University City has received excellent marks in all subjects on its 2008 District Report Card. According to the report, in the last 10 years UCD has seen a 20-percent decrease in crime , a 16.5-percent increase in employment, improvements in pedestrian lighting and numerous green initiatives.

Pierre De Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympics, once summed up his opinions on the Games in a legendary quote. "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part." It took eight years on the National Team and a missed qualification for the 2004 Athens Games, but 2002 College graduate Tom Paradiso is set to take part in the Olympics as a member of the United States rowing team in the lightweight four event.

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.

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.

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

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.

A plan to beautify Market Street in an effort to reduce crime could be promising.

The Penn alumnus most likely to win a rowing gold medal never rowed for the Quakers. And as a nod to the University's diversity, he won't be rowing for the United States, either. Andrew Byrnes, who earned his Masters of Science from Penn in 2006, will be rowing for Canada in the heavyweight men's eight event in Beijing.

United States Olympic athletes often take up their sports at a young age, practicing for over a dozen years before competing at the Summer Games. Gymnast Shawn Johnson began perfecting her craft when she was three years old. Swimmer Michael Phelps got in the water at age seven.

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.

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.

In a press release on its web site, the University of Albany announced its basketball schedule for the upcoming season. And highlighting its non-conference home schedule is Penn, who will travel to Albany on Nov. 29 to take on the Great Danes. The meeting will be the first-ever between the two teams, though Penn holds a 9-1 record against America East opponents.

Psych professor Martin Seligman never condoned the use of his research in military torture - quite the opposite.

Owen Walker - the New Zealand teenager who admitted to hacking into the School of Engineering and Applied Science's server in February 2006 - was fined more than $11,000 Tuesday in a New Zealand court, according to The Associated Press. Walker, 18, who is better known online as AKILL, had earlier pleaded guilty to criminal charges, but was spared a conviction because he agreed to work with New Zealand police to solve computer crimes.