University officials claim that at least 600 of the 1,800 striking UC Berkeley clerical workers crossed the picket line and went to work Monday, despite the start of a three-day strike. -more-

Creating playing fields in Berkeley has proven to be a drama with no end in sight. As the issue unfolds, everyone in our community loses over our inability to fulfill the simple, basic need for more playing fields for our young people. Our city is dense and small, but people, young and old alike, have a real need for stretching their bodies in the joy of an informal game of touch football, for girls breaking from old stereotypes by functioning as a soccer team, or for having a hard-fought competition between high school baseball teams. After years of studies and meetings, people are still saying in public hearings that playing fields are needed, but put them somewhere else. Berkeley clearly does not have fields of dreams, but rather can only offer inadequate dreams of fields. -more-

If the Cal football team is going to have success this season, the Bears will need a big contribution from senior cornerback Jemeel Powell. And if the Bears do show marked improvement, no one will better symbolize the ups and downs of the last four years than Powell. -more-

While regional planners move forward with a strategy to accommodate 1 million new residents expected in the Bay Area 20 years from now, skeptics, including a handful of Berkeley residents, are saying to slow down instead. -more-

SACRAMENTO – A bill that could help find out whether women’s athletic programs in California are meeting national requirements passed the Senate Tuesday. -more-

The Bay Area received some good news Tuesday when the U.S. Olympic Committee announced that San Francisco is one of two U.S. cities competing to host the 2012 Olympic games. -more-

HOUSTON – UC, which is the lead plaintiff in the shareholder class action lawsuit against the Enron Corp. and Arthur Andersen, announced Tuesday that it has reached a tentative agreement with the international division of the accounting firm. -more-

East Bay lawmakers gathered in Oakland Tuesday to kick off a new program designed to take students in Alameda and Contra Costa counties to and from school for free or at a discounted price. -more-

The foreign-born population in the nine Bay Area counties rose significantly in the 1990s, from about 20 percent in 1990 to almost 27.5 percent in 2000, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures released today. -more-