“Let your hair down, roll your sleeves up and let’s praise the Lord,” Rev. Allen L. Williams told his congregation at St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church. Williams had a special reason to rejoice. Last Sunday, he and churchgoers celebrated St. Paul’s 70th anniversary in Berkeley. -more-

FRIDAY, NOV. 28 -more-

FRIDAY, NOV. 28 -more-

Berkeley is home to many unique small businesses started by people from all over the world who came to California, liked what they found, and stayed. We’re an international city, and many of our retail stores mirror the countries their owners came from. -more-

It’s happened more than once, but I’m still not used to it: looking down from my dining room window as a Cooper’s hawk flies up the driveway. The driveway seems to be a transit corridor, part of the bird’s (or birds’) hunting territory. The effect—a feathered projectile hurtling past the kitchen window—would be even more startling from ground level. -more-

UC Berkeley’s planned downtown hotel and convention center is part of a growing trend for UC campuses that lure cities with the promise of big tax revenues. But in at least one case, university ownership delivered exactly the opposite. -more-

“The first time you sleep on the streets you become obnoxiously ill within two weeks. It happens to everyone,” said Marz, one of the many young transients who consistently line Telegraph Avenue. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of a two-part series on the University Avenue strategic plan. -more-

When Henry Poole met Dennis Kucinich last May, politics fused with passion and technological savvy. What emerged from the meeting was an electronic presidential campaign, run in part from a room in a house that was once Berkeley’s best-known radical commune. -more-

UC Berkeley student instructors plan to strike the week of Dec. 1, just before final exams—potentially leaving students without last-minute instruction or final grades. -more-

Berkeley City Council quietly put the lid on the coffin of the parcel tax Tuesday night, voting 5-2 to keep it off the March 2004 ballot. -more-

An aide to Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates says that a proposal to funnel all city commission reports through the City Council Agenda Committee is not as far-reaching as rumor appears to have it, and probably won’t be put into place “if it’s going to be controversial.” -more-

So we’ve had another drunk-driving-police-chase-“sideshow” automobile injury accident out in East Oakland. How many, now? One loses count. -more-

The officer slipped out of his black-and-white police cruiser and strode up to a South Berkeley home. In his mouth, a caramel, sour apple lollipop, in his hands a 10-pound oven-stuffer turkey. -more-

EXCITING POTENTIAL -more-

Carjacking and Sexual Assault -more-

The gardeners of the Greater Berkeley area are doubly fortunate. They enjoy the blessings of nature—a climate that is exceptionally congenial to horticultural pursuits—and the blessings of commerce—an uncommon number of first-rate, one-of-a-kind, locally owned gardening supply stores. -more-

Getting gifts makes me miserable. -more-

Berkeley’s proposed parcel tax plan died Monday night, almost exactly 24 hours before City Council was scheduled to approve final language to place the measure on the March, 2004 ballot. -more-

TUESDAY, NOV. 25 -more-

UC HOTEL -more-

Aurora Theatre’s production of Kenneth Lonergan’s Lobby Hero turns out to be well worth the three years of somersaults Director Tom Ross had to perform to bring it to Berkeley. -more-

TUESDAY, NOV. 25 -more-

Ask anyone on City Council about passing a tax hike in Berkeley these days and they’ll say it’s no easy task. Last year only one cause out of four won the hearts and votes of two-thirds of Berkeley’s increasingly stingy voters: a new animal shelter. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of two articles on the Mayor’s Task Force on Permitting and Development. This article addresses the task force process; the next article will address the substance of the recommendations. -more-

Drivers on upper Ashby Avenue are getting a graphic reminder of just how fast they’re going, legally or otherwise, thanks to a trio of solar-powered signs that flash their speeds on glowing digital panels. -more-

Editors, Daily Planet: -more-

Berkeley fourth graders—forced by budget cuts to trade in their violins and trumpets for rhythm lessons and recorders—are banking on unwanted CDs to bring the band back together. -more-

The achievement gap separating white Berkeley public school students from other racial groups remains profound, according to an analysis of test scores unveiled at last week’s meeting of the Berkeley Unified School District board. -more-

“If for one week [America] saw the true face of war, war would be eradicated,” broadcaster and activist Amy Goodman told a supportive crowd of several hundred who turned out to see her receive this year’s UC Berkeley Mario Savio Free Speech award at UC Berkeley’s student union. -more-

Just days after UC Berkeley released money to pay more than $30,000 in student government (ASUC) expenses from a campaign to oppose Proposition 54, the ASUC has frozen the funds. -more-

Every November, I test my memory cells by trying to recall where I’ve spent Thanksgiving for the past 30 years. I do okay for the most recent ten, and then things get blurry. I vaguely remember Thanksgivings at Uncle Bill’s and Aunt Alma’s during the 50s and 60s, but I don’t recall any Thanksgivings between the years of 1970 and 1974. This lapse can’t be attributed entirely to over-indulging in turkey, but can be blamed, in part, on a wayward cousin who always provided me with something to stimulate my appetite (though I never inhaled). -more-

Striking Southern California grocery workers who set up picket lines at Bay Area grocers last week in solidarity with their Southern California companions returned in force Saturday with over 1,000 supporters to rally outside the Safeway at 51st and Broadway. -more-

Berkeley City Council gets a last chance to finalize language for three election law ballot measures at tonight’s regular Council meeting (7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25). The proposed changes would add filing fee and/or signature requirements to run for office in Berkeley, lower the percentage needed for a candidate to win, lengthen the time between elections and runoffs, and authorize Council to adopt Instant Runoff Voting in the city once it becomes legally and economically feasible. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of an ongoing series of articles by UC Berkeley journalism students on the paths of Berkeley. -more-

There’s a best-selling book with a title something like Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. As far as I’m concerned, I learned most of what I need to know in my ninth grade English class. One semester of ninth grade English in my school was devoted to what we called “Mythology,” that is, the stories that the ancient Greeks and Romans used to explain the universe. It never fails to amaze me how often contemporary human behavior can be described in terms of what I can remember from the old stories I learned fifty years ago. People haven’t changed much since ancient times. -more-

The Feet of Clay award for this week is shared by two recipients, Sen. Diane Feinstein and the American Association of Retired Persons, for supporting the bogus Medicare bill which the Republicans have already shoved through the House with support from some Democrats. Senator Diane’s presence on any list of sellouts comes as no surprise to those who have followed her career, but if you’re too young to have encountered the AARP first-hand, you might wonder what’s gone wrong there. -more-