In advance of a communitywide meeting on May 19 to consider a major overhaul in the way Berkeley High School delivers its academic programs, small groups of high school staff and parents have met weekly to ponder the question. -more-

Saturday, May 5

Four stories on San Pablo good for community -more-

Habitot Children’s Museum “Back to the Farm” An interactive exhibit gives children the chance to wiggle through tunnels like an earthworm, look into a mirrored fish pond, don farm animal costumes, ride on a John Deere tractor and more. “Recycling Center” Lets the kids crank the conveyor belt to sort cans, plastic bottles and newspaper bundles into dumpster bins, and become little “dump” workers. $4 adults; $6 children age 7 and under; $3 for each additional child age 7 and under. Monday and Wednesday, 9:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.; Tuesday and Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday, 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. (closed Sundays, Memorial Day through Labor Day) Kittredge Street and Shattuck Avenue 647-1111 or www.habitot.org -more-

Kopmar hurt in 3-0 loss; ACCAL title up for grabs -more-

Four years ago Jim Cisney had a vision for the Northside Community Art Garden. -more-

Tuesday, June 5

Sewer tax should flow to sewers -more-

Judah L. Magnes Museum “Telling Time: To Everything There Is A Season” through May 2002. An exhibit structured around the seasons of the year and the seasons of life with objects ranging from the sacred and the secular, to the provocative and the whimsical. 2911 Russell St. 549-6950 -more-

Public power advocates spoke out Thursday evening at a forum hosted by Assemblymember Dion Aroner, D-Berkeley. -more-

Call it glorified batting practice. -more-

After months of controversy, the City Council will hold the first of two public hearings tonight on a synagogue and school proposed for 1301 Oxford St. -more-

In anticipation of a major earthquake that could isolate Berkeley for up to seven days, the City Council and the Board of Education are holding a joint meeting Tuesday to discuss a preparedness plan. -more-

“Stand up if you think students have the power to make this school a better place,” Berkeley High senior Maryan Katouli sang out over the PA system. -more-

Berkeley Observed -more-

Known for her straight talk, determination and generous spirit, Barbara Ann Hicks Moscowitz died of natural causes at her Berkeley home May 24. -more-

At age 4 Stephanie Huff’s parents were told she could possibly live until 11. -more-

BERKELEY — The building of the future will be able to keep standing even after a bomb blast knocks out first-floor supports, scientists say. -more-

In the 1970s, energy conservation was Jimmy Carter in a cardigan telling people to bundle up and turn down the heat. Today, it’s about using energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs, computerized thermostats and motion sensors. -more-

A conservation group plans to buy more than 30,000 acres in the Sierra Nevada from a timber company and make that land available for public use in the next two to three years. -more-

SACRAMENTO — Attorneys who argued against the state’s vehicle smog fees are unlikely to receive an $88 million fee an arbitration board once awarded them, a judge ruled Friday. -more-

PASADENA — A new book that translates color images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope into tactile illustrations will allow the blind to touch the stars – as well as galaxies, planets and other astronomical objects captured by the orbiting observatory. -more-

LOS ANGELES — Baja California was wrenched from mainland Mexico 6 million years ago by a series of earthquakes, starting in earnest the peninsula’s 160-mile push to the northwest, a study says. -more-

LOS ANGELES — Tuesday’s mayoral election is more than just a choice between two popular Democrats in a city that has long been friendly to the politics of both. -more-

SACRAMENTO — A federal attorney is suing the Immigration and Naturalization Service over the case of an illegal immigrant whom the agency has said it might sedate before deporting to China. -more-

SACRAMENTO — California health care plans would have to cover treatment for drug and alcohol abuse under a bill approved Monday by the state Senate. -more-

MONTEREY — Despite months of seeking solutions to the energy crisis, state officials are still preparing for blackouts this summer, Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg said Friday. -more-

LOS ANGELES — Dr. Michael Gottlieb sent the researcher up to 5-East in the UCLA Medical Center. -more-

HUNTINGTON BEACH — State tax officials have raided the home and office of an Orange County business owner who has refused to withhold taxes from employee paychecks. -more-

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Seriously ill patients should be able to use marijuana for medical purposes, Nevada lawmakers decided Monday, in a vote that puts the state on a potential collision course with the federal government. -more-

CORCORAN— A federal judge has ruled that the government must pay farmers in the arid Central Valley for depriving them of irrigation water to protect endangered fish. -more-

WASHINGTON — Texas jurors who sentenced a retarded killer to death did not get clear instructions about how to weigh the defendant’s mental abilities against the severity of his crime, the Supreme Court ruled Monday. -more-

SACRAMENTO — The number of California voters shunning political parties has nearly doubled in 10 years, but Democratic and Republican officials say they aren’t worried. -more-

WASHINGTON — Arizona and seven other Western states outperformed the rest of the country in economic growth during much of the 1990s while Hawaii and Alaska suffered the worst growth rates, the Commerce Department said Monday. -more-

The man found guilty Wednesday of kidnapping and sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl has had a lot to say to media representatives in the day following his conviction. -more-

NEW YORK — Caution asserted itself on Wall Street Monday as investors, still nursing doubts about when the economy will improve, bought stocks but made few major commitments. -more-

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors filed a potential death penalty murder case Friday against a man who allegedly shot a man and tried to get away by hijacking a bus that sped through downtown until a violent collision that killed a minivan driver. -more-

Three people, who tried to change a flat tire in the left lane of Interstate 80, were sent to the hospital with minor injuries after the car they were driving was rearended by another. -more-

SPENCER, Ind. — In a fluorescent-lit barn 40 miles from a federal penitentiary, Glenda Breeden applies paint to 14-foot-tall papier-mache puppets of Uncle Sam and Jesus. -more-

WASHINGTON — The ejection of the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Commission has infuriated lawmakers, and some are calling for withholding $650 million in payments to the United Nations. -more-

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration will allow a ban on road-building in much of the nation’s federal forest lands to take effect next week but will propose changes to it in June, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Friday. -more-

WASHINGTON — The unemployment rate jumped to 4.5 percent in April, reviving fears of recession as companies shed the largest number of jobs in a decade. The White House stoked that concern, suggesting that economic growth in the first quarter might be less than originally reported. -more-

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Six months after Florida plunged the presidential race into chaos, lawmakers approved a sweeping election overhaul Friday that will banish the hanging chads and butterfly ballots that made the state a laughingstock. -more-

WASHINGTON — Food companies reeling from recalls of biotech corn products say the government shouldn’t let genetically engineered crops go to market unless there are tests to tell those crops apart from conventional varieties. -more-

ATHENS, Greece — Pope John Paul II arrived in Greece on Friday for a personal pilgrimage with much wider implications: trying to heal nearly 1,000 years of discord between the Vatican and Orthodox churches. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Computer chip designer Rambus Inc. has lost a crucial round in its legal fight to enforce patent claims that could generate $1 billion in royalties. -more-

Popular assumptions can create vast misimpressions, such as the one that the typical American household has become a daring investor in stocks, devouring market data and trading aggressively. -more-

NEW YORK — Stocks moved higher Friday as more dismal economic news raised hopes that the Federal Reserve will aggressively cut interest rates. -more-

SAN FRANCISCO — Tracking growth of the nation’s Hispanic population, the Cinco de Mayo holiday has become a bull’s-eye for businesses targeting a largely untapped market. -more-

NEW YORK — Wall Street has no doubt that the stock market and the economy will eventually regain the kind of strength they enjoyed for much of the last decade. -more-