Once again, politics is coming before the health of Philadelphia citizens. After City Council finally came together - despite years of infighting - to ban smoking in restaurants, Mayor John Street is threatening to once again ruin everything.

A multi-million dollar performing arts space is an unlikely priority for a university best-known for its business school.

People come to Penn for all sorts of reasons. Some cite the top-notch academics. For others, it's the urban location. For Rob Carpick, it was health insurance for his husband.

Though the offensive coaching staff for the Penn football team features a completely new look this year, don't expect the style of play to be much different from last year. Head coach Al Bagnoli does not intend to implement many different strategies in the team's offensive scheme this year, despite several important coaching changes that occurred in the off-season.

The Quakers' 2006 defense couldn't be any more different from the 2005 defense - not in terms of the 11 men on the field, but in terms of the expectations at each position. Last year, a young, inexperienced front seven joined a secondary stacked with seniors, but that didn't seem to matter much.

Harvard University announced yesterday that it will eliminate its early admission program next fall, replacing it with a single Jan. 1 application deadline for the Class of 2012.

Ready to have your mom surf your photo galleries or be 'poked' by someone who is not a college student? Facebook.com is set to become accessible to anyone with a valid e-mail address, company executives say. The change will come within a month, but no specific date has been announced yet.

A fire alarm at about quarter to 7 yesterday morning sent bleary-eyed residents of Rodin College House out of their beds and into the stairwells, where they were told to await further instructions over. Firefighters found no evidence of smoke or fire, said Karima Zedan, a spokeswoman for the Division of Public Safety, which means it was most likely triggered by dirt or by a bug.

If you are looking for a poll concerning football, you might go to ESPN, USA Today or The Associated Press. But here's one name you probably wouldn't think of: Wharton. But Penn's business school has suddenly gotten into the business of football rankings, publishing a study over the summer.

Each of us has a personal story regarding his or her experience with the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. I was starting a sabbatical at Columbia University, having arrived the first week of September. As an avid cyclist, I was riding my bike along the Hudson River that day.

Zeta Beta Tau is coming back to campus, and they're starting from scratch. But the fraternity says the start-up effort is going strong. The fraternity is working to enlist a new crop of members, who will be "founding fathers" of the new chapter at Penn, said ZBT national director for expansion Matt Tobe.

If Ivy League executive director Jeff Orleans is your 75-year-old grandmother, Penn football coach Al Bagnoli is a 16-year-old girl. That's right, coach, a 16-year-old girl. And it's not just because of the tanning. As reported in last Friday's Daily Pennsylvanian, the two stand on opposite sides of the text messaging debate when it comes to recruiting.

Familiar signs will soon disappear from Walnut Street businesses vacate en masse, making way for a University building project.

Striking graduate students at New York University have placed their soapboxes back on the shelf - temporarily. NYU graduate student leaders say the campaign is "alive and well" despite the hiatus and they will continue their protests in other ways. And Penn graduate students are still vocal in their support for their NYU brethren.

Experience is a key asset for an assistant coach in any sport, and in new women's crew coach Anne Kakela, Penn's team will learn from a recognized Pacific-10 coach and a former Olympic rower. Announced as new head coach Mike Lane's assistant yesterday, Kakela comes from Oregon State, where she was an assistant from 2003-06.

Penn students may be excited to be upgrading from Webmail, but experts say the companies battling to replace it have just as much to gain.

Philadelphia just got a major wake-up call: It was ranked the most impoverished of the nation's 10 largest cities.