The Lambda Alliance, the umbrella organization for Penn's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community, elected its new board Thursday. The Daily Pennsylvanian sat down with re-elected chairman and College junior Dennie Zastrow and newly-elected vice chairwoman of political affairs and Wharton junior Baylee Feore to discuss ideas for next year.

Many people at Penn worked hard to get Barack Obama elected in November - and now they're preparing to see him sworn in as the 44th President of the United States. Students are getting ready for next Tuesday's inauguration by traveling to Washington D.C. or taking time off from classes to watch the ceremony on campus.

A fire forced some students to evacuate the Quadrangle Friday evening. Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Stef Cella and Facilities workers on the scene said a lamp ignited a bed sheet in a dorm room on the first floor of Leidy, which is located on the south side of the Upper Quad, at about 7 p.m.

Police are still looking for the man who sexually assaulted two Penn students in an armed home invasion Dec. 19. Philadelphia Police say that the incident, which occurred in an apartment on the 4400 block of Spruce Street, is similar to two others that occurred in Center City in October and believe the same person is responsible for all three attacks.

Penn's latest effort to reach out to high-achieving students in need of economic assistance is already showing signs of success. This year, 26 students will receive full, four-year scholarships to Penn because of the University's new partnership with QuestBridge - a program that links low-income students with grants at top colleges.

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

Penn students this weekend harnessed a new power in the fight against AIDS in Africa: soccer. This past Saturday, 24 teams of three players gathered in Hutchinson Gymnasium for the first-annual "Lose the Shoes 3v3" soccer tournament. The event was organized by Penn AIDS Awareness to raise funding for the non-profit organization Grassroot Soccer, which trains professional soccer players to educate African youths and motivate them to fight HIV/AIDS.

It's a good thing that coaches can't play for their teams. If they could, the Penn women's squash team would be facing a tough task in tonight's match at Franklin and Marshall. The Diplomats' men's and women's head coach, John White was ranked No. 1 in the world in March 2004, and retired from professional squash in October as No.

The financial fraud of New York financier Bernie Madoff did not affect Penn's endowment, University spokeswoman Lori Doyle said - but that doesn't mean the University wasn't affected in other ways. Last month, the Picower Foundation of Florida - which funded two Penn research projects - announced that it would cease all grantmaking because the foundation had lost its entire endowment with Madoff.

When women's basketball senior captain Carrie Biemer sees her team show flashes of exceptional play to stake an early lead, she senses that her team is on the verge of turning the corner. But suddenly - and without explanation - the Quakers revert to their wildly inconsistent ways.

The Penn women's basketball team may have thought it was experiencing déj… vu. For the second consecutive game, Penn held a small lead in the closing seconds, this time at home against Navy. Once again, the Quakers forced a missed shot, scrambled for the rebound and dove on the loose ball.

Free use of laundry machines in College Houses lets students save money when they wash their clothes. And with new online alerts that track the status of washers and dryers, students will be able to conserve their time as well. The new service, called Laundry Alert, lets residents check the status of laundry machines in their building.

Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas Judge Paul Tressler denied former Economics professor Rafael Robb's appeal of his five- to 10-year prison sentence for killing his wife, Ellen, according to The Times Herald of Norristown. Frank DeSimone, Robb's attorney, filed a motion for reconsideration of Robb's sentence on Dec. 1.

Alicia Puglionesi is a College senior from Havertown, Pa. Her e-mail is puglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com

It's been a tough grind to start the season for the Penn men's basketball team. First, there was the trip down to Dean Smith Center to open up against the No.1 North Carolina Tar Heels. Then, the Quakers got taken down a few blocks away from the Palestra at Drexel in a game that finished right as many Penn students were just waking up.

November saw a continuation of crime trends from earlier this year - violent crime and overall crime are both down significantly from 2007, but some types of property crime have risen. Violent crimes, like robberies and assaults, are down 39 percent for the year, according to the Division of Public Safety.