Walking along a bustling section of Telegraph Avenue, Mayor Tom Bates, clad in beat-up sneakers and a pair of baggy, frayed blue jeans, intently watched the ground from beneath the brim of a cap pulled low over his forehead. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 25 -more-

The only question unanswered at the end of “Surface Transit,” Sarah Jones’ one-woman show at Berkeley Repertory’s Thrust Stage, is “What’s that title all about?” Simple enough: It refers to the bus rides during which this New Yorker found sources for several of the characters she portrays so brilliantly. -more-

FRIDAY, APRIL 25 -more-

DEEPEN COVERAGE -more-

Employees of the East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use voted unanimously to unionize this week, capping a year of turmoil at one of the area’s most storied nonprofit organizations. -more-

With a world-class, world-hopping conductor at its helm in Kent Nagano, the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra enjoys a connection to the global music community that is rare for an orchestra of its size. -more-

When the Berkeley Folk Festival takes place in a week or so, much will be made of the accessibility of the venue, a great improvement on the locations of the past. Much will be made of the sign language interpreters assigned to translate the main stage shows. People will marvel, at least privately, at finally having wheelchair-accessible bathrooms and an accessible stage. -more-

The struggle to maintain a delicate balance between arts and crafts, blue collar jobs and office development in West Berkeley has entered another chapter in its 19-year saga. -more-

Almost four weeks after suspending me for participating in an antiwar demonstration, the San Francisco Chronicle this week officially fired me from my job as a technology reporter and columnist. I consider this punishment a violation of my rights as a citizen and as an employee, and I intend to fight it with all the means available to me. -more-

Rumors that Planning Director Carol Barrett has resigned her post swirled around City Hall Thursday. -more-

U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Cleveland), one of nine Democratic candidates for president, blasted the Bush Administration over the war in Iraq and insisted that his shoestring candidacy has a chance during a UC Berkeley appearance Wednesday. -more-

SUSPICIOUS MINDS -more-

Each night, the computer at Berkeley's downtown library erases everything that happened that day on its 50 Internet terminals. Titles of several thousand or so books returned that day disappear from the borrower's record. Once a month, the names of anyone who took out a particular book, whether "Winnie the Pooh" or "Das Capital," vanish as well. -more-

9 p.m. -more-

Back when the war on Iraq was but a gleam in Paul Wolfowitz’s eye, back when the French and Germans stood in solidarity with their American friends, back just days after Sept. 11, I stumbled into Caffe Venezia looking for some kind of sustenance. -more-

Two top-ranking school officials announced this week that they will be leaving the Berkeley Unified School District in the coming months. -more-

Bank robbery by note -more-

ROME — My host in Rome, a retired professor of nearly 80, surprised me by proudly telling me about the peace marches she had recently attended. “I lived through the bombing of Hull during World War II,” she said of her home town in England. “That experience left me very intolerant of the whole notion of bombing people.” -more-