When people hear Vice Mayor Maudelle Shirek deliver a public address in the City Council Chambers, they take a second look to make sure the prodigious voice is actually emanating from the elderly woman with the short gray afro and cherubic face. -more-

FRIDAY, JUNE 20 -more-

INDEPENDENT BOARD -more-

FRIDAY, JUNE 20 -more-

Two weeks after newly appointed Berkeley High School principal Patty Christa abruptly resigned, the school district named the runner-up from this spring’s principal search to the high-profile post Thursday. -more-

The mayor has convened an advisory task force taking on the difficult task of trying to make our planning process better. I offer the following comments to spur public input into this process. To me, there are two “big picture” problems with Berkeley’s planning process: -more-

A recent straw poll taken by the political advocacy group MoveOn.org named Dennis Kucinich, John Kerry and Howard Dean as the leading candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination among its members. -more-

China has yet again outdone itself in its legacy of terrorism against humanity—this time by forcefully deporting two weeks ago 18 Tibetans to Tibet from nearby Nepal, which otherwise was for these hopeful refugees their doorstep to the outside world, to freedom in exile. -more-

The evening of Jan. 6, 2003, was supposed to be a homecoming for Jennifer Medina and Omar Khan. The couple, wed only 15 months before, was returning to the States after spending Christmas with Khan’s family in England. Khan is a 26-year-old British citizen who had just been in his homeland to finish up his college coursework. He was to return to his new home in Berkeley to begin building a life with Medina, a UC Berkeley graduate and local soccer celebrity. He had a public relations job lined up at a local startup animation company, and was considering a high school teaching career. -more-

The City Council Chambers were overflowing on Tuesday with concerned parents, art-toting children and worried non-profit directors during the last public hearing on the city’s budget proposal. -more-

Two brazen daylight shootings in the past week have shaken Berkeley and prompted police to step up patrols in the area. -more-

Laurie Wilkie’s UC Berkeley Summer Session class does not take place in a lecture hall. -more-