Last night, the Penn Democrats endorsed Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for president, despite debate about whether to endorse a candidate at all. The endorsement required a two-thirds majority to pass. Following the vote, College sophomore Mukul Sharma, Penn Dems vice president, said the group will do "whatever it can" for Obama and wants to host a visit for either the senator or his surrogates before the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.

In efforts to aid victims of the Kenyan political crisis, Student Ambassadors of the World is conducting a drive to collect supplies for a rural village in Western Kenya. Violence disrupted the country following a contentious December election, killing and displacing thousands, until President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga reached an agreement last week with the hope of restoring peace.

Yesterday's preliminary hearing scheduled for Joseph Cho, the former Penn Law student facing charges of attempted murder, has been postponed until April 2. Judge Frank Bailey issued another continuance yesterday, as Cho's attorney Peter Bowers was unable to attend the hearing for the second time.

College sophomore Lisa Schlesinger sat down in Houston Hall yesterday to an unusual occurrence. Rather than studying or eating lunch, Schlesinger was pampered with a fresh coat of light-pink nail polish. Get a manicure and support the fight against breast cancer - that was the message behind yesterday's "Manicure for the Cure" event, held on the first floor of Houston Hall.

The Faculty Senate Executive Committee decided yesterday not to recommend a policy requiring prospective faculty members to disclose previous criminal convictions. The committee also said it does not support a self-disclosure policy elsewhere in the University, according to a statement.

In the ongoing debate over the FDA's ban on men who have sex with men (MSM) donating blood, it's time for Penn to take an actual stand on the issue. And as the Undergraduate Assembly debates whether or not Penn should examine the ban's conflicts with its nondiscrimination policy, there's a right way for universities to respond, and there's a wrong way.

While some students complain that the administration may be hard to reach, on Friday afternoon Penn officials did all they could to get in touch with every individual on campus. The Division of Public Safety conducted its first University-wide test of the UPennAlert emergency-notification system, which is meant to reach students, faculty and staff through text messages, e-mails and cell-phone calls in the case of emergency situations.

As sorority pledging wound down last week, many women found their wallets a good deal lighter than when it started. Sorority sisters say there are many unexpected costs that arise from being a member of a sorority - costs that can get quite high. Members of the Greek community are expected to pay their dues each semester, an activity fee to the University, extra expenses during the pledging period and the price of any chapter gear they purchase.

Houston Hall in the early 1980s was home to more than just study rooms and a cafe. It was also home to the first Steve and Barry's retail store. Barry Prevor, a Wharton alumni who is the co-founder and co-chief executive officer of the retail chain Steve and Barry's, spoke to students yesterday at Steinberg-Dietrich Hall as part of the Jay H.

Lineman Joe Silberzweig excelled on both sides of the ball at Scarsdale High. Now, the 6-foot-1, 280-pounder is set to throw the offensive playbook out the window to join Al Bagnoli's defensive line next season. He expects to play at nose guard or defensive tackle for Bagnoli.

What began as a cross-cultural exchange program during one student's summer eventually inspired a project that will save hundreds of lives, if not more. After volunteering at a hospital in West Africa in the summer of 2006, College senior Kathryn Cunningham founded a non-profit organization that uses solar power to provide the energy and running water the hospital desperately needed.

Who was the first mayor of Philadelphia? Who designed Independence Hall? What influence did Italian Americans have on the city's architecture? While these questions may seem trivial and better left for a history department midterm, many believe they are critical to the story of Philadelphia.

Though international air travel may be increasingly pricey, many Penn students are choosing to fly anyway. According to an analysis of airfare ticket sales conducted by Sabre Airline Solutions - an airline consulting and software distribution firm - the average price of airline tickets purchased for transatlantic flights this spring has increased from last year.

As Penn's admissions officers review applications for the class of 2012, they are finding a handful of essays that seem too polished and mature to have been written by high-school seniors, interim Dean of Admissions Eric Kaplan said. "There are definitely occasions where the writing seems too good to be true," he said.

Over the past 50 years, Dr. Jack Ramsay has been involved at all levels of basketball. Originally a high-school coach, Ramsay moved on to his alma mater Saint Joseph's in 1955. From there he became the Philadelphia 76ers GM, and later their coach. After a four-year stop with the Buffalo Braves, he moved to Portland for the next decade, in 1977 leading the Blazers to their only NBA title.

$542: The maximum monthly food stamp allotment for a family of four. $121.93: The monthly deficit this family would face if it shopped for nutritious goods at the average Philadelphia super market. This was just one of the many stark facts Mariana Chilton of the Drexel University School of Public Health presented in her seminar "Hunger in Philadelphia? Evidence of Food Insecurity in the Midst of an Obesity Epidemic" yesterday at Houston Hall.

Bad calls are an unfortunate but ubiquitous aspect of most athletic competitions. But in some college sports - such as tennis and squash - opponents traditionally officiate each other, making bad calls even harder to swallow. Brandon O'Gara, a senior co-captain of the Penn men's tennis team, estimates that cheating occurs about a couple of times each match.