In an abrupt about-face, developers of the largest housing complex ever planned for the city center have agreed to build 124 underground public parking spaces to partially offset the loss of the Kittredge Garage. -more-

TUESDAY, FEB. 10 -more-

Perhaps you saw my sign reading “City of Berkeley: Hands Off My Equity!” and “It's the Disclosure Stupid—First-Time Homebuyers Assistance Program is a Predatory Loan!” during the last city council session. I was voicing indignation at the silence of city government to questions about deceptive lending practices perpetrated within the former Berkeley program entitled First-Time Homebuyers Assistance Program, wherein 29 West Berkeley first-time homebuyers unwittingly handed the city a blank check to the equity accrued in their homes. Only now is the city admitting that these loans are investments, and also not the assistance they purport to be. -more-

TUESDAY, FEB. 10 -more-

After recently agreeing to discontinue a shirt many found anti-Semitic, the Urban Outfitters clothing store on Bancroft Way is in the spotlight again after introducing a shirt that reads, “Voting is for old people.” -more-

CORRECTION -more-

Friday was a tear-filled day at Berkeley High. Tissue boxes lined the steps to the Community Theater where students—some slumped against the building, their faces cupped in their hands—gathered to mourn the passing of classmate Nic Rotolo. -more-

After a week’s vacation, the city council returns tonight (Tuesday, Feb. 11) to its continuing task of closing a projected $10 million shortfall in the upcoming city budget. City Manager Phil Kamlarz has set up a series of 5 p.m. non-voting working sessions on various aspects of the budget, scheduled to continue through the end of March. -more-

Berkeley resident and convicted child molester Kenneth Parnell was convicted Monday on charges of trying to buy a 4-year-old boy. -more-

There may still be a glimmer of hope for the 30 UC Berkeley graduate students denied consideration for prestigious Fulbright-Hayes fellowships when their applications were mailed after the competition’s deadline. -more-

Ronald White, 45, of Berkeley was arraigned in an Oakland courthouse yesterday on three counts of carjacking and three counts of kidnapping for robbery. He was referred to a public defender and denied bail, said Deputy District Attorney Mike Nieto. -more-

Whether Kevin Cooper is ultimately put to death in San Quentin State Prison or not, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has missed a historic and unique opportunity to mount the bully pulpit to enlighten and lead. -more-

It’s hard for most people to get their brains around a $521 billion deficit. Most of us have a hard enough time envisioning a million dollars, let alone a billion—which is, of course, a thousand million. Try to think about 521 thousand million dollars—which is next year’s budget deficit—and your mind just closes down. A kind of numbness sets in. -more-

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a report on the New California Media association’s first national poll of Latino reaction to Bush’s immigration proposals. The public opinion survey was sponsored by the James Irvine Foundation and conducted by Bendixen and Associates. -more-

The rapid rise of John Kerry’s presidential campaign is causing grave concern in the Republican Party’s upper management. Although GOP. leaders denigrate him as a “Massachusetts liberal,” invoking doom-laden memories of Michael Dukakis, such glib chatter only provides a temporary relief from their worries. -more-

When my computer crashed last week I did what I always do in the face of calamity, which is to immediately admit defeat and then begin to mope nobly. When my previous computer crashed a year ago I hired a geek to extract the information from the hard drive and then I threw the entire thing away. No computer, no crash. -more-

When the subject is book publishers, “small” rarely means “insignificant.” Try “independent” and “adventurous”—vital terms in an era when most big publishers have become conformist corporate citizens. -more-

What happens when two expert female humorists get together and collaborate? Hilarity! -more-

A female Berkeley High student tried to jump to her death at school Tuesday, according to police. The student was not seriously injured and was taken to a local hospital, said Berkeley Police spokesperson Kevin Schofield, who didn’t have further details at press time of what police have classified as an attemped suicide. -more-

The most startling thing about Berkeley breweries is how many have disappeared. In the 1990s, entrepreneurial beer fans believed that beer and micro-brewing was a quicker route to success than learning the intricacies of winemaking and distribution. As with books, distribution was the key. -more-