Squeezing in to a closed class is about to get easier - but at a price. A Wharton and Engineering senior has created a program called "Class Buster" that will enable Penn students to know the exact second space opens up in a full class. The site - located at hometown.

Students excited about wireless Internet access in their dorm rooms are receiving disappointing advice from hallmates and the technology experts at Penn: Don't throw out those Ethernet cords yet. University officials pledged $700,000 to provide wireless Internet access in all college houses by the time students moved in this year.

The rock-and-roll lifestyle of Pale Nimbus - a band of Penn graduates and students - is too wild for print. "We'd rather not have [our stories] published," said Pale Nimbus guitarist Bobby Frisch. With the juicy parts left to the imagination, the band is all about the music.

Miji Park and her Idea Corp co-workers have been providing free consulting to 20 distinctive New Orleans small businesses since this summer. They've been helping the stores find ways to cope with the declining number of tourists by expanding their customer base and online operations.

Philadelphia is now smoke-free, but don't expect the state to take a similar step anytime soon. In the wake of Philadelphia's smoking ban - which was signed into law by Mayor John Street on Thursday - heads are now turning toward a possible statewide measure currently being considered by Pennsylvania's House of Representatives.

NEW ORLEANS - Linda Nunnery couldn't be happier. She lost her home and her job to Katrina, but that's all just a memory now that Habitat for Humanity has provided her with a pristine new house in New Orleans' Upper Ninth Ward.

What if you thought you had no bottom? That you were related to an apple? That you were drinking from a cow's teat? Now what if all your friends could see you? In what has become an annual tradition, the hypnotist called on Penn students to let go of their inhibitions and make fools of themselves in front of 900 of their peers.

A potentially deadly bacterium is spreading throughout the country, and spinach is the culprit. The recent discovery of E. coli in bagged spinach has prompted restaurants and supermarkets around campus to pull the vegetable from their stores. Warning signs have been put up in Houston Market and spinach - cooked or raw - has been removed from all campus dining locations, according to employees at 1920 Commons.

WILMINGTON, Del. - Prosecutors tried on Friday to paint Irina Malinovskaya as a woman so blinded by her obsession with ex-boyfriend Robert Bondar that she would go to any lengths - including murder - to get him back.

There's going to be some stiff competition for student government this week. This semester has seen a dramatic increase in the number of freshmen candidates vying for both class-board and Undergraduate Assembly positions. With 41 candidates for the freshman class board and 29 candidates for the UA, there has been a 32-percent overall increase in the number of candidates.

Week in photos for week of September 11, 2006

With only two months remaining until critical elections take place across the country, current Penn students will not be the only ones considering whether to vote here in Philadelphia or in their home states. Recent Penn graduates who registered to vote in Pennsylvania while living in the city will also have to decide whether to cast a vote here - even though it may be illegal.

NEW ORLEANS - There's only one finished room in David Fountain's formerly flooded house in the Upper Ninth Ward, just a few blocks from the Habitat for Humanity construction site. But, oh, what a room. He's got a big color TV, Internet-connected computer, DVD player, VCR, camcorder, printer, CD player, some serious speakers and even a few old-fashioned turntables to spin records on.

Walk past Pottruck at 11 p.m. on just about any weeknight and you'll see scores of students burning calories on treadmills and stationary bicycles. But ten years ago, the Pottruck Health and Fitness Center didn't even exist, let alone have such accommodating hours.

An electrical fire ignited at a power-supply pole at 39th and Delancey streets yesterday evening, knocking out power and phone services for several residences on the block. No one was injured in the fire, and police officials say they do not yet know what caused it.

Pennsylvania has given $3.5 million to an organization that includes Penn for nanotechnology research. The grant is part of $11.1 million given to various institutions across the state for research in nanotechnology, the creation and study of devices between 1 and 100 nanometers in size.

The United States boasts the world's largest economy, its strongest army and perhaps the most diverse population in the world. But when it comes to its citizens graduating from college, America can't claim any similar superlative. The United States has slipped behind other nations in the numbers of students who finish their degrees, according to a report released by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, a California-based think tank.