New men's basketball coach Glen Miller hasn't seen his team play a single game yet, but his program has already been hit with a series of unfortunate setbacks that could leave him shorthanded when the season begins.

Despite several shootings on campus this year, officials at Security on Campus think Penn hasn't dropped the ball on safety. In fact, SOC, a national non-profit organization dedicated to preventing violence on college campuses, selected the University to host its kick-off to the second annual National Campus Safety Awareness Month, held yesterday.

All charges have been dropped against College senior Bryan Warner, who was charged with attempted murder earlier this year. The Philadelphia District Attorney's Office dropped the case after the complainant failed to report to court on three separate occasions.

Field hockey coach Val Cloud doesn't know what to expect from her team. "The challenge is, I have a lot of talent, probably more talent than we've ever had before," Cloud said. "But it's like a puzzle, putting the right people in the right spot who play well together.

Irina Malinovskaya, a Wharton undergraduate charged with first-degree murder, will face her second trial Sept. 12. A hung jury voted 11-1 in favor of Malinovskaya's acquittal in February, and prosecutors have decided to hold a retrial. Malinovskaya is accused of murdering Temple University student Irina Zlotnikov.

Get ready to cut the cords. Penn has rolled out wireless access for all 11 college houses and Sansom Place in time for the school year, allowing students to finally break away from their ethernet cables. The project cost $700,000 and was completed in mid-July, said Marilyn Spicer, associate director of computing.

Alcor, a polar bear who underwent major surgery at Penn's George D. Widener Veterinary Hospital, died August 21 on his way back to Ohio. He was brought to Penn because of severe fractures to his right front leg that are believed to have been sustained while he was playing with his brother Mizar.

It could be your worst nightmare. After a night of unprotected sex, women can find themselves scared, confused and at risk for an unplanned pregnancy. These women have had the option of taking emergency contraception - or "the morning-after pill" - since it became available via prescription in 1998.

Philadelphia's political atmosphere may achieve a combustible level by the November 7 elections, but political analysts and campaign representatives say the city is just warming up. Two critical races - one for a U.S. Senate seat and one for governor - have little more than two months to go, and the campaigns are well under way.

Former Penn professor Tracy McIntosh remains on probation as he awaits a superior court decision on whether he will face harsher penalties for his sexual assault conviction. McIntosh was sentenced in March 2005 to 11 to 23 months of house arrest after being charged with sexually assaulting the 23-year-old niece of a close friend when she visited him on campus.

Philadelphia resident John Waynes cools off by wading in a fountain in Love Park while listening to music. Philadelphia was struck by a heat-wave over the summer that sent temperatures well into the 90s. Police threatened to issue $25 tickets to anyone who went into the city's fountains.

Glen Miller has yet to coach a game for the Red and Blue. But after a hectic summer for the newly minted chief of the University's most popular athletic program, it's hard to imagine that he was hired only a few short months ago.

Three weeks ago, a media poll anointed Harvard the favorite for the upcoming Ivy League football season, but recent personnel losses could vault Penn right back to the top. In June, the Crimson lost captain Matthew Thomas, an all-league linebacker the previous season, after he was suspended for all of 2006.

These students have spent hours waiting in line. They have endured stress and frustration. And they haven't even started class yet. Terror threats targeting planes from London's Heathrow Airport earlier this month have put air travel on high alert and prompted changes in security procedures at U.

A space devoted to Penn's performing arts groups is finally open for business. Construction is finished on the Platt Student Performing Arts House - located beneath Stouffer College House - and the space is ready for the singers, actors and dancers who plan to rehearse there this fall.

Author John McPhee is among the 2007 participants in one of Kelly Writers House's most well-loved programs. The winner of a 1999 Pulitzer Prize, McPhee joins Jamaica Kincaid and Donald Hall as next spring's Writers House fellows. McPhee is the author, most recently, of Uncommon Carriers.