From class visits by Karl Rove to Los Angeles field trips, the Creative Writing Program plans to kick off the next academic year with an exciting array of new courses. During Dick Polman's journalism course on the 2008 Presidential Election, for example, students with a passion for both writing and politics will have the opportunity to track and critique the news as the election unfolds.

Put on some salsa shoes and get ready for a week-long fiesta. Latino Coalition, the umbrella group for all Latino groups on campus, is organizing the 26th annual Festival Latino from March 30 to April 5. Packed with events designed to entertain and educate the Penn community, Festival Latino is "a way for Latino students to bond and illustrate the diversity and richness of their cultures," said Wharton sophomore and chairman of the Latino Coalition Rami Reyes.

It's not an uncommon scenario. You're waiting in line for the $2.50 egg white sandwich at Bui's Food Truck, and an unshaven man in scruffed-up Timberlands, reeking of stale cigarettes, asks you for change. Sister, can you spare a dime? Will you help a brother out? God bless.

The New Zealand teenager accused of working with a Penn student to hack a Penn server in 2006 has pleaded guilty to all charges. Owen Walker, 18, pleaded guilty in a New Zealand court to accessing a computer system with the intention of dishonestly obtaining payment for the installation of adware, accessing a computer system without authorization and other related offenses, according to Computerworld, a New Zealand news site.

What is wrong with Penn's education, and how can it be fixed? These are the questions the Student Committee on Undergraduate Education wants students to consider during its annual education week. Wharton and College junior Zach Fuchs, chairman of SCUE, explained that education week, which runs from March 31 to April 4, will allow students to think critically about their education instead of just following the University curriculum.

Last week the University notified officials in the Asian American Studies department that their budget, which was decreased for this academic year, will likely remain at the same lower level for the 2008-2009 academic year. This decision, however, has received negative feedback from many students and department officials.

It's uncertain if Wharton undergraduate Irina Malinovskaya's recent motion to dismiss murder charges against her will succeed, legal experts say. Malinovskaya, who allegedly bludgeoned her ex-boyfriend's then-girlfriend to death in 2004, has already been tried three times, each resulting in a mistrial.

Students unsatisfied with campus dining and printing are in for a treat. The Undergraduate Assembly unanimously passed two proposals at Sunday night's meeting tackling complaints about inefficient dining halls and expensive printing. n With its Dining Proposal, which has been in the works since last year, the UA seeks to create a series of "baby steps" for Penn Dining to improve the quality of food and service.

For Steve Gable, 300 means more than just a number or a movie or an upper-level college course. It is a benchmark, a measuring stick for success in one of his passions and the paradigm of perfection in the other. Gable, the Quakers' sophomore second baseman, is the product of what he calls a "bowling family.

There are few who doubt that a new South Street Bridge is needed, and fast. From the cracked pavement to the corroded metal, everything about this 85-year-old structure demands renovation. In certain areas, the metal has worn away so much that pedestrians are given an unintended look at the Schuylkill River below.

For graduate students doing research in a single subject area, funding is often easy to obtain. But for those like third-year Penn Law student Matthew Erie, whose work spans multiple disciplines, support is much harder to secure. "As a student of legal anthropology, I am often applying for funding that is mainly anthropological, and I must 'argue' the importance of law," Erie, who is concurrently studying at Cornell and Tsinghua University Law School in Beijing, wrote in an e-mail.

Yesterday, representatives of each fraternity and sorority at Penn put their Ivy League educations to the test. This year's Academic Bowl - which celebrated the culmination of Greek Week - challenged each team's knowledge of Penn, pop culture and politics.

The gossip Web site Juicy Campus maintains that it has not violated any laws, despite allegations of consumer fraud from law-enforcement officials in two states. Authorities in New Jersey and Connecticut are trying to determine whether Juicy Campus violates consumer-fraud laws by not enforcing its posted terms and conditions and by misrepresenting its policies to users and advertisers.

I was sitting in Van Pelt the other day when I noticed the girl in front of me procrastinating on Facebook, looking at photo albums. Pretty normal and I usually wouldn't give it a second thought, except she was looking at pictures of me in a friend's photo album.

Midway through yesterday afternoon at Meiklejohn Stadium, the Penn baseball team was staring a completely fruitless weekend dead in the face. Having lost and tied in their two Saturday games against Yale - the nightcap was suspended due to darkness in extra innings - the Quakers had started off the Sunday twinbill with yet another loss to Brown.

This early in the season, the mound is no place for freshmen. Tell that to the trio of young right-handers who stifled Penn's opponents this weekend. Freshmen Jeremy Maas, Paul Cusick and Sam Gilbert combined to pitch 20 innings over three games and gave up zero earned runs - one unearned run on Maas against Yale the only blemish.

Just one match into the Ivy League season, the men's tennis team's season is still far from over. But after losing 5-2 to No. 71 Princeton in front of a boisterous crowd at Levy Tennis Pavilion, Penn's chances of winning the Ivy League title are already fading.