When Berkeley High School junior Allison Roberts entered the New York Times Magazine high school photography contest, she did it only because it was required for a grade in her photography class. -more-

FRIDAY, MAY 30 -more-

Full confession: I live on a Transit Corridor in a house without a backyard, so I sympathize with people who complain when their blocks are designated as urban sacrifice zones. Many of Berkeley’s Transit Corridors (translation: bus routes) have actual humans living right on them, or near them. The Amazing South Shattuck Flying House in the last Planet, though on the 43 bus route in a commercial zone, is surrounded by homes. Streets like my street became Transit Corridors in the first place because residents of Neighborhoods (translation: side streets) didn’t want cars (or, godforbid, buses) mucking up their lovely blocks. The barrier explosion of the early seventies re-routed all that nasty traffic onto just a few streets (MLK, Ashby, Sacramento, Sixth, University, San Pablo, Shattuck), and their residents were told to shut up and smell the diesel. -more-

FRIDAY, MAY 30 -more-

City Manager Weldon Rucker has asked Deputy City Manager Phil Kamlarz to run the city’s troubled Planning Department temporarily. -more-

RIGHT TO BE HEARD -more-

A controversy over a fall 2002 UC Berkeley course description that warned “conservative thinkers ... to seek other sections” has sparked a systemwide debate at the nine-campus University of California over one of academia’s most treasured concepts: academic freedom. -more-

If Charles Siegel (“NIMBYs Shout ‘It’s Too Big!’” May 23-26 edition) had bothered to talk with any of the actual neighbors of Patrick Kennedy’s proposed 1950 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way project, he would have discovered that we are not NIMBYs, but a group of reasonable people working to protect the character of our neighborhood and peacefully coexist with the project. -more-

The demolition process has begun in the construction of the new Congregation Beth El synagogue, the 35,000-square-foot project that pitted the synagogue against neighborhood activists. -more-

In reply to Charles Siegel’s commentary on the emerging opposition to Patrick Kennedy’s proposal to build 191 units of housing at Martin Luther King, Jr. Way and University Avenue: I am a resident of the 1800 block of Berkeley Way and I want to defend my neighborhood against the slander of Mr. Siegel, who attempts to brand us as suburban NIMBY whiners because we dare to challenge the “received” wisdom of the person he considers the only successful developer in town. -more-

The Planning Commission put final touches Wednesday on a proposal to allow more in-law apartments in the city. -more-

A Berkeley couple, reported missing Tuesday by a concerned parent when they did not return on schedule from a hike near Big Sur, were located by search and rescue teams later that day, according to the Monterey County Sheriff's Department. -more-

The administration of Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown often totters on the edge of both absurdity and obscenity, sometimes threatening to split itself in half and fall on both sides simultaneously. Such a time, it seems, is when the mayor puts out word that he might be interested in running for the office of California attorney general. -more-

One of Saddam Hussein’s top generals was not included in the U.S. card deck of 55 most-wanted Iraqis. Now stories are circulating in European, Middle Eastern and other foreign press that he was paid off to ensure the quick fall of Baghdad. -more-

Close to 200 Berkeley artists will display their work as part of the Pro Arts gallery’s East Bay Open Studios beginning this weekend. -more-

The quasi-rural stretch of the Gravenstein Highway south of Sebastopol is more adventurous to roam than the one-block Berkeley that Sebastopol has become. Forever looking behind trees for the radical chicken ranchers that once hid out here, I find current equivalents as antiques and collectibles dealers, cheese makers and tenders of flea markets and nurseries along the seven-mile “Antique Row.” -more-

Some of the biggest names in the world of East Bay spoken word went head to head at the Starry Plough on Wednesday in the first semifinal of the Berkeley Poetry Slam, a seven-month-long competition. -more-

The Downtown Berkeley Association (DBA) presents Summer Noon Concerts 2003, a unique series of nine free concerts, Thursdays at noon in June & July, beginning June 5th. From Rhythm & Blues to Brazilian capoeira, these concerts at the Downtown Berkeley BART Plaza (Shattuck Ave. at Center St.) are a showcase of the culturally rich performing arts in Berkeley. This outdoor summer celebration of Berkeley-based musicians & dancers is just a small sampling of the performing arts happening nightly in clubs, cafes, schools, theaters and concert halls in Downtown Berkeley. -more-