Heard on the Hill: Kansas Bioscience Authority has contributed more than $50 million to KU cancer effort; website looks at what single women renters want; Audio-Reader wants your audio equipment

Your daily dose of news, notes and links from around Kansas University.

• Here’s a little nugget I got from a couple days of hanging out in Olathe at the Kansas Bioscience Authority.

The KBA, of course, is a state-funded agency that provides money to spark development in the bioscience sector in Kansas.

They’ve now passed the $50 million threshold in support for the KU Cancer Center’s quest to achieve National Cancer Institute designation, taking into account all their support over the years.

The KBA has provided funds for a number of KU cancer-related activities, including funds to attract several key researchers needed for designation, which has been a top priority for KU for some time now.

Roy Jensen, director of the KU Cancer Center, addressed the KBA board briefly, and, as you can probably imagine, was quite appreciative of the authority’s support.

“We’re very proud to be a child in your organization,” Jensen said.

• With hordes of students looking to move their stuff all around Lawrence at the end of this month, I figured now was as good a time as any to relay these rental survey results, courtesy of rent.com.

The site surveyed some single women who were renters, and came up with these results.

Just 17 percent of female renters were looking to have eligible bachelors as neighbors (though 45 percent of male renters were looking for single women to live next to them).

About 36 percent of single women rent their current homes.

Women are also less reliant on maintenance staff than men, with 63 percent of women who said it was “essential” to have a maintenance staff available, compared with 69 percent of men.

“After all, most women know that if you want something done right, you do it yourself,” read a rather spunky press release from the website announcing the survey results.

• Audio-Reader is once again accepting donations of new and gently used music and audio equipment for its annual “For Your EARS Only” benefit sale.

Donations can be brought to Audio-Reader, 1120 W. 11th St., from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the week, and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. on the weekends.

The sale is scheduled on September 16 and 17 and the Douglas County Fairgrounds.

Audio-Reader, in case you’re not in the know, is a lovely program that features volunteers reading newspapers, magazines and best-selling books on the air and online.

The service is free for anyone unable to read normal printed material.

• I’ve often wondered if Audio-Reader readers read Heard on the Hill. If so, I think it would be fun to challenge them. So for no other reason at all, I present the Guinness Book of World Records’ most challenging tongue twister: The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick. If you’re good enough to read that aloud, you’re good enough to submit a tip for Heard on the Hill at ahyland@ljworld.com, so keep them coming.