Two new classrooms that are set to open in Steinberg-Dietrich Hall for student use today, after almost a year of planning and building.

Nearly 100 PennDesign students and faculty members — along with experts from outside the University — began the new semester with an open-ended conversation concerning the role of design education and practice in disaster response and prevention.

Should significant spending cuts happen in two months — whether automatic or through a deal that similarly cuts spending — Penn could see reductions in funding from the federal government.

The man who robbed multiple University City restaurants at gunpoint last spring — including the Chipotle Mexican Grill on the 3900 block of Walnut Street — is headed to prison.

Over winter break, the leaders of Chi O were informed of underlying electrical issues in their chapter house on 3926 Spruce St. The issue forced them to temporarily relocate to the former chapter house of fraternity Alpha Epsilon Pi, located at 4035 Walnut St.

Matthew Cartwright — a 1986 graduate of Penn Law — will serve as a member of both the Oversight and Government Reform and Natural Resources Committees. He was also selected Democratic Freshman Class President — a mostly ceremonial position — for 2013 by his fellow freshmen representatives on Friday.

Last September, SEAS completed the technical implementation of a “soft rollout” of the Google Apps for Education service for Engineering students with a pilot scheme for a selected group. Later in January, the service will be expanded to include all SEAS students except staff who are also students.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Penn President Amy Gutmann has become the latest in a slew of university leaders urging the federal government to do more to promote gun control, calling the problem of gun violence a “scourge of American life.”

Traffic was blocked off this morning on 38th Street between Chestnut and Walnut and on the 3800 block of Walnut Street.

Chair of the Department of Earth and Environmental Science Fred Scatena died Wednesday evening in his home in West Philadelphia after a brief battle with cancer.

An alert was issued over a robbery with weapon at 38th and Walnut streets. The Division of Public Safety confirmed the victim was a male student affiliated with the University.

During the last few days of final, Penn was as quiet as one might expect. But silence took on a new meaning for those who gathered at a memorial vigil for the victims of the Newtown tragedy.

“It’s a normal safety measure, it did its job,” said a Facilities and Real Estate Services employee who wished to remain anonymous as he was not authorized to speak on the subject.

About 20 PennWalk and Penn Park officers, members of the Philadelphia Security Officers Union, gathered in front of President Gutmann’s house on Walnut Street around 11 a.m. on Friday to protest the negotiation delays between AlliedBarton and the PSOU.

A robbery at gunpoint was reported in the area of 40th and Spruce streets at approximately 8:09 p.m. The perpetrator was described as a 5’7” dark-complexioned male with facial hair, approximately 30-40 years old and wearing a red-hooded sweatshirt and jeans.

At 4 a.m. Wednesday morning, a pipe burst in a bathroom right above the Biomedical Library, flooding the eastern half of the library. The water covered the ground floor and also started dripping to the level below.

Saul Steinberg, whose name is most recognizably attached to Steinberg-Dietrich Hall and the Steinberg Conference Center, died Friday in his sleep at his Manhattan home.