Berkeley teachers, facing heavy layoffs, are raising questions about hefty executive salaries and an apparent conflict of interest in upper-level contract negotiations at the Berkeley Unified School District. -more-

COMMUNITY MEETINGS -more-

TUESDAY, MAY 6 -more-

END DECEPTION -more-

In the early 1890s, the hilly areas north of the university campus began being developed with houses that were a dramatic contrast to the late Victorians still in fashion. The first of these was a fraternity house designed by Ernest Coxhead in 1892 (now the School for Public Policy at Hearst and Le Roy) followed by Bernard Maybeck’s Charles Keeler house in 1895. -more-

Residents fighting to save the 19th-century home of Berkeley pioneer John M. Doyle announced Monday that they will give up their battle, allowing developer Patrick Kennedy to go ahead with plans to demolish the old Victorian building and develop a 35-unit housing project on the site. -more-

Hopefully you will receive dozens of e-mails from teachers who, like me, are insulted by Michael Larrick’s commentary piece (May 2-5 edition), which reveals more about the author’s ignorance than it does about the current state of education. He says we should keep the graduation exam as a means of gauging teacher quality; that the current sorry state of education can be laid in the laps of academically challenged teachers who are responsible for inflating grades and engaging in social work more than teaching academics. -more-

The University of California, concerned about the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome, has canceled its summer study abroad program in Beijing, China, and has barred students from SARS-affected countries from enrolling in UC Berkeley summer classes. -more-

Everyone agrees that California’s health care system is in crisis. Seven point three million Californians, a full 20 percent of our population, lack health coverage. Costs are rising at rates far above inflation, and workers all over the state are seeing skyrocketing co-pays and declining service. -more-

New Police Chief Roy Meisner has taken the helm of a department that will have to struggle to maintain police services with a high percentage of young officers and a reduced budget. -more-

Every Tuesday morning for a couple of years, I have enjoyed the special moment when the city recycling truck passes by. The truck stops, I hear the crash of glass dumped into the truck, then a voice signaling to the driver, “Yo!” and the truck moves a few yards onward. Then pickup, crash, “Yo!” and, perhaps, the pickup man jumping onto the running board as the truck lurches onward before he jumps off again. -more-

UC Regents approved the construction of a six-story molecular foundry in Strawberry Canyon last month without an environmental impact report (EIR), rankling some city residents and at least one City Councilmember worried about environmental impacts. -more-

Fifth-grader Ruthie Praskius is one of hundreds of Berkeley students who will head to Sacramento Thursday to protest some $5 billion in proposed education cuts, and she has a message for the governor. -more-

Unchained melodies float free and constant in the azure air off Telegraph Avenue in South Berkeley’s The Village while boys and girls from age 13 to 70 drift into James Casella’s second floor Blue Note Music-storefront searching for their “Holy Grail.” -more-

A dozen members of the Berkeley-based California Peace Action joined hundreds of demonstrators in Santa Clara Friday, where President Bush toured a United Defense Inc. facility and later addressed the company’s workers. There Bush promised a brighter economic future for Silicon Valley and the United States. -more-