Wharton and College sophomore Julia Luscombe spent the summer jumping from coast to coast before jetting off to spend two weeks in Japan and South Korea. The best part? It was free, courtesy of Penn. But here's the catch: As a member of the Provost's Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program, Luscombe had to research alternative systems of currency around the world.

A female Penn undergraduate has been brought back to safety after threatening to jump from the roof of the Fresh Grocer parking garage. Penn Police, the Philadelphia Police and Fire Departments and University and city counselors negotiated with her for about two hours until she eventually climbed back down at about 5:20 p.m.

$1,000Minimum donation to attend a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton Wednesday night in Philadelphia.Source: The Daily News

America may be ready again to open its gates to huddled masses yearning to learn. According to a report published in late August by the Washington D.C.-based Council of Graduate Students, offers of admission to international applicants by U.S. graduate programs is up by 8 percent over last year.

First impressions are everything. And the crumbly, paint-chipped, 15-year-old signs that once stood above Spruce, Walnut and Chestnut streets were not very impressive. The signs, looming over a few of the main gateways to Penn's campus and University City, were an unattractive welcome for freshmen coming to the University for the first time.

A legal battle brewing in Pennsylvania's Supreme Court could leave state beer distributors with a massive hangover. The case, recently accepted by the state's high court, could open the door for six-pack sales in supermarkets and convenience stores. Sheetz, a gas station and convenience store chain located mostly in central Pennsylvania, is appealing a lower court's decision that would stop it from selling beer.

Avery Lawrence is a College senior from Charlottesville, Va. His e-mail address is lawrence@dailypennsylvanian.com

As the fourth season of the hit show about a movie star and his friends living in Los Angeles drew to a close, guys all over campus watched together - and perhaps even bonded.

Two years after Hurricane Katrina, members of the Penn community are responding to residual issues plaguing the New Orleans and Mississippi communities. Connie Hoe and Namhee Yun, two recent graduates of Penn's School of Social Policy and Practice, and first-year SP2 graduate student Crystal Lucas spent last July in Pearlington - a small town located on the western border of Mississippi - addressing the mental-health needs of local residents.

Over a dozen American universities received bomb threats within the past ten days, though no explosives were found at any of the threatened sites. The Federal Bureau of Investigations is still examining the apparent hoaxes. "We're working with the college and university police and the local police to investigate these matters," FBI Special Agent Richard Kolko said.

Ellen Robb's death was a personal attack made by someone who wanted her face bludgeoned so badly that she became "hardly recognizable as a human being," according to two mental-health professionals. But the lawyer for Rafael Robb, the Economics professor who will face trial this fall in connection with the death of Ellen, his wife, wants to bar that expert testimony from court.

After two mistrials, the stage is set for the third act of the Irina Malinovskaya murder-trial saga. Jury selection began yesterday for the next trial of Malinovskaya, a Wharton undergraduate accused of murder, Delaware state prosecution spokesman Jason Miller said.

Fear of the Freshman 15 is not the only reason new students are thinking about food. The University chose Michael Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma for this year's Penn Reading Project, for which freshmen are assigned a book to read over the summer. The book tracks different meals from their start on the farm to their finale on the dinner table - everything from a hunter's catch to a McDonald's meal.

In a move that promises to remake the face of University City, Penn announced Friday that it has closed on the deal to purchase the postal lands east of campus. The sale caps off years of negotiations and marks a key point in a 25 to 30 year process of bridging the gap between Center City and Penn's campus.

The administration can finally exhale: They officially have the postal lands. After last Friday's announcement that the University purchased the 18-acre plot of land between Walnut and Chestnut streets, top administrators are eager to bring their long-awaited project one step closer to completion.

While most 15-year-olds are waiting for Sweet-16 invitations and drivers licenses, 15 year-old Brittney Exline is waiting to meet her Math 104 professor. She's also trying to test into a higher level math class - and don't be surprised if she does.

It's getting even harder to earn an MBA from Wharton. Or from anywhere else. Local and international applications to MBA programs are rising steadily due to a stronger economy and more company demands for management degrees, the Graduate Management Admissions Council reported in August.