A fire broke out at 210 S. 41st St. this morning, gutting it and forcing residents to evacuate. No one was injured. At around 6:15 this morning, the Philadelphia Fire Department responded to a 911 call made about the fire. According to a statement released by Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Karima Zedan, Penn Police were notified about the fire by the Philadelphia Fire Department at around 6:20 this morning, which then joined Philadelphia firefighters at the scene.

For the many Penn students that volunteer at Sayre High, last Thursday's shooting outside the West Philadelphia school hit a little too close to home. Tariq Hannibal, a 17-year-old student at Sayre High School on 58th and Walnut streets, suffered non-fatal wounds after being shot before classes last Thursday.

A pair of Yale University activists is fighting for better financial aid - by telling students to apply to Princeton University. Yale senior Phoebe Rounds and alumnus Peter Hasegawa recently called on high-school seniors at Phillips Exeter Academy and other top private schools to use aid offers from peer institutions - such as Princeton - to pressure Yale to up its aid.

After Penn failed to acquire Rhodes or Marshall scholarships this year, a new program aims to put students back on the fast track to some of academia's most prestigious awards. Penn's Center for Undergraduate Research and Fellowships announced this week the establishment of the Provost's Undergraduate Research Mentorship Program, which will provide 12 freshmen with $4,000 stipends to conduct research this summer.

Challenges for international graduate students don't stop after they recover from jet lag: Once they adjust to American culture, and even after they secure their visas, there's still a major price to pay. Graduate students at Penn on fellowships - research-intensive Ph.

The University has tapped Pamela Caudill to be the next executive director of the Office of Research Service, Penn officials announced earlier this week. Under her new post, Caudill will manage a wide range of proposals and final reports relating to various administrative research projects.

As College junior Annabelle Lyons wanders the stacks and study areas of Van Pelt, she observes not only stressed students unable to remove their gaze from their computer screens, but also a more worrying site - a number of laptops out of the eyesight of their owners.

Forty-seven fewer students have been invited to join fraternities, compared to last year. Since Bid Night earlier this week, 362 men have decided to join one of the many campus brotherhoods, and more may be on the way. Of the 514 bids that were offered earlier this week, 57 were declined, and 95 students have until noon on Friday to make a decision.

Perhaps it is fitting that West Philadelphia's new International Studies High School, a Penn-affiliated institution with a focus on global education, has not yet found a permanent location in University City. After all, what site could ever be an appropriate campus for a school that uses the world as its classroom? The high school, slated to welcome its first freshman class this fall, is still exploring sites around University City and has not made its decision regarding its future campus.

Former Philadelphia Mayor Rev. Wilson Goode could easily rest on the laurels he has already attained, but this Philadelphia Inquirer 2006 Citizen of the Year says there is still a lot of work to be done. In light of the upcoming mayoral elections, Goode paid a visit to the Fels Institute of Government yesterday afternoon to speak about how far Philadelphia has come and where he sees the city going in the future.

A judge will decide within the next week whether jailed sex offender and Penn student Kurt Mitman will be allowed to return to campus, though any release from prison will likely be accompanied by additional security.

A grieving father and a life-sized coffin brought the stark reality of the Iraq War's death toll close to home. Draped in an American flag, the coffin - displayed on Locust Walk yesterday afternoon - was meant to represent the one that 20-year-old Lance Corporal Alexander Arredondo was buried in after being killed in Iraq on Aug. 25, 2004.

After feasting on falafel, 40-some audience members sat down with satiated stomachs and open minds to listen to a discussion entitled "Jerusalem: One City, Three Religions" last night at the Penn Newman Center. Panelists included visiting scholars David Johnston and Rehav Rubin, as well as Religious Studies professor Guy Stroumsa.

Philippe Bourgois has spent time with homeless communities and drug abusers, but soon he will take on a different sort of challenge - Penn students. Penn president Amy Gutmann tapped Bourgois to be the fifth Penn Integrates Knowledge professor in a press statement released yesterday.

Princeton University announced this week that it will not raise its tuition for the first time since 1967, but some experts do not believe the move will spark a trend among Ivy League schools. Princeton will keep its tuition for the 2007-2008 school year at $33,000, though room-and-board costs will increase $1,780 - a 19-percent jump from last year.

For students looking to travel to the Big Apple on a budget, cheap transportation just got a little easier. The P2P Circulator service, which operates low-cost buses between Philadelphia and New York City, is now available at a newly opened Philadelphia terminal at the intersection of 30th and Market streets.

Fraternity rush may have ended last week, but several chapter houses will continue to pay for their grand-scale events for the rest of the semester. Some chapter heads have blown up to a third of their semester budget on making sure they lure in prospective brothers during this year's rush.