Cornita McLeod, an Allied Barton guard who works at the front desk of Steinhardt Hall, watches not only the people who come into the building - but also the bags they leave behind. She says bags are constantly left unattended for hours at a time, a behavior that makes her think "students could be more responsible for their personal belongings.

Penn students with internships in New York City this summer will have no guessing to do when it comes to calorie counting. With a new regulation by New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, scheduled to take effect on April 15, all New York branches of national chain restaurants must post calorie counts on their menus.

All patients are not completely satisfied with their treatment at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, but the hospital scored above average on a recent government survey of patients. On average, 67 percent of patients surveyed nationwide said they would definitely recommend their hospital to others.

Walking-escort use is down for the year, but went up in March. Thus far this year, 2,376 walking escorts have been used. At this point in 2007, 2,985 walking-escort requests had been made. In March this year, 874 escorts were used compared to 840 last March.

The Nominations and Elections Committee announced the results of the 2008-2009 student government elections last night after two violation charges postponed the results from Tuesday. The Nominations and Elections Committee disqualified Class of 2011 College representative and UA candidate Lauren Albert following a violation brought by College freshman Marcus Goodwin, who also ran for College representative.

While many researchers say an AIDS vaccine is distant - and some declare the prospect unrealistic - Pathology and Laboratory Medicine professor Carl June is pioneering a new gene therapy that could convert the HIV virus in a patient's body into a less harmful form.

A group of students got to be lobbyists for a day as part of Penn Israel Coalition's trip to Congress to round up political support for Israel. 28 students - most of whom are members of PIC - traveled to Washington D.C. on Wednesday. They met with ten different Congressmen and 13 other congressional staffers for photo opportunities and to discuss various bills that concern Israel and are currently on the floor of the House.

From microfinance institutions in Beijing to hotel management in Guatemala, one student group is mixing business and charity to assist developing enterprises all over the world. Penn International Business Volunteers is one of Penn's few undergraduate organizations that combines economic consulting with philanthropy.

To Penn students interested in foreign languages, learning a language without words is as foreign as you can get. But for the approximately 125 students who study American Sign Language each semester or those who are deaf or hard of hearing, there are not many movies that target deaf culture - until now.

"We are not on the West Bank; we are in West Philadelphia." So said Sam Adelsberg, a College sophomore who organized a discussion that took place between the Penn Israel Coalition and Students for Justice in Palestine last night in Huntsman Hall. This marked the first time that PIC and SJP have come together to jointly sponsor an event.

Despite recent attention from the Division of Public Safety on unattended theft, the number of theft-related crimes has skyrocketed so far this year. DPS officials said there were 30 reports of thefts during the month of March, bringing the total to 97 for 2008 so far.

For Wharton freshman Aneesh Jain, the Philadelphia Film Festival, which kicked off last night, is a "forced good opportunity." Jain - who is required to attend the festival for a Cinema Studies class - is just the type of viewer festival organizers say they are trying to attract.

As the Pennsylvania primary heats up, it may be a former Quaker and Clinton supporter who holds the key to victory for Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). At a number of Pennsylvania rallies, Gov. Ed Rendell - a 1965 Penn alumnus - has used his energy and organization to turn out support for New York Sen.

Penn is looking for tenants to fill two empty area storefronts, but has not yet made a decision about any potential new businesses on campus. University Jewelers, located at 3401 Walnut Street, closed this past Monday. It is the second store to close or move this academic year.

After hearing Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama speak to area volunteers last night, students involved in his campaign say they are, to use a popular Obama slogan, "fired up, ready to go." The event, held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, had several thousand Philadelphia volunteers for the campaign in attendance.

Congress may have awarded a record of nearly $2.25 billion in earmarked funds to academic institutions this fiscal year, but Penn will only see about $160,000 from the controversial grants. However, the University said it is not concerned by that small sum.

Yesterday, School of Arts and Sciences administration and officials in the Asian American Studies program met to discuss revisions to the proposed budget for the 2008-2009 academic year. The previously proposed ASAM budget would have been lower than those of past years, prompting an outcry by students and faculty alike that resulted in yesterday's talks.