The Philadelphia Zoning Board of Adjustment is likely to give significant weight to the City Planning Commission's recommendation to approve plans for a hotel at 40th and Pine Streets, but community opposition still has the project up in the air. After hearing from developers as well as long term residents of the area, the City Planning Commission recommended on Tuesday that the ZBA approve the 11-story extended-stay hotel.

The University is taking a wait-and-see approach to evaluating how the recent chaos on Wall Street will affect fundraising. The fall of major financial firms like Lehman Brothers Holdings and Merrill Lynch & Co. has left University officials concerned, but they are not yet making any major decisions or assessments about Penn's $3.5 billion capital campaign.

According to Information Systems and Computing, longer is better. ISC is planning for all PennKey passwords to eventually be changed to "passphrases," ISC Associate Vice President Robin Beck said.

Philadelphia's first Deputy Mayor for Public Safety, Everett Gillison, met with the University City Public Safety Group yesterday to address area security initiatives. The group includes safety professionals from the University City District, Philadelphia Police, universities and neighborhood watch groups.

DVDs and blow-up dolls from the American Heart Association may soon save lives on campus. Part of a take-home kit, these tools can teach anyone - regardless of medical background - how to perform CPR through a 22-minute hands-on video tutorial. Efforts at getting these kits subsidized and available to students have been pioneered by College senior Kirk Lozada and Benjamin Abella, clinical research director for Penn's Center for Resuscitation Science.

He hosts his own show at prime time on CNN, his book topped The New York Times bestseller list, and he has received the Emmy Award four times. And now, Anderson Cooper, a member of the "best political team on TV" will follow the footsteps of his fellow - if less serious - newsman, Stephen Colbert

Felicity Paxton, the former assistant director of the Penn Women's Center, became the new director on Sept. 1. She also serves as the Faculty Fellow for Stouffer College House and is an adjunct professor in the English, Communications and Women's Studies Departments.

In a city suffering a population decline, some organizations are trying to share the Brotherly Love. Philadelphia's population decline from 2000 to 2007 was second only to New Orleans among major U.S. cities, with job losses and economic issues taking the blame.

College junior Sarah Martin sees volunteering during this year's presidential campaign as a "once-in-a-lifetime" opportunity, and she isn't letting it slip by. Behind the flyers, clipboards and Locust Walk tables are an especially dedicated few - students who are giving up their weekdays and weekends, their nights and days, to get Sen.

Last week Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) asked officials at the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury Department to develop a new tax form specifically for colleges and universities. The proposal for the new form is part of a wider governmental movement, led by Grassley, to examine how universities manage their money as tuition costs continue to rise.

With volunteers passing out voter-registration forms at every corner, it is hard to imagine a Penn student being unable to register. But for the underclassmen who won't celebrate their 18th birthdays until after Nov. 4, the phrase "four more years" has taken on a new meaning.

The Scandinavian population at Penn isn't huge. Nor is there overwhelming Polish or Vietnamese representation in the Penn student body. Even so, these are just a few of the growing number of heritages at the forefront of student clubs on campus. Such denominations can be a significant part of students' lives and one that many choose to explore or celebrate within a club structure.

Getting credit for courses taken outside of Penn just got a whole lot easier - or so the School of Arts and Sciences says. This past summer SAS launched a new computerized program designed to make credit transfer easier for students who have transferred from another school, earned cre

David Thornburgh was recently appointed executive director of the Fels Institute of Government, Penn's graduate program that educates and trains leaders to achieve results in public work. Thornburgh will succeed Donald Kettl, who recently retired from the position and returned to full-time research and teaching in the Department of Political Science.

Engineering sophomore Joe Weinhoffer says that among his group of friends, Michael Sheahan was "the glue that brought us together." Those friends and classmates of Sheahan, an Engineering sophomore who was killed in an Aug. 25 car accident, came together last night in McClelland Hall to share memories and honor Sheahan's life.

Every year, Penn students and their families face rising tuition costs and high-interest loans. But don't expect either presidential candidate to make those issues a campaign focus anytime soon. Both Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain and Democratic nominee Sen.

Mornings begin for Engineering student Rob Yaffe at 8:15, when he stumbles out of his double suite in Riepe, devours a bowl of Trix and wanders, bleary-eyed, to his 9 a.m. class. Like most freshmen living in the Quadrangle, Yaffe appreciates his air conditioning, beautiful view and the food carts next door.