In order to preserve the sanity of my parents and myself, I decided moving home this summer was simply not an option. And so I've spent little time at the bump in the road that is my beloved, rural Iowa hometown. Recently, though, I was lucky enough to travel home for the weekend.

Teresa Leyden took batting practice. She fielded grounders and then caught some fly balls. But the former Penn softball player and recent graduate wasn't trying out for a professional team and looking to extend her playing career. Instead she found herself at Phillies ballgirl tryouts last fall.

In an effort to battle escalating college tuition costs and increasing student debt, the House of Representatives approved the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007 July 11, revamping the structure of federal student financial aid. The bill will cut $19 billion in federal subsidies to student lenders over five years.

A four-block stretch of Locust Street was subject to five violent crimes during the first week of July, prompting the Division of Public Safety to issue an alert on juvenile crime.

A man was scheduled to be arraigned last night for alleged sexual harassment in Van Pelt Library. Eber Devine, 30, was to be charged with burglary, criminal trespass, indecent assault, simple assault, false imprisonment, unlawful restraint and sexual harassment.

Coaching is in new Penn offensive coordinator Bill Schmitz' blood. Following in his father's footsteps, Schmitz has had over 20 years of experience, including coaching his own son in college. The Daily Pennsylvanian sits down to learn about one of Penn's newest hires - and where you'll always find him on Opening Day.

Assault An 88-year-old retired faculty member reported that his tenant punched him and struck him with his walker inside a building on the 3900 block of Delancey Street on July 9. The victim was treated for head and arm injuries and released. Cliff Jung, 35, was arrested on the scene as he attempted to exit the building.

t seems like the honor roll doesn't end in eighth grade - at least for the Penn Health System. U.S. News and World Report, known for its college ranking system, recently released its list of the nation's top health systems. Of the 173 hospitals that were ranked, the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania came in 12th, scoring it a place on an "honor roll" which consists of the top 18 hospitals in the country.

Lehigh University official and former Penn employee Steven Devlin was arrested last Tuesday for allegedly soliciting sex withpeople he thought were a mother and her two daughters, aged 7 and 9. Devlin, 49, was charged with criminal attempt to commit rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse and aggravated indecent assault.

2005 Penn alum gored by bull in Spain 2005 Penn alumnus Michael Lenahan was visiting Pamplona, Spain, for a summer adventure when he and his brother, 26-year old Lawrence Lenahan, were gored by the same bull during the annual running of the bulls. The tradition, which was popularized in Ernest Hemingway's novel, The Sun Also Rises, is part of the annual festival of San Fermin in which thousands of people chase and are chased by bulls through the narrow streets of the town in northern Spain.

The Division of Public Safety issued an alert when a wave of juvenile crime hit on or near campus this month. But that alert didn't come until the evening of July 13, 10 days after the first assault and robbery were reported and six days after five of the eight recent crimes attributed to juveniles - including both robberies and three assaults - had occurred.

As the 2008 election approaches, young Americans appear to be more liberal than they are conservative, and lean more to the left than the population as a whole. Fifty-four percent of Americans age 17 to 29 say they intend to vote for a Democrat for president in 2008, according to a June New York Times/CBS News/MTV poll.

Books and bikes? While it may seem like an unlikely combination, two activists in a '70s style mini-bus are taking their cause national. The multi-colored bus that houses Books on Wheels was on Penn's campus last Sunday at Saint Mary's Episcopal Church for a community event called Bike Church.

Next time you make a search for the musician "Dylan" on iTunes, don't be surprised to find some Dylan Thomas alongside Bob Dylan. And if English professor Al Filreis gets his wish, what you'll be listening to is a poetry podcast straight from the Kelly Writers House's Pennsound Project.

I was petrified of my boss this summer. Before I started work in May, I would spend nights lying awake worrying about what it would be like to work for her. I had never had to answer to someone like her, and I had no idea what to expect. No, she's not a workaholic i-banker in New York.

Penn's biomedical research is about to get a booster shot, in the form of a multi-million dollar, 10-story research facility. University officials plan to construct a $370 million biomedical tower that will focus on providing resources for research into human diseases next to the Perelman Center for Advanced Medicine on Civic Center Boulevard.

550Pounds that a recently found giant squid weighed. The squid, which washed up on an Australian beach, weighed less than a 1,100 pound squid found in February. Source: The Associated Press