The Department of City and Regional Planning - part of the University's School of Design - has been ranked No. 5 in the U.S., University officials announced last week. It was additionally ranked No.3 in the Northeast in an independent, nationwide survey distributed to professionals, educators and students, who were asked to name the top urban-planning graduate schools in the country.

Over the last year, anti-casino neighborhood groups have been fuming - mostly at the state for legalizing slots parlors across Pennsylvania and at the city for not doing more to stop their placement in Philadelphia. Now, the groups' ire is turning to Penn Praxis, the consulting arm of Penn's School of Design that was brought in to be above the very political fray that has already involved both city and state officials.

Imagine being able to taste a candy bar before ever reaching for your wallet. Then imagine doing the same for soda, alcohol or chocolate. That's exactly what Adnan Aziz - a 2004 Engineering and College alumnus - wants you to do. Aziz, 24, is the founder of two-year-old First Flavor, Inc.

From adding on days to winter break to increasing the number of research opportunities available to undergraduates, the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education has its hands full. And to head these projects, SCUE chose its next chairwoman last night: College junior Elizabeth Slavitt.

Next time you take a seat in one of the high-rise dormitories, it might be on a $2,400 piece of contemporary art. In each high rise, there are about 10 "Womb Chairs," love seat-style chairs made of cushioned foam. Designed by the famous Finnish architect Eero Saarinen in 1948, the chairs range in color from crimson to mint green and cost about $2,400 each, according to Design Within Reach, a furniture Web site that sells these pieces.

Penn's rise to national prominence has been long and steady - but not always pretty. As the University climbed toward the top of the U.S. News and World Report's rankings in the late 1990s, a recent string of faculty misconduct cases has thrust Penn into the national spotlight in a less desirable context, the latest being the arrest of Economics professor Rafael Robb last week in connection with the death of his wife.

Gov. Edward Rendell has a new "Prescription for Pennsylvania." Before a packed audience in the School of Nursing's Fagin Hall yesterday afternoon, Rendell introduced a new health care reform program, which promises to redefine how the state addresses public health.

Good things are worth waiting for, as the expression goes. And West Philadelphia High School has been waiting for a long time. But the school finally got its wish last week, when the city's School Reform Commission declared that ground would be broken this fall on a new West Philadelphia High School campus, to be completed by the first day of school in 2009; the school has gone a century without a new building.

The end of last semester left the United Minorities Council - the umbrella organization for dozens of Penn's minority groups - without a leader. On Wednesday night, however, after a two-hour election, the group finally found the person it was looking for: College sophomore Efe Johnson.

If you've ever craved a caramel macchiato or a chai tea latte at 2 a.m., your prayers have been answered: Starbucks on 34th and Walnut streets is now open all night long. On Jan. 8, the local Starbucks officially became the first 24-hour location in all of the Philadelphia metro area, and only the fourth of this type in the Pennsylvania and New Jersey regions.

If you missed New Year's Eve, want to learn how to turn vegetables into animals or just want to see papier-mache lions parade around in front of the Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, mark your calendars. Penn will hold its 26th annual Chinese New Year celebration this Saturday at the Museum, ringing in the Year of the Pig with area residents, honored guests and special events all day long.

Want to get up close and personal with sophomore class president Brett Perlmutter? Looking for a stop watch that counts down until spring break? Then head over to Penn09.com. Launched by the sophomore class board on Tuesday night, the site - which is open to anyone and does not require a login or password - features details of upcoming sophomore events, photos and announcements.

One of Penn's unstated institutions, Floyd Johnson has danced his way through traffic for a decade. The Penn policeman - who has been directing cars and waltzing across the intersection of 36th and Walnut streets since 1997 - is set to retire in January 2008, denying the campus of one of its most enduring characters.

A convicted sex felon has been enrolled at Penn as a full-time graduate student since September, while still serving his sentence at a Bucks County prison.

Last year, Director of International Admissions Elisabeth O'Connell walked into a high school and gave her typical admissions spiel. Boasting about Penn's interdisciplinary programs and answering students' questions, it was the same information session she had done thousands of time - just this time, it was in Africa.

Students will have to horde extra quarters for at least another year to get their laundry done - that is, if they want dry clothes. While some changes are currently in the works for a couple of college houses, the University is not making any unif orm changes to laundry services on campus until at least July 2008.

With a cold front blasting through Philadelphia, the icy weather has brought an unusual species of wildlife to Penn: a zamboni-driving penguin who hands out pens. The penguin - a costume worn by an employee from Penn's Class of 1923 Ice Rink - travelled around Locust Walk yesterday, handing out flyers, pens and hand warmers to students walking to class.