The South Street Bridge will close for repairs on Dec. 8, according to Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush. The bridge will remain closed for the next two years while a new bridge is being built. All traffic across the bridge will be diverted to Walnut and Chestnut streets.

The future of U.S. and European Union trade relationships revolves around collaboration and harmonious relationships, according to U.S. Department of State representative Janet Shannon. Shannon, who works in the Office of Bilateral Trade, shared her insight yesterday in a presentation sponsored by the Lauder Institute of Management and International Studies.

Despite rumors that Alpha Chi Omega's annual Big Man On Campus philanthropy event was going to be canceled this year, the event is expected to occur as planned tomorrow evening. The participating students have signed a pledge not to consume alcohol during the pageant and several members of Alpha Chi Omega national headquarters will be present to supervise the event, said Wharton senior and Interfraternity Council President David Ashkenazi.

U.S. News and World Report may say Penn is tied for sixth place, but it's number two for the quality of its students' note-taking, according to GradeGuru.com. GradeGuru is a Web site that lets students from any university post old notes and study guides from classes and get paid for them.

Legal Studies and Business Ethics professor Kevin Werbach is serving on President-elect Barack Obama's transition team. Werbach, who was a technology policy advisor to Obama during the campaign, is the co-leader of the Agency Review Team for the Federal Communications Commission.

Penn professors are using their knowledge outside of the classroom - this month, some traveled as far as the Middle East to help draft solutions to major world problems. These faculty members, including Penn President Amy Gutmann, went to Dubai, a city in the United Arab Emirates, to meet with other members of new World Economic Forum councils.

Former Economics professor Rafael Robb will be sentenced today at the Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas for killing his wife, Ellen, in December 2006. Lawyers for Rafael Robb - who pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter last November - are expected to argue that Ellen Robb's mental health at the time is a reason he should receive a relatively light sentence.

Former Economics professor Rafael Robb will serve five to 10 years in prison and 10 years probation for killing his wife, Ellen, in December 2006.

Two Penn grads have been tapped to lead the biggest financial bailout plan in history. Assistant U.S. attorney and 1992 Penn alumnus Neil Barofsky appeared before the Senate last night after President George Bush nominated him as the special inspector general of the Treasury's Troubled Assets Relief Program.

When the South Street Bridge closes for reconstruction in December, traffic on the Schuylkill Expressway will worsen and fewer taxicabs will prowl the streets of University City. But on the bright side, results from an ongoing traffic study indicate that the bridge is mainly used for short trips between University City and Center City - so most of its traffic can be diverted to the Walnut or Chestnut Street bridges.

Penn President Amy Gutmann and her husband, Columbia law professor Michael Doyle, have made a $100,000 contribution toward undergraduate resources at Penn. The donation will be split between the Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships and the senior-class gift program.

Despite its earlier efforts, putting syllabi online continues to be a pipe dream for the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education. In a meeting last week, the Provost's Council of Undergraduate Deans announced that the Online Syllabi Initiative SCUE has been pushing for the past three years will not be feasible until at least 2010.

"Work hard, play hard," may be many students' motto, but deciding where to draw that line can be difficult. Balancing more enjoyable extracurricular activities with schoolwork can jeopardize academic performance, but some students say it's worth the consequences.

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Bienvenidos a Penn. Or at least that's the message the University hopes to convey with a new initiative to produce admissions materials in Spanish. The materials will be intended for Penn parents who speak little or no English. The Latino Coalition, Undergraduate Assembly, International Student Council and Office of Undergraduate Admissions are working together on the initiative.

With the opening of the new CVS at 3925 Walnut St., beer pong just got a little more convenient. The new location under the Radian - which opened yesterday - is one of the only CVS branches in the area to stock ping pong balls, along with the 25,000 other items usually found in the convenience stores, manager Jim Esmond said.

The highlight of Wharton junior Ashley Gunn's summer was spending an hour talking to President Bush. "He answered questions off-the-record and was completely candid and honest," she said. Gunn - who was one of only 100 summer interns to volunteer at the White House - earned this conversation while working with the National Economic Counsel, mostly researching renewable energy and the housing bill.