We've seen many politicians try to prevent sunlight from reaching City Hall. But we never thought Mayor Michael Nutter would be one of them. Last week, city authorities prevented reporters from entering a budget-related meeting between Nutter and City Council members.

The science of sleep suggests that sheep are best left to the barnyard. Three panelists spoke last night in a seminar entitled "Sleep 101," a forum that addressed the mechanics of sleep and the impact its loss can have on the mind and body. The lecture, held at the Annenberg School for Communications and sponsored by both the Trustees' Council of Penn Women and the Penn Women's Center, featured speakers from Penn's faculty who covered a wide variety of topics pertaining to sleep and its implications on health.

It's not easy being green, but Penn seems to be doing a pretty good job. While officials say there is always more to be done, compared with the way most U.S. institutions combat today's environmental challenges - from the high price of energy to the excessive waste produced in campus buildings - Penn is definitely at the higher end of the spectrum.

Kelly Scott's teammates have no problem with her horsing around - off the court, that is. Scott, a senior on the women's basketball team, picked up horseback riding as a youngster on a weekend excursion with her mom and continued competitively into high school.

After last week's election, both Washington and Penn politicos are in a transition period. In Washington, President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to take office. At Penn, with the presidential campaign out of the way, on-campus political groups are focusing on their internal elections.

Provost Ron Daniels will leave Penn to become the next president of Johns Hopkins University, officials announced yesterday. Daniels, who came to Penn just three and a half years ago after serving as the dean of the University of Toronto Law School, will assume his new post in early March.

Read a free copy of The New York Times every day? Download music from Ruckus? You've got Provost Ron Daniels to thank for that. Daniels, who was named Johns Hopkins University's next president yesterday, was embraced by student leaders for the enthusiasm he brought to projects devoted to improving student life.

Let's make one thing clear - Jill Ottinger doesn't throw like a girl. There's nothing too conspicuous about the 30-year-old Abington, Pa., native and professional chemist. That is, until she lofts a football and hits her receiver in stride. Last Sunday, her venue was Drexel's Buckley Field, at tryouts for the Philadelphia Firebirds, a professional women's football team that competes in the Independent Women's Football League.

With bike theft up this year and the South Street Bridge about to close for reconstruction, the Division of Public Safety is trying to increase awareness about bicycle safety. DPS is distributing brochures and attaching flyers with bicycle-security reminders to improperly secured bicycles.

A few weeks back, Wharton sophomore Keith Williams and some friends entered the McDonald's on 40th and Walnut streets during the hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning. As you probably already know, Williams and his friends were called "stupid school kids" and deliberately given bad service, despite treating the staff respectfully.

As women's basketball coach Pat Knapp analyzed a disappointing 7-22 campaign, he noticed a clear and disturbing trend. In 19 of 29 games -- many of them in the Ivy League - Penn's opponents started a small lineup, which created matchup problems for the Quakers.

Minority engineers are taking steps to build a stronger, more diverse community at Penn. The School of Engineering and Applied Sciences hosted a Minorities in Engineering gathering last night in the Towne building. The event, sponsored by Naked Chocolate, was organized by the Society of Women Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Queer Undergraduates in Engineering, Science and Technology.

The city's police forces have been largely spared from Mayor Michael Nutter's wide-ranging budget cuts, which were announced last week in response to the city's projected $1 billion budget gap over the next five years. Though there will be about 200 layoffs citywide, none are planned for Philadelphia Police officers.

Janice Dow is a College sophomore from Los Angeles, Calif. Her e-mail address is dow@dailypennsylvanian.com.

Does the early bird get the win? The Quakers certainly hope so. As the men's basketball team gets set for its season-opener against No. 1 North Carolina on Saturday, the preseason preparations have been subject to one slight scheduling change: 7 a.m. practices every Tuesday and Thursday morning.

America "Barack"-ed the vote. Now, will the new president Barack the world? Sir David Bell, chairman of the Financial Times and non-executive director of The Economist, certainly thinks so. "The world is unbelievably pleased about the outcome of this election," he said.

I always pity the professor or TA grading my blue-book exams. My handwriting gradually deteriorates to a foreign alphabet by the last page, and cross-outs overwhelm my intelligent reasoning and argumentation. Then there's the lack of flexibility to change an answer I wrote 50 minutes earlier.