Penn boys, get ready - this female Quaker is flaunting both her brains and her beauty. Rachel Brooks, a master's student in the Fels School of Government and the 2007 Miss Pennsylvania, competed in the Miss America pageant last Saturday night. Though Brooks did not make it to the top 10, she said the competition was "an awesome experience.

Whether it's CBS's latest poll, Anderson Cooper's post-debate special on Race and Politics or last week's blog post on ABC's "Political Radar" Web site, it seems that everyone is talking about the role of race in this unprecedented election. Everyone, that is, except for the candidates.

The preliminary hearing scheduled for today for Joseph Cho, the former Penn Law student facing charges of attempted murder, has been postponed. Cho is accused of firing 15 shots into the door of his downstairs neighbors on Jan. 31, 2007. Judge Frank Bailey issued a continuance yesterday, as Cho's attorney Peter Bowers was unable to attend the preliminary hearing.

Marty, Doc Brown and the DeLorean may not be involved, but the history of the Penn wrestling team's season has been rewritten. Last week, the NCAA Wrestling Committee announced that results for the Cliff Keen Las Vegas Invitational - in which the Quakers participated, and placed 14th, on Nov.

The more things change, the more things stay the same. As coach Steve Donahue has brought his Cornell squad from worst to first in the Ivy League over eight seasons, he has still not been able to escape his bad luck. Chris Vandenberg. A.J. Castro. Steve Cobb.

Penn grads to work on Franklin Field The Athletic Department has selected the Crawford architectural firm to design the Franklin Field Pavilion, with construction slated to begin this summer. The project will turn the northern concourse of the stadium into a state-of-the-art weight training center.

Former neurosurgery professor Tracy McIntosh's resentencing hearing has been pushed back from today to Feb. 13 due to scheduling conflicts. "The court was unavailable," said Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Richard DeSipio. Judge Pamela Pryor Dembe, who has been handling the case since September, "was promoted to supervisory judge," he said.

The Quakers were reeling from injuries by the time they played their first game this year, and the sprains, tweaks and bruises have not been spread out evenly on the team. The guard corps has been decimated, while coach Pat Knapp estimated that only one of seven post players has missed any time.

In the wake of the announcement that former Bush strategist Karl Rove will be the Social Planning and Events Committee spring speaker, students have shown unified interest in a divisive figure. Mr. Rove has been famous - or infamous, depending on a person's point of view - for injecting partisan politics, often to drive a wedge between his opponents.

Freshman students have long complained about having to purchase unnecessarily large mandatory meal plans. So when 107 freshmen agreed to donate their leftover meals -- all 5,151 of them - to charity, it seemed like a great way to help out the community. After all, if these students have to pay for meals they aren't going to use, at least they should have some say in how those meals are spent, right? Not according to Dining Services.

With one of the two leading contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination a woman and the other an African American, this year's primaries represent a number of firsts for American politics. After Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and the other contests thus far, New York Sen.

It's hardly the calm before the storm. Florida has become a pivota-l -- and competitive - race in pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination. As Floridians vote today, they are effectively determining who goes to the playoffs on Feb. 5, when 22 states hold their primaries.

To stay on campus or move off? That is the question of the moment. Whether 'tis nobler to suffer the hand holding and formalities that surround on-campus living or end them by joining the off-campus exodus. Before I begin, let me disclose a little bit about myself.

They went for the beads. They left for their lives. Amidst a hotly disputed election and the deadly violence that followed in its wake, five Wharton MBA students and a professor spent two weeks in Kenya this winter break. The group is working through the Global Consulting Practicum, a Wharton course in which students consult for international firms.

After his team's Jan. 15 loss at Seton Hall, Penn women's basketball coach Pat Knapp boldly predicted when his team's double-digit losing streak would finally end. "Next game," said the fourth-year coach, whose squad has lost 10 straight games by an average of 20.

The campaign for the United States presidency is reaching a feverish pitch. And as the group of Democratic and Republican candidates diminishes, the level of swift-boating and misleading statements will only continue to rise, according to Brooks Jackson, director of the Washington D.C.-based nonprofit whistle-blowing organization FactCheck.org, which is run through Penn's Annenberg Public Policy Center.

The Undergraduate Assembly held its first meeting of the spring semester last Sunday night in Houston Hall, updating members on a number of ongoing issues and proposals and introducing new business. As is traditionally the case, the UA hopes to bring to fruition this semester many of the projects and proposals initiated during the fall.