Homicides for the year in Philadelphia are now projected to surpass 400 after a brief downturn in crime in September, according to city police.

More money should be directed toward mental, physical health offices.

The "art of networking" has some very big fans at Penn- - namely Barbara Hewitt and her team of career counselors at the University's Career Services office. "I found my job through networking," Hewitt said. "I'm a believer." In a small room packed with about 30 students yesterday, Hewitt, an associate director at Career Services, expounded upon the merits of social and professional networking as paths to employment in a seminar she called "Networking 101.

Zeta Beta Tau initiated 12 sophomores and juniors on Saturday, putting the fraternity one step closer to an official return to campus. But the process of recolonizing has come with a major challenge for ZBT - re-establishing itself as a legitimate fraternity, separate from the underground group that many students associate with the name ZBT.

Cornell has had three captains from the start of the season, but for the first time this year, it sent three to the captains' meeting. The late Jaime McManamon, who died after his freshman year in a car accident, was honored this season as a tri-captain in what would have been his senior season.

Penn's Center for Bioethics announced Friday that it will team up with Sermo - a Cambridge-based company that provides online resources for doctors - to give doctors more up-to-date ethical guidelines for their practices. "The partnership with [Center Director Arthur Kaplan] . is one of many steps Sermo is taking to . handle information that can substantially affect the public health," Sermo chief executive Daniel Palestrant said in a statement.

Weekly meetings held by Philadelphia police officials will no longer be open to the public and media, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. The Compstat sessions, which are now only open to police personnel, were launched in March 1998 by the Philadelphia Police Department so that police could have concrete forum in which to analyze and map weekly crime statistics from across the city.

The streets of University City have already seen parades of sexy witches and scantily clad police officers, but tonight the youngest crowd of Halloweeners will get their turn. But will Penn students hear knocks on their doors tonight from area kids seeking candy? College junior Brooke Prashker, who lives off campus, will be prepared no matter what.

Chanting "no contract, no peace" and "in unity: strength!" employees of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News staged an informational picket line with labor representatives at noon yesterday. With contracts set to expire at midnight, the "Walk for a Fair Contract," headed by the Newspaper Guild of Greater Philadelphia, was a rallying cry to support the union's position in the ongoing negotiations with local investors' group Philadelphia Media Holdings, which bought the papers after an industry shakeup earlier this year.

Alicia Puglionesi is a College sophomore from Havertown, Pa. Her e-mail address is Apuglionesi@dailypennsylvanian.com.

For four Penn alumni writers in journalism and non-fiction, the memory of a beloved professor is reason enough to return to campus every year. The writers discussed their careers in a panel discussion at the Kelly Writers House on Saturday. The event, which was standing-room only, celebrated Penn professor Nora Magid.

Football can be a very complicated game, but oftentimes it is very simple. In six of Penn's seven games this season, a very simple trend has prevailed - when the Quakers rush more than 25 times in the game, they win, and when they rush less than that, they lose.

Singapore's former ambassador to the United Nations will speak as part of the Provost's Global Forum next month. Kishore Mahbubani - who served as president of the U.N. Security Council in 2001 and 2002 - will speak in Huntsman Hall on Nov. 13. The Global Forum, entitled "The Greatest Asian Century," is designed to bring prominent international figures to Penn's campus.

Far too many students don't find out how their grade was calculated - feedback should be part of the learning process.

It's 2 a.m., and Suresh Nagaraj is huddled next to a space heater to keep warm. His only companions are a few other students, a security guard and his laptop. He drinks hot chocolate to stay awake, but he nods off occasionally during the loneliest parts of the night.

It is usually easy to pinpoint the end of a dynasty. For the Yankees, it was Luis Gonzalez's hit in Game 7 of the 2001 World Series. For the Bulls, it was Michael Jordan's second retirement. For the Philadelphia Republicans, it was the 1951 election. For the Penn football team, the date is a little harder to pinpoint; the end of its dynasty earlier this decade has been more of a process than an event.

Al Bagnoli said Saturday that he doesn't operate an NFL franchise, so he cannot solve his kicking woes by just cutting the ineffective junior Derek Zoch and signing a free agent. That much is true, but I also think that if Al Bagnoli coached an NFL team, he might not be coaching it much longer.