More than 250 local entrepreneurs connected with federal agencies, Philadelphia's business and technology leaders and each another at an event that was co-organized by the White House and aimed at discussing urban entrepreneurship. The event kicked off at Temple's Fox School of Business, with remarks from Mayor Michael Nutter: "We need to hear your thoughts and your ideas — the things that we need to do more of, the things that we should stop doing....Because you're the ones who are really going to help turn this city, our region and our country around."

In a recent survey of more than 400 professional athletes, more than half said that being in a committed relationship improved their performance on the field. Michael Sachs, a sports psychologist at Temple, said that on an intuitive level, the findings make sense. "If you're in love, life is generally better and you feel more energized," he said.

John Collins, a landscape architect, urban planner and founding chairman of the landscape architecture and horticulture department at Temple, passed away on Friday, Aug. 5. Among his projects were the Schuylkill River Park; the renovation of the Market East corridor with wider sidewalks, bus shelters, trees and flower boxes; the greenways of Society Hill; and pocket parks throughout Center City. Inquirer architecture critic Inga Saffron wrote in 2007 of Collins: "He could whip up a charming civic nook with a scrap of empty land and some spare city funds."

In a guest blog, Temple historian Bryant Simon writes that on a recent weekend trip after two days of eating "microwaved sausages and pre-made perfectly round egg circles" as part of the hotel's "free breakfast," he began to think — as the debate over the debt ceiling blared on televisions in the background — about the real costs of free and cheap: jobs, our environment, our health. "Isn't everyone — including me — indirectly paying for my 'free hot breakfast'"?