Sunday night found more than 30 friends and family members of Berkeley teenager Miguel Caicedo gathered beside a Bancroft Street memorial in his honor at the spot where he died a little more than two days before. Candles bearing the images of Jesus and the Virgin Mary illuminated empty bottles of whiskey, cans of Budweiser, stuffed animals and a red bandana. -more-

TUESDAY, FEB. 24 -more-

SAME-SEX MARRIAGE -more-

TUESDAY, FEB. 24 -more-

Berkeley developer Panoramic Interests owes the city another $200,000 in taxes on four properties the firm built and manages—and the city’s Finance Department is implementing procedures to ensure that such properties don’t slip under the tax radar again. -more-

The March 2 election date is fast-approaching and many Berkeley voters have already received their absentee ballots. So many of you have called me and asked my opinion about Propositions 57 and 58, that I am distributing the remarks I gave on this subject to the Berkeley Democratic Club earlier this month. -more-

Yesterday, while I was attending a memorial service at the University of California, a tragedy was happening in my own neighborhood. A happy-go-lucky teenager rode a go-cart down an alley onto Bancroft Avenue, right into the path of an oncoming truck. He was pronounced dead on arrival at Highland Hospital. Sixteen-year-old Miguel Caicedo was the beloved cousin of the African American student who walks my dog, and he used to pass by my house frequently. -more-

TRUTH TO POWER -more-

One of the most prolific non-profit developers in Berkeley is calling it quits, at least temporarily. And at least from non-profit developing. -more-

In an escalation of the labor dispute that has engulfed southern California for almost five months, the California Labor Federation this week announced an official boycott of all Safeway stores throughout the state. Safeway is the largest of the three supermarkets at which Southern California workers have been striking for several weeks. -more-

Downtown Fight -more-

Having successfully navigated the potential roadblocks at Berkeley’s Transportation Commission, AC Transit’s controversial plan to keep its buses from getting bottlenecked on Berkeley’s streets is now set for environmental review. -more-

With one of its more controversial decisions behind it—last week’s long-awaited vote on the North Berkeley Sprint facility—and difficult budget-cutting choices coming up, the Berkeley City Council will be lifting a light load at tonight’s meeting (Tuesday, Feb. 24). -more-

An Alameda County Superior Court Judge is expected to rule next week on a lawsuit seeking to invalidate a Berkeley school desegregation plan. The plan assigns elementary students to schools based partly on race. After a 30 minute hearing last Friday, Alameda County Superior Court Judge James Richman declined to decide immediately on a motion filed by the Berkeley Unified School District to dismiss the suit. -more-

A small majority of Haitian Americans believe Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide should remain in office despite an armed uprising and opposition protests demanding his resignation, a new poll shows. -more-

Why can the large national chain store afford to offer lower prices than the locally owned small business? Taxes are part of the answer. Small businesses pay too much in taxes, and big businesses pay too little. Why should Annie’s Family Restaurant pay a higher share of their revenue than McDonald’s? -more-

In his new book “American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush” (Viking, $25.95), historian and political commentator Kevin Phillips, a populist social critic who has decried the growing gap between rich and poor, writes a scathing assessment of the four-generation Bush dynasty that includes the forty-third President George W. Bush. Phillips follows the Bush family preoccupations with the finance industry, oil and covert operations, and the scandals they have been attached to, from Iran-Contra to Enron. -more-

At the front door of a modest bungalow in the Richmond flatlands, a robust young man greets me warmly. His name is Jesse Graham, and his mother, local author and resident Meredith Maran, has recently published a non-fiction book entitled Dirty, A Search for Answers Inside America’s Teenage Drug Epidemic. In Dirty, Maran follows the daily struggles of three teenage drug users as they navigate through high school, the juvenile justice system, and various recovery programs. Interspersed throughout the book are glimpses of Jesse’s own turbulent teen years and Maran’s fight to keep her son safe, in school and out of jail. -more-

All too often these days, regret is publicly expressed about historic buildings or urban blocks that used to lend charm and character to their cities but have been needlessly demolished, often replaced by impersonal structures that contribute little to local atmosphere and identity. -more-

The Zoning Adjustments Board (ZAB) will decide on Feb. 26 whether to demolish the 1891 Ellen Blood House at 2526 Durant Ave., a City Structure of Merit, to make way for a new project. -more-

It’s happened every one of the 30 Februarys that I’ve lived here: The first flowering plums bloom in my neighborhood, and I remember why I endure gray, muddy winter. There are a few days of teasing, when the plum behind the recycling yard starts to show white, and then a few more scattered trees join it, and almost immediately the pink plums add their note, almost too sweet. The one that reaches over the back fence starts scenting up the yard and dropping petals over the car, so when I back out and take off down the street I leave a merry trail of mud from the tires and confetti petals from the roof, the hood, the windows. Even on a gloomy day it’s weirdly, bridally festive. -more-