Securities fraud | In the first half of 2010, securities-fraud class action litigation fell to the lowest level since 1997, according to an assessment by the Stanford Law School Securities Class Action Clearinghouse and Cornerstone Research. One reason? The end of Madoff-related suits, say analysts.

Condoleezza Rice | The political science professor performed on Tuesday with Aretha Franklin at a charity concert in Philadelphia: video.

Hardly no day, hardly no ice | Researcher Mark Jacobsen says soot comes in just behind carbon dioxide in contributing to climate change — and reducing soot burning would help preserve Arctic sea ice.

Moves | Sunil Kumar, senior associate dean of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business, was named dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

His Holiness Dot Edu | Looking for information today on the Tibetan spiritual leader’s October visit to Stanford, we couldn’t help but notice the contact e-mail address: [email protected]. (Other double-take SUIDs from our fall feature.)

Overheard | “Schools get status by bringing on professors who are star researchers, star scholars. That’s all we really know about Caltech or MIT or Stanford. We don’t really know about the quality of undergraduate teaching at any of these places. And it’s the students who suffer.” — Andrew Hacker discusses the new book he co-authored, “Higher Education?”

In Thursday’s Daily | Athletics budget… Hospital expansion… Redwood City campus… Dept. of Public Safety contract… Basque leader’s visit… Financial aid… Daily staffers abroad.

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