Although it has only been three weeks since new Dean of Admissions Eric Furda took over, changes are already evident in the Admissions Office. Furda, who began July 1, appointed two new vice-deans to serve as his seconds-in-command and has "restructured" the department to be more streamlined and efficient, he said.

This fall, the Middle East is coming to Walnut Street - or at least its cuisine is. The locally-owned restaurant Hummus - which will serve a variety of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine - will open within 10 days, said owner Fabrice Saadoun. The restaurant building is located at 40th and Walnut, situated between the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and the yet-to-be-completed Radian.

Several shots were fired inside the parking garage located at 40th and Walnut streets early Sunday morning. There were no injuries, but Shannon McKnight, 22, was arrested in connection with the incident. According to Division of Public Safety spokeswoman Stefanie Cella, Penn Police officers on patrol heard gunfire at 1:29 a.

A Twin Cities radio station has found its very own twin in the University of Pennsylvania's WXPN. Minnesota Public Radio's The Current and Penn's WXPN have teamed up to share local music through The Music Exchange, a new program that will feature the music of up-and-coming bands in Philadelphia and the Twin Cities - Minneapolis and St.

In the cold of January 1983, Judy Wicks brought home cooking to new heights when she opened a humble take-out coffee and muffin shop on the first floor of her residence at 3420 Sansom St. 25 years later, White Dog Cafe is commemorating its past with a year-long celebration of the restaurant and its social and environmental activism.

Northwestern University School of Law's decision to offer a quicker route to graduation - a two-year alternative to its traditional three-year program - is spurring debate about legal education. The accelerated program - the third of its kind in the country and the first at a top-tier school - compresses the same number of credits into five semesters for 25 to 60 students who will enroll alongside about 240 traditional students.

Theft July 17 - A male student, 20, reported that an unknown suspect removed money from an unsecured room in the Quadrangle at about 2:45 p.m. July 17 - A male student, 22, reported that an unknown suspect removed his secured bicycle from a meter outside Levine Hall at about 11:45 p.

With about 2.1 million adults infected worldwide in 2007 alone, HIV - the virus that causes AIDS - is the focus of research across the globe. Researchers at Penn have joined the many involved with efforts that may lead to a decrease in the rate of infection.

A fire broke out at 4044-46 Walnut St. on Saturday evening, causing no injuries but displacing three Penn students. According to Director of Operations and External Affairs at the Division of Public Safety Stefanie Cella, the cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

University City has received excellent marks in all subjects on its 2008 District Report Card. According to the report, in the last 10 years UCD has seen a 20-percent decrease in crime , a 16.5-percent increase in employment, improvements in pedestrian lighting and numerous green initiatives.

Owen Walker - the New Zealand teenager who admitted to hacking into the School of Engineering and Applied Science's server in February 2006 - was fined more than $11,000 Tuesday in a New Zealand court, according to The Associated Press. Walker, 18, who is better known online as AKILL, had earlier pleaded guilty to criminal charges, but was spared a conviction because he agreed to work with New Zealand police to solve computer crimes.

Last March, Sen. Hillary Clinton spoke to a small crowd at Houston Hall about the housing crisis. That same month, Chelsea Clinton came to Wynn Commons to talk about issues relevant to students during the campaign. Almost a month later, Clinton held her final rally before the Pennsylvania primary at the Palestra with her family cheering behind her.

Graduate students in Penn's nine Ph.D.-granting schools will enjoy longer childbirth leaves and increased faculty support under two policies recently revised by the Graduate Council of the Faculties. The Graduate and Professional Student Association is "very excited," chairman Andrew Rennekamp said.

Penn is leading the way in learning how the mind works. The University is part of a consortium that received a $10 million grant for five years from the U.S. Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences to establish a 21st Century Center for Cognition and Science Instruction.

Las Vegas is typically known as "America's Playground," but for a group of Penn School of Nursing Nurse Practitioner students, it was the site of the culmination of months of hard work and diligent research. Graduate students Rebecca Hogan, Lisa Cantore, Ellen Clore, Amy Felix, Anne Grifo, Michelle Haimowitz and Megan Kinnear were awarded first prize for their research poster, "Assessment of the growth, nutrition knowledge, activity level and type 2 diabetes risk factors of children in the community," which they presented at the 24th Annual Pediatric Nursing Conference in Las Vegas.

On Monday, 22-year-old Jocelyn Kirsch, a former Drexel University student, pleaded guilty to six counts of criminal activity - all of which were committed with collaboration from '05 Penn alumnus Edward Anderton. Anderton also pleaded guilty last month to the same six counts, which include money laundering and identity theft.

Recently published book The Dark Side by author and New Yorker writer Jane Mayer ties the work of Penn professor and psychologist Martin Seligman to interrogation techniques used by the CIA to extract confessions from detainees allegedly linked to al Qaeda.