Parents looking for lodging in University City while visiting their children could soon have a more affordable option if the proposal for a new off-campus hotel is approved by local organizations and the University's Board of Trustees. A coalition made up of Campus Apartments, private developer Tom Lussenhop and the real-estate company Hersha Hospitality are in the process of developing and approving a plan to lease a site from the University on the corner of 40th and Pine streets.

The Latino Coalition elected its new board for the upcoming year last night in Huntsman Hall. An umbrella organization for Penn's 23 Latino-interest student groups, LC tackles a broad range of issues including Latino faculty recruitment and increasing admission of Latino students.

Twice in the past seven months, a Penn Police officer has used deadly force against a perpetrator - the only two such occasions in Penn Police history. The situations that led to these incidents - a shooting at Club Wizzards in late November and an April carjacking - reflect a trend of growing violence against police officers, both in Philadelphia and nationwide.

Alum accused of ID theft turns self in Edward Anderton, a 2005 College alumnus, and Drexel University student Jocelyn Kirsch turned themselves in at Philadelphia Police headquarters yesterday to face new charges. The couple, accused of a massive identity-theft scheme, have now been charged with burglary and theft.

Crime in the Penn Patrol zone increased slightly in 2007 compared to last year, with the biggest jump occurring in thefts. Total crime increased year-to-date by six percent, according to the Division of Public Safety. Statistics for the month of November show a 20-percent increase in total crime compared to the same month last year.

The alleged exposure of a security guard to a Penn student after he walked her home one night does not seem to have affected the number of people using the escort service, the Division of Public Safety has reported. Current walking-escort numbers are "running pretty much neck-and-neck" with escort use prior to the exposure, Vice President for Public Safety Maureen Rush said.

Penn Student Agencies has added a host of new services for Penn students to utilize. PSA general manager Aviva Hirschfeld will now offer a notary service from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays or by appointment. Notarized signatures are often required for legal documents like drivers' licenses and house deeds.

Strobe lights, music, karaoke and chocolate fondue - sounds like a party! Add Penn President Amy Gutmann and a student dressed as a cardboard dreidel and you have last night's Hanukkah candle lighting at Hillel. Penn Hillel celebrated the first night of the Festival of Lights with a party for the University community.

Video games and homework aren't always mutually exclusive. One-hundred-fifty students at the University of Southern California's Viterbi School of Engineering took an innovative new class on video games this semester, playing them on various consoles designed to provide students with a technical and historical foundation for games.

One Psychology class has students peering deep into their minds. No, it's not divination. It's Psychology assistant professor Amishi Jha's study about how the brain perceives reality. It's not your average science class, though. Instead of reading about psychological studies in textbooks, students design experiments on their own and head to the functional magnetic resonance imaging lab to conduct them.

Amidst all the media attention regarding the war in Iraq, there exists a myriad of differing opinions on how to bring stability to the nation. Chris Coyne, author of After War: The Political Economy of Exporting Democracy, provided a fresh perspective on the United States' foreign policy at the Penn Bookstore yesterday evening.

Theft Nov. 25 - A male student reported that at about 1 p.m., an unknown suspect removed a painting from the a building on the 3600 block of Locust Walk. Nov. 25 - A female student reported that at about 5:05 p.m., an unknown suspect removed a computer from a secured room within the Clinical Research Building, located at 415 Curie Blvd.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has cleared the way for casino construction to begin in Philadelphia. In a ruling Monday, the court found "deliberate inaction" in City Council's failure to vote on zoning and land-use requests from the SugarHouse casino, set to be built in Fishtown and Northern Liberties, and issued the go-ahead itself.

The past couple of months have been busy for 2005 College alumnus Edward Anderton and his girlfriend Jocelyn Kirsch. To support their lavish lifestyle, the two committed fraud on a massive scale, taking in thousands of dollars in forged credit- card transactions, according to Philadelphia Police.

Edward Anderton, a 2005 Penn alumnus, was arrested on Friday for allegedly stealing his neighbors' identities and establishing lines of credit in his neighbors' names, Division of Public Safety officials said. Anderton, 25, and Drexel University student Jocelyn Kirsch, 22, burglarized at least two of their neighbors' apartments and created fake Georgia driver's licenses in order to open credit card accounts, the Philadelphia Daily News, reported yesterday.

A Penn Law student was accosted by two would-be robbers on Sunday near the corner of 36th and Lancaster streets, Philadelphia Police Lt. John Walker said. Eugenia Birman, 22, was walking on the street at about 11:25 a.m. when she was approached by two women.

Although the University improved computer security after a Penn student allegedly caused a server crash in February 2006, a similar type of attack could still cause problems for even the largest Web servers.