College sophomore Francis Udler calls his plans for this weekend "ridiculous." "I'm going to have to study during fall break," Udler said.

Penn's School of Veterinary Medicine is making an effort to curb a national and statewide shortage of some types of veterinarians. In recent years, there has been a lack of veterinarians who specialize in fields other than companion-animal practice, according to Gary Althouse, chairman of the Vet School's Clinical Studies department.

When it comes to media spotlight, Penn is near - but not quite at - the top. Penn is number 11 in a new ranking by the Global Language Monitor that rated 4,000 American colleges and universities according to their popularity in the media. Harvard, Yale, Princeton and Columbia universities all cracked the top 10.

Commercial. Catalogue. Couture. College Hall? Clad in a Michael Kors bolero and Christian Louboutin shoes, English professor Wendy Steiner appeared last month in a photo spread for the college issue of The New York Times Magazine. Steiner - a self-proclaimed "lifelong subscriber to Vogue magazine" - has always believed in a close connection between the worlds of fashion and the arts.

The Daily Pennsylvanian incorrectly reported Tuesday that the Social Planning and Events Committee had incurred a $50,000 debt at the end of the 2007-08 school year. "SPEC as an organization is not in debt," said SPEC president and College senior Michelle Jacobson.

The City of Philadelphia will face a budget deficit of at least $650 to 850 million over the next five years, Mayor Michael Nutter said yesterday. Nutter had warned in mid-September that Philadelphia would face a deficit of at least $450 million due to fall off in business-privilege taxes and increases in pension costs.

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Political campaigns have made unprecedented efforts to register new voters this year - but attempts have already been made to scare some of them away from the polls on Nov. 4. A flyer has been distributed around Philadelphia universities and in low-income neighborhoods over the last month, incorrectly stating that voters with outstanding arrest warrants or unpaid traffic tickets might be arrested if they show up to cast a ballot.

Let's talk about sex, baby. At least, Trojan Condoms thinks Penn students should. Trojan, which just released its 2008 Sexual Health Report Card, placed Penn 21st out of 129 schools surveyed about the availability of "sexual health resources and information to their students," according to the study pamphlet.

The days of students sending files to themselves and waiting in line for computers at Van Pelt may finally be over. Information Systems and Computing is working on configuring a wireless network that would allow students to print directly from their personal computers to Penn-networked printers in libraries and academic buildings.

Left-leaning political magazine Dissent, which has featured work by several Penn professors and President Amy Gutmann, will partner with the University of Pennsylvania Press to alleviate its operation expenses. Penn Press will take over the business side of the magazine, including design, promotion and subscriptions.

The hippest street in town will soon be a little shorter. The South Street Bridge, which connects the University to Center City and the Schuylkill Expressway, is slated to close in early December, Penn officials hosting a Commuter Fair said yesterday. The 2,000-foot bridge will be replaced in its entirety from 27th Street to Convention Avenue at a cost of $50 million, according to the City of Philadelphia Department of Streets.

Meeting the presidents of College Republicans and Penn Democrats together for coffee, it's hard to ignore the elephant - or donkey - in the room. However, the way College juniors Zac Byer and Lauren Burdette, the respective presidents of the most prominent politically right and left groups on campus tell it, theirs is a friendship based on similarities, not difference.

While violent crime on Penn's campus has largely decreased this year, some property crimes, like burglary and bike theft, have risen significantly in 2008. Violent crimes, such as robberies and assaults, are down 42 percent for the year. This trend held for September, with six violent offenses reported this year, down from 12 in the same month in 2007.

When University of the Arts president Sean Buffington began speaking about being an openly gay man, he chose to begin with a disclaimer on his own biases. "I am not a gay or lesbian studies expert. This is based on my own experiences, insights [and] prejudices," said Buffington as he addressed an audience at Steinhardt Hall, sponsored by the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Center.

Slept through a 9 a.m. lecture? Penn tech gurus want to help you catch up. Exactly a year after the inception of iTunesU as a resource for the Penn community, administrators are looking for the best way to put classroom content online. One option is iTunesU, an online digital media database located in the iTunes Store that allows department administrators and Information Technology workers to upload audio and video files to the system.

It's not just about the numbers. A new tool called CollegeSpeak aims to encourage students to value personal criteria over rankings and reputation when picking a school - and some elite colleges are signing on to the idea. The Web site - which is being developed by the Education Conservancy - uses a questionnaire to help students find colleges that best match their priorities.