Calum Davey

Members of the Penn Democrats are looking west of campus to encourage civic engagement in high-school students. The group is two weeks into a pilot program that delivers interactive civics workshops in an after-school program at West Philadelphia's Sayre High School.

Glenn Cummings, a student in Penn Graduate School of Education, has been selected as deputy assistant secretary of education in the Obama administration. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan offered Cummings the assignment in the Office of Vocational and Adult Education, which will start on May 4.

Recently-elected Penn College Republicans chairman, Wharton junior Peter Devine, spoke to the Daily Pennsylvanian about his plans for the future of the minority political group on campus. Daily Pennsylvanian: How is the hand-over going? PD: I've been passed the baton pretty quickly - I took over on day one.

Penn professors' involvement in the Obama administration didn't stop at the transition team, as evidenced by the announcement of several new appointments last week. Psychiatry professor Thomas McLellan will become the deputy director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, according to a press release from the White House.

When Council chairwoman Anna Verna brings down her gavel, the Philadelphia City Council hearing is in session. Council hearings allow members to ask questions of the mayoral departments regarding the budget on which they will ultimately have the final vote.

Tweet! - your U.S. Senator has a message. Students are following their favorite politicians' real-time thoughts on the social-networking site Twitter. Arizona Sen. John McCain, who admitted last year during the campaign to having never sent or received an e-mail, is now tweeting many times a day to his 341,720 followers.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton doesn't spend all her time chatting with interns - but College senior Rafaela Zuidema will still have a good chance of seeing her around the office this summer. Zuidema will start work in the State Department just one week after graduating, providing day-to-day support to Clinton in the Office of the Secretariat.

Mayor Michael Nutter's budget proposal - which faces criticism from the City's unions - will be scrutinized in City Council public hearings until mid-May. Proposed last week, the budget contains a "number of difficult choices," said Luke Butler, deputy press secretary to the Mayor, but the level of public engagement demonstrated that citizens will support the decisions.

G. Edward DeSeve, senior lecturer at Penn's Fels School of Government, will manage the distribution of the $787 billion in federal stimulus funds in a new high-level advisory role. The White House announced his appointment yesterday as senior advisor to the Office of Management and Budget for Recovery Act Implementation, special advisor to President Barack Obama and assistant to Vice President Joe Biden.

The city's vital services will remain intact but not without tough cuts and revenue increases, Mayor Michael Nutter announced yesterday when he presented his five-year budget plan to the City Council. The city faces a $1.4-billion budget deficit owing largely to the global economic crisis manifested in falling business and real-estate tax revenues and losses in the city's pension fund.