The Penn Democrats and the Penn College Republicans broke bread and ate traditional Shabbat food together at the Lubavitch House last Friday evening. The gathering was part of the Lubavitch House's fifth-annual Unity Dinner and was co-sponsored by the Penn Democrats, the College Republicans and Penn Israel Coalition.

If you want to be that slick hipster who knows about the latest, the greatest and the coolest, then Thrillist may be for you. The men's lifestyle e-mail newsletter is set to launch its Philadelphia edition this month, aiming to give readers information about the best bars, restaurants, stores, gadgets and more in the area.

Feb. 16, 1:38 p.m. The three students hospitalized last week with meningococcal infection are continuing to show signs of improvement. According to a Student Health Services update this afternoon, all three students are listed as being in fair or good condition.

For Leandra Kern, a staff member at the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Valentine's Day last year meant a ski trip to Vermont with her boyfriend. But the state of the economy this year has forced them to take their celebration down a notch. "We are doing dinner and a few presents this year, nothing big," said Kern.

To kick off this Valentine's Day weekend, Penn women - and a few men - sipped cocktails and nibbled pastries in support of breast cancer research. As part of Women's Week, the Chesed Committee of the Orthodox Community at Penn hosted an event called "Pink Dessert.

Last night, mayors from all over the country congregated in Houston Hall for the opening night of the 43rd national session of The Mayors' Institute on City Design. The event featured speeches by Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter and Charleston, S.C., Mayor Joseph Riley.

Two students have been hospitalized with meningococcal infections and 100 others who may be been in contact with them have been preemptively treated, according to Student Health Services Director Evelyn Wiener. One student is in stable condition after treatment.

The Student Activities Council General Body will vote Feb. 18 on whether to fund Penn's Athletes and Allies Tackling Homophobia. The SAC Executive Council voted last week to recommend PATH as a newly recognized syndicate. According to College junior and SAC Chairwoman Natalie Vernon, the General Body agrees with the recommendation "99 percent of the time.

Student Health Services announced today that all three students hospitalized with meningococcal infections are making significant improvements and are recovering. Two more students were hospitalized with flu-like symptoms, though they are not critically ill and have not been confirmed to have a meningococcal infection.

Updated Feb. 14, 6:54 p.m. About 2,000 people -- a quarter of the undergraduate student body -- have received prophylactic medication so far after a third Penn student was hospitalized for a meningococcal infection, according to University spokeswoman Phyllis Holtzman. The third student is still in critical condition today. Holtzman said no new cases were reported Saturday.

This week on Locust Walk, "vagina" is the new "register to vote." As part of a week-long campaign to eliminate a taboo and promote the play, members of The Vagina Monologues have been inundating passersby with the word "vagina" from their table outside the Penn Women's Center.

Starting next month, a few more squirrels will call Penn home. The Penn Art Club will be placing between 20 and 25 larger-than-life squirrel statues on Locust Walk and College Green between March 16 and April 19. The group is following in the footsteps of cities like Chicago, New York and Los Angeles which in the past have featured cows, angels or other figures decorated by prominent artists.

The University of Pennsylvania Press received a grant of $1.16 million from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation last week. The money will go toward publishing scholarly books on literatures of the non-Anglophone world. Penn Press will share the grant with Fordham University Press, University of California Press, University of Virginia Press and University of Washington Press.

On a Sunday afternoon last month, members of The Vagina Monologues sat down for a group arts and crafts project. The assignment? Represent the Penn vagina. At the 2009 performance, those posters will be on display for the audience. The designs turned out to be "completely different" from one another, according to College senior Rachel Garber, the producer of the play at Penn.

If the Netter Center has its way, students at other schools may soon understand what an ABCS course means. Penn's Netter Center for Community Partnerships is using a new gift from Barbara and Edward Netter to spread Penn's model of community education to other regions, beginning with the University of Oklahoma at Tulsa.

Tonight is the first of Mayor Michael Nutter's budget workshops, run in collaboration with Penn Project for Civic Engagement to help get public input on budget decisions. All Philadelphia residents are invited to attend. Nutter announced the Workshops Jan.