Welcome to University City, land of the $4 Starbucks latte and home of the $48 American Apparel sweatshirt. The 300 acres of land that Penn owns in University City rise above the desolate, crime-ridden lands of West Philadelphia like the Emerald City over Oz.

The past couple of months have been busy for 2005 College alumnus Edward Anderton and his girlfriend Jocelyn Kirsch. To support their lavish lifestyle, the two committed fraud on a massive scale, taking in thousands of dollars in forged credit- card transactions, according to Philadelphia Police.

'The best defense is a spirited offense," the saying goes. And our generation has been forced to go on the defense. We're under constant assault from politicians, pundits and ex-hippies, explaining away our cohort's failure to stir up mass resistance and apologizing for our supposed apathy.

Glen Miller's Quakers have always tried to play faster than their opponents, but against North Carolina, it was Penn who seemed to have its feet stuck in the tar. Every time Penn got a big basket, the Tar Heels were bolting down the court for a quick answer.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has cleared the way for casino construction to begin in Philadelphia. In a ruling Monday, the court found "deliberate inaction" in City Council's failure to vote on zoning and land-use requests from the SugarHouse casino, set to be built in Fishtown and Northern Liberties, and issued the go-ahead itself.

Theft Nov. 25 - A male student reported that at about 1 p.m., an unknown suspect removed a painting from the a building on the 3600 block of Locust Walk. Nov. 25 - A female student reported that at about 5:05 p.m., an unknown suspect removed a computer from a secured room within the Clinical Research Building, located at 415 Curie Blvd.

Amidst all the media attention regarding the war in Iraq, there exists a myriad of differing opinions on how to bring stability to the nation. Chris Coyne, author of After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy, provided a fresh perspective on the United States' foreign policy at the Penn Bookstore yesterday evening.

There's no place to go but up. After an embarrassing 66-26 loss to Villanova on Saturday, the women's basketball team is looking to rebound when it hosts the Lafayette Leopards (5-3) at the Palestra tonight. "We're anxious to show that we're not the team that we were against Villanova," junior Anca Popovici said.

Students shouldn't have to jump hurdles to balance the classes they want with the credits they need. But certain policies, like the College's cap on credit for outside courses, only complicate the scheduling process. Along with their majors, College students take around 20 classes to fulfill General Education and elective requirements.

The Quakers' standard response to the obligatory how-does-it-feel-to-play-a-top-ranked-team question had been taken as gospel: they would make a conscious effort not to think about how good the Tar Heels were. Seemed simple enough. But the verdict is in, by a 106-71 majority, on how well that worked out.

Strobe lights, music, karaoke and chocolate fondue - sounds like a party! Add Penn President Amy Gutmann and a student dressed as a cardboard dreidel and you have last night's Hanukkah candle lighting at Hillel. Penn Hillel celebrated the first night of the Festival of Lights with a party for the University community.

Video games and homework aren't always mutually exclusive. One-hundred-fifty students at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering took an innovative new class on video games this semester, playing them on various consoles designed to provide students with a technical and historical foundation for games.

Penn Student Agencies has added a host of new services for Penn students to utilize. PSA general manager Aviva Hirschfeld will now offer a notary service from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays or by appointment. Notarized signatures are often required for legal documents like drivers' licenses and house deeds.

Feisty terriers nibble away at Crimson BOSTON (AP) - Corey Lowe had 23 points to help Boston University snap a six-game losing streak with a 79-72 victory over Harvard last night. The Terriers have won 14 of the last 15 games in the series, with BU coach Dennis Wolff 13-1 against the Crimson.

North Carolina coach Roy Williams and Penn counterpart Glen Miller met at halfcourt just minutes before last night's game. The two shared an extended handshake on the sideline, exchanged jovial words and then bolted for their respective benches. That was as close as Penn would come to the Tar Heels all game.

The alleged exposure of a security guard to a Penn student after he walked her home one night does not seem to have affected the number of people using the escort service, the Division of Public Safety has reported. Current walking-escort numbers are "running pretty much neck-and-neck" with escort use prior to the exposure, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said.

Joanne Tong is a Wharton senior from Manila, Philippines. Her e-mail address is tong@dailypennsylvanian.com.