A deal has been all but completed to sell the 94-year-old Shattuck Hotel and turn it into short-term student housing for international students, said city officials and hotel employees. -more-

FRIDAY, FEB. 6 -more-

CORRECTION -more-

FRIDAY, FEB. 6 -more-

When word broke last week that the city’s largest free dinner, the Quarter Meal, will be reducing service and possibly closing, many wondered what further hits await Berkeley food programs already facing cuts in both city and private sector funding. -more-

BERKELEY FREE FOLK FESTIVAL -more-

The Claremont Resort and Spa—the East Bay’s premier resort—is up for sale. -more-

What is happening in Berkeley’s downtown core, who is in charge, what is the vision? Despite being a longtime civic activist, I have no coherent idea of what is going on downtown beyond a series of catch-as-catch-can projects of varying degrees of attractiveness and plausibility, and behind the loud noise of a downtown boosterism that evidently masks a lot of confusion. Having checked with other citizen activists and city officials who should be in the know about downtown, I am convinced that no one is minding the downtown shop or has any clear notion of what our downtown will be like in 2020. -more-

KPFA General Manager Gus Newport announced Monday that he’s stepping down after eight short months at the helm of the Bay Area’s best-known alternative radio station. Newport said personal commitments, including the need to be with his 91-year-old mother who lives in New York, contributed to the decision. -more-

Amid a testy debate that unlocked the door on one of the Berkeley Unified School District’s most sensitive issues—white flight—the school board Wednesday approved a plan to further integrate elementary schools despite warnings from one board member that it was picking an unnecessary legal fight. -more-

A national cleaning chain settled a lawsuit last week that charged it with polluting Berkeley’s Strawberry Creek. -more-