The Recording Industry Association of America sent another round of pre-litigation settlement letters to 18 Penn students last week. The RIAA - the trade group that represents the U.S. recording industry - sent 569 letters to 26 institutions in total, making this the largest wave of letters since its campaign targeting college students launched in February 2007.

Caffeine, long notorious for its mass consumption despite presumed negative health effects, may be slowly redeeming itself on the health scene - news welcomed by coffee-addicted college students. A recent study at the University of North Dakota found that daily caffeine intake in rabbits may help block the same processes that have been linked to Alzheimer's, stroke and other neurodegenerative diseases.

This time of year, there's more than just spring in the air. During these last few weeks of school, Locust Walk is jam-packed with performance groups yelling, dancing and blasting music - all for the sake of advertising their spring shows. Just walking to recitation involves having at least fifteen different fliers shoved in your face.

Assault April 7- Charles Gines, 40, unaffiliated with the University and of the 3900 block of Ludlow Street, was arrested for allegedly assaulting a 46-year-old female unaffiliated with the University, while involved in a dispute at 10:25 a.m. Burglary April 8 - Two male complainants, 20, unaffiliated with the University, reported that an unknown suspect removed two laptops from their residence on the 4000 block of Baltimore Avenue at 8:30 p.

Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama aren't the only ones debating major issues facing America - the Penn Democrats and College Republicans came together for a debate of their own last night at the Penn Bookstore. The event, an annual tradition among the two groups, served as a forum for members of both parties to debate a variety of issues.

While Penn students bemoan the latest yearly round of tuition increases, they may be surprised to learn that the University actually ends up shouldering much of the cost of teaching its students. Tuition and other fees made up 72 percent of the total cost of educating Penn's undergraduate and graduate populations last fiscal year, according to the University's financial statements.

The Division of Public Safety responded to 24 Spring Fling related incidents this year - down from 28 last year. The incidents included 19 hospitalizations, two arrests and three investigations, according to DPS officials. There were no loud party disturbances this year.

Nursing Dean Afaf Meleis has a history of never taking no for an answer. Meleis began her career after finishing high school in the Middle East when she was just 15. She was one of the top candidates to enter Alexandria University in Egypt, but because the minimum age of acceptance was 16, she was told that she was too young to attend.

The Democratic presidential candidates will face off in Center City tonight - but Fox News pollster and Penn alumnus Frank Luntz will bring the excitement of the debate to campus. As Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama debate at the National Constitution Center in this primary season's 21st Democratic debate, Luntz will conduct focus groups at Penn that will air on Fox tonight.

The Nursing School received a $10 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to study sedation management in critically ill children on ventilators. It is the largest grant the school has ever received. The study - which began earlier this month - aims to minimize recovery times of patients on ventilation tubes by tightly managing titration of sedatives.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to see China and the Olympics," said College sophomore Dennis Murphy, who is going on the Penn-in-Beijing program this summer. The summer abroad program - run by the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication - is centering its second-annual program and its courses around the fact that the Olympics will be in Beijing later in the summer.

Mayor Michael Nutter's first 100 days in office have been anything but uneventful. He has the sizable task of managing a city that has seen its share of crises in recent years. He became Philadelphia's mayor amid some criticism, but if the reception he got after arriving on campus yesterday was any indication, many members of the Penn community stand firmly behind Nutter.

In light of shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University by mentally unstable students, universities are trying to figure out how to prevent similar situations from happening again. One such way may be through increased scrutiny of students' pasts during the admissions process.

Rick Heaslip clears between $500 and $1,000 an hour on a good day. Heaslip, a College junior, plays poker professionally when he's not studying Asian-American war literature or working toward his English major. Heaslip is a member of a community of Penn students who play professional or semi-professional poker in person and online.

The Penn Interfraternity Council is urging the Greek community to write letters telling their congressmen to support the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act, a bill which permits tax-deductible donations to Greek chapter housing corporations. The proposal will make it easier for many chapters to increase alumni donations for these important upgrades.

Senior societies are all about big names - big-name leaders on campus and their own big names scrawled all over Locust Walk. With three of the oldest senior societies at Penn - the Sphinx Senior Society, the Friar Senior Society and the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society - admitting their new classes this past week, each claims to have snatched up the best and brightest campus leaders around.

Which Greek god sprang from the head of Zeus? Who makes more money, MBAs or geologists? These are not the typical questions asked of Penn students, but during yesterday's College Palooza on the Green, visitors were quizzed with such trivia. If you're curious - the answers are Athena and geologists, respectively.