7New Pennsylvania sales-tax percent proposed by Governor Ed Rendell; it is currently 6 percent. Source: The Philadelphia Inquirer

Ask any collegiate wrestler what the toughest thing about his sport is, and he'll probably tell you it's making weight. Between crash dieting, workouts and time on the scale, staying under that golden number is enough to keep the most dedicated grappler up at night.

Chemistry professor Alan MacDiarmid, one of three recipients of the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, died yesterday afternoon. He was 79. MacDiarmid had been suffering from Myelodysplastic Syndrome, a disease that affects the bone marrow and blood, for the past four years.

From Rosie the Maid to the Terminator, general interest in robots is nothing new. Studying them, however, has been less common - until now. Come fall semester, the School of Engineering and Applied Science will begin offering a master's program in robotics - the study of building, instrumenting and programming robots.

Penn failed to meet its goal of announcing an e-mail provider the end of Jan.

What could make a man like Simon Kirke - the famous drummer for the bands Free and Bad Company - stop a tour of the Northeast to pay Penn basketball a visit? None other than one of the Palestra's institutions - the Penn Band. The drummer-turned-music-insructor will perform Free's 1970 hit "All Right Now" along with the Penn Band when the Quakers takee on Harvard this Saturday, the Athletic Department announced this week.

Joanne Tong is a Wharton junior from Manila, Philippines. Her e-mail address is tong@dailypennsylvanian.com.

For those nervous about studying abroad, take some advice from a seasoned expert. Leonard Barkan transported a crowd of 30 gathered for a Penn Humanities Forum event yesterday evening to Italy during a reading of his book, Satyr Square. His recent travelogue, published last October, evolved from what he deemed his "love affair with culture" - a yearlong sabbatical in Italy.

Scribbling with Magic Markers is a fairly standard activity for preschoolers, but at the Penn Children's Center, tots are scribbling on drywall instead.

Though the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board has finally released its reasoning behind the casino process, the anti-casino movement just keeps gathering steam. The board, in a 113-page decision released Feb. 1, explained why it chose the SugarHouse and Foxwoods casino plans, citing their location and potential benefit to the community as reasons why they were selected over three other designs.

Joseph Cho, a second-year law student who faces charges of attempted murder, has been deemed incompetent to stand trial, according to Cho's lawyer, Peter Bowers. Cho, 31, is currently awaiting transportation to an in-patient medical facility where he will undergo further evaluation and treatment for an undetermined amount of time, Bowers said.

Tri-captain Stephen Danley was an integral part of former coach Fran Dunphy's offense last season, leading the team in assists from the center position. But this season, especially as of late, has been a different story. Danley has averaged 9.5 points per game on the season, but only 2.

For East Asian Languages and Civilizations professor Nancy Steinhardt, a Yuan Dynasty building is not simply wood and stone. "It's a living scene that encompasses all aspects of life and class struggle in 13th-Century China," she says. That passion for Chinese architecture gave the National Endowment for Humanities reason enough to give Steinhardt a $24,000 grant last month, one of only 288 grants awarded across the country.

By joe vester Staff Writer jvester@sas.upenn.edu You may think cell phones are just for talking, but they could soon be used for tackling crime as well. On Jan. 23, the Philadelphia City Council paved the way for a system that will allow the public to send photographs from their cell phones to 911.

Penn president signs sustainability pledge Penn President Amy Gutmann has signed the American College and University Climate Commitment in an effort to combat global warming, University officials announced on Monday. As a result of this pledge, Penn will develop a far-reaching plan that will entail reducing campus greenhouse-gas emissions and countering emissions from other places.

One asthma workshop has quickly turned into the possibility of a larger project to improve health and well being at a West Philadelphia high school. Last year, College juniors Amanda Rubenstein and Rachel Conrad co-founded the Active Asthma Workshop, which sends Penn students to Sayre High School at 58th and Walnut streets to promote awareness about asthma and general health and nutrition.

Three weeks ago, the Quakers thought they had finally found a third offensive threat to complement senior standouts Monica Naltner and Joey Rhoads. Ashley Gray stormed onto the scene in mid-January. She exploded for 21 points and eight rebounds against Columbia in just her second game off of the ineligible list, and three nights later ranked second for the Quakers with 12 points and six rebounds.