Graduate students in Penn's nine Ph.D.-granting schools will enjoy longer childbirth leaves and increased faculty support under two policies recently revised by the Graduate Council of the Faculties. The Graduate and Professional Student Association is "very excited," chairman Andrew Rennekamp said.

Penn is leading the way in learning how the mind works. The University is part of a consortium that received a $10 million grant for five years from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to establish a 21st Century Center for Cognition and Science Instruction.

Las Vegas is typically known as "America's Playground," but for a group of Penn School of Nursing Nurse Practitioner students, it was the site of the culmination of months of hard work and diligent research. Graduate students Rebecca Hogan, Lisa Cantore, Ellen Clore, Amy Felix, Anne Grifo, Michelle Haimowitz and Megan Kinnear were awarded first prize for their research poster, "Assessment of the growth, nutrition knowledge, activity level and type 2 diabetes risk factors of children in the community," which they presented at the 24th Annual Pediatric Nursing Conference in Las Vegas.

On Monday, 22-year-old Jocelyn Kirsch, a former Drexel University student, pleaded guilty to six counts of criminal activity - all of which were committed with collaboration from '05 Penn alumnus Edward Anderton. Anderton also pleaded guilty last month to the same six counts, which include money laundering and identity theft.

Recently published book The Dark Side by author and New Yorker writer Jane Mayer ties the work of Penn professor and psychologist Martin Seligman to interrogation techniques used by the CIA to extract confessions from detainees allegedly linked to al Qaeda.

On July 8, Penn Medicine at Rittenhouse opened its doors for the first time at 18th and Lombard streets, the site that previously housed Graduate Hospital. The $70 million facility - which has a specific focus on rehabilitative services - is the result of a collaboration between the University of Pennsylvania Health System and the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Network.

Theft July 10 - Natalie Klett, 21, unaffiliated with the University, was arrested for allegedly leaving the Penn Bookstore, located at 3601 Walnut St., without paying for merchandise at about 4:30 p.m. July 8 - A secured projector was reported to have been removed by an unknown suspect from an office in the Life Science Building at 2 p.

Despite local population size decreasing to levels unseen in nearly a century, Philadelphians can expect economic change and development to shift the city in the right direction. According to census data released last week, Phoenix, Ariz. recently took Philadelphia's place as the fifth largest U.

This fall, students need look no further than 34th Street for their chocolate fix. The popular chocolatier Naked Chocolate Cafe will open a store at 34th and Walnut streets in September. The cafe will replace University Jewelers, which closed in May of this year.

College students often flaunt their school spirit with sweatshirts, flip-flops and face paint. Now, popular retailer Victoria's Secret is offering another outlet through which women can show school pride: their underwear. The brand's new PINK Collegiate Collection line, launched this month, features lingerie and loungewear with the logos of 33 colleges and universities including Penn State and Boston College.

When University City District Executive Director Lewis Wendell exited the subway station at 40th and Market streets for the first time three years ago, he was greeted by an unwelcoming scene. He contrasted the "uninviting" area with what is otherwise a "relatively vibrant city.

According to a recent Standard and Poor's newsletter, Philadelphia Media Holdings, LLC -- the company that owns The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News and prints The Daily Pennsylvanian - has lately been experiencing financial difficulties.

For the 37 years that he has spent behind the wheel of a taxi, Ken Schwartz, supervisor for Quaker City Cab, Inc., has believed that "a rolling cab is always first out," he said. Even today with gas prices at all-time highs, Schwartz keeps his wheels spinning and air conditioning blowing.

On June 26, Philadelphia's citizens finally got what they'd been waiting for: Mayor Michael Nutter endorsed PennPraxis's recommendations for clearing and greening the Delaware waterfront. Community leaders gathered at Independence Seaport Museum to hear the announcement.

Wharton Computing performed a major upgrade to the school's e-mail server last month by switching to Microsoft Exchange 2007, which offers more space, advanced security and other new features to Wharton students. The upgrade is a response to "student requests for more e-mail storage space," according to the Wharton Computing Web site.

Ajay Nair, an associate dean from Columbia University, took over on July 1 as the new Associate Vice Provost for Student Affairs. He is replacing Therese Conn, who will retire from the University as of Sept. 30. Nair returns to Penn after serving as the Associate Dean of Student Affairs for Columbia College and the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science.

For nearly 20 years, drug companies sold contraceptives to college and low-income health clinics at deeply discounted rates. But a provision of the 2005 Deficit Reduction Act, which took effect in 2006, excluded the centers from low-price eligibility. The law's "sudden and unexpected" impact sent birth control prices soaring nationwide, said Penn's Women's Health Director Deborah Mathis.