Amid the current economic crisis, many public budgets are facing cuts. Pennsylvania's is no exception. In the proposed Pennsylvania budget for next year, Gov. Ed Rendell will reduce funding to Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine by 10 percent, or almost $4 million.

The Greater Philadelphia Film Office's "problem-solver" shared her experience with students interested in the entertainment business on Friday. The Fox Leadership prorram hosted Sharon Pinkenson, executive director of the Film Office, at Leadership Hall.

As the new semester began, many students encountered unfamiliar white signs at the dining halls and vending machines telling them that products prepared with peanut butter have been removed. Since January, nationwide recalls on peanut products have been made as the Food and Drug Administration alerted the public to a salmonella outbreak - and Penn is following suit.

Two Jews, two Palestinians, a law student and a recent alum sounds more like the makings of a joke than the makings of a non-profit microfinance company. But gathered in Huntsman Hall last night, the founders of lendforpeace.org were not kidding around as they celebrated the launch of their Web site.

One perk of being at Penn is that one often gets to see, meet and hear first-hand from world-renowned scholars and influential leaders - Anderson Cooper, the CEO of Coca Cola company, just to name a few. And this semester, Nicholas Kristof will be added to that list - the award-winning journalist will speak at the Ambani Auditorium in Huntsman Hall tonight at 6:30 p.

High-rise residents and Nursing students may have extra incentive to nix the elevators for stairs in the future. The Undergraduate Assembly's Civic and Community Engagement Committee has drafted a proposal to paint the stairwells in a number of buildings, including Harnwell, Harrison and Rodin college houses and Claire Fagin Hall.

Since it was passed in 1993, the Clinton administration's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy has prevented open members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community from serving in the military due to claims of persecution and forced resignations. Fortunately for those the policy affects, times may change with the new presidential administration - a change many in the LGBT community would welcome on campus.

Last night, business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi embraced the relationship between business and philanthropy at its second annual corporate benefit in the Woodlands Ballroom of the Inn at Penn. The corporate benefit is Alpha Kappa Psi's signature event and one of the largest philanthropic events on campus.

The casting team of The Last Airbender is offering Philadelphians one last chance to steal the limelight. A second casting call for the M. Night Shyamalan movie will be held on Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Independence Hall

According to Anwar Shah, the industrialized world has a lot to learn from the industrializing nations of the world. Last night in the ARCH Building, the Department of Slavic Languages and Literature together with the Political Science Department hosted a lecture by Shah - lead economist and coordinator of the operations evaluation department at the World Bank.

Izzy and Zoe's, the Jewish deli-style restaurant on S. 40th Street, is no longer in business. Because the restaurant's owners did not fulfill their lease obligations, Penn - the landlord for the space - took action, according to University officials. "Intermittent closings" were a primary breach of the obligations, according to Ed Datz, executive director of Real Estate at Penn Facilities and Real Estate Services.

After last year's discontinuation of the popular Broadway production, Rent is back for a national tour featuring members of its original cast - performing this weekend right here in Philadelphia. The tour began early this January in Cleveland, Ohio, and the production will run until Sunday at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

Juicy Campus, the popular but controversial gossip Web site, has had the last bits of juice squeezed out of it. With little revenue and not enough venture-capital funding, the site was taken offline permanently yesterday. Founder and CEO Matt Ivester attributed the shutting of the site to plummeting online ad revenues and the overall "economic downturn," according to a press release from the company.

A 21-year-old man, unaffiliated with the University, will face charges after allegedly lying to police about being the victim of a shooting. Police responded to a report of a "person with a gun" near 40th and Market streets at about 11:35 a.m. yesterday, according to Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Stef Cella.

Tomorrow, Penn School of Design students will travel to the heart of Amish Country to learn about Philadelphia's regional food system. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Professor Domenic Vitiello will lead the Farm to City bus tour to Lancaster County, Pa., where students will visit area farms, distribution sites and the Lancaster Central Market.

New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that Aetna, the third-largest health-insurance company in the U.S., agreed to reimburse more than 73,000 students at over 200 colleges nationwide for underpaying student claims. The company, which serves as the health care provider for the Penn Student Insurance Plan, underpaid more than $5.

Students enduring freezing wind, rain or snow while waiting for Penn Transit may be in for a shorter wait thanks to the recent installation of a GPS tracking system. Operational since September last year, the service enables students to check when the shuttle or bus they are waiting for will arrive at the desired transit stop.