Center City may be getting brighter - but not everyone is happy about it. Some groups in the city anticipate negative effects of Commercial Entertainment District zoning, which lifts some parking constraints and allows for rooftop, revolving, electronic or flashing signs.

The Penn Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology is the latest to be affected by the financial crisis. Museum director Richard Hodges announced in a memo last Friday that the museum would discontinue 18 "research specialist" positions that have been part of the curatorial departments and the Museum Applied Science Center for Archaeology, in addition to disbanding the MASCA division as a whole.

Medical Ethics and History and Sociology of Science professor Jonathan Moreno was named to President-elect Barack Obama's transition team. Moreno will serve as a co-leader for the Department of Health and Human Services review team, which will examine the department as a whole in order to provide incoming employees with necessary information.

Even though many students are qualified to enroll in postsecondary schools, they may decide not to earn a college degree. In a recent study conducted by the Institute for Higher Education Policy and supported by The Education Resource Institute, students and guidance counselors cited the high price of college tuition and insufficient financial-aid opportunities as the main reasons many students choose not to enroll in college.

A fire at the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house early yesterday morning was caused by an electrical overload, according to the Division of Public Safety. The fraternity house, located at 4040 Walnut St., was evacuated at about 3:30 a.m. when brothers reported seeing smoke billowing from a second-floor bedroom.

Thanksgiving isn't until tomorrow, but Penn Medicine is already in the spirit of giving. Last night, Penn Med unveiled the Clyde F. Barker Transplant House, a "home away from home" for transplant patients' families during and after transplant surgeries. "The transplant is one of the most graphic acts of giving," said Ralph Muller, chief executive officer of the University of Pennsylvania Health System.

Penn students may soon find they have a lot more in common with their grandmothers. Starting next semester, students will be able to rent small shopping carts - commonly known as "granny carts" - and canvas bags from Harrison College House as part of the pilot program of a new Undergraduate Assembly initiative headed by the Sustainability, Safety and Facilities Committee.

About five years ago, then-College junior Carlos Rivera-Anaya proposed a program that offered a completely student-led dialogue on Latino issues with scholars, politicians, musicians and professors. The program - at the time called the Latino Dialogue Institute Series - eventually became Penn's only entirely student-run course, the Latino Dialogue Institute, which is offered every spring.

Wharton sophomore Giresh Mirpuri isn't a serious gambler, but he visits Atlantic City about twice a month to bet $25 to $50 at its casinos. But if a casino is installed in Center City, as might happen next year, he won't have to make that commute anymore.

Since its founding in 2003, Penn's Big Brothers Big Sisters program has transformed itself from a fledgling organization to the largest campus-based mentoring program in the nation. Yesterday afternoon at the St. Francis de Sales elementary school in West Philadelphia, Penn President Amy Gutmann, along with BBBS Chief Executive Officer Marlene Olshan and program supporter Greg Bentley, celebrated the 1,000th match made between Penn students and Littles in the program.

As the clock neared midnight on Thursday, College sophomore Raliegh Davis grabbed her friends and ran toward the Bridge Cinema Delux to watch Edward Cullen on the big screen. Like many Penn girls (and some boys), Davis has been bitten by Twilight - the recently-relea

When President-elect Barack Obama moves into the White House on Jan. 20, technology will make the historic move with him. With over three million online donors and many more millions of supporters in an e-mail database, the president-elect is poised to fulfill his pro

The proposed construction of a casino in Center City was a point of contentious debate at Sunday's Undergraduate Assembly meeting. Almost 40 representatives from several of Penn's minority and religious groups came to support the Casino Development Proposal.

For some Penn students, senior year is going out of style. Yael Landman, a third-year senior majoring in English and Jewish Studies, started her freshman year as part of the class of 2010. She will be graduating this May along with the class of 2009. Three-year college degrees are gaining attention in the academic world as students look to

How does society reconcile the rights of a patient with the moral beliefs of an instiProxy-Connection: keep-alive Cache-Control: max-age=0 tion? Carol Petraitis, Director of the Clara Bell Duvall Reproductive Freedom Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, addressed this fundamental issue to a small group of students last night at the P

A fire at the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity house early this morning was caused by an electrical overload, according to the Division of Public Safety. The fraternity house, located at 4040 Walnut St., was evacuated at about 3:30 a.m. when brothers reported seeing smoke billowing from a second-floor bedroom.

After two years of negotiations with the insurance provider Aetna, the human papillomavirus vaccine is now more affordable for students under the Penn Student Insurance Plan. The $140 shot will now cost $40 under a co-pay program for eligible women insured by PSIP.