This just in.

Despite an underwhelming response (30 people) to community forums where concerned parents could give their thoughts about the Muscogee County School District and what they want in a new superintendent, people can still give their thoughts by going to the MCSD website, www.muscogee.k12.ga.us, and answer questions for executive search firm McPherson and Jacobson L.L.C. This must be done by Sunday.

There is a called school board meeting Tuesday at 6 p.m. Survey results will be discussed at that time.

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Those who have any doubt about the impact the military has on the Columbus area should have looked no farther than downtown this week.

With much of the Maneuver Conference taking place at the Columbus Convention & Trade Center, camouflage uniforms were a common site not only inside the big hall, but also on the streets and inside restaurants on Broadway.

The conference, hosted by Maj. Gen. H. R. McMaster, commander of the Maneuver Center of Excellence at Fort Benning, filled the trade center's parking deck. But vehicles with an assortment of state tags lined the red-brick corridor that slices through the typically placid Historic District.

Cars were parked well into the 600 block of Broadway.

Inside the trade center was an array of defense contractors hoping to catch the eyes and ears of those military officials who influence decisions on which hot military device might be purchased next.

One of the more popular stations was the Virtual Interactive Combat Environment essentially a video simulator that allows soldiers to fire their rifles at targets to hone their cognitive and reaction skills. Those who lost a round were greeted with stark comments on the screen that read, "Heavy Head Wound" and "Medium Chest Wound" and "Light Leg Wound."

The takeaway was that the military is big business in an ever-evolving high-tech world. And that the military -- Fort Benning soldiers and their families specifically for us -- are players on a dangerous global stage.

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In a sign that things just may getting better -- albeit slowly -- on Bay Avenue at Synovus Financial Corp.'s headquarters, its stock pushed to a 52-week high Wednesday.

Shares of the Columbus-based regional bank reached the high-water mark of $2.49 during trading, then closed at $2.47 per share, up a dime, or 4.2 percent, for the day on the New York Stock Exchange.

Still, that eclipsed the previous high for the year of $2.48, which came last Friday and is part of a recent persistent upward tick of the bank's stock. It comes with the payout of the penny-per-share quarterly dividend approaching. That will occur Oct. 1 to those who own Synovus shares by today.

The bank's share price began its rise in late August after closing at $2 apiece Aug. 24. But the ascent has gained momentum in the last two weeks amid extraordinari

ly heavy trading volume. It hit a crescendo Sept. 26, with nearly 35 million shares changing hands. In comparison, average volume is just under 6 million shares per day.

But should investors become too giddy, take note that Synovus -- which still owes a chunk of bailout money to the U.S. government -- is not that far off of its 52-week low of 94 cents per share. All of which adds up to the fact that there's still plenty of work ahead for the parent company of Columbus Bank and Trust.