The Philadelphia Police Department recently increased the number of targeted police districts from nine to 12, which will include heavier patrolling just north of Penn's campus. Despite the city's budget problems, the 16th, 23rd and 24th districts were added to the list of high-crime areas slated for extra focus in response to spikes in violent crimes.

In a press conference on Friday, the Philadelphia Police announced an increase in the reward for the arrest and prosecution of the man who sexually assaulted two Penn students in an armed home invasion on Dec. 19. The new reward is $20,000. The suspect is described as a black man in his mid- to late-20s, about 6 foot tall and of average build and with short black hair and a goatee.

If your boss invited you to help him paint his house on a Saturday afternoon, would you accept? Studies show that more than 80 percent of Americans would decline, while only about 30 percent of Chinese citizens would say no. This is one of the challenges that 1985 Wharton alumnus Simon MacKinnon, president of Corning, Inc.

A makeshift headquarters consumes the empty hotel ballroom, where a row of business-clad individuals quickly type resolutions addressing Colombian drug trafficking and current tensions between Israel and Palestine. But this is not some top-secret government agency - this is the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference's operational room, also known as "Ops.

The closure of the South Street Bridge threw a wrench into the daily routines of many Penn athletes. But with the new Weave Pedestrian Bridge, they will now make it to practice on time. The bridge - which opened to the public on Jan. 19 and is part of the Penn Connects initiative - spans from the Amtrak Northeast Corridor train lines to Hollenback Center and the athletic fields to the south.

The Penn women's basketball team fell to 0-3 in the Ivy League and 3-14 overall with an ugly 56-39 loss to Dartmouth With Carrie Biemer in for only nine minutes in the first half due to foul trouble, Penn struggled mightily offensively and trailed 21-15 at halftime.

Bedridden patients at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania might be surprised to find a strange man walk into their rooms, guitar in hand, and play uplifting soft rock. But that's all in a day's work for members of WXPN's Musicians on Call program, a charity organization whose bedside performances have brightened the lives of over 15,000 patients at four area hospitals.

Philadelphia Police are still investigating a shooting that occurred on the 3900 block of Ludlow Street Monday night. They have no suspects at this time, a spokesman said. A man and a woman were taken into Philadelphia Police custody for questioning on Monday night, according to Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Stef Cella.

The FDA's recent approval of the world's first clinical trial of human embryonic stem cells has been praised by scientists and students alike. Experts at Penn say the approval is a step in the right direction and are hopeful that the federal government will fund similar trials in the future.

Although the next campus election is nowhere in sight, the Nominations and Elections Committee is already promising change. The student group responsible for running campus elections has planned a retreat and diversity workshop for Feb. 7. The day-long event will contemplate the current dearth of diversity in student organizations and strive to create a leadership that actively reflects campus demographics.

Penn's colors may be red and blue, but green has been gradually joining that group. The University recently completed a first working draft of Penn's action plan for climate neutrality, which is being reviewed by the Environmental Sustainability Advisory Committee and upper-level members of the administration, including University President Amy Gutmann.

President Barack Obama wants to make sure you can pay for college next year. His financial stimulus package, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, passed in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday by a vote of 244 to 188. The $819 billion bill has a variety of measures aimed at bolstering the economy, but a large section is devoted specifically to financing education.

The University's health-insurance policy may be in violation of its nondiscrimination policy, many members of the Penn community say. Currently, the University employee-benefits program does not cover sexual reassignment surgery, but it is in direct violation of its nondiscrimination policy by not covering these procedures, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Center associate director Erin Cross wrote in an e-mail.

Through a round of "speed-friending" and a game of Taboo last night, Hillel and Penn's chapter of the NAACP hoped to tackle the taboo topic of race and religious relations on campus and help students from Penn's Jewish and black communities get better-acquainted.

According to Christian Lander, the idea behind his popular blog "Stuff White People Like" began when a "shamelessly racist" friend advised him not to trust white people that don't watch The Wire. Instead of watching the HBO series, Lander said, these white people were spending their time doing such white things as going to yoga, receiving therapy and getting divorced.

For the Hub buildings on the west end of Penn's campus, the third time seems to be the charm. Hub 3939, an avant-garde apartment building, will break ground this spring, according to Paul Sehnert, director of real estate development at Penn. "Hub [3939] will bring a new vibrancy to the corner," he said.

Taking the concept of the "social Ivy" to heart, some students spend their NSO stumbling down Beige Block, while others opt to stay in with cocoa and online Scrabble. The Undergraduate Assembly believes a happy medium exists between the two. The UA is developing more diverse late-night activity options for freshmen hoping to taste the Penn party scene during next fall's NSO.