optimism about the nation’s trajectory is particularly pronounced among Republicans. In June, 60% of Republicans said the country was headed in the right direction; now it’s just 44%. Read more.
